Page 17 of Night Songs

“Jesus.”

“Yeah.”

He was quiet a beat. “So you don’t remember her at all?”

I nodded. “But I want to. That’s why I’m here.” At the thought, a familiar feeling rose up, not a wave but maybe a ripple, that ached for the touch of another person.

As if he could feel it run through me, he reached out and put his hand over mine on the slats of the bench. I looked up at him, and his eyes glinted with that infinite mirth.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Micah.” He paused. “And yours?”

“Rhea.”

He smiled for the first time, and the mirth spread from his eyes to each of his features, imbuing his face with a mischievous light. “The goddess herself.”

That evening, I was invited to a country star’s house for dinner.

On the way in the hired car, we passed a bronze statue of my mother posing with hands on hips like she owned the place, her wig glinting dull gold in the sunset. Down the road, we stopped at an intersection at the Country Music Hall of Fame, where her ten-foot grin flashed from a banner advertising a new exhibit.

Everywhere I looked in Nashville, I saw her, like she was a religious icon, and I had finally come to her holy city.

We arrived on the outskirts of town in a neighborhood of ornate iron gates and high foliage that obscured the properties beyond. The singer’s house wasn’t the gawdy mansion I expected, but rather a modest single-storycolonial set back from the street in a dense thicket of trees. When I exited the car, it was like stepping into the woods.

The woman who answered the door was as tall as me, with an aging dark-haired, freckled beauty. She was dressed in all black and garnet lipstick like a beatnik, but she gave off a sense of Southern society and a magnetic warmth I’d never encountered before.

For a moment, she just studied me with an intense gaze, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I was used to adults taking the lead. “Um, hi. I’m Rhea. You invited me for dinner?”

Her face spread into a grin and she laughed. “Well, of course. It’s nice to meet you, Rhea. I’m Hess.”

I had heard of Hess Walker, but I wasn’t very familiar with her music. Only that one song, “Lady in Black,” which my principal dedicated to his wife at every high school dance. It was the kind of song you heard at a gas station or a grocery store.

I put out my hand, but she took me by the shoulders instead and gave me a gentle hug. She smelled like wildflowers and hot stone, reminding me of a hiking trail back home, and I took another sniff, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

When I pulled back, she studied me intensely once more, and I wondered if she was looking forher. But then she seemed to give up, and she showed me inside.

The house was elegant but cozy with a level of sophistication I’d never seen in real life. I had always known luxury as giant TVs and tarped Jet Skis in the driveway, but this woman hadtaste.

The furniture was expensive and eclectic in rich-hued textures like dark wood and olive velvet. She had real art on her walls that featured naked women and abstract designs. Glinting gold awards were scattered among other artifacts like an owl’s white tail feather and a chunk of smoky quartz.

In the dining room, a redhead in a pink dress spotted me first and shrieked, wrapping her arms tightly around my shoulders. She smelledstrongly of rose, and my stomach turned slightly. “Rhea! You’ve come back to us!!” she cried.

As soon as she released me, I was enveloped by a woman in a silver turtleneck I recognized as the R&B singer Tima Williams. She whispered in my ear, “Welcome home, baby.”

Another woman with high cheekbones wearing a fringed suede jacket and worn cowboy boots held out her hand and calmly introduced herself as Martha, clearly trying to balance out the chaos.

“Are you sure you don’t remember us?” the redhead, Phoebe, asked in a playful tone. “Anthony told us you didn’t, but I just can’t believe…”

I considered lying before deciding that would be the greater sin. “Honestly, I don’t. I wish I did.”

Tima put an arm around my shoulders. “We understand, baby. You were so little when your mama passed.” She guided me into a seat, then everyone sat down at the table. “But we are happy to see you regardless. We were good friends of your mother’s.”

Hess disappeared into the kitchen, and I instantly wished she would come back. She had a grounding force, and this was a little overwhelming.

“So, Rhea, tell us all about you. I want to know every little thing we’ve missed,” Phoebe demanded.

“Um.”