Goodbye Earl(60)

Ada and Kasey had talked it over, and Kasey was okay with Ada sitting with Caroline first, then Kasey would take the late shift. Caroline’s mom called Mimi early that morning saying her car had broken down, but she was trying her best to make it. Mimi told them that was probably a lie and she wasn’t even expecting her daughter to show up at all at this point.

While Mimi, Rosemarie, and Kasey went to the cafeteria for coffee, Ada walked into Caroline’s room, getting eyes on her for the first time.

*



Ada was still crying in that beeping room when Caroline stirred a bit. She moved her fingers, then her feet. By the time she opened her eyes, Ada had already stood and called for the nurse.



Caro was talking through a groggy fog of tears, and Ada couldn’t understand her. She asked her to take her time, say it again.

“Trey…he told me he’d kill me. He promised he’d kill me and find another wife who wasn’t useless.”





2004


24





Ada sat in the grass behind the garage, drinking a glass of water. She was holding it with both hands and Grayson was next to her, rubbing her back in big, soft circles.

“Feeling better? Seems like you’re feeling better,” he said.

“Mm-hmm.” Ada let the sound come out of her mouth as she drank. She nodded for extra emphasis.

Yes, she was feeling better now that she knew Kasey’s mom hadn’t eaten the black-eyed peas and now that Kasey was gone and there could be a break from secret murder planning. She wanted Roy dead like the rest of them, but she also wanted to go to LA with Grayson. They were supposed to fly out to visit her cousins next month. She also wanted to talk to her mom some more about rebranding the Plum businesses in pale pink and a soft lime-green color that reminded her of the tropical beaches and salty air she wanted to experience with Grayson. All the beaches she wouldn’t be able to go to if she got arrested for helping to murder a man.

Ada would turn eighteen at the end of July. What if they didn’t get arrested until then? Would she be forced to wear orange? She hated orange. It would wash her out. She’d look ridiculous!

She hadn’t told Grayson a thing about the plan, because they swore they wouldn’t tell anyone. Besides, she didn’t know if it was even happening anymore, so technically there was nothing to tell. So even when she was drinking the water in the grass and he was asking her what she was so upset about, she told him she didn’t know, because she didn’t!

She didn’t know anything! Not really!

“Do you want to go upstairs and get in your bed? Try to sleep?” Grayson asked.

“There’s probably a grass stain a mile wide on the back of this dress now,” Ada said, since it was the first thing that popped into her head.

Someone turned the music up. Nelly. Apparently no one would ever tire of that song. Rosemarie had taken Caroline inside and put her to bed in Ada’s room again. They were supposed to wait until Kasey got back from wherever she was. Then, Kasey would tell them what to do. They didn’t want to take Ada’s car to the farmhouse, since it was a hot-pink convertible that practically glowed in the dark; there wasn’t another one like it in Goldie. They’d chosen to ride in Rosemarie’s forest-green station wagon because it was so inconspicuous that even Rosemarie occasionally tried to stick her key into one that looked exactly like it.

The plan was to take Rosemarie’s station wagon to the farmhouse, and Kasey would go peek inside to see if Roy was dead at the kitchen table, and if he was, Kasey was going to pretend to be surprised to find him like that. Kasey had said she was scared to do it alone, and she wanted RACK to stay together the whole time.

But now Kasey was gone.

“Did Silas take Kase home already?” Grayson asked, reading her mind.

“I don’t think so. I think they went for a ride.”

“Heh,” Grayson said, chuckling. “Yeah, okay. A ride.”

“Grayson Sycamore!” Ada said, putting the empty water glass between her knees.

“Do you think you can stand? Want me to carry you?” he asked. He was on his feet already, holding out his arms for her. Ada stood, leaving the glass in the grass. He scooped her up like she was already his bride and carried her through the dark toward the house.

“Ada, is Kasey here yet?” Rosemarie said when she saw them.

“No. She was supposed to be back in an hour,” Ada said from Grayson’s arms.

“Yeah, and it’s been almost two.” Rosemarie seemed super annoyed. She shook her head.

“Wait…it has? Uh…um…okay. Okay, you can put me down. Grayson, put me down, please,” Ada said as calmly as she could. Once her bare feet were in the cool grass, she felt hot panic rising again.





2019


25





Kasey


On Wednesday after visiting Caroline again, Rosemarie, Ada, and Kasey went out to the hospital parking lot to talk in Ada’s minivan.

“You heard her when she woke up yesterday, Ada. He beat her; he raped her. He said he’d kill her, and he will. He will kill her, and we will cry at the fucking funeral and act like we’re so sorry it happened. We’ll wish we could’ve done something about it, but we can! We can do something about it, and we will do something about it. Men kill women all the time, and no one does anything about it. Last month in New York, a woman was murdered on her way home from work, and the week after, some motherfucker killed his entire family before killing himself. His wife was pregnant. It happens all the time! We need to take care of this ourselves. We can kill an Earl and make the world a better place, period. That’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what—” Kasey stopped because she had to. She was hot, breathing hard. Ada had the engine on; the AC vents above her were blasting ice-cold air on Kasey in the backseat, but there wasn’t enough AC in the world to cool her down.