“Huh. You’re easy.”
Theo shook her head. “If I had a nickel for every time someone’s told me that …”
“You’d have what?” Delaney asked. “A nickel?”
Theo laughed. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Pretty much.”
Delaney taped another box together and set it next to the other three she’d constructed. “You want everything in Indigo’s room packed, right?”
Theo heard noise outside and looked up when the front door opened. Jordan walked in carrying a box in his arms. He caught Theo’s eyes and gave her a smile.
“Yes, please,” Theo said, replying to Delaney. “What’cha got there?” she asked Jordan returning his smile.
“It’s from Mom. More tape, some sheets of bubble wrap and paper to pack things in.”
“Is it possible that she might have snuck some sandwiches or some cookies in that box?”
“I’m sorry,” Jordan shook his head.
“You’re getting pie.”
Delaney looked over at Theo. “Yeah, but that’s after we get everything packed. I was hoping for something yummy to get me energized to do all this work.”
“Would it help if I told you that there’s an empty moving van in the parking lot and three men that brought it over here? You pack the boxes, they’ll move them. Mom told them we’d probably be done by eleven, so shake a leg, Doc. We’ll have you sitting in front of the pie in no time.”
“God, I love Odette,” Delaney said, grabbing two boxes and heading toward the back of the bungalow.
“I second that,” Theo agreed following her friend.
The three of them began disassembling Indigo’s bedroom. Early morning sunshine fell through the slats of the white wooden blinds that covered the one large window. The room was painted a pale yellow, and in the middle of the far wall sat a canopy bed. Both the canopy and the comforter were white with a tie-dye swirl of pink, yellow, purple and blue. Delaney began boxing up the toys that were strewn all over the floor while Jordan carefully packed all of Indigo’s books. Theo went straight to the dresser and pulled open a drawer. She pulled out a shirt and checked the tag, realizing that Indigo had grown in the six months she’d been living at the barn.
“I guess we just pack everything and store it,” she said. “Most of these clothes are too little for Indie now, and she hasn’t asked for any of these toys or other things.” She sighed. “I can’t throw anything away … but I don’t want to bring something back to the barn that will upset her, either.”
“No,” Delaney said, running her fingers over the head of a furry stuffed cow. “We don’t want to upset her.”
Theo filled a box with the contents of two drawers, each shirt, pair of pants and sweatshirt folded and organized neatly so everything fit.
“I hate to ask this because I know how much you love having her with you, but do you think she’ll ever want to move back here with Cleopatra?”
Theo shrugged. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know she’s not interested in anything that has to do with the hotel right now.”
“They had a rough therapy session yesterday,” Jordan offered.
“Damn, Theo,” Delaney said, reaching out to put her hand on her friend’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Theo was sure she heard a tremble in Delaney’s voice, and she looked up to study the other woman’s profile. “Doctor Gardner suggested that maybe we could start up our Wednesday dinners here at the Madeleine when Patty moves back. He didn’t say a single thing about Indigo living here again, he just mentioned dinner and it brought up so much emotion for her. She said this wasn’t her home anymore, that this was a bad place and that she didn’t want to leave the barn.”
“That poor kid,” Delaney said, closing her eyes. Her chin dropped to her chest and Theo glanced over at Jordan who was also watching Delaney. “She’s been through a lot.”
Theo moved closer to Delaney and Jordan stopped packing books.
“Are you okay?”
Delaney sniffed and shook her head as though that might ward off the tears that seemed to be coming.
“Yeah, I just … that night on the lake … I think about it sometimes, and I know I could have easily lost both you and Scrappy-Doo, and …” Her voice faltered and she reached up to wipe the moisture beneath her nose. “Losing people we love is just so hard … it’s the hardest thing in the world.”
Theo knew Delaney loved her, and there was no question about how she felt about Indigo. That night on Darby Lake had been terrifying, and Theo was sure Delaney was being truthful about how much it had affected her. Still, she wasn’t convinced that what Delaney was feeling now had anything to do with the events that had taken place the previous summer.
“Sweetie, you can talk to us about anything. You know that, right?”
“We won’t even make fun of you,” Jordan said. When Delaney looked up and caught his gaze he gave her a smile. “Probably.”
Delaney shook her head and scoffed. “Stop it,” she told him. “I know. I’m okay. I’m good.” Theo watched as Delaney pulled herself back together again. “I’ve never actually been in this room before. I know Indigo’s lived here since she was born, but when I think of Indigo’s home, it’s always with you at the barn.”
Jordan placed a few more books in the box he’d been packing, then taped it closed. He uncapped a black Sharpie and scribbled across the top before assembling yet another box. “I have an idea.”
“What’s on your mind, tree man?”
Theo packed all of Indigo’s underwear and socks, cleaning out what remained of her dresser drawers. She walked over to the closet and began pulling some of the dresses that hung there.
“Giving Indigo a brand-new bedroom. She and Mom were on the internet the other day. They were furniture shopping.”
“Is Odette leaving your dad or something? She ready to buy a place of her own?”
Both Jordan and Theo laughed when Delaney suggested it because the thought of Max and Odette Reilly separating was a ridiculous notion.
“She was looking for bookshelves.”
