Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith

Author:Leesa Cross-Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2023-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

2019

23

Ada

Ada got up early and made breakfast for Grayson and the boys even though she hadn’t slept enough. She and Kasey had stayed at the diner for an hour after Rosemarie left, and afterward, she followed Kasey in her rental car so she could drop it off in Adora Springs. Then she stopped at Plum Florals for fresh flowers and Plum Designs for a lamp and linens before taking Kasey to the farmhouse. She couldn’t stand the thought of Kasey not having new, soft, cozy things for her first night sleeping in that house. Ada wanted to do all she could to fortify her best friend against that flood of awful memories.

In the morning, she had eggs, fruit, bacon, and biscuits on the table for her family although she ate none of it herself. She sat with them, drinking her coffee, watching the clock. In an hour, she’d meet Rosemarie and Kasey at the bakery, and they’d go back to the hospital together.

“You’ll have to get some rest sometime. If you don’t take a break, your body will do it for you,” Grayson said to her across the kitchen table. Her husband looked good and bright-eyed, wearing a stylishly rumpled button-down shirt the color of a stormy sea with his shorts. He’d left the top two buttons undone; she loved when he did that.

When she’d told Grayson what Trey had done to Caroline, she had to beg him not to do anything stupid. “My God! I cannot believe she married that piece of shit!” Grayson said, as if their marriage just dawned on him. “I can’t believe she’s pregnant with that motherfucker’s baby.” He’d been so mad he left the house and took the twins out to his parents’ to shoot cans.

“I know I have to rest, and I will. But not today,” Ada said.

“Mama, are you sleepy?” her youngest, Pacey, asked. He rolled a blueberry up his chin, into his mouth.

“Mama’s wide awake. Look at my eyes, buddy,” Ada said, making her eyes as wide as she could and opening her mouth wide too. Pacey did the same thing and laughed.

“Daddy, I heard you snore last night, so you owe me five dollars,” Gabriel said. He was six with the savviness of a sixty-year-old attorney.

“I snorted, like, once. Woke myself up. You’ll have to record me in deep-sleep snoring like a big black bear to make those five dollars, kiddo. It ain’t gonna happen, because I don’t snore! I never place bets I know I won’t win,” Grayson said, tousling the little boy’s hair.

“Is it almost time to go?” Noah asked.

“Can I wear my swim trunks?” Nash asked. He and the boys had already been in their pool once this morning, and now it was almost time for the twins to get to the music camp down by the lake that Rosemarie’s parents were running with Leo and some teachers from the high schools.

“Is Auntie Caro still sleeping?” Pacey asked.

An elevator in Ada’s stomach was going down down down.

“She’ll wake up today.

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