back and rub it in their faces how well you’ve done.” The

  touch of all Jaxon’s skin against hers would never get old.

  “I’m only sorry I won’t be there to see it, but you can come

  with me to my class reunion.”

  “Honey, I’ll be happy to take you wherever you want to

  go, but I can tell you that what happened is as done as it’s

  going to get. Going back will probably make it worse, not

  better.”

  “If you don’t want to go, then we’ll be okay.”

  Jax sighed. “We will, but I’ll give it one more chance. It’s

  not going to work, but I’d like to see Granny, and Bert won’t

  forgive me now if I abandon him.”

  “Are you sure?” She nodded again and kissed her. “You

  have to promise that you’ll call me often and come home if

  you want to. Do you promise you will?”

  “I promise, but I’m sorry I won’t get to dance in my old

  high school gym with the girl of my dreams.” Jaxon placed

  her hands on her hips and tickled her for a second. “I’m

  going to miss you. Make me a promise?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “Don’t spend the whole time I’m gone worrying. I’ll be

  okay, and I can stand anything for a couple of days. The

  other thing that should make you feel better is I’ll still have

  Bert if I can’t have you.”

  “You’re telling me I can be so easily replaced with Bert?”

  She bit Jaxon’s shoulder but smiled, liking that Jax was

  attempting to cheer her up.

  “Are you kidding me? Under that cool math genius

  exterior beats the heart of a wild man I could never handle.”

  Jaxon stopped talking and kissed her with the kind of

  passion she loved. “Never think anyone could replace you.

  You’re one of a kind, and you’re mine. Not to mention you

  have the most popular hair in America. Who can compete

  with that?”

  “Shut up, you.” The way Jax held her made her want to

  cry that she wasn’t going to be there when Jaxon needed

  her the most. “You’ve never danced in that gym with

  anyone?”

  “Nope.” Jax kissed her as a way to get away with the

  one-word answers she knew drove her crazy.

  “Not even at your prom?”

  “I didn’t go to prom.” Jaxon tapped her on the nose and

  smiled. “I saw your prom picture, though, when your mom

  proudly showed it off. You’re the only person I know who

  could pull off pink taffeta.”

  “Oh my God.” She covered her face with her free hand

  and laughed. “My mother is toast, and when you get home,

  we’re going somewhere that has dancing. I’ll even wear pink

  taffeta for you.”

  “You don’t want TMZ catching you in that, so let’s say

  that you’ll owe me a dance at your twenty-year class

  reunion.”

  “You have a deal, and don’t forget where home is when

  you’re done.”

  * * *

  Sean Gravois locked the door to her room and walked to

  the window. The view from her second-floor space looked

  out at the sidewalk and the street all the way to the large

  oak in Mrs. Hopkins’s yard. The old tree blocked her view of

  the corner, but it didn’t matter. She and Adeline were alone

  for the rest of the afternoon. Her father was working, and

  her mom was at the gym decorating for her reunion.

  “Did your mom tell you the biggest news that’s ever

  happened in the history of this fucking town?” Adeline asked

  as she lay on the bed. “My mom and their friends have been

  talking about it nonstop. You’d think they went to school

  with someone famous.”

  Sean kicked her shoes off and dropped next to Adeline,

  smiling when Ade took her hands and straddled her waist.

  “They sort of went to school with someone famous.”

  “What does that mean?” The way Ade lowered her upper

  body and ran her tongue along her bottom lip made her

  want to forget the conversation. “If this chick is famous, I’ve

  never heard of her.”

  “Have you heard of Margot Drake?” Ade nodded. “That’s

  who Lavigne lives with. She’s gay and landed Margot Drake.

  Can you believe it? Forget about that right now. Look what I

  found.” She had to move Ade so she could get up and stand

  on a chair to reach the box at the back of the closet where

  she kept things that were important to her. She guessed her

  mother had piled all her stuff in the attic as a way to forget

  about it, and she’d used afternoons like this to sift through it

  all.

  “Is this your mom?” Ade pointed to the person in the

  picture who was turned enough so you only saw a quarter of

  their profile. The shape of her mom’s face was unmistakable

  as she stared up at a girl who had a big smile. “It’s weird—

  it’s like it’s a young her, and she’s looking at you.”

  “There’s no way in hell that’s me. That,” she said, flicking

  the picture, “is Jaxon Lavigne. At least, that’s what it says on

  the back. That’s been freaking me out for the last week.”

  She studied the picture again like she had for hours since

  she’d found it, and it answered so many questions. Her

  problem was that her mom wouldn’t give her any more than

  she had, and that was nothing.

