We Were Liars(23)

Granddad’s lap gets wet.

Taft gets hold of the wet baguette and hits Will with it.

Mummy wipes the mess while Bess runs upstairs to bring Granddad clean trousers.

Carrie scolds the boys.

When the meal is over, Taft and Will duck into the living room to avoid helping with the cleanup. They jump like lunatics on Granddad’s new leather couch. I follow.

Will is runty and pink, like Johnny. Hair almost white. Taft is taller and very thin, golden and freckled, with long dark lashes and a mouth full of braces. “So, you two,” I say. “How was last summer?”

“Do you know how to get an ash dragon in DragonVale?” asks Will.

“I know how to get a scorch dragon,” says Taft.

“You can use the scorch dragon to get the ash dragon,” says Will.

Ugh. Ten-year-olds. “Come on. Last summer,” I say. “Tell me. Did you play tennis?”

“Sure,” says Will.

“Did you go swimming?”

“Yeah,” says Taft.

“Did you go boating with Gat and Johnny?”

They both stop jumping. “No.”

“Did Gat say anything about me?”

“I’m not supposed to talk about you ending up in the water and everything,” says Will. “I promised Aunt Penny I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“It’ll make your headaches worse and we have to leave the subject alone.”

Taft nods. “She said if we make your headaches worse she’ll string us up by our toenails and take away the iPads. We’re supposed to act cheerful and not be idiots.”

“This isn’t about my accident,” I say. “This is about the summer when I went to Europe.”

“Cady?” Taft touches my shoulder. “Bonnie saw pills in your bedroom.”

Will backs away and sits on the far arm of the sofa.

“Bonnie went through my stuff?”

“And Liberty.”

“God.”

“You told me you weren’t a drug addict, but you have pills on your dresser.” Taft is petulant.

“Tell them to stay out of my room,” I say.

“If you’re a drug addict,” says Taft, “there is something you need to know.”

“What?”

“Drugs are not your friend.” Taft looks serious. “Drugs are not your friend and also people should be your friends.”

“Oh my God. Would you just tell me what you did last summer, pipsqueak?”

Will says, “Taft and I want to play Angry Birds. We don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“Whatever,” I say. “Go and be free.”

I step onto the porch and watch the boys as they run down the path to Red Gate.





35




All the windows in Cuddledown are open when I come down after lunch. Gat is putting music on the ancient CD player. My old crayon art is on the refrigerator with magnets: Dad on top, Gran and the goldens on the bottom. My painting is taped to one of the kitchen cupboards. A ladder and a big box of gift wrap stand in the center of the great room.

Mirren pushes an armchair across the floor. “I never liked the way my mother kept this place,” she explains.

I help Gat and Johnny move the furniture around until Mirren is happy. We take down Bess’s landscape watercolors and roll up her rugs. We pillage the littles’ bedrooms for fun objects. When we are done, the great room is decorated with piggy banks and patchwork quilts, stacks of children’s books, a lamp shaped like an owl. Thick sparkling ribbons from the gift-wrap box crisscross the ceiling.

“Won’t Bess be mad you’re redecorating?” I ask.

“I promise you she’s not setting foot in Cuddledown for the rest of the summer. She’s been trying to get out of this place for years.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh,” says Mirren lightly, “you know. Natter natter, least favorite daughter, natter natter, the kitchen is such crap. Why won’t Granddad remodel it? Et cetera.”

“Did she ask him?”

Johnny stares at me oddly. “You don’t remember?”

“Her memory is messed up, Johnny!” yells Mirren. “She doesn’t remember like half our summer fifteen.”

“She doesn’t?” Johnny says. “I thought—”

“No, no, shut up right now,” Mirren barks. “Did you not listen to what I told you?”

“When?” He looks perplexed.

“The other night,” says Mirren. “I told you what Aunt Penny said.”

“Chill,” says Johnny, throwing a pillow at her.

“This is important! How can you not pay attention to this stuff?” Mirren looks like she might cry.

“I’m sorry, all right?” Johnny says. “Gat, did you know, about Cadence not remembering, like, most of the summer fifteen?”

“I knew,” he says.

“See?” says Mirren. “Gat was listening.”

My face is hot. I am looking at the floor. No one speaks for a minute. “It’s normal to lose some memory when you hit your head really hard,” I say finally. “Did my mother explain?”