Page 121 of Rhodes

"I found out what happened with Oak Moss."

She doesn't pause for a second. "Come on."

I hang up. The light at Napoleon goes green. I put on my blinker and turn off Claiborne, toward Jo's.

Audubon slides away behind my shoulder. I don't look at it.

Jo opens the door before I knock. Without a word, she steps back and lets me in. Then she goes to the counter, pours me a glass of water, sets it down, and turns to the sink to rinse a large plastic bowl.

I stand at her counter and hold the glass and don't drink it.

"Rhodes made the call that froze Oak Moss," I say. She already knows everything that has been going on. Only, like me, she didn't know why.

Jo turns off the water. She wipes her hands on the dish towel slowly.

"Holy shit. Why?"

I tell her enough to make her stop drying the bowl.

"I'm just floored. I'm so sorry he did this."

"And the worst part of it is, I cried to him on Friday, and he didn't say a word. Everything feels like a lie. I'm just such an idiot, and ashamed. I don't even know how to put all of this into words."

"You don't have to."

"Can I sleep on your floor? A night. Maybe two."

She goes to a closet and pulls down a comforter, then we walk up to her room.

"You're not sleeping on the floor. My bed's big enough for the two of us. But you do have to have your own comforter. I draw the line there."

"Fair enough."

"Do you know what you're going to do?"

"I have to go to Charleston," I say. "I have to talk to Grandbank and my dad."

"Will you tell them what Rhodes did?"

"He told me how to fix it. I'm going to call to verify when I can get my mind functioning again. If it's true what he said, then I have to get my grandfather to write a letter."

"What will they say when they find out Rhodes did this? They are going to want to know why he would do this."

"I think I'm going to say I did it." I worked it out on the way over here.

"Why in the world would you do that?"

"If I tell them I called the firm because I thought a review would give me leverage for the trust plan, that I didn't understand what I was starting, they'll be angry, but it won't open me up to more questions about my bad decisions." I shrug.

"That's not fair."

"I'm not doing it for him."

Jo looks at me.

"I'm not protecting Rhodes. I'm protecting myself from having to explain Rhodes. Does that make sense?”

She's quiet. I look over her shoulder at the collage of photos from the fall. There are pictures of us out on the boat, some of her with her intramural lacrosse team, her mom and dad.