When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1) (16 page)

Andromeda had been painting, repainting, and then repainting again, as she tried to pick the perfect colors for the house. Today the kitchen was a vivid yellow, and the living room was a steel gray. Yesterday the kitchen was green. Had she stayed up all night painting?

“Hey,” she said as she entered the kitchen, “I like the living room color. The kitchen, I don’t know.” She tried to keep her voice even and her eyes from widening at how strange this was.

“Thanks, hon. I’m not sure about the color yet in the living room. I may go a shade lighter. I think I’m going to have to do the kitchen again though.” She swept a hand back through her un–brushed hair.

Julie eyed the now–typical outfit of paint splattered sweat pants and a t–shirt and struggled not to let a frown creep over her face. Andromeda was so different. She never left the house anymore. In Atlanta, they ate out almost every night, and her parents often went to concerts or other events on the weekends. It was almost like another person had replaced her.

She rubbed her temples. This was so confusing.

“What do you think? I want to make you happy too. You can help me pick colors next time. The paint store knows my name now.” She laughed. “Do you want breakfast? I have some made already. If you don’t want that, I can make you something else. Tell me what you want. Fruit? Pancakes? I can have them ready in a few minutes. Toast? Jam? Oh no, I’m out of that. But I can run out and get you some right now if you want it.”

Julie stared at her.

“Oh, no. You want jam, don’t you? I’ll go get some now. Raspberry? Or what about cherry? Or I can get both. One for each side of the bread?” She picked up her keys, still looking at her.

“No, this is all fine. I am fine.” Julie clenched her teeth. She was afraid her jaw might drop otherwise.

If Andromeda was so miserable, why were they staying here? She was a high–paced business woman, not some lady that puttered around the house, deciding what room to paint what color. It felt wrong. Why was she home instead of working with Lir? She did such a great job in Atlanta. They had even promoted her a few times.

Julie kept her teeth clenched. She wanted to ask. She made a note to add going to his work to her list of stuff to do. That wouldn’t be weird to visit him there. Only, she didn’t even know where he worked. Why had she never asked before? Maybe she had, and she had forgotten.

“I can eat the fruit and eggs left from Jamie. Please don’t worry about me.”

“Oh, okay. If you’re sure, honey. You look tired. You have bad circles under your eyes.” She sounded disappointed that she couldn’t do anything for her. She sat down, watching with a small frown.

All Julie needed was for her to tell her the truth.

But she didn’t have the guts to say what she was thinking. After a minute, she settled on asking, “So where is Jamie this morning?”

“Oh, he went with your father to do some filing for him.”

She choked on a piece of orange. “What? Jamie filing?”

“Yeah, I know.” Andromeda smiled at her. “Jamie may want to go into the same business your father and I used to be in after he gets out of school.”

She said the last few words tightly, almost choked out. She wasn’t happy with any of this. So Jamie got to work, and Andromeda didn’t. Interesting. Maybe she should add sexist bastard island town to the list of possibilities.

“So what kind of stuff is Jamie filing anyway? Could I help? Is it like a summer job?”

“Umm, it’s stuff for Dad’s work. Client folders and things.” She looked away to stare outside. “He didn’t ask you since he figured you’d want to dance instead. Also, there is only enough work for one person.”

The kitchen was silent for a few minutes as Julie picked at her food. She was so freaked out most of the time that she could barely eat a few bites of food. She must have lost five pounds this week. “I agree with you about the kitchen though. You know I have never liked yellow a lot.”

The older woman’s face pinched up, eyes welling with tears. Julie dropped her fork. It clattered against the white square plate.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, feeling her stomach shrivel into a tiny knot.
Does she know I know?

“But your room is yellow! Why didn’t you say anything?” Andromeda slapped her forehead. “You shouldn’t have to, that’s why. I’m your mom, and I know you don’t like yellow. We will paint your room today!”

Julie reeled back from the manic look in her eyes.

What if she was the sane one and all of them were crazy?

“I can get dressed, and we can spend all day talking about what color to paint it. The hardware store can make any color. This will be fun! We will paint your room over and over until we find the right color. We have the whole summer.” She came over to hug her.

Julie coughed. Andromeda may not have showered in three days. Julie didn’t return the hug.

