Raising Rain (32 page)

B
ebe pulled into Rain's driveway and beeped once. Just as Bebe jumped out to go inside, Rain came out dragging her suitcase and paused to lock the dead bolt behind her.

Bebe helped her load her suitcase into the back. “Sorry if the car smells like Jimbo. We got him groomed yesterday.” They settled into the front seats and Bebe asked, “Are you ready for this?”

“As ready as I'll ever be,” Rain answered, stuffing her purse on the floor at her feet.

Bebe put the car in reverse and backed out, glancing over at Rain who stared out the passenger window.

“Are you feeling okay?” Bebe asked.

Rain turned to face her and said evenly that she was fine, and looked out the window again. Bebe knew something was wrong, but wasn't about to push it.

She tuned the radio to smooth jazz on the ride over to Toni's house in San Jose. It took several hours, and even though she called Toni when they were half an hour away, Toni still wasn't ready when they arrived.
Rain stayed in the car while Bebe went in to help Toni drag her suitcases to the car and load them.

“You do know this is only a four day trip?” Bebe said. “I don't think it's a good idea for Mare and Jude to be waiting on the front lawn for us.”

“It's just a few things. I like to have choices when I travel, and you can never tell when a storm will blow in.” She said privately to Bebe, “Chance of storm 100 percent.”

Toni filled in the silence with chatter for the next forty-five minutes. Of course, Mare's Prius was parked outside the gated entrance of the house when they arrived. The “Coexist” bumper sticker written in various religious symbols on the back of her car stood out in sharp relief to Bebe when she remembered the round Marines emblem on the back of her Highlander.

Toni jumped out and punched in the entry code, and Mare drove on through without a greeting. Toni scrunched up her face at Bebe when she got back in the car and asked, “What's eating her?”

They pulled through the gate and followed Mare along the circular driveway to the garage, where they parked and unloaded the suitcases. They greeted each other and dragged their suitcases inside. Bebe went back for Jude's. Rain caught up with her and wanted to make sure her mother got a ground-floor room. Bebe said she'd take care of it discreetly so Jude wouldn't think it was patronizing.

The house was fabulous: expansive and white, with bare windows overlooking the ocean and private suites for each of them. The kitchen and dining room alone were larger than Bebe's house. She tried not to gawk.

Jude went straight to her room to rest. Mare came out to the kitchen where Bebe was checking out the contents of the cabinets and breathed a sigh of relief. She chastised Toni when she discovered it was her fault they were late.

“We weren't
that
late,” Toni shot back, investigating the wine rack. “Oh, look,” she said, pulling a bottle from the rack. “A 2005 Old Ghost Old Vine Zin. Marshall said we can help ourselves to anything in the rack, but his wine cellar downstairs is off-limits.” She carefully replaced
the bottle. “I wonder what he has down there.”

Mare would not be distracted. “Jude was just exhausted, and you know how irritable she gets. I think she was uncomfortable, too, like her meds were wearing off.”

Rain came into the kitchen carrying grocery sacks.

“Rain, do you know anything about your mother's medications?” Mare asked. “Would she tell us if she needed anything?”

Rain stopped and glanced in the direction of her mother's room. “She might not. Maybe her patch needs to be replaced.” She set the bags down on the counter and headed down the hall.

Bebe watched her go, wondering when Rain had become so attuned to Jude's needs. Toni and Mare began to unload the contents of the cooler into the giant side-by-side refrigerator.

Toni lifted a container from the cooler and brandished it at Mare. “Tofu? I will not eat tofu!”

Mare yanked it out of her hands. “It's not for you, it's for me.” Mare bent down to retrieve more items, and muttered, “I wouldn't waste it on you.”

Toni made a snotty face over her head and Bebe gave her a chastising look. Toni winked at Bebe playfully, and immediately turned a straight face to Mare when she looked up.

Rain came back out to the kitchen a few minutes later and said her mom was resting with a new patch. She would probably sleep for hours. She was going to rest awhile, herself.

She turned and went down the hall to her room, and closed the door behind her. The three women looked at each other.

“She's unusually quiet,” Toni observed.

Mare's eyes widened. “Could she be pregnant?”

Bebe knew that Rain would have difficulty containing her joy, if that were the case. Her melancholy fit the possibility of bad news, but Bebe didn't want to give anything away. “I don't think so. Consider why we're here, ladies. It's only natural that she should be depressed.”

They seemed satisfied with her answer. They got the kitchen squared away, oohed and aahed over the appliances, and familiarized
themselves with where everything was. Toni pointed out where the kitchen laptop was stored. It was used mostly as a virtual cookbook, but they could log on as guests and use it whenever they wanted. When they were done, they took their beverages of choice out to the sunporch and watched the wispy fog roll in. Toni opened a window to hear the roar of the ocean below. The sun bedded down in lavender gauze and fog eventually encased the house, extinguishing even the floodlight on the path down to the beach.

Toni rattled the ice in her empty glass. “Well, what's for dinner, Mare? I'm getting hungry.”

“Shrimp fettuccini. I stopped by a bakery in Monterey for some rosemary bread to go with it.”

“Mmm,” Toni murmured. “Sounds good. When do we eat?”

Mare looked over at Toni, exasperated. “When you decide to get up and do something about it.”

Toni's eyebrows shot up. “Meow. Draw in your claws.”

“Well, I'm sorry, but I only agreed to make the menu, not cook every meal.”

Bebe went over to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen shrimp. She took a shiny colander from the hanging rack overhead, dumped the shrimp into it, and turned on the cold water.

Toni continued to bait Mare. “I thought you were vegan. So you make an exception for shellfish?”

“Only when they're wild-caught in traps and they're sustainably harvested.”

“These are huge, Mare,” Bebe observed when the running water thawed them apart. “You couldn't exactly call them shrimp.”

