Page 54 of The Night the Lights Went Out
Sugar nodded. “I think you’re right. You’re very smart, Lily.”
Lily blushed before turning the page and pausing. Only one person had signed this page, right in the middle, with a bold, black marker, and it appeared that this page had been reserved, a VIP seat at a crowded stadium.I love you, Tallie. Can’t wait to marry you. John.
“Who’s John?” Lily asked, her whole body recoiling. “My dad’s name is Michael.”
“Well, most likely John was an old high school boyfriend of your mother’s. Remember, a person usually graduates from high school when they’re only about seventeen or eighteen—still pretty young. It’s very rare these days that a girl marries her high school sweetheart—especially if she heads off to college and a career and meets other people.”
“Like my dad.”
“Yes, exactly.” Sugar turned the page quickly, realizing why Merilee might have originally not wanted her children to have access to her high school yearbooks.
They turned the pages slowly, commenting on the funny hairdos and clothing styles and the complete lack of selfies or any reference at all to Facebook. At least Sugar noticed it with an almost nostalgic glow.
“Look—there’s Mom!” Lily pointed enthusiastically at a group photo of the varsity cheerleading squad in an impressive pyramid, Merilee on the ground in front doing a perfect split. “She was the captain—see?” Lily’s chipped nail tapped on the photo’s caption:Merilee “Tallie” Talbot in her fourth year as team captain for the Eagles varsity squad.“She didn’t tell me she was captain,” Lily said, her voice filled with awe. “I can’t wait to tell Bailey.”
Sugar raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Look how pretty she was,” Lily said.
And she was, Sugar had to agree. Shiny dark hair; long, lean limbs; and skin that glowed—the kind that didn’t need makeup or a dermatologist’s care. “She still is,” she said, because it was true. Merilee Dunlap was still a very attractive woman. But she was different, too, from this girl in the photo. Not just older, but changed in a way that was hard to quantify. Sugar thought it was in the eyes, the way the cheerleader had once looked out at the world as if she knew who she was and what her place in it was.
Sugar leaned forward, looking through the bottom of her bifocals to magnify the photo. She could now see the shadow of a furrow between Merilee’s eyebrows, lending her face an almost haunted look that prevented her from appearing completely carefree. Yet her smile defied anyone to think that she was anything but.
Sugar sat back. “Do you know when your uncle died? How old your mother might have been?”
Lily shrugged. “She doesn’t like to talk about it. But I think she said she was in high school.”
Sugar nodded slowly as they continued to turn the pages, pausing at the page devoted to the football team. A large heart had been drawn around a single player’s face, an arrow going through it, complete with feathers at the tail. Sugar leaned closer to read the name:John D. Cottswold, Varsity Football Captain.She quickly turned the page before Lily could focus on the picture of the square-jawed teenager or the name.
They continued to turn pages, looking at these strangers’ photos, noticing how many times Merilee appeared in them in various groups, clubs, and committees. And Sugar saw how many times John D. Cottswold appeared next to her.
“Look!” Lily exclaimed before Sugar’s eyes could focus on a new page. “It’s senior prom. And Mom is prom queen.”
It wasn’t surprising, really, to see Merilee standing next to John wearing coordinating evening wear in shades of blue and black. They were both wearing cardboard crowns and grinning at the camera in a series of photos, one picture showing Merilee’s lips pressed against John’s cheek.Marry me, Tallie!was written underneath the first photo in the same bold black handwriting they’d seen before.
Sugar was bracing herself for Lily’s comment when Lily slammed the book shut. “I think Mom’s home.”
“I thought you said your mother had given her permission.”
Instead of answering, Lily slid off the sofa and ran back to the bedroom, leaving Sugar in the dreaded position of either tattling on the girl and admitting her own complicity, or pretending that she believed they hadn’t done anything wrong. Lilyhadsaid that she’d received her mother’s approval, after all. And Sugar had chosen to believe her.
“Hello, I’m home,” Merilee called. “I’m so sorry the babysitter didn’t show—she called me and said she’d already spoken to you and that you were okay with staying a little longer. Still—I’m so sorry.”
“No harm done,” Sugar said as she managed to stand. “There’re cookies in the oven.”
As if on cue, the oven timer began to beep and Merilee rushed to the kitchen to take them out, Sugar eventually catching up. “You didn’t have to do this, Sugar, but I know the kids loved it.”
“Well, someone has to teach them kitchen skills, and I happened to be here.”
The sides of Merilee’s mouth twitched. “It’s a good thing you were.” She slid off the oven mitt she’d grabbed from the counter. “It’s a lovely evening outside—hardly any humidity. Why don’t you go sit out on the front porch and I’ll join you with some iced tea and cookies? Just give me a minute.”
Sugar pretended to give it some thought. Something about seeing the girl Merilee had once been had added a whole new dimension to this woman. Made Sugar realize that she wasn’t the only one with shadows in her past. “I suppose so.Law & Order: SVUis a repeat tonight anyway.”
Sugar began making her way to the front porch as Merilee called out to her daughter. “Lily, please go get your brother and tell him it’s bath time and then bedtime, but before he brushes his teeth he can have a cookie.”
Merilee soon joined her with the promised iced tea and cookies on one of Sugar’s serving plates. “Sorry,” Merilee said, following Sugar’s gaze. “I haven’t had a chance to bring it back to you yet. You can take it and the cookies when you leave.”
Sugar almost said something about how people nowadays had no idea about manners, but she remembered the cheerleader in the photo, the haunted look behind her eyes, and remained silent. Instead she took a sip of her tea. “Almost there but not quite. Needs more sugar.” She felt the younger woman watching her but didn’t turn to meet her gaze. “Your brother, David, the one who collected Lego people. How did he die?”
