Page 105 of Meet Me in the Garden

He nods. “Yeah.” He pats my knee again. “I put that together.”

I feel like I’ve just run a very long distance, and now it’s over and I’m catching my breath. It’s a warm night, the record’s ended, just Al and me. He has Lionel’s nose, a bit of Lionel’s looseness in the way he’s sitting, his legs straight out, crossed at the ankles. “What do you think of country music?” I ask him.

“I’ve never liked it much,” he says, and I laugh.

And then it’s May, the eve of Nathalie’s eighteenth birthday, and I dream of her opening a card from Delphine, ashes pouring out of the envelope. I check the mail in the afternoon with my heart in my throat. Two cards for her, both from New Orleans: one from Mama and Papa Laurent, the other from Hattie.

We celebrate her birthday at the roller rink. I’m to pay for the party but stay in the background while she and Clément skate with their friends. I catch my sisters in the parking lot, Claire dropping off Sebastian, Adele dropping off Elizabeth and Paul. Rudy’s out of the house now, too grown for teenage birthday parties. He works the door at the Dooto Center during concerts, greets me with a mellow smile and hint of marijuana smoke most times I see him.

I convince my sisters to stay with me awhile. We sit outside at a table, Claire with a blue scarf tied at her throat, Adele in a bright-yellow miniskirt. Adele crosses her legs, tells us about preparations for the Saint Albert’s fashion show Dooto’s is hosting. About the banquet for Rev. Dollarhide in celebration of his city council win.

“Well, you sure are busy,” Claire says. “No idea how you have time for it. I’m barely staying afloat, what with Bernard in Santa Maria for weeks at a time.”

“Santa Maria?” Adele asks, narrowing her eyes.

I feel the conversation turning. Search for some way to catch it, but Claire says, “He’s doing recruitment for the plant.”

“Recruiting people to replace his friends? To replaceOdette?”

“We wouldn’t even be here if Al andhisfriends hadn’t messed with a good thing. You should see the response to the want ads. Not sure whatwe’regoing to do when the plant is all up and running.”

“Bernard will have no trouble,” Adele says. “Company man like him. Eager to do as he’s told.”

“Stop,” I say. “Please. You two talk like Al and Bernard somehow control the decisions of a huge company. Not evenColumbiamakes its own decisions. CBS does. Everything’s already in motion. It’s happeningregardless of whether Bernard’s helping with the transition. Let’s not let this come between us more than it already has.”

Claire adjusts her scarf. Adele fishes a pack of cigarettes from her purse.

“Want one?” she asks me. I shake my head. I’ve been cutting down. “Want one?” she asks Claire, and Claire plucks one from the pack. She puts the cigarette in her mouth, leans close to Adele, who lights it.

I let myself relax. “What else is going on in your lives?” I ask. “We don’t see one another nearly enough.”

Claire says, “Well, this morning my horoscope told me to consider matters of home and real estate, so I drove over to a new development and toured some houses.”

Adele’s face falls. “Where?”

“Off of 190th Street.”

“Did you like it?” I ask, watching them both.

Claire’s eyes are bright, a crisp cheerfulness when she says, “It was perfect. It’s a brand-new community. As soon as you pick a house and put down a deposit, you get to choose the finishes according to your taste. They have a catalogue of choices with all the materials ready to go. I know the house I want already. Bernard’s agreed to come see it with me next weekend. I’ve all but convinced him. I’m considering a pistachio or red-orange for the powder room tile.”

Adele rises from the table, her eyes glinting. No more tentative peace, no more restraint. “You’re just likeher.” The words a grenade. She storms down the sidewalk, around the corner of the building.

Claire blinks at me. “What just happened? Just likewho?”

“You know what she means.”

“I donot.” Her words come out sharp.

I lean back on the bench and watch her. She isn’t giving in. Finally, I say, “There’s no way Al could buy a house in that development.”

“I know he took a pay cut to work with Dootsie. But the twins won’t be dependent on them for much longer. They could make it work.”

“Come on, Claire. That isn’t what I mean.”

“Then whatdoyou mean?”

I can’t believe she’s arguing this with me, as though she’s forgotteneverything we’ve known all our lives. “A new development, off 190th Street? Al can’t pass. Neither can the children. You know that.”