“They're prawns. Same thing, just bigger.”

“How much are we paying for these things, anyway?” Toni asked.

“What do you care, Miss ‘My Perfume Is Obscenely Expensive'? If you wanted farm-raised shrimp from China full of antibiotics and growth hormones, or trawled in Thailand where they're destroying the environment, you should have said something.”

“Geez,” Toni said. “I was only asking.”

Toni brought her glass to the sink and gave an exaggerated shrug to Bebe. Bebe discreetly nodded her head in Mare's direction. “It was a long afternoon,” she said quietly, willing Toni to consider what the trip down had been like for Mare.

Toni pursed her lips briefly, and said lightly, “I'll put the water on for the pasta.”

They let Mare relax on the sunporch while they cooked. Toni even went to refill Mare's glass, but found her asleep on the chaise lounge.

When the meal was ready, they called Rain and checked in on Jude, who said she would come out later. They woke Mare and gathered at the long table to eat. The sleep had done both Mare and Rain some good, and when they were finished eating, they discussed their plans for the next morning.

“I thought we might do some shopping tomorrow and visit Point Lobos on Saturday afternoon. We have aquarium tickets for Sunday,” Bebe said.

“Mmm,” Mare said, reaching for a leftover slice of rosemary bread. “We should start with breakfast at Toasties in Pacific Grove in the morning.”

Toni pulled the bread basket out of Mare's reach. “Good idea. As I recall, they have blintzes.” Toni licked her fork. “We should shop in Carmel.”

“You're the only one of us who can afford to shop there, Toni,” Mare said.

“Traffic's bad on the weekends, and there's usually a problem finding parking,” Bebe said. “I was thinking more of Cannery Row.”

“But there's a jewelry store I wanted to stop at, and we could have tea at the Tuck Box in the afternoon,” Toni persisted.

“Maybe you and Lawrence could come back together sometime.”

“I think we should play it by ear,” Rain said. “We don't want Mom getting too worn out.”

“Don't worry about me,” Jude said from the doorway, wrapped in her plush robe, looking haggard. “If I can't keep up, you can just leave me behind.”

“Are you hungry?” Rain asked, ignoring her remarks.

Jude waved her off and shook her head. “Tea would be nice.”

Rain filled a teacup with scalding water from the hot faucet and pulled out the teabags. “Where do you want it?”

Jude glanced over her shoulder. “Is there a couch somewhere? The smell of that shrimp is making me nauseated.”

“Follow me.” Rain led Jude into the family room.

Mare lowered her voice. “When are we going to, you know, address the reason we're here?”

“Sunday,” Bebe said. “Evening. We'll have some fun first.”

Rain came back in and Mare started stacking dishes. “I'll rinse if you'll fill the dishwasher,” she said.

Rain agreed, and everyone carried their plates to the sink. Toni and Bebe joined Jude in the family room. They turned on the gas fireplace and found a channel on the flatscreen TV that had local news.

Soon they heard popcorn popping in the microwave. They smelled the buttery scent long before Rain and Mare joined them with brimming bowls. They perused the movies in the entertainment center and agreed on
While You Were Sleeping
. Jude dozed, waking long enough to snort at Sandra Bullock slipping all over the ice with Bill Pullman, and say, “Ridiculous. Contrived.”

Toni shushed her sternly. “It's romance, Jude. You remember what that is.”

Mare made a face at Toni, who playfully stuck out her tongue in reply.

At the end of the movie, Toni stretched and grinned broadly. “I'm glad they went to Florence for their honeymoon. That's so romantic.”

“I don't remember you being particularly romantic in school,” Bebe said. “Lawrence must have really pushed your buttons.”

“That he did, girlfriend,” she said, grinning.

“So what made you decide to give up teaching at the university?” Bebe asked. “Did Lawrence give you an offer you couldn't refuse?”

Toni grew uncharacteristically quiet and chewed her popcorn thoughtfully. “Not exactly.”

They waited for her to elaborate. Finally, Mare said, “Well, what happened?”

Toni briefly hiked her eyebrows and then shrugged. “They wanted me to teach online journalism.”

“What's wrong with that?” Bebe asked.

“I know absolutely nothing about online journalism.” She shifted and tucked her bare feet beneath her. “And they knew that I didn't.”

Mare made a little O with her mouth, and Rain dropped her gaze from Toni.

“They knew I wasn't comfortable with it. Curation? Flash? I'd be starting out all over again.”

“I get little Sammy to help me with the DVD player,” Mare admitted. “He's four years old and he can play Thomas the Train with no help at all.”

“They offered me early retirement as my only other choice.”

“That's too bad, Toni,” Bebe said. “Were you upset about it?”

She twirled the diamond rings on her left hand. “I got over it when Lawrence suggested going to Tahiti on our honeymoon.”

“That would've helped me get over a few things, too.” Mare's words dripped with sarcasm.

“I'm still keeping my hand in, just in case,” Toni said.

“In case of what?” Bebe asked.

“In case I need to support myself again.”

Jude stirred. “I knew you were a kept woman.”

They all exchanged glances and wondered how much of their conversation she'd heard.

“I enjoy every minute of it,” Toni said.

Mare eyed her suspiciously, chewing her popcorn. She leaned in toward Toni's face. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you've had a facelift.”

Toni smiled, self-satisfied. “Last spring, when we were in Los Angeles.”

Suddenly, the difference was apparent to Bebe. “You know, I hadn't seen you in so long, I guess I didn't notice.”

“You look nice, Toni,” Rain said.

“Altering your body that way to please a man,” Jude said. “Every time you went home for semester break, I had to reprogram you all over again.” She said to Bebe, “Not unlike the way I had to reprogram Rain after she spent weekends with you and Neil.”