Goodbye Earl(36)

“She’s always worrying about something. I tell her not to, but she’s hardheaded,” Trey said. Kasey hated that she’d made even a small, lighthearted joke about Caroline, giving Trey room to make it more aggressive. Kasey should’ve anticipated that; Trey was aggressive. His energy, his body. Leaching testosterone rolled off him like fog. “Your dad was black, right?” he asked.

“Uh…yeah? Yep, he was,” Kasey said, knowing her loud face would betray her true emotions, but she didn’t care. She heard Silas laugh at something. Grayson too. She looked up at the back deck to see Ada helping her mom inside. Maybe she drank too much already? There was a lot happening and Kasey was overstimulated. The one glass of champagne hadn’t done much for her nerves. A caterer walked by with a tray and Kasey grabbed another and thanked her. When Kasey turned back to Trey, he had that dumb fucking look on his face she definitely remembered from high school. “You’re not wrong. My dad was black; my mom was white. I’m a biracial superhero,” Kasey said.

“I remember your mom.” Trey asked the caterer for a glass of water with extra ice.

“Angie,” Kasey said, just to hear it. She thought of Mick Jagger’s big, handsome mouth singing her mama’s name.

“Holy shit, she was good-looking. You look exactly like her, except, you know, half-black,” Trey said. Did he look at her ass when he said half-black? Maybe? Okay. Maybe not. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she’d only convinced herself she hated him. Maybe he was trying to be nice. Didn’t she love Caroline too much not to at least try to be cordial to her husband? “Where’s your man? You have one? I’m sure you do,” he asked.

“I’m engaged to a man, yes. He’s happily busy in New York City, waiting for me to come back home to him,” she said, smiling.

“Good for him. I don’t blame him one bit.”

Okay, he totally looked at her ass that time.

Kasey let her face go plain, sipped her champagne. Whether other people thought Trey was charming or not didn’t matter. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find anything special about him. He acted like a lot of guys she’d known and been bored by. She tried to imagine how Caroline could have become enraptured by him, as he took his water with extra ice from the caterer when she returned. He didn’t thank her. Trey watched Kasey’s face for a moment and then took his time surveying the people in the backyard. She made her move to walk away, but Caroline was coming toward them with an older woman.

“Kase, this is my amazing mother-in-law, Paula Foxberry. Paula, this is one of my best friends and sisters, Kasey Fritz,” Caro said. Kasey said hi to Paula.

“Oh, of course I remember little Kasey Fritz from the grocery store. You and your poor mother,” Paula said. “Bless her heart, but Caroline thinks I’m old and senile. Well, she wishes. I may not have been as young as your mother was when she had you, but I was young when I had my children too. I’m not dead yet,” Paula said to Caro with enough nastiness on her tongue to let Kasey know that maybe everyone in the Foxberry family was trash.

“Well, Paula, Caro and I have been friends since we were babies. I love you, Caroppenheimer,” Kasey said, taking her hand. “Foxberry,” she said quickly, correcting herself. “Caroline,” she added for good measure. Leo’s guitar strums blinked the summer air as she and Caro hugged each other tight.

“Kasey Josephine Fritz, come here to me, right now,” Mimi said when she appeared. Kasey’s eyes filled with tears even though she’d seen Mimi earlier and more than once since she’d been back in Goldie. She and Caro had gone to the trailer park to drink sweet tea with her and sit out front and gossip. But hearing Grandma Mimi say her whole name like that? Kasey was overcome with nostalgia and emotion. She hugged her around her neck and stood back to hold her hands and admire her dress—coral vintage and beaded, like something right out of Old Hollywood. She wore a yellow rose pinned to it, the yellow matching the flowers on Caro’s long sleeves.

Rosemarie’s delicate voice met Leo’s in harmony in the atmosphere, and it gave Kasey chills, the magic of it—the starry dome of night, the math of music.

“Look at you, so beautiful,” Mimi said, kissing both of her cheeks.

“You are,” Kasey said to her.

“Caro, come out here and dance with us. We’re not going to waste one minute standing around tonight,” Mimi said, reaching for Caroline’s hand.

When they moved away from Trey and his mother, Mimi’s lip rose in a curl.

“I know they’re your family now, Ladybug, but they can be the sourest mess of people on God’s green. All that money and no sweetness. Where is the sweetness, honey?” Mimi said to Caro.

“The sweetness is right here,” Kasey said, pointing to Caro’s heart.

Mimi’s seventy-year-old self spun Caroline right around as Rosemarie stood on stage singing her heart out. When it was Caro’s turn to spin Mimi, she added a slow, careful dip.

“I love both of you more than you’ll ever know,” Caro said.

“We’re all a little too tender tonight,” Kasey said, gently bumping hips with Mimi.

“Lotta love and feelings are in the air! Blame it on the wedding!” Mimi was snapping her fingers to the music.

Over her shoulder, Ada was on her tiptoes, talking in Grayson’s ear. Silas was next to them; Kasey watched a woman slip her arm around his waist.