Pawleys Island-lowcountry 5 by Dorothea Benton Frank

Author:Dorothea Benton Frank [Frank, Dorothea Benton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Psychological, General, Psychological Fiction, Secrecy, Friendship, Legal, Women lawyers, Seaside Resorts, Plantation Life, Women Artists, Pawleys Island (S.C.), Art Dealers
ISBN: 9780425212387
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2004-12-31T06:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

RISING TIDE

OVER the next days, some things improved and others did not. Huey, Rebecca and I were at the gallery talking about the September show. It looked like Tom Blagden, the award-winning photographer from Charleston, was going to open the season, and Huey was out of his mind with excitement.

“Do you understand what this will mean for us? It’s huge! Huge!”

“You’ll have to cater that one, Huey.”

“You’re right! And press! We’ll have press everywhere! Goodness! We’ll need the right invitation! I mean, after all, the right invitation makes all the difference!”

“Huey! Don’t worry about it!” Rebecca said. “I’ll take care of the invitations for you! There’s a new stationery store right…”

Life was moving all around me. Huey was planning his season. Claudia was coming by before she flew back to Atlanta. Rebecca was becoming more entrenched in life at Pawleys. And I was the one with the shovel, digging Rebecca out of her hole that she found rather cozy. Everyone seemed to be making forward motion except me. I had stepped back into my past. Maybe it would redeem Rebecca; maybe I would learn something. I didn’t know then—only that we were too far down the road to turn back.

Seeing Claudia had done Rebecca a world of good. There was simply no substitute for an old friend and all those years of shared history. She praised Rebecca’s watercolors, and naturally, Rebecca framed one for her as a gift.

“You can’t give me this!” Claudia said when Rebecca gave it to her.

“I think it’s the very least I can do,” Rebecca said.

Claudia was thrilled.

“Gosh, y’all, this has been the best vacation! But I guess it’s time to go home and lypo some fannies!”

“What a way to make a living,” I said.

“You said it. But then, after I do a hundred chins and noses for vanity’s sake, along comes a kid with a cleft palate and I’m glad I hung in there.”

“Claudia goes with a bunch of doctors to Costa Rica every year and does free plastic surgery for kids who need it.”

“Yeah, me and thirty men. You’d think I would’ve found a husband by now. I’ve got doctors coming out of my ears all the time.”

“You’d never marry a doctor,” Rebecca said.

“Why not?” I said.

“Humph! They all think they’re God!”

“So do lawyers,” I said. “And I should know.”

“Yeah, but you’re one of the good guys,” Rebecca said.

I shook my head, hoping Rebecca was right.

Claudia gathered her things and said, “I gotta catch the shuttle. Rebecca, you ready to go?”

“Sure.”

“Hey, listen, if y’all get a date for court, I’ll come back for sure, and if you need me to testify, Abigail, just try to give me some notice.”

I felt reasonably sure that we would never go to court. At that point I had enough incriminating information on Nat Simms to put him behind bars if it ever became public. Even if Nat wasn’t smart enough to realize it, surely Harry Albright was, but so far Harry hadn’t budged. I thought that they were

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