Page 25 of The Lady on Esplanade
Beau leaned forward.“Right here, Sarah.So make it G-rated, all right?”
I shot him a look while Sarah laughed.“I’m not even thirteen, Beau.I know nothing.”
I rolled my eyes.“Right.So, what is it?”
“Mom said you’re not coming for Thanksgiving.”
“I know—I’m pretty bummed.But I can’t get there without asking for money, which I’m not going to do, and besides, I’ve got lots of work here.Thibaut’s teaching me how to repoint bricks so I can work on the exposed chimneys in my house after I finish the bathroom tiling project that’s been waiting for me to free up some time.”
“Yeah, wow.Sounds thrilling.”I pictured her rolling her eyes.Itwas no longer clear who’d learned it from whom.“So, I was thinking, since I’m still just a kid living with parents, I don’t have any problem asking them to buy me a plane ticket to visit you for Thanksgiving.”
“That sounds like fun, but Jolene is trying to convince me to drive down to Mississippi with her for the holiday and to pick up a car.I’d much rather install bathroom fixtures and repoint chimney bricks, but Jolene keeps asking.I haven’t yet agreed to go, since I’m dying to finish my renovations, and I’m not sure who’s going to win this argument.”
“Well, that’s a no-brainer.I’ve met Jolene.So, can I go, too?Remember how much fun we had at the Sabatiers’ beach house?Please, Nola?You’re my favorite sister and I really want to go.”I imagined her using the same puppy dog eyes Mardi used on me when he was begging for another treat or for a scrap from my plate.
“I’m your only sister, which by default makes me your favorite,” I pointed out.“I’ll think about it, okay?But the answer is probably going to be no.I’ll call you about it later.I’m supposed to be driving right now.”My finger hovered over the Disconnect button.
“One more thing—I promise I’ll be quick.Grandma Sarah called me again.”
I glanced at Beau.“Yeah?Anything new?”
“I think so.I didn’t understand the first thing she said, but maybe you will.Something that sounded liketimespicksomething.I have no idea what that meant, but she kept repeating today’s date, like she wanted to make sure I remembered it.”
“Could it have been theTimes-Picayune?”Beau asked.
“Yeah, that sounds right.Isn’t that the New Orleans newspaper?”
“Yes,” I said.I’d listened to the local news on the television only briefly as I got ready that morning, and I couldn’t remember anything notable.“What else did she say?”
Beau grabbed hold of his armrest as I slammed to a stop at a red light that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
Unaware of Beau’s unnecessary histrionics, Sarah continued.“Shekept talking about an earring—a big gold hoop one, with, like, smaller hoops inside of it.Any idea what that means?”
I felt Beau staring at me, but I didn’t turn my head.“Yeah, I think it means that Beau and I should go see Madame Zoe.”
I looked up in time to see a sign indicating the turnoff for I-10.Without using my blinker—something I’d picked up quickly during my brief forays into New Orleans driving—I drove across three lanes so I wouldn’t miss it.
Beau jerked forward.“She’ll call you later,” he said before unceremoniously ending the call with a hard press of the steering wheel’s End Call button.
“What?”I asked as I headed the truck in the direction of Old Metairie, where the two sisters lived.“If you don’t like the way I drive, you shouldn’t have forced me.”
Despite my death grip on the wheel, and that my speed was a solid ten miles per hour below the limit, his face was completely blanched.He pointed to an upcoming exit.“Take this one.”
“But that’s not what the GPS says—” I began.
“We’re getting off the interstate and we’ll drive the back roads.I’m not going to call you a menace, because that’s what you want.And then you’ll have it as an excuse to refuse to try again, and I’m not going to allow that.”
“Fine.”I exited the highway before turning right into a shopping center parking lot without using my turn signal, then stopped the truck and got out.
Beau joined me, his expression probably matching mine.“What are you doing?”
I walked past him and climbed into the passenger seat.“I’m waiting for you to drive the rest of the way.Since you know what’s best for me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”He got in behind the wheel.“I just think you’re being a little pigheaded about the whole driving thing.You’ve told yourself for years that you’re a horrible driver, so that nowyou believe it.”He threw the gearshift into drive and pulled out of the parking lot, jerking the steering wheel in righteous anger.
“Sort of like you telling yourself that you understand your parents’ motives and nothing anyone can say or do can convince you otherwise.Even though you have the ability to actually talk to your mother and get an answer, you have shut down all communication.And yet you call me the pigheaded one.”
We drove in silence the rest of the way, Beau clenching his jaw, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.He didn’t speak until he’d pulled onto a residential street and stopped the truck at the curb.“I see what you did there.”
