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All the Blood
I skip the bathroom,down the mimosa, and grab another on my way out to the brunch. I only have to survive another couple hours here. And find something useful for Claudia in the meantime.
Easy peasy.
When I make it back out to the patio, everyone’s already out of their seats and saying their final goodbyes. I guess I missed the big reveal, then. Darn.
So, I find a seat on a lounge chair, champagne buzzing against my lips and skin, and scroll through all my social media accounts to keep from thinking about Jake and how blind I’ve been. When the crowd has dwindled down to a dozen or so stragglers, I see Farrah in the middle of them, looking around for someone. Maybe it’s me.
I stand and head her direction as quickly as my legs allow. “Hey,” I say with a wave, and I catch her eye.
Her lips draw into a smile. “Hey, was just headed out.” She folds me into a hug. “Was great meeting you.”
“You too,” I muse, and I mean it.
We look at each other fondly, unsure what to say next, and then something inside her shifts. A shadow falls across her features. Her attention turns to her diamond bracelet as she picks at it, a crease forming between her eyebrows. The first time I’ve seen her unsure.
I can feel a question brewing.
“Hey, um. Do you know if my uncle is around?” Her eyes flit back up to me, and then scan around us. Back to me. Like she shouldn’t be asking it.
My voice instinctively lowers. “Yeah, Harris?”
Her eyes flit again to something behind me and I can’t help but look over my shoulder. Magnolia. She’s talking to a group of women. “Yeah,” Farrah says.
“Yeah, I think so. He was at dinner last night.”
That seems to take her aback. Like what I told her doesn’t align with something else. All she says is, “Huh.” Adds, “Haven’t seen him in years.”
I press my lips together. Search her eyes. I don’t know what to say. “I think he’s still here,” I settle on, pointing behind me.
She sighs and looks to Magnolia again. “I need permission for that, I’m afraid.”
What? Permission to see her uncle?
Now I feel like I’m in the middle of something. I don’t need to be in the middle of something.
She leans in. “Help me sneak inside?”
“Help you…?” I look over my shoulder at the house, stalling.
She gently clutches my forearm, and when I meet her eyes again, the glint of hopeful desperation there causes my breathing to still. She’s serious. She wants me to sneak her in.
To see her uncle that she apparently has been deprived of seeing.
I don’t even know where his room is.
I swallow. “I, um…maybe we can go through the front door?” Ugh. So, I guess I’m doing this then. I’m getting in the middle.
She senses my unease and says, “I just want to see him for a minute and kiss his cheek. I’ll be quick.” She squeezes my arm for emphasis and releases it. Tears collect in her eyes as her voice wobbles. “Promise. If we get caught, I’ll take the blame.”
I nod. Okay. I’ll help her on this little quest. Why would Bilbo not help Gandalf?
I just wish one of us had a magic staff.
Jake inherited that one.
“Maybe we’ll go around the side?” I say. “Which way is Magnolia facing?”
