At the front of the tent, the reverend from a local church comforts a heavily made-up blonde woman in a spangly, purple minidress, who can only be Missy’s mother. She’s weeping and stroking Missy’s closed casket that lies waiting to be deposited into the earth. I say a silent prayer of thanks that the lid is shut. I don’t know if I could deal with seeing her again, especially since I have to make nice with my other least favorite person, Taneea who’s apparently hitched a ride with Cooper. She’s dressed for the occasion in a black, see-through crocheted minidress with a neon pink bra and sparkly hot pants beneath. Way to class it up.
“Emma, Jack! Come sit next to us.” Taneea grins as she pats an empty folding chair next to her. She and Cooper are perched in the middle of the second row, amid a sea of empty seats. Despite Missy’s gaggle of friends, none of them have shown up. Even Beau stayed back at the Big House claiming he couldn’t take the pain of watching his beloved laid to rest.
Taneea’s crazy if she thinks I’m not sitting next to Cooper. Jack reads my mind. After shooting me a quick glance, he takes the spot next to her and I squeeze past them, climbing over her outstretched legs. She’s too busy slathering her skin with her stinky hand cream to tuck them in. Which is rude, but not as rude as polluting the air with that horrible musky scent. I don’t know why she likes it so much. It’s not exactly feminine.
When I take my seat, Cooper leans over and kisses my cheek. “Hey, Em.” He seems stiff, almost robotic. We’ve barely seen each other over the last ten days. After so much time apart, I’d expect him to be a little happier to see me. I can’t help but wonder if he’s still mad about what I said about Beau. Or is it just the funeral thing? Or whether something else is up…
He and Taneea did look pretty cozy. An itchy sensation works its way up the back of my neck and a nasty thought worms its way into my brain. Is it possible there’s more going on between them than meets the eye?
“Hey.” Wary, I search his gaze but his light gray stare is open and unguarded. Which makes me want to kick myself for being so stupid and jealous. This is Cooper Beaumont we’re talking about. The sweetest, kindest guy I’ve ever met, and my best friend for the last eight years. There’s no way he’d hurt me like that. I exhale a sigh of relief. “It was nice of you to pick up Taneea.”
“He wouldn’t let me hitchhike. How cute is that?” She grips, then rubs his biceps.
Jeez, what’s with her and all the squeezing? You’d think she’d get enough of that with the other guys she hangs out with.
“Way cute,” Jack says, only he doesn’t sound the least bit amused.
An acidic, unspoken insult burns my tongue. Ten seconds in and I’m already sick of her. But I remind myself this is a funeral and try to be positive for Cooper’s sake. Better to change the subject. “How’s your job at the museum?”
“Great.” Her tone is clipped, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the stifling air. Her piercing sparkles, mocking me.
“So what does a personal assistant do anyway?” I might as well collect a little intel of my own for Miss Delia.
“You’d be surprised.” She flashes a prissy smile that lets me know that’s all I’m getting out of her.
As expected, it’s the world’s shortest funeral. What is there to say about someone so mean no one besides her mom showed up to pay their respects? Not much it turns out, so after a few compulsory prayers, a short eulogy that proved the reverend had never met Missy, and a few words by us, it’s over. We watch the gravediggers slowly lower her casket.
Taneea fans herself. “Can we go? It’s so frigging hot out here I’m sweating to death.”
If only.
Lost in his thoughts, Cooper doesn’t move. He spent most of the service staring out at the Beaumont family tombstones. Some look ancient, their words nearly worn away from the elements and salt in the air from the adjacent salt marsh. Others are broken, slanted, and vine-choked. A few are carved in the shape of a cross, and one looks like a miniature version of the Washington Monument.
“Hello?” Taneea nudges him as she rises to her feet and pushes past Jack to the end of the row.
Jack stands and leans toward me, “I’ll take her back to the Big House. That way you and Coop can have a few minutes of peace without her.”
My chest swells with joy. For as much as Jack sometimes hates sharing Cooper with me now that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, he’s also ready to help when he can, too.
“Hey, T, you wanna come with me to the Big House to set up for the reception?”
“Uh, I’d rather go with Cooper.”
“Actually, he asked me to take you. He said with your sense of style you’d know how to make it look really good.” He plasters on his best snake-charmer grin.
“Well, he’s right.” She shoots me a quick sideways glance, as if debating whether to leave me alone with Cooper, but then a trickle of sweat runs down the side of her face. Annoyed, she wipes it off and turns to Jack. “Do they have air-conditioning up there?”
He grins. “On full blast.”
“Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Come on. If they want to melt, let them.”
She and Jack head down the path to one of the golf carts. Moments later, they zip away to the Big House.
Reaching my hand to stroke Cooper’s back, I ask, “You okay?”
“Huh? Yeah.” He’s quiet for a long moment before he stands and approaches my father who’s busy folding chairs under the tent. I follow close behind. “Uncle Jed, where’s my mother’s grave?”
Dad sets the chair on a rack with the others. He walks up to us, squinting in the bright sunlight, and points to a section just past a cluster of live oaks that is coiled with kudzu. “She’s over there.”
“Thanks.” Cooper pulls his Swiss army knife from his pocket, pries open the large blade, then heads in that direction.
Dad rushes toward him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to cut back that crap on her grave.”
“No!” Dad grabs his arm, forcing Cooper to stop. “You can’t. Beau won’t allow it.”
“I don’t care what my father wants. If he won’t take care of her the way she deserves, I will.” Cooper wrenches his arm away and then charges toward the headstone.
As if fire ignites inside my father, his chest expands and his eyes fill with steely determination. “I can’t let you do that.” He races after Cooper and leaps in front of him. “Someday you’ll run this plantation but today is not that day.” His voice is low-pitched and gravely.
Who the heck is this guy and what did he do with my dad? I’ve never seen him so bugged-out before, not even when we came here when we were little.
“But she was my mother.” The knife falls to Cooper’s side.
Dad nods. “She was. And my friend, too. We went back almost as far as Beau and I do. But that doesn’t change what Beau wants or my duty to follow his wishes.”
“But why? What would it hurt to clean this place up?” Cooper gestures to the graves. “It’s our family for cripes’ sake.”
“When you’re in charge you can do things as you see fit. But until then, this site is off-limits unless I’m around.” He narrows his gaze at me. “That goes for you too, as well, Emmaline. And your brother. Don’t even think of being slippery and saying he wasn’t around to hear me say it. Are we clear?”
I nod, stunned by his forcefulness. “Yes, sir.”
“Good, now help me finish folding these chairs and we’ll go up to the Big House. Maybe some of Missy’s friends will show up for the reception.”
…
Cooper hardly says a word while we help my dad, or on the way back to the Big House. Though we sit on the rear-facing backseat together, he barely glances my way. When Dad drives up to the plug-in charging station, he cuts the engine and hops out, heading straight for the Big House.
Cooper goes to jump off his seat, but I grab his hand to keep him in place. “What’s going on?” I search his pale gray eyes.
“Nothing. Why?” His tone suggests that’s anything but the truth.
“You’re acting weird.”
“No I’m not.” His gaze shifts down.
