Charlotte squeezed Evelyn’s shoulder. “Why wouldn’t you say anything? About your dad, I mean? I tried to talk to you about it, and you were so, I don’t know. Like it wasn’t happening.”
Evelyn looked at her friend, Charlotte’s hair frizzing in the mist. “What could I have said, Char? I thought maybe no one knew or put two and two together. What good would it have done, really, talking about it?”
“Well, you might have fought a little harder to keep your job. And talking can lead to deeper connections. So my therapist said.”
“Don’t tell the WASPs,” Evelyn said.
The raindrops started to spatter on the dock as Evelyn thought about the New York she had left behind, and the new New York that Charlotte, Camilla, and the others were discovering. She rose, and extended her hand. “Come on, Char. You’re getting soaked. You’re not used to the rains of the Bib. We’ll get you a shower and a delightful Barbara Beegan monogrammed towel, and we’ll have dinner at the Hub before you have to drive back. I’m rolling in money from tips and can afford extra garlic toast.”
“I would not say no to extra garlic toast,” Charlotte said, pulling her blazer tight. “Vámanos.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Northeast Regional
The train jolted Evelyn awake as it pulled past Trenton. She looked out the window for the passive-aggressive TRENTON MAKES, THE WORLD TAKES sign, but she had missed it this time. She had with her just a cheap red rolling suitcase, given to her as a going-away present from the people at the Caffeiteria. She was going back to Bibville the weekend after next, for another trip to Petersburg with her mother; she had promised to track down the e-mail address of a personal-finance guru whom Dale wanted to arrange prison seminars with.
About two months after Charlotte’s visit, Evelyn told her mother she was leaving. Her library-computer excursions had turned up the addresses of several well-reviewed coffee places and restaurants in New York that might be hiring, and some Craigslist roommate-wanted postings that she could actually afford with a job like that. Preston’s old cell-phone number didn’t work anymore, and though she’d swallowed her pride and called Mrs. Hacking a few times, she’d gotten their answering machine and had just left messages that this was Evelyn and she hoped Mrs. Hacking would tell Preston she was thinking of him.
After being very cross on the drive to the train station and saying that she didn’t have all day to chauffeur people around, Barbara had actually teared up when the train arrived. She patted Evelyn on the head and said that it had been wonderful having her little girl at home, that she didn’t know what she would do without her.
“You know what? How many women, at your age, get a chance to start over? You’re a free woman, for a little while at least,” Evelyn said.
Barbara had pursed her lips, then smiled. “Perhaps,” she said. She patted Evelyn on the head again.
“I’m just a train ride away if you need anything.”
“Your friends will be happy to see you again, Camilla,” Barbara said with a lifted eyebrow. Evelyn had been telling her gently, then insistently, that the friendship with Camilla was a thing of the past, but Barbara seemed to have decided not to hear it.
“Charlotte,” Evelyn said pointedly. “Not so much Camilla.”
“You shouldn’t just give up friendships so easily, Evelyn.”
Evelyn tilted her head, looking at the sun peeking out from behind the platform’s railing. “Mom?” Evelyn said. “You have to let me make these decisions, okay?”
“Don’t be condescending.”
“I’m not, Mom. It’s just my call now. Okay?”
Barbara looked around, as if she were going to see something that would change her daughter’s mind, but she eventually looked back at Evelyn. “If that’s what you wish.”
Evelyn’s rueful smile turned into a laugh. “That is what I wish, Mom. I’m going to hug you now, all right?”
“As if I would object to a hug?”
“Okay.” Evelyn leaned in for a hug; her mother’s breath felt warm on her cheek, and both of them pulled away quickly, patting each other’s arms.
“Safe travels.”
“’Bye, Mom.”
“Good-bye, sweetheart.”
Evelyn had been surprised to see that her mother waited on the platform once the train arrived, despite the chill, and raised a gloved hand in a farewell wave. Evelyn waved back from the inside of the smeared window.