BooksBarbecue
Back The Wilderwomen
Chapters (37)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. BEFORE
  4. AFTER
  5. ONE THOUGHTS ON SUN HATS
  6. TWO TIME FOR CAKE
  7. THREE TWELVE MONTHS
  8. FOUR PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  9. FIVE A SECOND SLEEPING BAG
  10. SIX SIX MONTHS
  11. SEVEN THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE PANCAKE
  12. EIGHT SIX MONTHS
  13. NINE FOLLOW THE MUSIC
  14. TEN THE STARS ARE BRIGHTER IN THE DESERT
  15. ELEVEN SIX MONTHS
  16. TWELVE EVERY STAR HAS A SONG
  17. THIRTEEN PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  18. FOURTEEN ONE MONTH
  19. FIFTEEN A WELL-TRAVELED HAT
  20. SIXTEEN JOEL VS. THE VOLCANO
  21. SEVENTEEN TWO WEEKS
  22. EIGHTEEN HOUSE OF MEMORIES
  23. NINETEEN IF TREES COULD TALK
  24. TWENTY THREE DAYS
  25. TWENTY-ONE SEARCH PARTY
  26. TWENTY-TWO NOT THE SAME ZADIE
  27. TWENTY-THREE WAVES OF SMOKE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR THE DAY OF
  29. TWENTY-FIVE THE SKY IS FULL OF BIRDS
  30. TWENTY-SIX NEST
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. EPILOGUE
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT A SONG ABOUT A BIRD
  34. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  35. Also by Ruth Emmie Lang
  36. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  37. Newsletter Sign-up

With two words, Nora emptied all the breath in her lungs. “I can’t!”

Zadie fell into a stunned silence, as if her mother’s voice was still echoing off the walls of a cave. Then the sobs started. Nora clasped her hands to her mouth as her body rocked and dirty tears stained her cheeks. Zadie stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. She’d never seen her mother cry like this. It was unsettling, Zadie thought, to see a grown woman, her mother, nearly choking on her own tears.

Once Nora’s sobs were under control, Zadie mumbled, “Are you okay?”

Her mother nodded, pushing hot tears off her cheeks with the heel of her hand. “I’m fine.”

Zadie was too drained to comment on her hypocrisy. Her mom was not fine. She waited, giving Nora one last opportunity to tell her the truth. When she didn’t take it, Zadie turned her back on her mother and walked away.

TWENTY-ONE SEARCH PARTY

The sun ostensibly rose the next morning, but the clouds kept it hidden. Finn used the dimness to her advantage, slipping out of bed while Zadie was still asleep. It was six A.M. She had an hour—two if she was lucky—to do what she needed to do.

She pulled on a pair of hiking boots, slipped past a snoring Joel, and made it all the way down the squeaky staircase without his waking (his snores were so loud, she could hear them from the floor below). As she cut across the yard, the main house appeared on her left, and with it, a rip current of memories. She hurried past, head down. Parallel to the shore. That’s what her surf instructor had told her two summers ago.

She turned onto the trail and was almost at the top of the hill when her phone dinged in her pocket. It was Kathy.

WHAT TIME WILL YOU BE HOME TODAY?

Shit. Not only was Finn apparently forgetting her own name, but she’d forgotten what day it was. Kathy was not going to be pleased when she told her they were at least two days’ drive from home. It was not a conversation she was prepared to have right then, however, so she switched her phone to silent and left it and her boots under the maple tree.

Barefooted, Finn approached the crooked pine. “Hi, Mrs. Van Houten.” She probably could have called her Amy, but she figured good manners couldn’t hurt. “It’s just me today. I hope that’s okay.”

A sudden breeze made Amy’s tree’s needles shake like rattlesnake tails. Finn shivered. She raised her voice so it would carry over the wind. “It must have been nice to talk to your kids again.” As expected, the conversation so far was one-sided. She knew she wouldn’t be able to communicate directly without Rowan there, but she still had one card she could play.