Nowhere to Run

“There you are!” Missy said, turning and seeing Lucy behind her before her granddaughter could slither across the wall and dart up the stairs undetected.

“Hi, Grandma Missy,” Lucy said.

Missy enveloped Lucy in her arms, but turned her head slightly so her makeup wouldn’t smear on her granddaughter’s shoulder. Marybeth was startled to see Lucy was nearly the same height and build as her mother after a summer of fierce growth. Missy said to Lucy, “How’s my favorite granddaughter?”

“I’m fine,” Lucy said, forcing a girlish smile she reserved for photographs and her grandmother.

“Please, Mom . . .” Marybeth said.

“You know what I mean,” Missy said, dismissing her.

The animosity between Sheridan and her grandmother had almost reached the level of acrimony as that between Joe and Missy. So Missy no longer made an effort to pretend that she didn’t prefer Lucy. Like Missy, Lucy went for fine clothing and fine things. Missy disapproved of Sheridan’s nascent interest in falconry and science and her lack of interest in all things Missy.

To Lucy, Missy said, “And are you wearing that silk dress I brought you from Paris? The electric blue one?”

“School hasn’t started yet,” Lucy said. “But I will.”

Missy nodded with satisfaction.

Marybeth knew Lucy was fibbing. Lucy’d told her she was embarrassed by the dress. That it might as well have had MY GRANDMOTHER IS RICH embroidered on the back of it. That she’d never wear something like that to a seventh-grade dance. She’d also confessed she was getting more and more embarrassed in general by her grandmother, who sometimes acted as if they were contemporaries as well as allies. Marybeth still bristled at the memory of Lucy telling her Missy had said one of the bonds between them included the fact they “shared common enemies.” Meaning Marybeth and Joe.

Marybeth thought, Not now . . . I don’t have time for this.

MARYBETH’S business management company, MBP, had recently been purchased by a local accounting firm looking to widen its base. They’d retained her to run the company for a year while they incorporated her employees and contracts into the firm. Now that Joe was being sent home, it should have been the best of all worlds. But it wasn’t.

Managing the sale of her business, the transition into a larger and entrenched company, the running of the household with three teenage girls, and Joe’s yearlong absence had become almost unbearable. It was as if she were overseeing three full-time operations at once, she thought, and no one seemed to realize or appreciate the pace and scope of her responsibilities. Even Joe, who at least tried. The last time they’d talked, two nights ago over a scratchy satellite phone, Marybeth had declared that she was considering taking up heavy drinking. Joe had said, “You’re kidding, right?”

They sat on opposite sides of the dining room table. Her mother reached across and grasped her hand and said, “You haven’t heard a word I’ve been saying, have you?”

“I thought you were talking to Lucy,” Marybeth said.

“No, Lucy managed to slip away,” Missy said, through a pearly-cold smile. “She’s never going to wear that blue dress, is she?”

“Mom, I don’t know,” Marybeth said with a sigh.

“It’s not a trivial matter. I can sense her slipping away from me. Perhaps due to the influence of her older sister and her father.”

“Please, not now.”

Missy pulled her hand away and sat back in her chair. Missy had always won battles by withdrawing her affection. It worked almost every time. She knew her beauty—and now her wealth—gave her power over others. Missy dramatically studied Marybeth over the rim of her coffee cup.

Marybeth anticipated what was coming.

“You’re killing yourself,” her mother said, putting the cup down. “I hate seeing what I’m seeing. You have weary eyes, and I can see wrinkles where I’ve never seen them before. There, on the corners of your mouth from fretting. Now I hear through the grapevine you’re thinking of buying a new house.”

“What grapevine?” Marybeth said, not answering the question. The down payment the accounting firm had paid for MBP was enough for them to look seriously for a new home outside of town, where Joe wanted to live. He’d never liked their house in town even though he refused to admit it. Marybeth wanted to have her horses accessible again, and to wake up with the possibility of seeing wildlife. Removing April from easy contact with whatever kids she was hanging around with would be a plus as well, she thought. Lucy would miss suburban living and access to her friends and social whirl, and Marybeth hadn’t told her about a possible move.

“No one buys property in this county without The Earl or me hearing about it,” Missy said. “You should know that by now.”

Missy and Earl Alden had combined their ranches and were now the largest landowners in Twelve Sleep and Big Horn counties. Joe had recently speculated Missy would likely be looking to add to her holdings now that she had access to Alden’s millions, and would likely soon acquire a Third World country.

Missy said, “It just saddens me that . . .”

“You don’t have to finish,” Marybeth said sharply and showed her palm as if saying Stop. “I know what you’re going to say.”

Said Missy, “I’m sure you do. It’s just that you had—and have—such promise. And here you are . . .”

Marybeth set her cup down with enough force that both women looked to see if she’d cracked it.

“If you want to continue down this road with me right now, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Marybeth said, keeping her voice even. “I’m not kidding.”

Missy appraised her coolly. “I know you’re not.”