Cody
It wasthe Friday before Mardi Gras week. The sun would be setting over the Bay within the hour, and I was perched on my truck’s tailgate next to the filthiest liar on the Coast.
With a poke of my foot, I told her as much. “You are the filthiest little liar, Cher.”
Bree harrumphed at me and sipped her Mason jar of sweet tea through a neon-pink straw. “I am not. I said I’d show off my tattoo when it’s done. It is not done. Therefore, you cannot see it. Liem said he needed one, maybe two more sessions for it to.... Oh, how did he put it?” She squinted and searched her memory before quoting, “‘Urge the leaves toward their maximum splendor.’”
I couldn’t help my laugh. “He does have a way with words, doesn’t he?”
She smiled fondly as she pushed one of her French-braided pigtails over her shoulder. “Sure does. A few parts of the tattoo hurt more than others, and I always knew when they wouldbecause he’d distract me with something outrageous. I even got to hear the full ‘free willy’ story.”
Snorting, I glanced over at the rest of the Lott family where they were all gathered around a giant pot of crawfish on the front lawn of Liem and Vinh’s parents’ house. Bree was beside me but was leaned against the tailgate instead of sitting on it. Her fledgling thigh tattoo was still too tender for that. Liem was speaking closely with his mom, a short, striking woman I’d only encountered a couple of times before. She’d nodded approvingly when I’d used my “yes, ma’ams” and “no, ma’ams” on her those times, and I had done the same today.
I was not afraid to admit that, regardless of how much she looked so much like Liem, she scared me.
I’d be officially moving into the houseboat tomorrow, with Vinh as my new landlord. The boat was now blessedly relocated from the shadow of Fortuna Casino & Resort to a literal dock on the Bay, which of course meant that the song had haunted me all week. When Vinh emailed me the new address, he’d included assurances that this dock had much better safety protocols—cameras, assigned parking spots, and security lights—and implied that that was why he’d decided to move the houseboat.
But I suspected the secret teddy bear had done it for more reasons than satisfying his need for security. Bree did, too, based on the way she’d teared up when he showed her how close the boat was to the cottage now.
There was a lot of change going around. I’d finished registering for several advanced-level business classes for the upcoming summer semester last night and had no art classes this time around. No random classes were on my schedule at all, actually. Only ones that would get me my business degree.
“Does Monny look happy to you?” Bree suddenly asked, her voice pitched low.
I followed her gaze to where Liem’s dad sat in his wheelchair and fussed with the crawfish boil, stirring it with an oversized slotted spoon. The longer I watched, the more I recognized how slowly his involvement in the conversations around him came, how pained his smiles were once formed, and how briefly they remained.
“I dunno,” I answered. “Mostly he seems… tired. And maybe a little sad too.”
Bree nodded, still watching him keenly. “I hate that. But we did have a busy morning at the restaurant, so maybe it is just him being tired. And I know it bothers him when he sees us all worrying about him. It was all hands on deck for the entire time we were open today, and I don’t think any of us got a real break. Lots of people are in town for the parade tonight.”
I slid off my tailgate and casually stood in front of my best friend to study her face, and yeah. She was tired too. “Why didn’t you call me to come help? You know I give good customer-service face when the occasion calls for it. Also, please don’t use ship lingo. You will trigger me into outer space.”
She laughed and nudged me with her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll remember that. And I should have called you. If I’d had a minute to think, I probably would have. We were all pretty fried just a couple hours in.”
I nudged her shoulder back. “Next time.”
“Next time,” she agreed.
A few minutes later, I caught Vinh’s gaze, and he waved me over to help drain the giant pot. We completed the job with minimal fuss, dumping the remaining seasoned crawfish, corn, and potatoes onto the newspaper-covered table.
“Well, dig in, kids!” Monny announced loudly. He definitely looked happier than he had earlier as he instructed, “Use a plate if you’re feeling fancy or just stand close to the napkins if you’re not.”
“Where’s Liem?” I asked as Bree filled her plate.
She paused with a small piece of corn in her tongs and glanced around, but it was Vinh who answered.
“He’s probably made himself scarce,” he said as he took Bree’s plate with a soft smile and started to fill it for her. “I brought him something to heat up in the kitchen, so he might be doing that.”
Frowning, I stuffed my napkin into my pocket, padded toward the house, and slid open the sliding glass door to let myself in. I inspected it warily, then sighed in relief when I noticed it was new and not like the ancient one that had been on the back of Bree’s grandmother’s house.
This one wouldn’t explode in a fire.
Jesus.
I hadn’t even seen it happen, and it still haunted me, which made me wonder if sliding glass doors gave Liem any anxiety. I resolved to ask him one day if the topic ever came up.
Shaking off the morbs, I let my bare feet carry me across the vinyl floor, but I slowed my steps when I saw the collage of framed photos on the living room wall. Like, taking up the entire wall. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the photos, with no two frames alike, but there was one thing that was obvious.
This family was close, and they loved one another dearly. Proudly. Out loud, front and center.
