Scarlett Rose's Arc

Chapter 28 of 57

The drive took four hours. Aunt Lorraine's small city house sat behind a low porch railing, the front windows dressed with white curtains. Rose parked at the curb and helped Scarlett out. Scarlett made it up the three steps before her stomach turned. She got to the bathroom just in time. Aunt Lorraine met them in the hall with a glass of ginger water. She was thinner than Scarlett remembered, her hands quick and worried. "Sit her down. Rose, get the crackers from my bag." Scarlett sat on the edge of the guest bed. The room smelled like lemon polish and warm dust. She had thrown up twice on the road already. Her head ached behind her eyes. "I can't call him," she said. "If I call him now he'll drive all night." Rose knelt in front of her with the sleeve of crackers. "You need to eat something before you decide anything." "He'll hear it in my voice." "Then don't call yet." Scarlett ate half a cracker. It stayed down. She ate another. Aunt Lorraine sat on the bed beside her and put a cool hand on the back of her neck the way their mother used to. "Lie down," Aunt Lorraine said. "An hour. Then we try broth." Scarlett lay back. Rose pulled the curtain across the window. The light went gray and soft. Scarlett closed her eyes and listened to Rose and Aunt Lorraine talking low in the kitchen, the clink of a spoon in a pot. She woke to broth on the nightstand. She drank half the mug. It stayed down too. Rose sat in the chair by the bed, phone in her lap, her turquoise bracelet catching the lamp. "How bad," Rose said. "Better." "Truth." "Better. Really. The crackers worked." Rose watched her a long minute. "I told Aunt Lorraine you sleep with the window cracked and you can't smell coffee before ten." "You didn't have to stay." "I'm staying two nights. Then I go back and cook for your husband so he doesn't live on cereal." Rose held up her phone. "Call him. Short. Before he starts the truck on his own." Scarlett took the phone. Clayton answered on the first ring. "I made it," she said. "I was sick on the way. I'm better now. Aunt Lorraine's feeding me broth." A long breath on his end. "You keeping it down?" "Yes. Rose is here two more nights." "Good." His voice steadied. "Read tonight's letter yet?" "That's your job." He almost laughed. "Call me tomorrow morning." "I will." She hung up. Rose took the phone back and set it face down on the nightstand. "You're staying the week," Rose said. "I'll drive down Wednesday if you dip again." Scarlett nodded. She had held the ground. The visit would not break.