Queen Bee Goes Home Again Read Online Free PDF Page B

gratitude. “Believe it or not, I do. But I couldn’t keep him here after he started trying to kill me at night.”
    I grasped her hand. “Mama! You never told me.”
    Her other hand covered mine like a protective shell. “Your plate was full enough without knowing that.”
    â€œBut I want to know. You can tell me anything.”
    She straightened in her chair. “Thanks. I may take you up on that, but not today. I need a nap.”
    â€œRest,” I told her. “I’ll come back when I’m done.”
    My mother rose, brightening. “I fixed all your favorites for dinner. Fried chicken, butter peas, stewed corn, homemade potato salad, fresh tomatoes from the garden, fresh pole beans, rice and gravy, pickled peaches and my green tomato pickles, and homemade peach ice cream. I cooked all yesterday, but the chicken’s fresh this morning.”
    That explained the aromas. All my very favorite foods. My stomach growled again, audible all the way across the room.
    Maybe I’d set those boundaries tomorrow. “Wow. I’ll be there. What time?”
    â€œSeven-thirty,” she said. Miss Mamie thought it was absolutely uncivilized to eat any earlier, which set her apart from most of the elderly I knew.
    â€œGreat.” I ducked out and fled before my body could drag me to that platter for a piece of pan-fried chicken.
    Four hours, one side salad from Wendy’s, and fifty-six trips up the garage stairs later (not counting the downs), my brother strolled into the apartment. “Hey, sis.”
    I looked at Tommy and suddenly realized he looked way older than his fifty-seven years. Still lanky and muscular as a long-distance runner, he had gone white at the temples, which just made him look distinguished. But decades of sun, booze, and cigarettes had etched their consequences deeply into his face, never mind that he’d quit smoking and drinking seven years before.
    His grin, though, still looked like a boy’s. “Why didn’t you wait till I got here? I told the Mame I’d help you unload.”
    We both knew perfectly well that I was constitutionally incapable of waiting for anything if I could help it. “I got it.”
    Tommy grinned. “Well, I’m here now. What’s left?”
    â€œNothing. Julia”—my broker and high-school friend—“and her family helped me move the big pieces yesterday, after the bank finally confirmed the closing.” I refrained from reminding him that he hadn’t been there to help then, either.
    He shrugged, his eyes narrowing. “If you choose to be mad at me because I wasn’t here when you wanted help, that’s your prerogative. All you had to do was call me ahead of time and schedule this when I could come. The fact that you didn’t was your choice.”
    I hated it when he went all 12-step on me. “I didn’t know for certain till yesterday at noon, and I left you a message. The closing had already been postponed four times.”
    I straightened. “And anyway, I told Miss Mamie when I would be here today,” I shot back. “You could have come sooner.”
    Tommy didn’t take the bait. “You didn’t tell me. I’m not a mind reader, Lin,” he said with maddening calm. “Sorry I didn’t get your message, but I was booked solid till now,” he said, peering at me without judgment. “I chaired three meetings today, so I couldn’t leave them in the lurch.”
    So he’d left me in the lurch, instead.
    All he’d done for the past ten years was AA. And working on the big house, which, I had to admit, was pretty much a full-time job.
    Tommy must have read my mind. He shook his head with a wry smile. “Welcome home, sis. Maybe you’ll be able to relax and regroup, now that you’re here.”
    That struck a nerve.
    Relax, my fanny! The last thing I’d wanted was to move back home, but even after