me to get a grip.
“We saw it,” D.D. says. “We were at the pep rally and people started standing in the bleachers and pointing. The sky looked like it was on fire. We all started running. But…”
But it was too late. There was nothing anyone could do. Gabrielle and I are alone waiting for the elevator when she says to me, “I don’t trust that girl.”
I’ve been thinking how nice it is to know that Arden has a close circle of friends who care about her, and now I turn to Gabrielle with surprise. She’s watching the elevator numbers light up. “Who? D.D.?”
She nods. “Her posts on Facebook are quite odd. I don’t understand half of them.”
I’m astonished. “You check Rory’s Facebook page?”
“Well, yes, now and then.” A ding and the elevator doors slide open. We step inside. Gabrielle punches the button for the second floor. “Don’t you check Arden’s?”
—
Hunter’s parents are tall. His mother’s face is dusted with freckles and her curly brown hair hangs loose and long over her shoulders. She wears layers of drooping beige clothes—a knitted vest over a sweater and a collared blouse. She’d gone to the effort to apply lipstick at some point during the day, but now it’s worn away, leaving behind a fuchsia echo on her wide, thin lips. Hunter had taken after his father; the shape of their chins is just the same, and their eyes the same aqua color. Hunter’s photograph had been on the front page of the newspapers stacked in the machine in the cafeteria. The headlines ask if we know how safe our kids’ college dorms are.
First Vince shakes Phil’s hand and then Theo does. I’d been worried that Theo might be confrontational with Hunter’s parents, given that he suspects their son of having set the fire, though why I would wonder this of my eternally circumspect husband, I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything right now.
“I’m so sorry,” I say to Janet, and hug her tight. Her body is bony beneath all those layers. She hugs me back and I realize I’ll never have a chance to meet her son. They have come to the hospital to check on the girls who had been Hunter’s friends, and I understand this is a small way of feeling close to the child they’d lost.
“How are the girls?” Phil asks.
“They’re in critical condition,” Gabrielle says, and I see Janet and Phil react to Gabrielle’s accent, so flowing and lush.
“Could we see them?” Janet asks, and I’m surprised. My own mother hasn’t been able to visit Arden, but how can I possibly deny this woman this request? The six of us go down the hall and into the ICU. We are a silent parade and we stop first in Arden’s room, a brief pause where Hunter’s parents stand in the doorway and peer through the darkness to Arden’s bed. And then we move on to Rory’s room, which is where Janet and Phil cross the threshold and go right up to Rory’s bedside.
—
Arden’s room is full of shadows. “They didn’t even come in,” I grumble to Theo after Janet and Phil have left. “I don’t think they knew Arden’s name.”
“They just lost their son.”
“I know. But he and Arden were such good friends. Isn’t it strange they didn’t seem to know anything about her?”
“Well, maybe they didn’t. You’re always saying you wished Arden would talk to you more.”
Maybe I’m being too sensitive, a result of all those years Arden had been eclipsed by her more confident cousin. I’d been worried, sending the two of them to college together. I’d suggested to Arden that she room with someone new, for a fresh start. But Gabrielle had wanted the girls together. Don’t make a big deal about it, Mom, Arden had said. Let Aunt Gabrielle be weird. Besides, Rory needs me. And I’d thought sadly, Oh, honey. You have it all backward.
But my daughter had gotten a tattoo, without ever mentioning wanting one. She’d lost weight since she started college. I couldn’t help but notice it when she’d visited the
“We saw it,” D.D. says. “We were at the pep rally and people started standing in the bleachers and pointing. The sky looked like it was on fire. We all started running. But…”
But it was too late. There was nothing anyone could do. Gabrielle and I are alone waiting for the elevator when she says to me, “I don’t trust that girl.”
I’ve been thinking how nice it is to know that Arden has a close circle of friends who care about her, and now I turn to Gabrielle with surprise. She’s watching the elevator numbers light up. “Who? D.D.?”
She nods. “Her posts on Facebook are quite odd. I don’t understand half of them.”
I’m astonished. “You check Rory’s Facebook page?”
“Well, yes, now and then.” A ding and the elevator doors slide open. We step inside. Gabrielle punches the button for the second floor. “Don’t you check Arden’s?”
—
Hunter’s parents are tall. His mother’s face is dusted with freckles and her curly brown hair hangs loose and long over her shoulders. She wears layers of drooping beige clothes—a knitted vest over a sweater and a collared blouse. She’d gone to the effort to apply lipstick at some point during the day, but now it’s worn away, leaving behind a fuchsia echo on her wide, thin lips. Hunter had taken after his father; the shape of their chins is just the same, and their eyes the same aqua color. Hunter’s photograph had been on the front page of the newspapers stacked in the machine in the cafeteria. The headlines ask if we know how safe our kids’ college dorms are.
First Vince shakes Phil’s hand and then Theo does. I’d been worried that Theo might be confrontational with Hunter’s parents, given that he suspects their son of having set the fire, though why I would wonder this of my eternally circumspect husband, I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything right now.
“I’m so sorry,” I say to Janet, and hug her tight. Her body is bony beneath all those layers. She hugs me back and I realize I’ll never have a chance to meet her son. They have come to the hospital to check on the girls who had been Hunter’s friends, and I understand this is a small way of feeling close to the child they’d lost.
“How are the girls?” Phil asks.
“They’re in critical condition,” Gabrielle says, and I see Janet and Phil react to Gabrielle’s accent, so flowing and lush.
“Could we see them?” Janet asks, and I’m surprised. My own mother hasn’t been able to visit Arden, but how can I possibly deny this woman this request? The six of us go down the hall and into the ICU. We are a silent parade and we stop first in Arden’s room, a brief pause where Hunter’s parents stand in the doorway and peer through the darkness to Arden’s bed. And then we move on to Rory’s room, which is where Janet and Phil cross the threshold and go right up to Rory’s bedside.
—
Arden’s room is full of shadows. “They didn’t even come in,” I grumble to Theo after Janet and Phil have left. “I don’t think they knew Arden’s name.”
“They just lost their son.”
“I know. But he and Arden were such good friends. Isn’t it strange they didn’t seem to know anything about her?”
“Well, maybe they didn’t. You’re always saying you wished Arden would talk to you more.”
Maybe I’m being too sensitive, a result of all those years Arden had been eclipsed by her more confident cousin. I’d been worried, sending the two of them to college together. I’d suggested to Arden that she room with someone new, for a fresh start. But Gabrielle had wanted the girls together. Don’t make a big deal about it, Mom, Arden had said. Let Aunt Gabrielle be weird. Besides, Rory needs me. And I’d thought sadly, Oh, honey. You have it all backward.
But my daughter had gotten a tattoo, without ever mentioning wanting one. She’d lost weight since she started college. I couldn’t help but notice it when she’d visited the
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