She had to get away. She couldn’t spend all day with her. She was scared to let them know she might suspect something. Hanging around all day, talking and painting seemed like a terrible idea. “Let me go shower and get changed.”

“Okay, honey, I’ll shower too!” She laughed and spun around. The movement caused a whiff of stale sweat to waft off her unwashed body. Julie’s mouth dropped open as she tried to hold back a gagging noise. She felt like she was going to lose her tiny breakfast.

“Good.” She stood up from the table, eager to get out of the smelly kitchen. “Uh, I will meet you back here in a few minutes.”

Julie raced up the stairs, thinking fast. As she grabbed some clean clothes, an idea came to her.

Ariel.

She dug around for the shopping bags and found the store’s number. Crossing her fingers, she waited while it rang.

“Island Chic. How can I help you?” A musical voice rang out.

“Ariel?” Julie stared at her door, afraid Andromeda might burst in at any moment.

“Yes, this is Ariel. Who is this?”

What would she say?

“Umm, you may not remember me, but this is Julie. Andromeda’s daughter.”

“Sure I do. I haven’t seen your mom in a while. How is she doing?”

“Well,”
how to say this
, “I think she could use some new clothes, but I’m not sure how to get her to go. She isn’t leaving the house a lot anymore.”

The line was quiet. Crap.

“I see. Look, it will take me a few moments, but do you think you can keep her busy while I close up really quick?”

“Sure.” The tension left her clenched hands. Ariel had suspected this. What did that mean?

“I’ll be over in five minutes. Don’t worry.”

Julie felt better as she hung up the phone. Yet, she wondered why it was so easy to have Ariel leave the store to come over. They used to be good friends, but it was a bit odd that a few words about her not leaving the house made the other woman drop everything to come over.

She took a shower, pulled her bathing suit on, and got dressed in stretch pants and a cap–sleeved shirt. She packed her backpack with a book, sunscreen, towel, and her wallet. She felt a little queasy with guilt and worry about Andromeda, but she had worked hard these last few weeks for finals. She needed a day to find answers to some of these questions.

As she came down the stairs, the front doorbell rang. She answered it, and Ariel came in quickly.

“Where is she?” the tall woman asked, arm full of bangles clanking.

Julie pointed upstairs, and Ariel went up without asking. Andromeda was out of the shower and probably dressed by now, but it was weird to let someone go up there that she didn’t know. Ariel paused on the middle of the stairs and turned around. Julie almost bumped into her.

“You didn’t call anyone else, did you?”

Julie shook her head.

“Not even your dad?”

She shook her head no again.

Ariel’s posture relaxed, and her face got some color back. “Good.”

Julie led the way once they got to the top of the stairs. Her hand shook as she knocked on the door. She thought she heard a sniff.

Her head was reeling from Ariel asking about her dad. Was her dad the problem? Was he keeping all of them there? But why?

“I’ll be right there, hon. Getting my socks on.”

“Umm…” Julie hesitated, looking at Ariel, who stood so close that she was in a cloud of the woman’s perfume.

“Andromeda, it’s Ariel. I’m coming in.”

“What are you doing here, Ariel?” She asked with another sniff.

Ariel looked at Julie out of the corner of her eyes and held her finger to her lips. Julie’s eyes were wide, and she shook her head. Ariel tilted her head to the side, looking Julie up and down and then shrugged. She hoped she hadn’t given away too much to this woman.

“I just stopped by. I have a huge shipment coming in at the store today and need help with organizing some of my sales books. I hope since you were a business person in Atlanta, you might be able to help me with something. There is no one else I can ask. I know it’s a lot to spring on you, but I’m desperate. You know we…” she paused, her eyes flitting back to Julie again, “uh…fine arts majors…need to look out for each other.”

Julie stared at her, trying to figure out what that meant. It confirmed that there was a difference between the two schools. What happened to all the others? Did they leave? Were you allowed to leave?

The door opened, and Andromeda peeked out. Her hair was wet from the shower still, and her eyes were a little red. “Ariel, I’m not dressed for going out.”

The excuse sounded weak. It was clear from the spark in her eyes that she was dying to go.

“Nonsense, I can wait a few minutes for you to get ready.”

