Goodbye Earl(25)
“Are you going to ask her about it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I should mind my business,” she said to him quickly. She kissed him and left the bathroom.
“Maybe,” he said, turning off the light and following her.
She slipped her arms into the coolness of her robe and tied it closed, stepped into the hallway on the hunt for their boys so she could properly tell them good morning and goodbye before getting in the shower.
*
In her orange-slice sundress, Ada stopped by a crowded Plum Bakery for a tray of strawberry-lemonade thumbprint cookies, and by a packed Plum Eats for eggs, plain pancakes, and toppings to put together the pancake board. Then she drove to Caroline’s mansion off Main. It was down a small side street not far from the pink house Ada’s parents still lived in.
Mansion is what she, Rosemarie, and Kasey called it sometimes, but not to Caro’s face. Ada had grown up in a huge house, and the house she and Grayson lived in now was about the same size as Caro and Trey’s, but somehow it was different. Ada felt bitchy and judgmental for thinking it, but it was true. The Foxberry family had old money like the Plums, but the Plums weren’t flashy or gaudy. The Foxberrys behaved like new money, and of course, since Caro was new money, it made sense that some of what she did was over-the-top. It wasn’t the fountain out front or the fairy garden statues by the pool or Caro’s brand-new white SUV with tan interior. It wasn’t when Caro drove Trey’s sports car around town either. It was just a feeling.
That feeling returned in full force when Caro opened the front door for her.
Now Ada was inside the mansion scooping the scrambled eggs into a crystal bowl. Caro stepped next to her holding a black velvet box and opened it, revealing the glossy luster and glow of a pearl necklace. Ada took it.
“I was talking about how Tom gave Daisy a three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar pearl necklace in The Great Gatsby, and I guess Trey got jealous,” Caroline said, smiling. Ada watched her and waited for the smile to reach her eyes. When it did, Ada smiled back at her. “I mean, obviously he didn’t spend that much, but I’ve never had real pearls. I was telling Kasey that yesterday because she had her pearls on.”
“It’s beautiful, Caro. So beautiful. What are you going to wear it with first?” Ada asked with wide eyes. She tilted her head and looked at the necklace one more time before handing it back to her. Caro put the box on the kitchen table and pulled the cookies from the bag.
“Probably jeans. Girl, you know me,” Caro said. She giggled and shook her head. “It embarrasses me when he does stuff like this, but obviously I love it. He says I’m two-faced about it, but that’s a little harsh. I mean, I love nice things and like being pampered, but I grew up in a trailer with my grandmother and, like, look at this.” She motioned at the sea-monster-sized chandelier hanging above them, the humid bottle of Veuve Clicquot on the counter.
“Right. I mean, I get it. Being spoiled suits you—it does. You deserve it,” Ada said truthfully. Caroline was a natural sweetheart, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to change that. Her mom was trash, her daddy was trash, but her grandma was an angel, and Caro got an angel heart from her.
“I’m sure he felt like an asshole for being so mean to me yesterday…and the day before yesterday.” Caro said the last part under her breath, taking her time transferring the cookies to the tray. “So pretty. Who made these?” she asked, perking up again.
“Pammy,” Ada said, referring to the new girl they’d just hired. Even when Caro wasn’t working, she was working; the bakery was her baby. It had the Plum name on the front, but it may as well have been called Caroline’s.
After Ada’s parents basically gave the restaurant to her five years ago to rebrand and run while her mom took over their interior design and floral businesses, having Caro stay in charge of Plum Bakery made the most sense. The bakery belonged to Caroline in every way except paperwork and name, and sometimes Ada convinced herself that was good enough.
“Are y’all still fighting?” Ada asked.
Yesterday she’d overheard Caro talking to Rosemarie about a big fight with Trey, but she’d been too busy with everything else to get the full story. Plus, Caro and Trey were always fighting and making up. Ada went back to the bag to get the box of pancakes, started putting them on the big wooden board next to the fruit and eggs.
The huge house was empty except for them. Ada asked Caro once if she wanted to adopt a cat or a dog to keep her company, and Caro scoffed. Told her no since neither she nor Trey were home enough to take care of anything. Even though the house wasn’t exactly Ada’s taste, it did earn its beauty by simply existing, and Caro looked stunning in it. She was barefoot, wearing a white button-down and cutoff jean shorts. Her long, milky red hair was pulled back off her face in a high ponytail, her gold hoop earrings swinging. Perfect, right? Not quite. The house felt like it was missing something even if Ada didn’t know what that something was.
“He was sleeping when I got home last night, and this morning he had to leave early to go back down to Jesse County for something at the distillery. He told me what for, but my brain couldn’t hold on to it. I was too hungover. He woke me up to say he was leaving and left this on the nightstand with a note that said, I think you’ll like this, Caroline. Actually, I know you will.”