The Queen of Cool (2 page)

“
Oh Lo,” Larry said.
“You’re not Mom. You’re stronger than that.”

“
You sure?” Lo shook her
head.

“
You’ll stay with us, of
course,” Larry said.

“
Ruth Ann has never been my
biggest champion,” Lo said. “You’d better call her before you make
any promises.”

Larry nodded. He took out his cell phone and
pressed a speed-dial number.

“
Hey,” Larry
said.

In the almost empty restaurant, Lo could
hear Ruth Ann’s response.

“
Where the hell are you?”
his wife asked.

“
I took Lo out for
something to eat,” Larry said. “You know she buried Don
today.”

“
Oh woe is pretty little
Miss Fitness Model. Had to bury her golden ticket,” Ruth Ann said.
“I bet all that money is going a long way to ease her
sorrow.”

“
She needs a place to
stay,” Larry interjected.

“
She hasn’t booked herself
into a suite at the Ritz in Dallas?” Ruth Ann asked.

“
She is my sister, Ruthie.
She can stay with us,” Larry said.

“
You bring that woman home
and you better be prepared to call your lawyer,” Ruth Ann
said.

Lo grimaced at the sound of Ruth Ann hanging
up the phone.

“
Yeah, some people are
jealous,” Larry said. “I’m sorry.”

“
It’s okay,” Lo said. “She
loves you.”

“
I should stand up to her
but…” Larry shrugged.

“
We weren’t raised that
way,” Lo said.

“
You escaped,” Larry
said.

“
Yeah, like I knew what I
was doing,” Lo said. “I was just sixteen years old. Don swept me
off my feet and… I was very lucky. Even if he was with this
Jean-Jean… Even if she was his lover… I was very lucky.”

Lo slurped the last of her milkshake.

“
Want another?” Larry
asked.

“
I think I’m going to
explode,” Lo said.

He smiled and she shrugged.

“
Why did you marry him?”
Larry asked. “I’ve never asked you, but I always
wondered.”

“
Don is a Southern
Baptist,” Lo said. “He couldn’t see any other way but to get
married. Especially since I was so young. I mean, it bothers him
that he’s twenty years older than me. He doesn’t want me to feel
inferior or like I don’t have a say or…”

“
That’s why he made you
finish high school and go to college,” Larry said.

“
Right,” Lo said. “He wants
me to be ‘at his level, an equal partner in life.’ That’s what Don
wants. I do my best to be that for him. But who can equal
Don?”

Lo’s eyes lost focus. She gave a soft
smile.

“
He’s a better person than
I am,” Lo said.

Larry smiled at her use of the present
tense. It was going to take a long time for his little sister to
put her husband to rest.

“
And, I don’t know,” Lo
said. “Dad died. Mom was a wreck. You’d left for the Air Force.
And… it just happened. I got that summer babysitting job with his
girls, met him, and married him two months later.”

“
Why didn’t you guys have
kids?” Larry asked.

“
We can’t,” Lo
said.

“
How did he have kids with
Witchiepoo?”

“
That’s a very good
question,” Lo said. “We don’t think they’re his.”

“
But he paid child support
for them?”

“
That man paid child
support for those kids and they lived with us full-time,” Lo said.
“He loved those kids and gladly paid their mother if we could keep
them.”

“
Did they come back for the
funeral?”

“
Alisha has a trial
starting on Monday,” Lo said. “She flew in and out today. She’s
hanging on by a thread. I think work is the only thing that’s
keeping her together. Mandy and I took her to the airport
before…”

“
And Mandy?”

“
She went out with her
friends,” Lo said. “She’s almost never in town, so she wanted to
see her friends while she’s here.”

“
How’s law
school?”

“
Harder for Mandy than
Alisha,” Lo said. “Don thinks she’s going to quit and go to med or
vet school. But she’s getting through it. She has finals soon, so
she’s going back to Waco tonight.”

