The Hurricane Sisters Read Free Page B

hear, including Ashley. “She could still live at home. Then her mother wouldn’t be so lonely.”
    “I’m in the room, Dad,” Ashley said.
    “Hush, dear! The whole restaurant can hear you!” I said.
    “Well, it’s harder for kids today, Dad,” Ivy said.
    Clayton harrumphed. Ivy looked at his father with a very stern expression. I could see his annoyance boiling up to the surface.
    “I guess it is hard if you take a job for eight dollars an hour,” Clayton added.
    “Ten,” Ashley said and no one seemed to care.
    “My housekeeper makes twenty dollars an hour scrubbing our toilets,” Liz said.
    Ashley was now completely mortified and struggled to maintain her conversation with Skipper about his llamas, one in particular he named Maisie as a birthday gift to me. It was just so wrong that Clayton and Liz denied their only daughter so much. They should at least give her some respect, especially in front of James, whom they didn’t even know.
    “Yeah, boy,” Skipper said. “Maisie the llama is almost as pretty as your grandmother, as llamas go, that is. She has beautiful eyes and she can bat those lashes of hers like a movie star.”
    “Don’t llamas spit?” Ivy said.
    “Sometimes. But a llama is a great gift for the woman who has everything,” Ashley said.
    “She’s darling,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
    “I’d love to see a picture,” Ivy said.
    “She could be a calendar girl,” I said.
    Now Ivy laughed and repeated to James what I’d said and James laughed too. Lighten mood—check.
    “I wonder if she’s ever going to get a real job,” Liz said.
    “I do have a real job,” Ashley said and looked to James. “Don’t you love our family?”
    James was now thoroughly uncomfortable. Ivy’s good humor faded right in front of me. Boy, these two were awfully moody.
    “Mother? What is the matter with y’all? You and Dad are just determined to peck everyone to death, aren’t you? Like a bunch of chickens!” Ivy said. “Ashley’s your daughter ! And she’s a fabulous painter. Why don’t you and Dad climb off her back for five minutes?”
    “Really?” Clayton said.
    “Yes! The house was empty anyway! What’s the big deal? No one ever goes there, do they?”
    “Because we all worry about melanoma,” Liz said. “You know that.”
    “You’re paranoid about melanoma,” Clayton said.
    “I am not!” Liz insisted.
    I began feeling anxious. “They say we’re in for a busy hurricane season,” I said. No one answered. “There have already been six with names. Thank goodness they blew out to sea!”
    Clayton just sat back in his chair and cocked his head to one side like the chairman of the Department of Decorum and laughed.
    “Well, well, well,” Clayton said. “It seems at long last that my delicate son has grown a pair. This calls for champagne! Where’s that fellow with the list?”
    Clayton ordered a bottle of champagne and as soon as the entrees were cleared away, it was poured.
    “This momentous occasion merits a toast,” Clayton said.
    “Are we really going to toast my family jewels?” Ivy said, snickering.
    “Don’t be vulgar,” Liz said.
    “In Ivy’s defense,” James said, smiling and poised, “it was Mr. Waters who introduced them into evidence.”
    Liz gasped. Rarely had I seen anyone speak so boldly to Liz. I sort of loved it.
    “Are you a lawyer?” Ashley said.
    “Yes,” James said, smiling.
    “Really? Where did you . . .” Clayton asked, but James answered before he could finish.
    “Harvard. I don’t practice too much. But I do a lot of pro bono work.”
    “Wow,” Ashley said. “Can I try on your Glass again?”
    “Sure,” James said and passed the newest thing in gizmos across the table to her.
    “Oh my goodness!” I said, staring at Ashley. “When you said that, you looked exactly like my Juliet!” Why had I never seen the resemblance before?
    “Mother!” Liz said.
    “What?” I said. “Don’t you agree with me? She was just