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Brooke closes her eyes. Why did Charlie have to mention Electra?
“Get out of here right now!” Brooke says. Her lunch is roiling in her stomach and for one hot, queasy second, she fears she’s going to boot into the flower beds. She breathes in through her nose and tries to think of what Gigi would do. Gigi wouldn’t stand for this kind of verbal abuse, that’s for sure.
“I’m not leaving here without you!” Charlie screams.
Hollis places a hand on Brooke’s shoulder and says, “Why don’t you go back to the beach? I’ll call Charlie a cab and book him on the four-thirty ferry.”
Brooke feels tears of shame burn her eyes. “I’ll just go with him,” she says. She starts to blubber. “I’m a fifth wheel here anyway.”
“What?” Hollis says. “That’s not true at all!”
“You have Tatum,” Brooke says. “And Dru-Ann has Gigi.”
At that instant, they hear a door slam, and they all look across the parking lot to the guest cottage. Dru-Ann is striding over to Charlie. “Is there a problem here?”
Charlie rears back. “Hey… you’re the chick fromThrow Like a Girl.”
Dru-Ann offers her hand. “Dru-Ann Jones,” she says with a tight smile. Brooke can see Dru-Ann crushing Charlie’s fingers. “Don’t ever call me—or any other woman—a ‘chick’ again, please.” Charlie opens his mouth to speak but Dru-Ann stops him. “You’re crashing a very exclusive party, my friend. Brooke is staying here with us. You will respect her, and me, and our hostess, Hollis, by leaving promptly. Am I clear?”
Emboldened by Dru-Ann—she’s saving the day like Superwoman!—Brooke says, “Yeah! Get out of here, Charlie!”
Charlie flexes and unflexes the fingers that Dru-Ann mangled. “My wife doesn’t need to be part of this cougar committee,” he says to Hollis. “You’re all… Wiccans!”
“We’re friends, Charlie,” Hollis says. “I’ve called you a cab. You should wait at the end of the driveway.”
Reluctantly, Charlie heads down the hydrangea-lined drive. He turns around and calls out, “Have fun burning your sage and gossiping about Luke and Laura!”
Dru-Ann marches up the porch stairs, puts an arm around Brooke, and says, “Girl, I’m sorry. I had no idea that’s what you were dealing with.”
Caroline bumps into Tatum as she comes in the side door. “What’s going on?” Tatum asks. “Where did everybody go?”
Caroline will let her mother explain later, but right now, she has an idea. “Are you busy?” she asks. “Because I’d love to talk to you alone and ask you some questions about my mom.”
“I’m free as a bird,” Tatum says. “Lead the way.”
Hollis isn’t sure how much more drama she can take. There was the breakfast with Jack, the news about Tatum’s biopsy, the revelation that Gigi also lost a man she loved, all the challenges with Caroline—and then Charlie Kirtley shows up out of the blue and calls them Wiccans?
“Are you okay?” Hollis asks Brooke.
“She’ll be fine,” Dru-Ann says. “We’re going back to the beach where the world can’t bother us.”
Hollis sees Tatum following Caroline down the basement stairs. “What are you two up to?”
“We’re going to have a little chat,” Caroline says.
Hollis blinks. “A chat? About what?”
Caroline smiles. “I want to talk to Tatum about her friendship with you.”
“That’s not on the itinerary,” Hollis jokes. “Sweetheart, I appreciate your creativity, but I don’t think Tatum wants to be grilled about our friendship.”
“I don’t mind,” Tatum says. She gives Hollis a look. “What’s wrong, Holly? Are you worried about what I’m going to say?”
“I’m just trying to get some historical context,” Caroline says.
“Historical context?” Hollis says. “You make it sound like we’re a hundred years old.”
“For depth and texture,” Caroline says. “Otherwise I’m just making a video scrapbook.”
