“That’s really great.” Julia felt tentative without knowing why. She got the urge to make herself useful and started muscling the mattress back into place on the boxspring. “I’ll put things back together.”
“Thanks.” Courtney kept going through the jewelry. “I really don’t think his jealousy was his being competitive with me. I think it was grief about Mike. He lost his way since Mike died. I think it’s like a delayed grief, and depression.”
“I agree.” Julia picked up the bedclothes, smoothed out the coverlet, and set it back on the bed with the top sheet. “I thought the same thing. We talked about it, did he tell you?”
“Yes, and he said that you really helped him, so thanks for that.” Courtney sorted bracelets and necklaces into piles on the bureau. “Paul’s been having a hard time, and I didn’t get it before. I was thinking about you so much and everything you were going through.”
“So was I.” Julia made the bed, which felt oddly right, as if she were restoring Kay’s world order, despite her death.
“I even talked to him about Alex. I know the two of them had some back and forth, and I still can’t believe that Paul even tried to hit Alex, but Paul really was grateful that Alex did everything he could to save me. I think he admired Alex, just like I did. Like everybody did. You saw the turnout for his memorial service. It was amazing. He was amazing.” Courtney shook her head, then inhaled slowly. “It’s awful, so much death. Him and Soroya, both.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Julia felt a pang, then picked Kay’s underwear off the floor and returned it to the top drawer, which she knew was the right one. It was only common sense, after all. She put her underwearin the top drawer at home, and so did most women. Then she closed the other drawers, so the dresser looked like it should again.
“Alex was such a great guy, and he was so committed to doing good, like Grandma Kay.” Courtney sorted a third pile of brooches. “What about you and Gianluca? You two seem like you’re in a better place.”
“We are. We worked it out.” Julia picked up Kay’s deodorant and other toiletries, then put them back on the dresser.
“Gianluca told Paul you were going on a honeymoon. That’s good.” Courtney kept sorting jewelry. “What did you decide about your in-laws?”
“They’re going to live with us half the year.” Julia picked up the shards of the broken perfume bottle, then dropped them in a wicker wastebasket beside the dresser.
“A compromise, I like it. Look at you, showing maturity.” Courtney started putting jewelry back in the box. “One last thing, we can’t go so long without seeing each other. I won’t be working my ass off anymore, so we can fly over and invade your guest cottage. I want to spend more time with you guys and Leni.”
“Totally, I agree.” Julia found herself looking at the floorboards, noticing that there was a slight stain where Kay’s perfume had spilled. She flashed on the bloodstain downstairs, for some reason. She didn’t understand why her mind had put those two things together, but instinctively, she took a tissue from a box on the dresser and knelt to clean any residual perfume.
She swiped the stain, and a trace of concentrated perfume appeared on the tissue. She breathed in its scent with a pang, still sitting on her haunches. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to get up for a moment. She looked over and wondered what was under the bed, which was covered by a matching dust ruffle.
“Okay, I’m done.” Courtney turned from the bureau, some jewelry in her hands. “What are you doing down there?”
“What’s under the bed?” Julia blurted out.
Courtney shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Can we check?”
69
Julia knelt on the floor, her heart beginning to pound as Courtney slid a long plastic storage container from under the bed. It had a blue lid and its sides were opaque white, so they couldn’t see what was inside.
“Whoa.” Courtney turned to Julia, her eyes flaring. “I didn’t know she kept anything under here. How didyou?”
“I’m not sure, I just wondered. Look, it’s not that unusual. People store things under beds. Maybe it was just a good guess.”
Courtney waved her off, excited. “Julia, stop with the denial. Did Grandma Kay tell you? Is shecommunicatingwith you?”
Julia felt her chest tighten. She couldn’t quite believe it was true. “Possibly.”
“Where is she?” Courtney started looking wildly around the room. “I don’t see her! Grandma Kay? Grandma Kay!”
“Courtney, no.” Julia put a hand on Courtney’s arm, and Courtney nodded, jittery, wiping her eyes.
“Okay, let’s open the box.” Courtney wedged the blue lid off the container and shoved it aside. Inside were a bunch of crumpled white paper bags that had the address of an online needlepoint store in San Francisco. “Oh, I know what these are. These are her pillow projects, she called them. She loved stitching pillows and she gave them away as gifts, but her arthritis would act up and she couldn’t always finish them. She said they would take a lifetime.” Courtney blinked puzzled tears from her eyes. “She wants us to see her needlepoint? Why?”
“I don’t know,” Julia answered, puzzled yet feeling a preternatural calm. “Let’s look through the bags.”
Courtney reached for the first bag and opened it. Inside was a rolled-up needlepoint scrim and a variety of yarns in different colors, each wrapped with a rubber band. She unrolled the scrim, a floral pattern with bright yellows, oranges, and whites completed, but the rest undone. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t either. May I?” Julia opened a bag that held another needlepoint scrim, a small farmhouse that had only the white clouds and pale blue sky finished.