“Julie, do you mind if I help Ariel today? We can paint your room another day.”

“Sure.” Julie let a breath out in relief. “I can wait. We have all summer. Besides, once I get all my posters up, I doubt I’ll even notice the color anymore.”

Andromeda nodded, face breaking out into the first smile Julie had seen in a week, and she looked at Ariel. “Can you wait five minutes?”

“I can wait ten, old friend. I will always wait ten.” Ariel patted her on the arm.

She gripped Ariel’s hand tightly and gave a watery laugh. “I forgot about that joke. I have missed you. You know I will help you whenever you need it.”

She closed the door, and Ariel shooed Julie down the hallway. When they got downstairs, Julie turned to the older woman.

“Do you think she caught on?” Julie whispered.

Ariel laughed. “Oh, she isn’t stupid. She knows that I’m worried about her now. But, I know that she was good at her job in Atlanta. I heard through the grapevine that she was excellent at negotiating. She also has an eye for fashion. I know my little store is a step down, but if I can convince her to help me out some, I think it will help us both.”

“If you guys were so close once, why didn’t you keep in touch? Did you have some kind of fight?” She slapped her hand to her mouth in shock. She couldn’t believe she asked such personal questions to a woman who was doing her a favor and she barely knew. Way to fly under the radar. It was just that Ariel with all her bangles and endless talking seemed so nonthreatening. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

Ariel laughed loudly. “Oh, you are a lot like your mother was when she was your age. I don’t mind answering your questions. It’s the island. You can’t keep contact with everyone once they leave. And I can’t leave to visit—” She stopped abruptly.

Julie felt like screaming. Ariel had almost spilled something—she was sure of it. The tall woman looked away. “You know, I can’t afford to take a vacation from my business. We were both too busy to keep in touch with emails or phone calls.”

“Yeah.” She watched Ariel. The bubbly shopkeeper smoothed down her skirt a few times and remained quiet. She wouldn’t meet Julie’s eyes. It was clear those excuses seemed lame to her too.

“All right, I’m ready to go,” Andromeda said sooner than Julie had expected.

Her hair was dry and pulled back into a glossy ponytail. She pulled a few tendrils out as she walk down the stairs with a practiced hand to frame her face better. She looked stylish in a crisp button down shirt and striped palazzo pants. There was a huge smile on her face, and her eyes glowed with excitement.

She was back. That fast. Julie blinked.

“Andy, you must tell me what shade this gray is in your living room. I love it. I might have to copy you and paint my dining room this color.”

She blushed. “Um, I will have to figure it out. I have gone a little crazy lately and painted all the rooms a couple of times. I’m sure I have the paint chip somewhere.”

Ariel raised her perfectly tweezed eyebrows.

“Julie, are you sure you’ll be okay? Do you want to come with us?” Andromeda asked, some of the worry lines around her eyes reappearing.

Julie waved her hands in front of her. “No thanks. I think I’ll hang out at the beach and read a book this morning. Maybe this afternoon I’ll go to the school and practice or something, but I might take a break. I guess finals made me a bit loopy.”

“All right.” Andromeda stared at her, but the smile crept back onto her face. “You know where I am if you need me. I’m sure Ariel would love to have you help out too if you want.”

The other woman shrugged. “I am always happy to have more help. We fine arts school girls have to stick together around her after all.”

Andromeda gave a nervous laugh. After a quick hug, she rushed out the door. Ariel winked as she closed the door behind her.

Julie was free the whole day. Maybe even more days if she encouraged her to go with Ariel all the time.

In five minutes she was out the door with her backpack and riding her moped down the street to town. She was glad it wasn’t a bike—she was so nervous about sneaking around that a bike would wobble all over the road.

Jamie’s school was all the way on the other side of the island. She could reach the other school in about half an hour if she pushed the moped to its max of 20 miles per hour. She wished she could have a car still, but at least having her license for this was a start. If she had a car, she could leave.

Maybe she should leave anyway.

The thought was so tempting that she veered off the main road when she reached the center park. She drove toward the one bridge that arched across to the mainland. No one stopped her as she went on the bridge, but for some reason she stopped herself, parking the small motor bike along the curb of the bridge. She pulled her hair down and let the wind whip through it.