Page 58 of Leave It to Us
Tami chuckled. “You always hated it.”
“Yup, you sure did,” Lana said. “But you were the big sister, so you had to be in the middle so you could comfort both of us.”
“I wanted to stuff both of you in the closet so I could get some sleep. You never stopped talking when you got into my bed,” Yvonne complained, but Tami could hear the hint of laughter in her voice.
That had Tami turning over on her back and flattening her arms over the covers. “You remember that night it was storming out, and Mama had some late meeting thing at school? We were all in your bed, eating popcorn and drinking Kool-Aid, knowing Mama would’ve killed us if she knew we had food and drinks in the bedroom.”
Lana turned onto her back too, and giggled. “Yes! That was so much fun. It felt dangerous. I was so scared.”
“That didn’t stop you from eating most of the popcorn,” Yvonne said.
“Well, it was caramel. Y’all know that’s my favorite,” Lana said.
“Not mine,” Tami added. “It always stuck to my teeth. I liked the white cheddar cheese better.”
“Do you two see what you’re doing?” Yvonne asked. “You’re doing the exact opposite of going back to sleep.”
Tami lifted up slightly and looked over Yvonne to Lana. “Do you think that’s what we’re doing, Lana?”
Lana lifted up too, glancing over at Tami. “Maybe.” She shrugged and then said, “Probably.”
Tami giggled. “Definitely.”
Yvonne groaned. “I hate you both.”
The three of them laughed, and it felt like that first day they’d been in this house, when the kitchen sink had exploded all over them. That unmitigated enjoyment of each other. With all their flaws and misconceptions, in that moment, they’d just been happy together. Just like tonight.
After a few moments, after Tami had sobered, she bit down on her bottom lip for a second, wondering if what she was about to do wasthe right thing. It could spoil the great moment between them. Cause one or both of them to get angry about her keeping it from them. Then there’d be an argument, because she had every right to keep it from them since usually everything she did or said, they had a problem with. Why should she put herself through that unnecessarily? Especially since it wasn’t that big of a deal. But it was something that she hadn’t told them, and it had been nagging at her for weeks now.
So, with a heavy sigh, she just blurted it out. “I found a box of letters in Grandma Betty’s room.”
“What?” Yvonne asked.
“When?” Lana’s question came right behind Yvonne’s.
“A couple of weeks ago,” Tami said, her fingers clenching the sheets in front of her. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to her bedroom like I used to do when we were here and the two of you were busy doing whatever you did that you never wanted me to be a part of.”
“Like sleeping,” Yvonne muttered.
Lana chuckled. “Did you read the letters? What did they say? Were they love letters?”
“Oh. My. Goodness. You did not read freaky letters Grandma Betty got from her admirers? Or worse, Grandpa Riley.” Yvonne sounded properly mortified, and Tami couldn’t help but laugh.
“No, girl. Ewwww. I wouldn’t have read those,” she said, and then after a brief silence, continued. “Yeah, I would’ve definitely read those.”
Lana was still laughing. “I know you would’ve.”
“But no, it was nothing like that. There were some notes she’d written to herself, I guess, talking about how important it was for us to be here with her every summer and how much we meant to her.” She’d read those notes repeatedly because they’d solidified the connection she’d always felt with her grandmother and had bolstered her desire to do everything in her power to keep this house in their family.
“But most of the ones I read were letters she’d received from fans, I guess, and a few from Grandpa, I think when he was away on his salestrips or while she was away on tours and stuff.” Tami sighed. After the conversation she’d had with Gabriel tonight, her grandparents’ love seemed enviable.
Tami had never seen her parents happy together, and by the time she was born, her grandfather had already passed away, so she’d never seen firsthand what a healthy, loving romantic relationship looked like. So how could she ever have one of her own?
“But there was one that seemed odd,” she said. “It was from Ms.Odessa.”
“Why would Ms.Odessa, who lived right down the road, write Grandma Betty a letter?” Lana asked.
“Well, Mama Jo—that’s Deacon’s mother—she said that it took a while for things to trickle down to the island. Like electricity and phones and stuff like that. So maybe the letter was written when there weren’t any phones,” Yvonne said.
