The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons

Author:Anne Rivers Siddons
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-07-07T16:00:00+00:00

After Barbara excused herself to take a shower, I went in search of fishing paraphernalia. I decided the garage behind the house would be my best bet. “Garage,” however, was an inadequate name for the building because it was, indeed, a diminutive and detailed copy of the big house. It even sported a small widow’s walk topped with a shrunken replica of the lightning rod. The hand-painted sign above the door indicated that this was “Tiger’s Third Eye.” There are fishing rods in there, I thought, gazing at the sign. I just know it.

Hoping that no one had done something silly and equipped the place with a security alarm, I pushed open the door and entered. A ghost crab skittered out. The scent of salt and musty air rolled over me, feeding my near-constant companion, nausea. I stepped inside and paused, allowing my eyes to adjust to the relative darkness.

The room slowly bloomed into focus, and I was mightily impressed at what I saw. Behold: a masterwork of organization. I did not believe Baby had had a hand in the precision before me because such perfection required rigid discipline with a dose of obsessive-compulsive disorder thrown in. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if Teddy was capable of this sort of clockwork tidiness.

Built-in shelves and organizing nooks complete with labels so that nothing would be misplaced were neatly filled with everything it took to run a house such as Tiger’s Eye and enjoy what the island had to offer. Cleaning supplies, extra everything (including plastic bags, trash bags, toilet paper, cupcake liners, and bug spray), outdoor eating paraphernalia, surfboards and bodyboards, fishing rods, hooks, pliers, buckets, two refrigerators stocked with beer, and one freezer filled with a fisherman’s delight: bait shrimp, finger mullet, and ice. Teddy didn’t know squat about marrying the right girl, but he had a knack, even a passion, for fishing. I suspected he loved Tiger’s Eye with a vigor that rivaled any lust he held for Baby.

I gathered everything we would need and put most of it in a rolling cart, including one cooler for fish, one for drinks and nibbles, and a small one for bait. As I leaned the rods against the side of the house, Baby strolled up wrapped in nothing but a sarong, her bikini, and the skin God gave her.

“Well. Look what the cat dragged in.”

She ignored me so I tried again. “Hey, Baby, where have you been? Were you out all night?” Her hair was full of knots and from the circles under her eyes, it looked as if she hadn’t slept a wink. She gained the steps and waved me off. “Hey, Baby, I’m talking to you.”

“What do you want?” She stood on the porch and stared at the ceiling fan.

“Where were you last night?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Well, she had certainly gotten up on the wrong side of somebody’s bed. “I don’t think wandering around alone at night is the best idea.”

“For your information, Maddy, I wasn’t wandering. What are you doing, anyway?”

“We’re fixing to go fishing.

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