Page 77 of The Night the Lights Went Out
“Bailey. She’s not allowed to wear anything more than lip gloss now, but her mother wants her to know the proper way to wear makeup so she doesn’t look like a clown when she’s allowed to wear it the first time.”
“Ah. I guess that makes sense. In an odd, never-would-have-thought-about-that kind of way, but it works.” She winked at Lily, making her giggle.
“And Miss Sugar’s here, too,” Colin called out.
Merilee glanced nervously at the door. “Better go intervene before a fistfight breaks out. I have no idea why she has taken such a dislike to your father.”
“She doesn’t like most people,” Lily said as she pulled open the bedroom door. “She says she finds most of them a vexation to her spirit—that wasn’t a vocabulary word, but I looked it up and it means annoying.”
“Does she, now?”
“Uh-huh. But she says there are a few exceptions. Like Colin and me. Dr. Blackford and you and her friend Willa Faye and Mr. Kimball.”
As Merilee walked down the short hallway, her long silky skirt swishing around her ankles and her incredibly high and sexy shoes tapping on the wood floor, she found herself feeling secretly pleased that Sugar Prescott found her to be one of the few people she didn’t find to be a vexation to her spirit.
She found Sugar and Michael facing off in the front room, Colin wearing a fight-or-flight expression. “Colin, why don’t you go put some of those cookies we made last night into baggies for you and Lily to take to your dad’s? And don’t forget to share with Dad and Tammy.”
She wondered why she’d added this last. Good manners had something to do with it, but she also didn’t think a few extra pounds on Tammy’s young—and pregnant—body would be amiss.
“Wow.” Michael was looking at her, his mouth slightly ajar.
“You like it?” she asked, giving a twirl because she loved the way her skirt billowed when she did, the light changing the color of the fabric as it moved. “It’s just something I found in my closet.”
“I bet,” he said. “I don’t remember anything likethatin your closet.”
“Yes, well, maybe you didn’t look close enough.”
She hadn’t meant it to sound so confrontational but wasn’t upset that it had. She was feeling more confident—most likely due to the time she’d spent at the hair and nail salon with Lindi and Sharlene. They’d even taken her to the Lancôme counter at Belk’s, where a lovely lady named Lupina had done her makeup and shown her how to do it herself. It had been years since she’d spent that much on makeup, but when she’d looked in the mirror, she knew it was worth it.
“You look beautiful, Merilee,” Michael said, and she knew he meant it. She stared at him for a long moment, wanting to see regret, to see him recognize what he’d had all along and hadn’t appreciated. To have him ask her to come back and admit he’d made a horrible mistake. But he didn’t, and she was glad. The thought surprised her. But in that brief moment of clarity she’d realized that she didn’t want him back. It was as if she’d suddenly understood that during her marriage she’d never exceeded his expectations of her. She took full blame, knowing she’d been the one to set the bar so low. But a marriage had to be more than a simple safety net below a tightrope life. All it had taken was distance and time to realize it.
Something had changed in the last few months. A shifting of perspective. She wouldn’t go so far as to say that she was stronger and braver, but she was different. Maybe that was the good that could come from divorce.
“I hope those are sitting-down shoes you’re wearing with that standing-up dress,” Sugar said, eyeing Merilee’s gown over the tops of her glasses. “You’ll need a walking stick by the end of the night if they’re not.”
“Thanks, Sugar. No need to worry. Heather’s providing a bin of flip-flops for those of us who might need to change for dancing.”
“How nice of her. I suppose she would know about feet. She’s spent so many years in those high heels that her feet look like they’ve been caught in a wheat thresher. Bless her heart.”
“Can we wait until Mr. Kimball gets here to pick you up?” Lily asked.
“No,” Sugar and Michael replied in unison, the only thing Merilee could ever imagine them agreeing on.
“Let’s not keep Daddy waiting,” Merilee said. “I know there will be lots of pictures taken so you can see us all dressed up and earning money for your school.”
“Y’all ready?” Michael asked, shouldering Colin’s hefty bag. “Say good-bye to your mother.”
“Don’t touch her dress,” Lily shouted, pulling on Colin’s arm midrun. “And she can only blow you a kiss.”
Colin looked at his sister as if she’d lost her mind. “She’s my mom, too.”
Merilee squatted in front of her children and blew them both kisses, then gave them gentle squeezes on their shoulders. “There—that should preserve my dress and makeup and last until I see you Sunday, and I’ll give you extra hugs and kisses to make up for these. All right?”
Colin grinned and nodded and Lily let go of his arm. Merilee stood, not an easy feat considering her four-inch heels. “Y’all behave, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Colin said.
Lily frowned. “It’s not like we can misbehave in front of Miss Garv—I mean Tammy. I still think she’s my teacher.”