Lo always seemed so happy when she talked
about the girls. Larry gave his sister a smile. Even tonight, one
of the worst nights of her life, she still smiled when she talked
about those girls. Catching his smile, Lo smiled back at her
brother.

“
Don wants a baby more than
anything,” Lo said. “We’ve been doing the fertility thing
but…”

Lo shrugged. She took a deep breath and then
broke down again. Like a silent guard, Larry stood watch while she
cried into her hands. After a few minutes, Larry got up to grab
some napkins for her. When he got back, she had put most of her
sorrow back into its tight, private box.

“
I don’t have Don. I don’t
have a baby. I don’t have a house. I don’t have a dollar.” Lo
looked at her brother. “I have nothing.”

“
You have the girls. You
have me. You have Lisa.”

“
Poor Lisa. Earl’s been out
of work this whole year,” Lo said. “They’re really desperate. They
couldn’t even afford to buy tickets to the Cowgirl Museum when her
picture went up. Don bought the tickets for them.”

“
Don was a great
guy.”

Lo nodded.

“
Their house foreclosed
about six months ago, but they haven’t been thrown out yet. Some
loophole… I wish I had that loophole. I wanted to lie awake staring
at the ceiling in my own bedroom tonight.”

Lo looked out the windows into the
early-morning dark.

“
Do you think his pillow
will still smell like him when I get back?” Lo asked. “It’s the
only thing that got me through last week.”

As he’d wiped the tears from her face, Larry
wished he could wipe the pain out of his sister’s life. He squeezed
her hand.

“
I’ll tell you what,” Larry
said. “I’ll talk to a few guys and see if we can get you in there
tomorrow. You can at least get your clothes, jewelry, his pillow,
and the stuff they can’t auction off.”

“
Thanks Larry,” Lo
said.

“
I was thinking about
having a strawberry pie. They’re here for spring,” Larry said.
“Want one?”

“
Sure.”

“
No crying,
okay?”

Lo nodded. Larry walked to the counter to
order the fried delicacies. While he was gone, Lo tried to take a
few deep breaths. His warm company and the fatty food were calming.
For a brief second, she thought she might survive all of this. She
smiled at him when he came back with two pies and two cups of
coffee. They ate their pies and drank their coffee in silence. When
Larry looked at his watch, Lo knew he had to go. He’d catch hell as
it was. If he stayed any later, he might need that lawyer.

“
Do you have any money?”
Larry asked.

“
Nothing,” Lo
said.

“
Any cards just in your
name?”

Lo shook her head. Larry pulled out his
wallet and gave her a hundred dollars.

“
I got this before I came
to get you,” Larry said.

“
I can’t take this,” Lo
said.

“
You can’t not take this,”
Larry said. “You need food, clothing, and a place to
stay.”

“
What about Ruth
Ann?”

“
I’ll tell her I lost it in
a bet,” Larry said. “I’m betting on you, Lo. You’re going to turn
this around. I just know it.”

“
How?”

“
What about Don’s company?”
Larry asked. “Don owned the biggest air conditioning company in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.”

“
Owned in name only,” Lo
said. “Henry, his dad, bought it as a side project. Don never got
around to selling it.”

“
So what? Is that
frozen?”

“
I didn’t think to ask,” Lo
said. “It’s probably still in Henry’s name.”

“
I bet you five bucks they
didn’t touch that air conditioning business,” Larry said. “You
should take it over.”

“
What do I know about air
conditioning?” Lo asked.

“
What’s to know?” Larry
smiled. “Let’s check it out tomorrow after we get some of your
stuff. I bet Lisa would go through the books for you. She’s really
good at that kind of thing.”

“
And have Earl take care of
their three kids?”

“
Hey, a man’s got to do
what a man’s got to do,” Larry said. “He’ll survive. Lisa and I
will meet you tomorrow.”

“
Meet me where?”

“
Mom’s.”

