Sure enough. He laid down his cards and said, “That’s it. You got me. I’d better get home.” Without another word, he hurried to the door, Darling escorting him.
Zona retreated to the kitchen under the pretense of getting a drink of water. “Just out for drinks.”
She barely had the water in her glass before she heard the clump, clump of Louise’s crutches. “With Alec?”
“Yes, with Alec.”
Louise settled at the kitchen table. “Bree’s not the only one who worries about you.”
“I know.”
“I do want you to be happy.”
“I know that, too.”
“But I want you to be happy with someone... solid. Like Martin.”
“He’s too old for me,” Zona joked.
Louise pointed a finger at her. “Don’t be smart.”
“Come on, Mom. Maybe you should take your own advice.”
“Maybe I should, but...”
“Yeah, I know. You want someone more exciting. Alec is exciting,” she added.
“He’s unstable.”
“No, that’s his stepsister. I think we have to let go of our earlier opinions of him. Wouldn’t you yell a lot if someone had done to you what she did to him?”
“Yes, I would. If that’s the real story. The thing about narcissists is that they do a great job of hiding who they really are and they’re great at gaslighting. You don’t know which is the real Alec, the nice one you’re seeing now or the angry controlling one we saw earlier.”
“True,” Zona admitted. “That’s why we’re taking things slow.”
“I saw how slow you were taking things.”
Busted. “That was a one-off.”
“Oh, I know how those work,” Louise scoffed. “Be careful, Zona. There is so much you don’t know about this man.”
“I know. I won’t get fooled again. I promise.”
And that promise was to both her mother and herself.
LOUISE WAS CONCERNED.She wanted her daughter to enjoy the second half of her life, wanted her to find someone wonderful to spend it with. But she wasn’t convinced that Alec James was that someone. He came with baggage, and Zona already had enough baggage of her own. But what to do?
“You can’t do anything,” Gilda said the next day as she helped Louise out of the shower. “She’s an adult. All you can do is be ready to pick up the pieces when everything falls apart.”
Those were hardly encouraging words.
Bree wasn’t any happier. She stopped by to check in on Louise that evening only to find her mother and Alec James on the front sidewalk, working with Darling.
“Gram, you’ve got to do something,” Bree said, her eyes flashing.
“What exactly do you want me to do? Your mother is a grown woman.”
Bree let out an angry huff and went to the kitchen in search of lemonade. Zona and Darling were back in the house. Darling trotted over to Louise for an ear scratch and Zona and Louise exchanged looks. A scene was about to happen.
