Karen patted Angela’s shoulder as she walkedaway.
“She’s, um…” I struggled to think of a word to describe Karen that could be accurate andinoffensive.
“She’s a good person but supremely self-centered and often misguided. Karen hasn’t the first clue about humannature.”
I blinked and stared at Angela. “I sort of assumed you werefriends?”
“We are.” Angela shrugged and tossed her long, dark braid over her shoulder. “I’ve been alive fifty-three years, Daniel. I started out very much like Karen at one point, so I have plenty of sympathy for her. I just don’t take hershit.”
“Ah.”
“But she’s wrong about Julian,” she saidsoftly.
Oh, shit.This was about to be one of those mother-to-son-in-law talks, I could tell, and I was so not worthy of it. I could feel my jaw lock against the need to tell her thetruth.
But she didn’t say anything else. She led me to the one dark booth right near the dance floor, and the frazzled-looking woman staring at the non-functional lights like she could fix them with the power of herconcentration.
“Got reinforcements, Margo,” Angela said. “Margo, this is Daniel. Daniel, Margo Martin. She’s Ash Martin’s mother, and Karen’s mother-in-law.”
Margo seemed relieved to have us there, even though this was most definitely the blind leading the blind. She happily left the booth to us and went off to grab somecoffee.
Meanwhile, Angela and I ended up using flashlights and checking the light bulbs one by one to see if any were burnt out, which was absolutely mind-numbing and not nearly the distraction I needed. I started to maybe see the practicality of having a professionally decorated Christmas tree, like my parentsdid.
“What did you mean before?” I finally asked. “When you said Karen was wrong aboutJulian?”
Angela looked almost surprised. “Well, that she thinks he’s quiet, for one thing, when you and I both know the boy won’t stop talking once he getsstarted.”
I laughed. “He’s so smart, though. I could listen to him talk allday.”
“Even the animalfacts?”
“Especially the animalfacts.”
Angela smiled. “And then that she assumes being quiet means Julian’s cold, when that’s the furthest thing from the truth. He keeps quiet because he feels too much. He worries too much. Julian’s like an iceberg popping out of the water, you know? You only see the very top bit. Oh, look at that! We got half the string working. These bulbs must beancient. Start from the other sidenow.”
I moved down the line and busied myself checking bulbs again, but my mind was caught up with thoughts of Julian. I was thinking of the conversation we’d had aboutTitanic, and how outraged he’d be to learn that he wasn’t Rose or Jack, but theiceberg.
I supposed that made me the boat. Once unsinkable, ripped to shreds,doomed.
“Did Julian ever tell you about hisdad?”
“That he died when Julian was in college?Yeah.”
“Did he tell youhow?”
I paused and looked up. “Heart attack, Ithought.”
Angela nodded. “It was so, so sudden. He was perfectly fine one minute and then…gone.At forty-four.”
“I’msorry.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated. “Did Julian tell you what happened just before he died? About theirfight?”
“No.” Julian had fought with his dad right before he died? “But it’s probably better if I hear about it from him,right?”
“You’re sweet, Daniel, but this is common knowledge around here. Not exactly a secret. You see, Julian wanted thiscar…”
I stopped working and turned to look at her. Angela’s face was barely visible in the glow of the lights from the nearbybooths.
