arms and gnawed at her thumbnail. “I was mad, and I told him I was tired of being ignored, and then I went out and slept in the garage. I didn’t hear him leave. He sent me a text saying he loved me and he’d call when he could, but that was three days ago and I haven’t heard from him since. What if he didn’t leave? What if something happened to him?”
I was glad to know she’d worked through her anger to see there were other possibilities.
“I need to get into Dad’s shed,” I said. “Do you know where the key is?”
It was so ingrained to deny entrance that she hesitated before nodding and going to rummage around in a kitchen drawer. “I put it in the junk drawer,” she said. “Do you need something to eat? You look a little peaky.”
“I’ve got a burger,” I said. “Is Scarlet here? I saw my car out front.”
“Ssh,” my mother said, putting her hand over my mouth, her eyes wide with panic. “You’ll wake her up.”
“What’s she doing here?” I asked.
“She said this was the only place she could get peace and quiet for her morning nap. I asked her why she didn’t just go to a hotel, but she was kind of closed-lipped about the whole thing.”
“She got banned,” I said.
“Huh, maybe I’ll try that.” Mom blew out a breath. “At least she’s sleeping for now. No one makes me pop Xanax like that woman does.”
“I didn’t know you popped Xanax,” I said.
“I don’t do it often anymore,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll take them before I get a massage because it makes me tense when they rub me. And I always take one when I go Black Friday shopping because I’ve found they enhance my reflexes.”
“I don’t think that’s how they’re supposed to work,” I said.
“I dunno,” she said, shrugging. “But I took two as soon as Scarlet got here and the urge to strangle her in her sleep has disappeared. I’m going to make you some cookies to take with you. I want to make sure you give birth to one of those cute chubby babies. Gladys Pike’s granddaughter came out looking like a scarecrow. Scared me to death. Gladys still isn’t speaking to me because I screamed. But I don’t care what anybody says, there are such things as ugly babies.”
I smiled tightly and crept out the back door so as not to wake Scarlet, and I made my way back across the yard to the shed. Edna had moved to her porch swing and was bundled up like an Eskimo, but she was still watching the house with a great deal of interest. Probably waiting for Scarlet to come out.
My dad had replaced the shed door with a solid, regular-size exterior door. There were no windows. It was just a plain shed the size of a small bedroom with panel siding and a tin roof. I stuck the key in the doorknob and turned. It opened smoothly, and I pushed it open wide, more nervous than I’d expected to be.
It was just a room. Just a space. No different than any other. It was always difficult to lose a parent, no matter what your relationship. And to lose a father who was barely in his fifties and had seemed so alive before his death was even more difficult. I didn’t dwell on him being gone, but being slapped in the face with the memories was another thing entirely.
I reached inside and felt for a light switch and flicked them on. The fluorescent lights flickered and hummed before coming on bright white. I blinked a couple of times and then stepped into the room, leaving the door open.
It was a simple room, with brown wood panel walls and two brown leather recliners and a small sofa crammed at one end. There was a TV and three rows of file cabinets. On the remaining bit of wall was a built-in shelf with guns and enough ammunition to hold down the fort during a zombie apocalypse.
I immediately went to the file cabinets, noticing the dust had been disturbed there. I opened them one by one, not sure what I was looking for and not even sure if I’d recognize it if I found it.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” Scarlet said from behind me.
I jumped a foot and grabbed my chest as my heart stopped. “You scared me to death,” I said.