Page 21 of The Lady on Esplanade
I had to look at my friend to make sure that low, sultry voice was hers.Her cheeks had pinkened, and when I turned toward Henry I understood why.He was what my grandmother Amelia would call “movie-star handsome,” or what Jolene would call a cool drink of water.
Henry was a cross between Ryan Reynolds and a blond Tom Cruise but taller, and better-looking—if that was even possible.He wore a light blue button-down oxford-cloth shirt beneath a navy cable-knit cashmere sweater that accentuated his summer-sky blue eyes.Maybe it was the mental mention of my grandmother, an avid bird-watcher, that made me see Henry and Camille as cardinals, the male all showy in his scarlet plumage and the drab female meant to blend into the background.It may have been my childhood, spent in the shadows of my mother’s addictions, that made me warm to Camille, or maybe an instinctive distrust of any good-looking male (Thank you, Michael Hebert) that made me shift away from Henry and embrace Camille.
Mimi put her arm around Camille’s shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze.“We’ve been sharing stories about Adele.She knew Adele long before Buddy did.She has photo albums at her parents’ house in Alabama, and she’s going to ask them to send them.I think Beau would enjoy seeing them.”
Christopher joined us.“And I remember working with Adele and Camille at the Past Is Never Past during the short time they lived in New Orleans before the storm.Never a dull moment with those two, that’s for sure.I also remember that Camille had an encyclopedic memory of every piece of inventory.”
“That’s right,” Mimi said.“And she could add up an entire column of numbers without a calculator.After a while I stopped double-checking her totals, because she was never wrong.”
Camille looked down at her feet as a blotchy red stained her cheeks.
“Well, that’s one thing she can do better than me,” Henry said with a chuckle.He was the only one who laughed.
Mimi hooked her arm through Camille’s.“I’ve recently installed a small greenhouse in my back garden and am testing my green thumb with orchids.They’re extremely temperamental, so who knows how long I can keep them alive?But they look so lovely.We’ve got another half hour until dinner, so why don’t I take you back to show you?”
Camille glanced at her husband as if asking for permission.
Henry waved his hands in their direction.“Oh, go on.We men would prefer to talk football—am I right?”Henry didn’t wait for Beau or Christopher to respond before he scooped a handful of nuts from a crystal dish on a side table and plopped down on the vacated sofa.
As Sam, Jolene, and I followed Mimi and Camille from the room, I could hear Beau suggesting that Henry remove his feet from the inlaid wooden coffee table and then apologizing that they hadn’t considered adding a Barcalounger to the parlor room’s décor.
Sam and I shared a glance, choking on our laughter.
“Y’all hush,” Jolene whispered from behind us.“He might have been raised in a barn and doesn’t know any better.”
We followed Mimi into the backyard and into a greenhouse that was only about fifteen feet square but that someone with an eye for architecture and an appreciation for historic vernacular had given an Italian Renaissance roof that matched that of the house, including a widow’s walk and oval windows.The glass windowpanes were set in copper frames, the patina of which would change to an antique blue-green hue over time.
“Did you design this?”I asked Mimi, taking in the freestanding wood-and-iron shelves and the potting bench along one short side of the structure.
“Actually, no.Beau did.”
I looked at her.“Beau Ryan?Your grandson?”
Jolene poked me in the ribs, causing me to yelp.Every time I told her not to poke me with her finger she insisted that she wouldn’t need to if I would simply remember to be polite.
Mimi chuckled.“Yes, Beau.I suppose I’d been mentioning for years that I wanted to try my hand at growing orchids but wasn’t sure how to go about it.He must have been working on the design and ordering materials while he was in the hospital, recuperating from his, er, accident, so it was all ready to go last weekend, when he and Christopher installed it.It went up very quickly.Unlike the orchids.”
She frowned at a row of pots that displayed not even a single stem protruding from the soil they contained.
“I don’t think orchids are supposed to grow that fast.”
“Oh, I know that,” Mimi said with a dismissive wave.“It’s just that, well, I was hoping to have some blooms by Christmas—as a sort of present to myself.”
“Adele loved orchids.”Camille’s voice was so quiet that I wasn’t exactly sure who’d spoken until she spoke again.“She carried orchids for her wedding bouquet.”
“She did,” Mimi said.“I was relieved that she settled on white orchids instead of blue and orange, like she originally wanted.”
Jolene’s eyes lit up.“War Eagle!”
Camille smiled, her face transformed, giving a hint as to what she might look like if she wore colors besides beige.“War Eagle,” she replied.
“I love Auburn,” Jolene said.“Mostly because I hate Alabama and Auburn’s their blood-sworn rival.But then again, everybody hates Alabama.They have the most obnoxious fans.I remember—”
“Is Auburn where you and Henry met?”I asked, cutting Jolene off before she went down her list of SEC teams.College football was her favorite subject, next to makeup.
Camille shook her head.“Henry went to Alabama.We met at a fraternity mixer after the Iron Bowl.He was the best-looking guy I had ever seen, and he was surrounded by all these pretty Chi Omegas,but for some reason he noticed me.”She shrugged and looked down at her feet.“He was mad because Auburn had actually won for a change, and he was threatening to go down to Toomer’s Corner and poison those cherished oak trees.”
“And you talked him out of it?”Sam asked.
