Sara parked her car in front of her parents’ house, surprised to see her cousin Hare leaning against his convertible Jaguar, decked out like a model in GQ.
He tossed out a “Hey, Carrot” before she had time to close her car door.
Sara looked at her watch. She was five minutes late picking up Tessa. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve got a date with Bella,” he told her, taking off his sunglasses as he walked over to meet her. “Why’s the front door locked?”
She shrugged. “Where are Mama and Daddy?”
He patted his pockets, pretending to look for them. Sara loved her cousin, she really did, but his inability to take anything seriously made her want to strangle him sometimes.
She glanced at the apartment over the garage. “Is Tessa home?”
“She’s wearing her invisible suit if she is,” Hare told her, slipping his sunglasses back on as he leaned against her car. He was wearing white slacks and Sara wished for just a moment that her father hadn’t washed her car.
She told him, “We’re supposed to go somewhere.” Not wanting to endure the ridicule, Sara didn’t tell him where. She looked at her watch again, thinking she would give Tessa ten more minutes, then go home. She wasn’t particularly excited about going to church, and the more she thought about Jeffrey’s concerns, the more she was beginning to believe this was a bad idea.
Hare slid down his glasses, batting his eyelashes as he asked, “Aren’t you going to tell me I look pretty?”
Sara was unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes. The thing she detested most about Hare was that he wasn’t content to be silly by himself. He always managed to bring out the juvenile in others.
He offered, “I’ll tell you if you tell me. You go first.”
Sara had dressed for church, but she wasn’t going to take the bait. “I talked to Jeffrey,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Y’all married yet?”
“You know we’re not.”
“Don’t forget I want to be a bridesmaid.”
“Hare-”
“I told you that story, didn’t I? About the cow getting the milk for free?”
“Cows don’t drink milk,” she returned. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d been exposed?”
“There was some oath they made me take after medical school,” he told her. “Something that rhymes with step-o-matic…”
“Hare-”
“Super-matic…”
“Hare,” Sara sighed.
“Hippocratic!” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “I wondered why we all had to stand around in robes eating canapés, but you know I never pass up an opportunity to wear a dress.”
“Since when did you develop scruples?”
“They dropped around the time I was thirteen.” He winked at her. “Remember how you used to try to grab them when we took baths together?”
“We were two years old when I did that,” she reminded him, giving a disparaging downward glance. “And the phrase ‘needle in a haystack’ comes to mind.”
“Oh!” he gasped, putting his hands to his mouth.
“Hey,” Tessa called. She was walking down the street, Bella at her side. “Sorry I’m late.”
“That’s okay,” Sara told her, relieved and disappointed at the same time.
Tessa kissed Hare’s cheek. “You look so pretty!”
Hare and Sara said, “Thank you,” at the same time.
“Let’s go up to the house,” Bella told them. “Hare, fetch me a Co-cola, will you?” She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a key. “And get my shawl off the back of my chair.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, sprinting toward the house.
Sara told Tessa, “We’re running late. Maybe we should-”
“Give me a minute to change,” Tessa said, darting up the stairs to her apartment before Sara could bow out gracefully.
Bella put her arm around Sara’s shoulder. “You look about ready to collapse.”
“I was hoping Tess would notice.”
“She probably did, but she’s too excited about you coming along to let that get in the way.” Bella leaned on the railing as she sat on the front steps.
Sara joined her aunt, saying, “I don’t understand why she wants me to go.”
“This is a new thing for her,” Bella said. “She wants to share it.”
Sara sat back on her elbows, wishing Tessa had found something more interesting to share. The theater downtown was running a Hitchcock retrospective, for instance. Or they could always learn needlepoint.
“Bella,” Sara asked. “Why are you here?”
Bella leaned back beside her niece. “I made a fool of myself for love.”
Sara would have laughed if anyone else had said it, but she knew her aunt Bella was particularly sensitive where romance was concerned.
“He was fifty-two,” she said. “Young enough to be my son!”
Sara raised her eyebrows at the scandal.
“Left me for a forty-one-year-old chippie,” Bella said sadly. “A redhead.” Sara’s expression must have shown some sort of solidarity, because Bella added, “Not like you.” Then, putting a finer point on it, “Carpet didn’t exactly match the drapes.” She stared out at the road, wistful. “He was some kind of man, though. Very charming. Dapper.”
“I’m sorry you lost him.”
“The bad part is that I threw myself at his feet,” she confided. “It’s one thing to be dumped, quite another to beg for a second chance and have your face slapped.”
“He didn’t-”
“Oh, good Lord, no,” she laughed. “I pity the wayward soul who tries to raise his hand to your aunt Bella.”
Sara smiled.
“You should take that as a lesson, though,” the older woman warned. “You can only be rebuffed so many times.”
Sara chewed her bottom lip, thinking she was getting really tired of people telling her she should marry Jeffrey.
“You get to be my age,” Bella continued, “and different things matter than they did when you were young and fancy-free.”
“Like what?”
“Like companionship. Like talking about literature and plays and current events. Like having someone around who understands you, has gone through the things you have and come out at the other end that much the wiser for it.”
Sara could sense her aunt’s sadness, but didn’t know how to alleviate it. “I’m sorry, Bella.”
“Well”-she patted Sara’s leg-“don’t worry about your aunt Bella. She’s been through worse, I’ll tell you that. Tossed around like a used box of crayons”- she winked- “but I’ve managed to maintain the same vibrant colors.” Bella pursed her lips, studying Sara as if she had just noticed her for the first time. “What’s on your mind, pumpkin?”
Sara knew better than to try to lie. “Where’s Mama?”
“League of Women Voters,” Bella said. “I don’t know where that father of yours got off to. Probably down at the Waffle House talking politics with the other old men.”
Sara took a deep breath and let it go, thinking now was as good a time as any. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
Sara turned to face her, lowering her voice in case Tessa had her windows open or Hare was about to sneak up on them. “You mentioned before about Daddy forgiving Mama when she cheated.”
Bella cast a wary glance. “That’s their business.”
“I know,” Sara agreed. “I just…” She decided to come out and say it. “It was Thomas Ward, wasn’t it? She was interested in Thomas Ward.”
Bella took her time before giving a single nod. To Sara’s surprise, she provided, “He was your father’s best friend since they were in school together.”
Sara couldn’t remember Eddie ever mentioning the man’s name, though, considering the circumstances, it made sense.
“He lost his best friend because of it. I think that hurt him almost as much as the possibility of losing your mother.”
“Thomas Ward is the man who runs this church Tessa is so excited about.”
Again, she nodded. “I was aware.”
“The thing is,” Sara began, wondering again how to phrase her words, “he has a son.”
“I believe he has a couple of them. Some daughters, too.”