“I know what it means, Mama,” Sophie butted in, “but Victoria never did things to make Em sick just so that she would get attention for taking care of her.”
“There’s more than one sickness,” Rebel said. “There’s physical sickness and then there’s mental. It could be the latter one, but no matter what, she’d best not send anyone to hurt my child.”
“What would you do if she did?” Sophie giggled.
“I’d have to do what I’ve wanted to do for more than twenty years. I’d have a very good reason to march up to her house and stomp her fancy ass into the ground,” Rebel answered.
Sophie’s giggles turned into laughter. “Don’t do it until I get home. I wouldn’t miss that show for anything,” she said when she could catch her breath again. “Don’t worry about me and Em. She already likes it here.”
“Honey, anyplace on earth would beat that cold mansion she’s had to live in her whole life,” Rebel said. “I’ve got to go. Annie and I are catching a late-night movie down at the theater.”
“Good night. I’ll holler at you on Sunday if not before,” Sophie said.
“Lookin’ forward to it,” Rebel told her.
Sophie tried to call Teddy, but the call went straight to voice mail. As always, his deep voice on the outgoing message sent little shivers through her whole body. She hadn’t been impressed with him the first time she saw him, but when he spoke, all that changed. There was something soothing and yet exciting about the deep southern Louisiana twang he had.
After the beep she said, “Hello, darlin’. I miss you. I love you. I’ll call tomorrow morning, which will be in the afternoon for you. I’ve made it to the trailer park and am hoping to start painting tomorrow.” She ended the message, tucked her phone into her pocket, and headed across the yard to the table.
“So, tell us about your friend,” Filly said. “Is she all right? She seemed like she was afraid of her own shadow when she got out of your vehicle. Her little hands were shaking, and she wouldn’t make eye contact with us. What’s happened to her?”
“It’s a long story, but the best way I can describe her is that she’s like Coco,” Sophie said.
Josh nodded. “Go easy with her, right?”
As if she’d heard her name, a big calico cat jumped up on the bench beside Sophie and meowed. “I’m glad to be here, too, Coco girl.” Sophie smiled. “Thank you for the warm welcome.”
The cat had appeared in the trailer park during Sophie’s first year there. She’d been a tiny kitten so wild that no one could touch her, but Josh had kept working with her until, by the end of summer, she would let him pet her. Sophie remembered him saying that he understood the cat, because he was leery of most people, too.
“Is Emma sick, or is she just wary of strangers like Coco was when she first adopted us?” Arty asked.
“Not either one, really,” Sophie answered. “It’s more like she was so sheltered and protected that the real world was too much for her.”
A smile played at the corners of Josh’s mouth. “I’ll share Coco with her. That might help.”
“I’m sure it will,” Sophie agreed. “I should be taking some food back for our supper.”
“Just take the pot,” Arty said. “There’s about enough for two people left in it.”
“And the chocolate cake, too,” Filly said. “We’ve all had our fill of it, and tomorrow, I want to make dumplings.”
“I’ll help you carry it,” Josh offered.
“Thank you, again, for everything.” Sophie stood and picked up the pot of chowder.
Josh cut off a piece of cake. “Something for my midnight snack,” he said and then set the rest of the loaf of bread on the empty end of the cake pan. “I like chocolate cake and a glass of good cold milk before I go to bed.”
“Me too,” Sophie said. “Thank y’all for saving some supper for us.”
Filly waved her away with a flick of the wrist. “We’re family. We take care of our own.”
“Have you and Em been friends for a long time?” Josh followed behind her with the cake and bread in his hands.
“We were inseparable until we were about twelve years old.” Sophie stepped up onto the porch. “Then she had tutors that came to the house to educate her, and I stayed in public school. The first semester of college we saw each other some, but I hadn’t actually seen her in more than a decade until today. She went to one college and I went to another, and they were only about fifty miles away from each other, but she went home after the first semester.”
“I hope she finds peace here,” Josh said.
Peace might be stretching her expectations for Emma. If she could just gain a little self-confidence and be like the little girl that Sophie had known all those years ago, that would be a great start.
“So do I.” Sophie opened the door and went straight to the short bar separating the kitchen from the living area. “Supper has arrived, Em,” she called out as she set the pot of chowder down. Josh handed the pan in his hands off to Sophie, bobbed his head in a quick goodbye, and was out the door before Emma made it to the kitchen.
“I haven’t had chocolate cake in forever,” Emma said. “Oh!” Her voice showed more emotion than it had all day. “A cat! Can I pet it?”
“Yes, you can pet her. She’s very tame. Her name is Coco, and she loves attention,” Sophie answered. “Did Victoria ever let you have a pet? I remember that you always said you wanted a cat when we were kids.”
Emma dropped down on her knees and picked up the cat, hugged her to her chest, and kissed her on top of the head. “I love cats, but Mother says they shed all over everything, and she said that I’m probably allergic to them anyway.”
“Well, we don’t care if Coco sheds, and you aren’t sneezing, so I don’t think you’ve got an allergy,” Sophie said. “Coco brings us all so much joy that we’ll gladly brush the cat hair off the sofa or run the vacuum over the carpet. Out here in the boonies, you can enjoy her all you want. You want some chowder? It’s been hours since you had lunch.”
“We had a snack up near Odessa when you stopped for gas,” Emma reminded her. “I’d rather have a piece of that cake right now.”
Sophie cut off a big slab and plopped it down on a paper plate. “We don’t have a table, so do you want to eat it on the bar or sitting right there on the floor?”
Emma’s eyes showed a faint bit of light. “Right here on the floor, and after I eat it, maybe I will have some chowder.”
“Remember that old saying about life being short?” Sophie got misty-eyed at the idea of Emma getting so excited over chocolate cake.
“Eat dessert first,” Emma finished the old adage. “I should sketch those words in fancy lettering and make a plaque to hang on my wall if I ever get a tiny house.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, but first you have to pick up some brushes or at least crayons,” Sophie said.
Emma held her plate above the cat’s head and took the first bite. “This is so danged good. When I was in college, I ate whole boxes of chocolate cupcakes, but they didn’t taste like this. I remember when Rebel let us have a picnic on a quilt one time. We had peanut butter sandwiches, and Rebel had brought chocolate cupcakes that she’d made. They tasted like this, but I felt guilty later. You never came back to my house again. Mother said that Rebel left because she didn’t like me. I asked her what I’d done so I could apologize, but she just gave me one of those looks and said that I drove her best housekeeper away. For weeks afterward, when she was interviewing women, she would tell me that it was all my fault that she had to take time to find another one. I was careful to never make friends with another housekeeper again.”