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“I’ll be home in fifteen minutes if you can wait that long.”
“I’ll wait,” he said. “See you in fifteen.”
Next, he scrolled, looking for Katrina Blanchard’s number. His heart raced, just seeing her name.
Hi, wanted you to know I’m all set to move out, just need to tell the people who need to know. I might be a little late.
The older people had arrived at Bayou Cottage—Maggie’s mother and aunt and their significant others, Gus and Grace—and were setting up food. Katrina felt her phone vibrate in the pants pocket of the skintight capris she was wearing,à laLola.
Reading the text, her heart sank. What if he got into a heartfelt conversation with his ex? Ugh.
Okay, thank you for letting me know. The elders are here right now setting up the food, so no hurry.
Her heart was sayingdon’t bother with that bitch! Get here. I want you!But she bit her tongue, er, controlled her fingers. Then her phone vibrated again.
I’m moving out no matter what.
Reading made her heart speed up. So he was on track.
Where are you going?she texted.
He answered right away. My boat. It has a cabin, just needs to be cleaned up. I’ll need to buy a few things, too.
Hesitating, she didn’t want to set a precedent she couldn’t keep up, but she wanted to help him.
I’ll help. Can’t wait to see you.
Justin arrived on horseback with a group of the wild horse people. Then Annie and Steve arrived by boat.
“I’m not sure how Kelly and Ted will get here,” Annie said.
“They’ll take the back way through the woods that we took. It’s high and dry.”
While the newcomers gathered in the tent, getting beverages at Bayou Cottage, in the village, Alphé and Lola went out to the back terrace of his shotgun house. He’d neglected it, weeds growing up between the slate. There was never enough time.
“We haven’t really talked much,” she said. “No fighting, no clearing the air.”
“There’s nothing to fight about,” Alphé replied. “Now or then.”
“Well, that might be the first thing that was wrong with our marriage.”
“Lola, I worked. That’s what I did. I worked twelve to eighteen hours a day. There isn’t time for anything else when you fish. You knew that. Your dad was a fisherman. I never pretended that I had higher aspirations than that.”
“You had a choice,” she said.
“I did. And there’s no point in talking about it now. You also had a choice. I’m making one for myself at last. I’m moving out.”
“Okay, well, I knew that was inevitable.”
“I will miss seeing the kids every second I’m home though, so I’m asking if I can come by in the morning to say goodbye to them and then see them at night. I won’t linger. I’ll take them for dinner, too.”
“We’ll work something out,” she said, excited and scared at the same time.
She didn’t ask where he was moving to. It might open up questions about the house, which belonged to him. According to her lawyer, usually the mothers got to stay in the house until the kids turned eighteen. She’d worry about where she was going in thirteen years when Rumor had his eighteenth birthday.
“I guess that’s it. I’ll get my clothes and, if you’re okay with it, later I’ll get the rest of my stuff.”
“You can keep your things here, Alphé. It’s your house.”
