The Red Strokes

Chapter 15 - Lilah

I sit at the dining room table lacing a tattered napkin through my fingers. Rather than count the minutes before the house comes alive, I measure it by the sounds; brakes squeal at the stop sign in front of the house, the crunch of gravel underneath tires, multiple car doors, and footfalls on the front porch. And I brace—

The knock.

I push my chair back and mumble my thoughts aloud. "I'm taking that vacation in France when this is all over. I swear I am, and nobody's going to stop me." I paste a weak smile on my face as I open the door and let Michelle, Avery, and Val pass in that order. Val and Michelle head for a seat at the table while Avery stops in the middle of the living room.

"What did you do with my grandmother?" she asks.

It takes a moment for the words, and then the tone in which they were said, to register. "What did I do with her?"

Avery surveys the room. "Yes. Where is she?"

"She's napping in the study. She said she was having a spell." I point toward the door at the bottom of the stairs. "Right through there."

Avery thanks me, but not before she turns and heads to the room where her grandmother is napping. When I hear the study door close behind her, I say, "What was that all about?"

"A lack of social etiquette, at least on a verbal level," Val says.

Michelle puts a finger to her lips. "She's just in the next room."

I pass a look between them.

Val says, "She won't win any votes for Miss Congeniality and she's never going to be a motivational speaker although she can be prodded into talking about the boy named Bobby James." I take a seat between them. Val continues, "It's probably nothing, and I'm sure Michelle will tell you I'm being cynical, but she made a couple of odd statements while we were out."

"Like what?"

"Well for starters, I asked her if she knew her grandmother used to live with us, you know, just trying to make small talk. Her reply was a deadpan, "I know everything."

"And... that's it?"

Michelle looks past me to Val. "Actually, I don't think you're being cynical." Leaning back in her chair and switching her attention to me, she says, "When Val asked her how long they planned to stay in town, she told us her grandmother was going to stay until she got the job done?"

"What job?"

"Exactly." Val raises her hands shoulder-height.

"Did you ask her what she meant?" I ask.

"At that point, I don't think she would have said ouch if her hair was on fire."

Michelle brings her index finger to her lips again and points toward the door. "Ssh."

"Now that I think about it, Heddie Mae seemed a little evasive, too." I lower my voice a notch. "I asked her why she left us all those years ago, but she didn't give me an answer. She just said that was one of the stories she was here to tell me."

"I was thinking it might have something to do with Dad's will," Val says.

"I suppose that's possible," I say and stand up. I assume the car I just heard on the gravel is Bryan's.

Val asks, "So what are you going to do?"

My voice is barely loud enough to carry across the living room as I make my way to the door. "What do you mean, 'what am I going to do?' I'm going to invite them to stay with me for as long as they plan on being here like any good hostess would."