  “Why the hell do you look just like her?” Ade seemed not

  to be able to take her eyes off the picture. “It’s, like, kinda

  spooky.”

  “My mom never wants to talk about it, and believe me,

  I’ve asked more than once. Does your mom ever tell you

  anything?”

  “Babe, they’re best friends. Your mom must’ve told her to

  keep her mouth shut because she tells me to stop being

  nosy.” Adeline massaged her shoulders. “They come down

  on us like they don’t know what fun is, and they’re keeping

  all these secrets. That you look like this chick is one big

  secret that had no chance in hell staying secret.” Adeline

  put the picture on the nightstand. “Right now, we don’t have

  that much time. How about we work on a plan later?”

  She held Adeline and kissed her softly. They’d grown up

  together and had been in love since the sixth grade. Ade

  gave her a sense of belonging in the world. That was

  important because she didn’t have that sense in her own

  family. With Adeline there’d never be a time they wouldn’t

  fit. When she got out of here in another year, she was taking

  Adeline with her, and they weren’t ever coming back.

  “Do you think we have time to…you know.” Adeline

  pressed her hips down again and kissed her.

  “My idiot brother will be home in no time, and there’s no

  way I’m letting him hear anything we do.” She ran her

  fingers through Adeline’s red hair that was the same shade

  as her mother Nancy’s, but unlike Nancy, Ade was gorgeous.

  That was something Danny never failed to mention, and she

  was sure it was to piss her off.

  “Think you could come over this weekend?” Ade pressed

  the heel of her hand into her crotch, and it made her breath

  catch.

  “I doubt they’ll know I’m gone. This weekend they’ll be

  up each other’s ass trying to pretend they haven’t changed

  since they were in high school.” It was only Tuesday, but

  tomorrow would start all the craziness that came along with

  the reunion’s long weekend. “I’ll ask, but it shouldn’t be a

  problem.”

  “What are you going to do about that?” Adeline asked

  about the picture.

  “The easiest way to get what I want is to talk to her, but I

  doubt I’ll get a chance.”

  “Do you want me to jump her and tie her to a chair for

  you?” Adeline traced her eyebrows with her index finger,

  and it drained all the anger right out of her.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. Let me think about it.”

  “Then let’s talk about something else,” Adeline said and

  lowered her head again. “Or we could stop talking.”

  “Great idea.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The next morning Margot made time to take Jaxon to the

  airport. “Don’t forget to call me, and remember everything I

  told you.” Margot waited to inch along with the line of cars

  trying to get to the curb.

  “I’ll remember, and I’ll call as soon as I land. If you’re on

  set, I’ll leave you a message.” She reached across the seat

  and ran her thumb along Margot’s cheek. “You remember to

  behave, and don’t go anywhere alone. If something happens

  to you because I’m out of town, your father will go into a

  rage that’ll end with me in the hospital with two broken

  legs.”

  They’d gone to dinner at Margot’s parents’, and she’d

  received another lecture from Wilber about Margot’s future

  and how he saw it. Having something happen to Margot

  because she was mobbed at the airport would not bode well

  for her future in the Drake family.

  “I’m planning to use the car service Judith set up, so you

  concentrate on having a good time. When you get home,

  we’ll have a long conversation about your formative years

  and how I plan to help you put all that behind you by

  making you blissfully happy.” Margot leaned over and kissed

  her, making it hard to get out of the car.

  “You already do, and I thought I’d already put all that

  behind me. I’m going to this event to make you and Bert

  happy, but there are certain things that are set in stone. I

  still have a knot on my head from beating against all their

  narrow-minded beliefs.” The line moved slowly, and if she

  missed her plane, she’d take it as fate.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to go in and wait with

  you? I have time.”

  “Honey, you know how you attract crowds. I’d be crazy to

  let you walk back to the car alone. Go home, and take it

  easy until it’s time to go to work, and I’ll call as soon as I’m

  there. It’s a direct flight, so I’ll have time to grade some

  papers and think about you.” They finally made it to the

  curb, and Jax got her bag from the trunk, then turned to hug

  Margot.

  “I’m going to miss you.”

  “Not as much as I’m going to miss you. Please be careful,

  and I’ll come back if you need me for anything.” She kissed

  Margot once more and helped her into the car. “That

  includes needing me to take out the trash.”

  “I’m always going to need you, Jax, and you’d better

  start walking before I say to hell with it all and demand you

  come home with me.” Margot tilted her head up for one

  more kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, and I’ll see you late Sunday. Don’t worry

  about coming back to get me—I’ll get a car.”

