Madeline looked around. Where was everyone?
She followed Libby into the house and found her in the kitchen. The tiled bar was covered with white plastic bags. Madeline peeked into one—it was full of cleaning supplies. From the look of it, Libby was preparing for a full-scale scrub down. Madeline knew all about that—she’d had to do it to her mother’s house more than once. “Wow,” she said. “When you clean, you clean.”
At the sink, where she was filling a bucket, Libby merely smiled at Madeline’s comment. Her sunglasses were on the counter beside her now, and next to them, a folded apron. When Libby had enough water in the bucket, she picked up the apron and wrapped it around her waist.
“This seems like a lot of work for one person,” Madeline said. “Wouldn’t you rather wait until we, you know… decide something?”
Libby’s hands suddenly went to her hips. “I’ve decided. I’m staying.”
Madeline wasn’t sure what she meant. “In Pine River?”
“No, here. At this house.” Libby looked at Madeline as if she expected her to argue. “I’ve made my decision just like you’ve made yours. Not that yours is wrong, Madeline. I am sure you are doing what is best for you. But I am doing what is best for me.” She began to dig through the plastic bags as if she were searching for something.
“You’re going to stay out here? Alone?” Madeline echoed incredulously. “How? Wait,” she said, her anxiety kicking into gear. “Did you guys decide without me? Where is Emma?” she asked, glancing around, almost expecting her to slink in through some door with a highball glass in hand.
“On her way to L.A.” Libby ducked the mop into the bucket.
“What? What do you mean? What about all of this?” Madeline cried, gesturing to the house.
“She called me late last night and told me she’d see me later. Her boyfriend was waiting for her in Durango and he wanted to get out of there.” Libby did not seem particularly disturbed about it.
But it made no sense to Madeline. “That’s crazy! And irresponsible!” she exclaimed.
“That’s also Emma for you.”
“What does that even mean? Why would anyone be so—insensitive?”
Libby thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s had too many disappointments in her life.”
“We’ve all had disappointments,” Madeline pointed out.
Libby shrugged. “I just mean that things haven’t always turned out like Emma thought they would, and she puts up walls.”
Madeline snorted, ignoring the niggling thought that she did the same thing. “Do things turn out for anyone like they thought they would?”
For some reason, Libby laughed at that. “God no.” She wrung the mop free of excess water, clearly all right with Emma having decamped.
“So have you two always been close?” Madeline asked curiously.
“Who, me and Emma?” Libby snorted at that. “Not at all. She’s in California and I’m here.…” Her voice trailed off as if that was explanation enough.
“What does she do?” Madeline asked.
“She’s an event planner or something like it.”
“An event planner! But that’s great,” Madeline said. “She could handle the Johnson—”
“No, she’s not going to do it,” Libby said firmly. “She’s not coming back.”
“But… but we agreed to meet with Jackson at one o’clock—”
“Oh, I forgot. Jackson had an emergency in Denver,” Libby said, avoiding Madeline’s gaze.
“Does no one call?” Madeline asked. “What are we supposed to do, clean the damn house for Jackson? I am sorry, but this is not how people act! You don’t just take off and not show up without at least some warning.”
“You’re losing your temper,” Libby said, as if Madeline hadn’t figured that out.
“Yes, I am! Because I am really, really angry right now!” Madeline sat down on a stool, braced her hands against her knees. “You can’t just leave people hanging,” she said, her voice a little softer. She was short of breath, her heart beating with frustration and the feeling that things were spiraling out of control already.
“I don’t disagree with you,” Libby said as she began to mop the kitchen floor. “But one thing is certain—the Johnsons are coming. With or without us, the Johnsons are coming. So I am going to help Jackson get ready for that. You can help too, if you want. Whatever you want to do.”
“What I want is to settle this and go home,” Madeline muttered.
Libby paused and looked directly at her. “Nothing is keeping you from going back to your life, Madeline. You can leave now, like everyone else.”
Madeline was shocked. She’d come all this way, and for what? She tried to read Libby. Why was this all okay with her? “Don’t you need to get back to your life?”
Libby’s smile faded. She turned around and resumed mopping. With a vengeance.
“You have a job, right?” Madeline asked.
“Not at the moment.”