“
Mom’s?” Lo shook her head.
“No. No. No. Uh huh. No way am I staying at Mom’s! I haven’t been
there since I found her…”

“
Since she hanged herself,”
Larry said. “I remember. I’m the one who cut her down. Best
post-boot camp leave on record. Do you still have the
keys?”

Lo nodded.

“
I drive by Mom’s every
week or so just too… well…” Larry shrugged. “Did you know Don took
care of the place? It has a new roof. He had someone mow the grass
and take care of the yard. I saw a plumber there once or
twice.”

“
He did?”

“
I asked Don about it at
one of your Fourth-of-July barbeques,” Larry said. “A couple of
years ago. I asked him what he was up to. He told me that his
Lorraine was born in that house. He couldn’t let it fall to the
ground.”

“
You don’t think he met
other women there?” Lo asked.

“
When would he have had the
time?” Larry asked. “He had a busy law practice, the air
conditioning company, and he spent every other waking moment with
you.”

“
He was with another woman
when he got sick.”

“
You honestly think a man
who wouldn’t be with you before marriage was with a bunch of other
women?”

“
Ministers do it all the
time,” Lo said.

“
Now you’re just being
weird.”

“
I don’t know anything
anymore,” Lo said.

“
Stop the doubt, Lo. It’s
killing you.”

Lo sniffed at her tears.

“
No matter what happened,
Don Downs loved you,” Larry said. “And…”

“
And?”

“
Now that all this crap
happened,” Larry said. “I wonder if he kept up Mom’s house so you’d
have a place to go.”

“
How could he have known?”
Lo asked.

“
Don always seemed to know
what was going to happen,” Larry said.

“
Yeah, I always thought it
was from helping the Romani,” Lo said.

“
The Gypsies kept him well
informed about the future?” Larry asked. “Probably.”

Shrugging, Lo wiped her eyes.

“
Come on,” Larry said.
“I’ll take you home.”

Larry put his arm around Lo, and they walked
into the Whataburger parking lot. Larry helped Lo into her Lexus
and went to his cruiser. Lo drove up Hemphill Street to Feliks
Gwozdz Place and turned left. She continued on West Myrtle until
she got to Henderson. She turned right and pulled up in front of
their mother’s house. Larry pulled in behind her. She waited for
him to come to her door before she got out.

They walked to the front door together. Lo
put the key in the dead bolt and turned it. The door swung open,
releasing a blast of hot air.

“
I bet the air conditioning
works,” Larry laughed.

Lo and Larry stepped into the house.
Instinctively, they both turned to look into the living room. In
the shadow and memory, they both saw their mother’s lifeless body
hanging from the ceiling fan.

“
I still see her there,” Lo
whispered.

“
Me too,” Larry
said.

While Lo pulled the sheets from the
furniture, Larry walked through the house. He turned on the air
conditioning and checked to see if the water was running. He
plugged in the refrigerator. He flipped a few lights on and
off.

“
Looks like everything’s
working,” Larry said.

Larry hugged Lo tight.

“
Here,” Larry gave Lo a
disposable cell phone. “Your phone’s off. I didn’t know if you
knew.”

“
I didn’t,” Lo
said.

“
I tried to call you,”
Larry said. “This isn’t as fancy as your iPhone, but it works. It’s
from a set of phones cops are supposed to give informants.
Witchiepoo will never find you. I programmed mine and Lisa’s
numbers in case you need us. If Alisha or Mandy call me, should I
give them your number?”

Lo nodded.

“
You’ll be safe
here.”

“
Thank you,” Lo said. “For
everything. Really.”

“
Anytime of the day or
night, Lorraine,” Larry said. “Call and I’ll be here quick as I
can. Just don’t…”

Larry swallowed hard. He clutched Lo to
him.

“
The moment passed, Larry,”
Lo said.

Larry kissed her cheek and walked out of the
house. Lo closed and dead bolted the door. Crossing her arms across
her broken heart, she walked back to the living room.