“YOUR HUSBAND IS the man,” Kenny said to Laura as he opened his front door and gave Brian a one-armed hug.
Laura squeezed past them and entered the cozy front room of his parents’ camp at Mossy Pointe, a small man-made beach twenty miles from Toulouse. Kenny had it for the weekend and was hosting a party to celebrate his best friend’s successful surgery.
“Where should I put these?” She held up a bag of tortilla chips and a medium plastic container filled with homemade cowboy caviar.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Kenny asked, lifting the lid and greedily eyeing the mixture of black-eyed peas, tomatoes, corn, and avocado. He looked up at her, worry flitting across his face. “Did you make this?”
Brian answered for her. “Don’t worry, man—it’s a Janet Landry contribution.” Laura rolled her eyes. Kenny had experienced one of her cooking mishaps a couple of years back—she had made Brian a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his seventeenth birthday, and everyone at the party realized within the first bite that she had used baking soda instead of baking powder.
“I’ll just put these in the kitchen,” she said, flashing a polite smile.
The guys followed her, and Kenny threw Brian a beer from the fridge.
“Should you be drinking with the painkillers?” Laura whispered in his ear as he cracked open the can. She wanted to remind him that he’d promised to stop drinking entirely, but held her tongue. After all, this was a celebration.
“Nah, I’m good,” Brian said with a laugh. “I didn’t take any today—knew I was coming here.”
As people started arriving, remarking over Brian’s surgery and congratulating him on being back on the team, Laura snuck outside to get some fresh air and set up for the party. She covered the long picnic table out back with old issues of the Toulouse Town Talk and set three rolls of paper towels on top. Through cabin windows, Laura watched everyone huddle around Brian, focused in on his every word. She wondered if he was telling them that he couldn’t have done any of this without her; how she’d helped save money for him before he lost it; how it was her idea to file the appeal for the insurance; how she missed four days of school to be by his side at the hospital in New Orleans. And if he wasn’t saying it out loud, did he at least appreciate it?
As Laura was putting the plastic forks and knives in a mason jar, everyone finally started coming outside. She looked up to see Claire and Gabby in the crowd.
“Hey, girl!” Claire said, carrying a bottle of wine.
“Why are you setting up Kenny’s party?” Gabby asked, giving her a hug.
Laura laughed. “Do you really think Kenny Fontenot knows how to set up for anything? For his Super Bowl party last year, he filled the washing machine with ice and put the beers in there.”
“I dunno,” Gabby said, grinning. “That sounds pretty genius to me.”
The girls sat down at the end of the bench as the rest of the partygoers gathered around the keg. “You doing okay?” Claire asked, eyeing her shrewdly.
Laura shrugged. “Just a little stressed with finals and everything, but holding up fine.”
Gabby uncorked the wine and poured it. “Well, tonight we celebrate.” The three girls raised their red Solo cups. “To Brian’s recovery!” she shouted.
Laura flashed a closed-lip smile, clinking her cup with theirs. “Cheers.”
? ? ?
A FEW HOURS later, the party had consumed a total of thirty hamburgers, twenty-three hot dogs, six bags of chips, four twelve-packs of beer, and six bottles of wine. The party had moved over to Kenny’s fire pit, and Brian was drunkenly holding court, detailing every painstaking moment of his recovery.
Laura, Claire, and Gabby sat on a log away from the crowd. “So, has anyone talked to Madison since she left with Cash?” Laura asked, pouring some more seltzer water into her cup. She had stopped drinking wine an hour ago, since she was Brian’s designated driver.
“We texted a little a couple of days ago,” Claire said. “I think she’s feeling guilty about George, but as much as I hate Cash, I told her she had to do what felt right. Otherwise she’s going to have too many lingering doubts and questions.”
“Is it weird that I actually really liked George?” Gabby confessed, straightening her legs out on the grass.
“No,” Laura agreed. “I thought he was good for her . . . in his own odd way.”
“I actually liked him, too,” Claire said. “But she’s been in love with Cash since they were kids. I can’t blame her for wanting to give that a chance, I guess. I just wish he wasn’t the worst.”
Laura sighed. “Maybe she’s in love with the idea of him, and doesn’t see the bad stuff.” She leaned forward on the log, her elbows propped on her knees. “Maybe she’ll wake up one day and realize he doesn’t make her as happy as she thinks he does.” As she said the words, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was projecting her own insecurities on her friend.
“Well, as much as I don’t like him, I’m all for her doing this.” Gabby cradled the red cup in front of her. “If I learned anything this year, it’s that it’s important to be with the one you love.”
Claire put her hand on Gabby’s arm. “Has Tony reached out any more?”
She shook her head. “Nah. I mean, I wouldn’t have kept texting either if I wasn’t getting a response. It’s for the best, really.”
“I don’t know why you don’t just tell him everything,” Claire said. “Your mom’s out now. Mr. Ford can’t put her back in or anything.”
“We don’t know what he’s capable of,” Gabby said, shaking her head. “And I’m afraid to find out.”
“You could take him,” Claire said, waving her away. “Do I need to remind you about the time you made Collette O’Conner cry in front of everyone at the prom?”
“Well, she shouldn’t have talked about my mom like that.” She shook her head.
The girls laughed, then fell silent. The crowd had gotten progressively drunker as the night wore on. The group was now making s’mores and having a sing-along, like they were at some adult summer camp.
“Should we go over and be social, y’all?” Laura asked. She couldn’t see Brian in the crowd, but knowing him, he was the closest to the fire. Brian loved to roast marshmallows, and they’d always argue over whether they were best browned or blackened.
“Meh,” Gabby said, but nodded.
The girls stood up, and Laura brushed the back of her shorts to get rid of the dirt and leaves that stuck to them. As they walked over to join the rest of the party, she noticed that the bag of marshmallows was empty. “I’ll go grab some more,” she said. “Be right back!”
Inside, she searched the kitchen counter but found only empty beer bottles and plastic food containers scattered across it. She headed over to the walk-in pantry and twisted the doorknob. As the hinges squeaked, a woman’s voice squealed inside. By the time Laura realized someone was in there, it was too late.