Page 70 of Big & Lily
Lily dabs at her scalp with the back of her hand. “Fine. Now what, genius?”
“Well, I don’t think we can leave the way we came in,” I say.
“Wait, shh.” My sister sits up.
“Lily, don’t shush me.”
“No, shut up. Listen. Is that a plane?” We hear the engine before we see a yellow bush plane flying overhead. “Is that Loni?”
The plane is no bigger than a Matchbox toy from here; it’s miles away. That doesn’t stop me from waving my arms and shouting, “We’re here! We’re here!” To no avail. Loni, or whoever it is, passes, and the sound of the engine fades then disappears.
“Nice try, Gilligan,” says my sister.
“I’m open to other suggestions.”
Lily doesn’t offer any. She lies back down where she landed, her good hand cupping her bad wrist. Then she says, “Maybe you’re a little right. About the bitch part. I’m sorry I freaked out on you so badly up there.”
Old Bridget would have said, “That’s okay,” even if it wasn’t. This Bridget says nothing.
“I really was trying to protect you.”
“From what? Lil, you can tell me anything. The truth is so much better than the cover-up.”
“You think so, huh?”
“Try me. I can take it. How much worse can this day get? What do I need to be protected from?”
Lily groans. “It was Eric,” she says. “He was the one who said the shit about the picket fence and the perfect kids.”
“Why on earth would he say that?”
My sister spits out a piece of dead leaf. Then she grumbles like a teen who’s been asked why she missed her curfew. She doesn’t want to tell me, but she knows she’s past the point of staying schtum. “Jesus, okay. When I demanded he give me an explanation for screwing Willa, he said it was your fault. Because he couldn’t bear the idea of ending up like you and Tim. He said, the thought of living your mediocre life sickened him. He said I was turning into you, wanting everything you have, and he wanted out...” A tear runs down Lily’s cheek and mixes with the blood from the cut on her forehead. “...before it’s too late.”
“I knew I liked that guy,” I say as sarcastically as I can, given the amount of pain that’s stealing my wind.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Nothing like being blamed for the demise of your sister’s marriage.”
“It’s not your—”
“It’s fine, Lily. Screw Eric. He’s an asshole. Thank you for trying to protect me, but I don’t care about his opinion. I care about you.”
“I care about you, too, Big. That’s why I couldn’t tell you. It was an awful thing to say about someone. About the most important person in my life. He’s such a dick. I feel so stupid for even... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that about the kids. I love those guys, you know that.”
“Of course I do. Forget it, really. And I’m sorry I called you ungrateful. Today has been a shit show, tempers were high. Okay, one thing at a time. We make sure we don’t die in this forest, then wego home, and I beat the living crap out of your soon-to-be former husband.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Watch me, I’d like to—”
“Wait, shush! Oh my God, don’t move.”
“Again, with the shushing?”
“Right there.” She points. “Across the water.”
I turn my head slowly, fear rising in my throat, knowing that I can’t outrun another wild animal today, and there across the creek, standing by a tree, and staring at us with gold eyes, is Merlin, my fox. He’s blinking at us, no doubt wondering,What have you fools gotten yourselves into now?
