“Clean and sober and, goddammit, signed up for AA.”
She definitely sounded sober.
Flo was smiling too. They both looked as if they were having a good time. That made two out of three.
“The bastard’s manuscripts are in the minivan, what’s left of them,” Adele said, still cross-legged and looking back into the bay. “I parked the van in the lot at Pine View School.”
Pine View was the public school for the gifted in Sarasota County. It was no more than five minutes from where we sat.
“Here,” Adele said, reaching into her pocket, fishing out the keys to the van, and flipping them to me. I caught them.
“Good catch,” she said.
“I used to play Little League,” I said. “Good field. Couldn’t hit. I was small so I got walked a lot.”
“I’m keeping the baby,” Adele said, turning her head back to the water and folding her arms on her knees.
“That’s fine, but…” I began as Flo jumped in.
“Sally’s going to help me legally adopt Adele. She’ll become Adele Zink. When the baby’s born, Adele’s going back to school. I’ll hire someone to help and I’ll take care of the baby.”
“I want to just get rid of the past,” Adele said. “Throw it in the ocean, starting with my father’s name. I could have gone back to my mother’s last name, Tree, but I want to be a different person. I don’t want Lonsberg, Hanford, or Tree tying me and my baby to the past.”
“Like the girl in Fool’s Love,” I said.
“I suppose,” she agreed. “How can someone who can get inside a person’s head so perfectly be such an asshole?”
“Conrad Lonsberg?”
“Who else?” Adele said.
“How did you get here?” I said. ‘To the Point?”
“I drove,” Flo said, still smiling.
Flo’s license was suspended and Adele had none. I hoped they would make it back to Flo’s carefully and wondered who was going to drive.
“Be careful going back home,” I said.
“I’ve got a daughter and grandchild to protect,” said Flo. “Can you beat that, Lew? I’m gonna be a goddamn mother and grandmother just like that. I wish Gus had lived to see it.”
I knew what I was going to do: drive to Pine View, leave the Taurus, and drive the minivan to Lonsberg’s. I’d get past whatever reporters and cameras happened to be there, say nothing, and hope I could get Lonsberg to open his gate so I could drive in. I didn’t want to talk to Lonsberg though I wouldn’t have minded seeing Jefferson. Maybe he would have another shell for me.
After a day or two I would call Laura. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to talk to a Lonsberg again in my life, but she deserved something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe a chance to thank me. Maybe a chance to say I had ruined her life.
“We’ve picked out a name for the baby,” said Flo. “Adele suggested Gus if it’s a boy but I don’t think that’s a good name.”
“No offense,” said Adele, “but I’m not too taken with the name Lewis.”
“I’ve gone through phases about it myself,” I said.
“So we came up with Ames,” said Flo.
“I want to be there when you tell Ames you’re naming a baby after him,” I said.
“You’ll be there, but we’re going to wait and see if it is a boy,” said Flo.
“We asked Sally if she had any ideas for girls’ names,” said Adele. She turned and looked up at me. “She came up with a good one, thought you’d like it.”
“And?” I asked.
“Catherine,” Adele said.
I sat next to Adele. I couldn’t stand. Catherine was my wife’s name. Sally and Ann Horowitz were the only ones I had mentioned it to.
“You all right?” Adele asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
I turned my face to the water so she couldn’t see it.
“If you don’t like the name Catherine…” Adele began.
“No,” I said, holding back a threatened rush of confusion, gratitude, and tears. “It’s perfect.”