  Jaxon waved as Margot drove off, then grabbed a coffee

  after going through security before she boarded the plane

  forty minutes later with a briefcase full of essays. Her

  students sent everything electronically, but she loved

  reading while holding a paper copy and a red pen, so she

  had Viola print everything. She posted her grades but also

  handed back the red-splattered papers, so they could see

  why they’d received the grade they had. A few hours later,

  her lips still tingled from Margot’s special kind of sendoff,

  and she’d gotten through about a fourth of the essays with

  plenty of red ink to attest to the fact she had read them. But

  the closer she got to her destination, the less she was able

  to concentrate, and she finally gave up.

  The attendant was happy to bring her a third cup of

  coffee, and once she’d put her stuff away, she glanced out

  the window. They were flying over the beginning of the vast

  and lush Mississippi River Delta. The start of the little

  rivulets that ran where they pleased and left behind their

  rich silt deposits as well as river pollution that accounted for

  the dead zone at the mouth of the river. The way nature

  carved the land in such random patterns always reminded

  her of a vast and complex cobweb. This one spelled out a

  special welcome home, much like the extraordinary

  Charlotte had for Wilbur, in E. B. White’s classic novel.

  She rubbed her chest, trying to keep her apprehension

  down. All her protests that she’d never come back were

  promises meant to be broken. She’d wanted to forget all

  those years of her life that had brought so much pain that

  she wondered how she’d survived them, but family had a

  strong pull. The people who shared your name and blood

  somehow earned second chances when it was best to leave

  it alone.

  Intellectually, she knew it was a lost cause. Her mother’s

  stance wasn’t going to change, but her heart always hoped

  that it’d get better. There’d be some epiphany and the

  apologies she was owed would come. Of course, that also

  made her an idiot, but she wanted to be honest with Margot

  going forward, so she’d try.

  She handed over her empty cup when the announcement

  about landing was made, and she was glad the bag she’d

  packed was overhead. New Orleans had a new airport, and

  Bert had called to say getting a rental car now took time

  and patience. To beat the crowd, she’d packed light and so

  made her way outside quickly. There was no answer at her

  brother’s office, so she left a message for him to get back to

  her with a time they could get together.

  Unlike all her fellow California travelers, apparently new

  to New Orleans, Jax removed her coat before stepping

  outside. Louisiana weather was like a Southern woman—

  unpredictable, temperamental, and, overall, exasperating at

  times. Her sleeves were rolled up by the time she’d taken

  the shuttle to the rental car complex, and forty minutes

  later she was on the highway into the city in a black Yukon.

  That choice she had Margot to thank for, and it was her

  lover’s nudge that it was time to retire the truck.

  She connected her phone to the media center in the

  vehicle and gave the command to call Margot. “Hey,” she

  said when Margot answered.

  “Hi, baby. Are you okay?” Margot sounded echoey.

  “Just got on the road.” She sped up and merged onto the

  interstate.

  “Tully called and said she’s waiting for you, so don’t think

  of blowing her off. Her words, and I’d take her seriously,”

  Margot said of Jax’s cousin, Tully Badeaux, an attorney in

  New Orleans. There was someone screaming in the

  background, and it made Jaxon wonder how Margot or

  anyone else on that set ever got any work done.

  “She just wants to brag about her college sports days.”

  Jax smiled as she wiped her brow, not believing it was

  already this hot, then concentrated again on the

  conversation. Tully was not only her cousin but had been a

  good friend back then, and her mom, Alma, had also been a

  comfort. She’d taken plenty of phone calls when Tully’s first

  partner Jessica had run off with some asshole, but at least

  the story had a happy ending when Libby came into Tully’s

  life. Tully had run from her small town as well but had ended

  up a little closer, in New Orleans with a wife and three kids.

  “She wants to brag about how wonderful it is to have a

  wife and kids. Make sure you take notes. I want a full report

  when you get home.” Margot laughed and it made her

  smile. “Seriously. She and Libby are both waiting at their

  house, and they promised they’re coming here to visit us

  this summer.”

  “I miss you even though you give me a hard time.” She

  took the downtown exit and kept quiet about how nice a

  ride the SUV was. Margot had a talent for being right but

  was nice enough not to rub it in her face. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too, and you can tell me all about how much

  you enjoyed the Yukon when you get home. We’ll have fun

  when we go shopping for one next weekend. I’ve already

  talked to the museum about taking your truck.”

  That made her laugh. “Try to have fun today.”

  “You too, baby, and call me later. I should be home by

  eight.”

  It had been a few years since she’d been to Tully’s

  Uptown house, but she remembered how to get there

  without the GPS. This wasn’t UCLA, and New Orleans was

  worlds away from the small towns they’d grown up in. The

  two small havens hadn’t been all that different, aside from