Page 14 of Leave It to Us
“Of course you’d say that because you had him in your life much longer than I did,” Tami said, and Lana clamped her lips shut because her younger sister was right. Tami had been only eight years old when their father died, while Lana had been fourteen.
“And I’m not angry about that,” Tami hurried to say. “I mean, not anymore. It’s just that I don’t want us to mess up this opportunity to return the favor to Grandma Betty. She never asked anything of us, but she gave us everything she had. Even in death.”
Both Lana and Yvonne were silent for a few moments. Then Yvonne spoke. “I think we should go down there and fix up the house. We’ll use the money from the escrow account so nobody has to come out of their pocket for anything. Well, except our plane tickets. Tami, I’ll get yours when I book mine after I hang up.”
Tami whispered a relieved “Thank you” to Yvonne. “And I’ll pay you back for the plane ticket. I’m really thanking you for agreeing to do this, because I know you’d rather stay here with Mama.”
“No, I wouldn’t ‘rather stay here with Mama,’” Yvonne snapped. “I don’t usually have any choicebutto stay with Mama. But I’ve got Ms.Rosalee staying with her, so she’ll be fine for a few weeks. And hopefully, that’s as long as this will take.”
“So we’re doing this,” Lana said. “We’re going to the island to fix up this house, and then we’re selling this house. Right?” In the last few days, she’d given up on the idea of a quick sale for the house since she’d caught the wavering in Yvonne’s texts. Sure, Yvonne still wanted to sell the house, but she’d also been texting them pictures she’d found in someboxes that were in the basement of their mother’s home. Pictures of the three of them on the island when they were young. Pictures of them with Grandma Betty at Lana’s wedding. And a picture of their grandmother and father on the summerhouse porch, weeks before Daddy had passed away.
That was the one that had pricked Lana’s heart and had tears flowing freely. Daniel Butler had been everything to her. He’d been the first man she ever loved, the standard for what she would look for in a husband, and she missed him every hour of every day.
“Because I’ve got stuff going on,” she hurriedly continued before the emotion welling in her gut grew any stronger. “I mean, there’s a lot of things I need to focus on here, so this isn’t the best time for me to be away.” She still hadn’t talked to Isaac about his new debt or the fact that she had no idea where they were going to get the money in just a little over a month. With a quick sale of the house no longer a possibility, this entire project was just another link in a chain that was steadily growing heavier around her neck.
“You’re not the only one with things going on,” Yvonne chimed in. “But we should do this. Wecando this.”
“Yes!” As usual, Tami didn’t bother hiding her excitement. “We’re doing this, and it’s gonna be great, y’all. I’ve just got this feeling that this is going to be exactly what Grandma Betty wanted ... and more.”
Lana was the first to get off the call since she was obviously the only one not feeling this little adventure they were about to embark on. And truthfully, that was another perplexing thing for her to ponder—she hadn’t counted on Yvonne wanting to do this. In fact, Lana would’ve thought her older sister would have remained firmly on her side after their initial conversation about this, but somewhere between Tuesday and tonight, something had obviously happened to change Yvonne’s mind. That meant the sisters were heading to Daufuskie Island for who knew how long, to fix up a house that had once been a big part of their lives. There was really no telling how this was going to end, and that wasthe last thing Lana needed right now—another situation she couldn’t predict or control.
Irritation mixed with anxiety traveled through every inch of her body, settling in the nape of her neck and her forehead, where a pounding headache had taken over.
Breakfast was Lana’s favorite meal of the day—and brunch was even better—because not only could she have her beloved breakfast foods but she could also have them even later in the day and not get remarks like “You’re eating eggs and bacon in the middle of the day?” from her sisters or whomever she was with at the time. She’d eat what she wanted, when she wanted, anyway, but comments like that still irked her.
But on Sunday morning, when she rolled out of bed a little after eleven, Isaac surprised her by coming into their bedroom fully dressed, giving her a slow grin.
“Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he said with arms outstretched. He walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.
She fell into the embrace, always eager to feel safe and cherished, something she’d only ever experienced with Isaac. And her father, of course, but that had been so very long ago. “Good morning,” she replied with a heavy sigh that had to mirror how off she felt.
Until late in the evening, Lana had spent yesterday in the room she used as a studio, touching up pictures, reorganizing her catalog, and planning what she hoped would be the winning proposal for a photo-book idea that had been percolating in her mind for the past few months. The idea had been for a photo documentary of urban movement from the grins of a child on a playground to the dilapidated buildings in neighborhoods that depicted just as much of an internal breakdown as an external crumbling. Her agent had loved it, but by the time she’d finally fallen into bed at two in the morning, Lana was lessthan enthused about the shots she’d taken so far, and the outline for the project just wasn’t resonating in a way she needed it to.
“I was just coming to wake you,” he said, and then pulled back just enough to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Get dressed; we’ve got reservations at Sid’s in forty minutes.”
Sid’s was an elegant rooftop restaurant nestled in the heart of Back Bay, with sweeping views of the Boston Public Garden. The soul-food-inspired-by-rich-Caribbean-roots establishment served an array of eclectic and flavorful plates, like jerk wings and braised beef short ribs. Isaac especially loved their unique house-recipe cocktails, which included exotic island rums from the West Indies, but Lana’s favorite was the fried sweet plantains, which she always had with her beloved breakfast choice of scrambled eggs loaded with American cheese, onions and green peppers, and crispy fried bacon. They also had a terrific apple-and-cinnamon-infused spiced rum that Lana sometimes dreamed about.
Her stomach growled, and Isaac chuckled. “I guess that means you like that idea.”
She loved the idea, and an hour later, she was sitting across from him as the early-afternoon sun beamed, staring out at the vibrant floral patterns in the Public Garden.
“You still feeling uneasy about the trip to South Carolina?” Isaac asked as they waited for their food.
Turning her gaze to him, she watched as he wrapped his fingers around his glass and brought the house-made lemonade to his lips for a sip. Isaac wasn’t a heavy drinker; when he did drink any type of liquor, it was always late in the day or evening. He had a thing about everything having a time and place that, in the beginning of their relationship, had bordered on compulsive to her—but now, seven years after meeting him, she knew that it was just another part of his personality. Isaac was a generally laid-back man with a quick and infectious smile anda generous heart. He loved his parents, worked hard, and was great in bed—the perfect man for her. At least, that’s what she’d thought.
“Yeah,” she replied, and attempted to blink away her previous thoughts. “It’s going to be weird; I already know that. My sisters and I aren’t exactly the DIY types.”
Isaac chuckled. “That’s probably an understatement,” he said and then shrugged. “But I gotta say, I’m really impressed that you all agreed to take this on. It’s a big task, and one I know your grandmother probably put a lot of thought into.”
She shook her head at that comment because he was right. “Grandma Betty put a lot of thought into a lot of things. I mean, she was just a couple inches shy of being eccentric, with her birdhouse collection mixed in with an extensive music library.”
“She was a fascinating woman who lived a full life, from what I knew of her,” Isaac continued.
Lana reached for her glass and took a slow sip of the mimosa she’d ordered. “Yes, she was. And she liked you.”
His brow furrowed. “You say that like you’re surprised by that fact. I’m a pretty likable dude.” He grinned and then licked his lips, and her nipples tingled.
Right here, in the middle of the day, sitting in a restaurant full of people, that simple action from her husband had turned her on. She couldn’t help but grin back in return; the option to jump over the table and straddle him was obviously out of the question.
