After Olivia

35

Nervous and excited, Matilda had hardly slept a wink. She had arrived home from work at almost midnight with a carry-on suitcase she had borrowed from Whitney, then spent hours trying to figure out what to put in it. Sherry sat on Matilda's bed laughing as a shirt was removed and replaced by another that looked almost exactly the same, then swapped back again minutes later. The laughter subsided when Matilda hesitated to add in a bikini she had purchased the previous night, and dropped it on the bed beside the suitcase. Fitting room confidence left at the cash register. While the question of nightwear was being debated and Matilda's attention had turned towards her pajama drawer, Sherry stuffed the bikini into the suitcase under some shirts and shorts.

Matilda carried the small suitcase down the stairs in the morning and left it near the front entrance, then moved into the kitchen to have a bite to eat. Bill would pick her up at about 9:30, so she had almost an hour to fidget away before he arrived. She contemplated removing the bikini from the bag but feared her mother would follow through on a threat, "If you leave this behind, I'm gonna drive out to the resort and deliver it to Bill, myself." She laughed at the thought and went back to preparing her breakfast.

She tidied up after herself in the kitchen then rushed up the stairs to brush her teeth and rethink the clothing she was wearing. All the nervous activities that filled the time came to an abrupt end when the sound of the front door being opened echoed through the house.

Matilda dashed across the hall to look out her mother's bedroom window and noticed Nat's car pulling away from the curb. She froze. The crashing sound of her grandmother stumbling in with a heavy suitcase slapped her back into motion and panic set in. Bill was due to arrive in thirty minutes and her grandmother had returned home earlier than expected. Matilda could not be seen leaving for an over-night stay with a man, no matter how charming he was.

A quick dash back into her room was followed by a frantic attempt to call Bill. The call rang through to voice mail. A quick text begged him not to come. Missing characters and spelling mistakes be dammed. Emily! She needed Emily to come for her. Her fingers seemed to move in slow motion as she tapped the screen to locate Emily's contact profile and initiate the call. One ring was followed by another, and another until it was finally answered.

"Emily!" Matilda's voice was hushed but frantic. "You gotta tell Bill not to come for me. Can you pick me up? Please. My grandma is home. I'll explain later. I gotta go."

"Okay..." was all Matilda heard from Emily before she said a rushed good-bye and disconnected the call.

"What's all this?" A shrill voice clattered up the stairway from the front entranceway.

"Oh, hi gran– June." Despite years of practice, Matilda occasionally slipped up and called her grandmother by the unaccepted title instead of her name. As a child she would address her as Mrs. Harvey but when the last bit of shine had faded from her husband's name, June preferred to use her first name, alone. In contrast, Matilda's grandfather embraced his title, even if it was bestowed upon him much earlier in life than expected.

"I'm tripping over this bag! What the hell is it doing in the middle of the hallway?"

The small suitcase had been tucked out of the way against the wall, but exaggeration was to be expected when it came to Matilda's grandmother. The fifty-six-year-old woman had used dramatics to enhance the truth for at least fifty-five of those years and it worked well for her.

"Sorry, June. I thought it was far enough out of the way," Matilda said as she rushed to move the small suitcase that was still neatly tucked into a corner.

"Your bedroom would be a better place for it."

"Oh, ahhh, I'm going—" Matilda interrupted her own explanation.