“Okay, but just one drink and I’m going to head back.”
“Fiiinnne,” Braithe said. They walked like schoolgirls, their arms linked as they lagged behind the others. When they got to the bar, Braithe slid into the seat next to her and ordered an old-fashioned. “What are you having?” She turned to Rainy, her chandelier earrings dancing above her shoulders.
“I’ll have the same,” she said to the bartender.
She hated the drink, but for some reason all of Grant’s friends drank them with enthusiasm. Looking around, Rainy noticed that most of the clientele were their age and remarkably beautiful.
“What is this place?” She darted her eyes around the space; it was themed, like the restaurant they’d just come from.
“It’s a champagne lounge.” Ah, now it made sense: the blush colors on the walls and the stools that resembled champagne bottles. But why order an old-fashioned in a champagne lounge?
“I really am sorry about earlier.” Braithe’s voice drew Rainy back from her thoughts. Her face was earnest, and Rainy believed her—not because of that, but because Braithe had always been honest with her. She glanced over at Tara, who was on the other side of Braithe, and saw her staring at them. Rainy looked away quickly, uncomfortable with the whole vibe.
“I was just having a moment,” Rainy said. “Forget it, it was an overreaction on my part and I’m sorry.”
Braithe smiled, tucking in the corners of her mouth and dimpling her cheeks. She’d styled her chestnut hair high on her head and was wearing a black choker. Rainy would have loved to sketch her. Their drinks arrived with lids. Even the champagne flutes had lids with little spouts to drink from. Rainy picked her rocks glass up in confusion at the same time as giant soapy bubbles began to shoot from the four corners of the room. Everyone began to scream at the same time, holding their hands up for the soapy, wet bubbles to kiss their skin. Rainy looked around, horrified, and then began to laugh as she noticed everyone holding drinks in outstretched arms as they danced around the bar, getting soapy; the sippy cups were brilliant.
Ursa and Mac hopped down from the bar to dance where people were passing clear plastic balls over their heads in a weirdly chill mosh pit while Rainy, Braithe and Tara stayed at the bar. Rainy wished Tara had gone with them; she was making everything exceptionally tense. Tara knew…something. Rainy could see it in the way Tara looked at her, the wary eyes, the way she sucked in her cheeks whenever Rainy said something, like she was holding back an eye roll. Tara drank her champagne facing the dance floor so she could watch Ursa and Mac, while Braithe angled her seat toward Rainy.
“Steve’s not texting me back. Have you heard anything from Grant?”
Rainy shook her head. Her hair was heavy on her shoulders and she reached behind herself to gather it together and pull it over her shoulder.
“I think it’s going to be like this for the next three weeks,” she admitted, looking at Braithe’s crestfallen face. It was weird: Braithe and Stephen had been together for ten years. Shouldn’t she be comforting Rainy, who was new to these extended work trips? It was sweet how cute Braithe and Stephen were together. She always brought it up to Grant, who said they’d been like that from the beginning.
“You’re right, I’m being silly. I always get anxious when they leave.”
Rainy smiled at her. Maybe that’s why Grant had been so insistent she come with; he’d known how lonely Braithe was when Stephen left and figured they could do the whole lean-on-each-other thing.
“We’re in a club of two now, I guess,” Braithe said, and Rainy saw Tara flinch. In that moment she wanted to hurt Tara for how unnecessarily cruel she was being, for the games she was playing that Rainy didn’t understand.
“Yes, we are,” Rainy said with enthusiasm. She held up her glass and Braithe knocked her own against it.
“Let’s dance,” Braithe said, hopping down from her stool. She was looking at Rainy, avoiding Tara’s eyes. She allowed herself to be led to the dance floor, swallowing the last gulps of her drink as she clutched Braithe’s hand.
She began to wind her hips to the music, all thoughts gone from her head.
13
Then
They waited until everyone was in church to leave, putting most of what they wanted to take into two backpacks and walking up the long road to the guard shed. There they had to pass through the gate, where one of the sisters was on duty.
“Mama…？” Summer looked at Lorraine, her eyes wide. There was no way either one of the sisters would let them pass without alerting Taured. Lorraine’s eyes were set, her jaw up and out like she meant business. Summer glanced over her shoulder every few minutes, expecting to see the compound’s occupants pouring outside to stop them, but there was no movement, not even a breeze. Up ahead, she could see the black gates looming, the fence alongside them running endlessly to their left.