Forever Friends by Lynne Hinton Read Free Book Online

started reading. She sat down again.
    She was intrigued by the Georgia woman’s work to clear a patch of woods behind her house and create this large garden, this retreat site. Why would Beatrice have thought she would be interested in the story? She read while the other woman talked to her husband.
    â€œHow long will you be gone?” Beatrice asked.
    Louise kept reading.
    â€œWell, will you be home for dinner?” Beatrice inquired while she pushed at the sides of her hair.
    There was a pause while he answered. Louise stopped and glanced up at her friend.
    â€œOkay, then,” Beatrice said after a long while and hung up the phone.
    There was silence as Beatrice began haphazardly straightening the magazines on the desk.
    â€œYou ready to go?” Louise asked.
    â€œOh, yeah, I have to take you home.” And Beatrice stood away from the desk, staring at the phone.
    â€œBea,” Louise called out, “you okay?”
    Beatrice nodded silently.
    â€œWhat was the phone call about?” Louise folded the article and stuck it in her pants pocket.
    â€œHmm?” Beatrice asked as if she hadn’t heard.
    â€œThe phone call. It seems like it upset you.”
    Beatrice kept picking up magazines and flipping through them.
    â€œBea!” Louise said sharply. “What’s wrong? Is something the matter with Dick?”
    The other woman turned away from the desk and stared at the mirror. “No, he’s fine,” she replied.
    Louise waited for her to explain.
    Beatrice realized that she would have to tell more of the story. She examined herself, thinking she was now a little flushed, and answered. “It’s his brother or his brother’s wife. I don’t know which.” Then she straightened her blouse and smoothed down her skirt with the palms of her hands. “They live near Winston-Salem.”
    Louise didn’t know Dick’s family, but she thought she remembered hearing about a sibling who lived somewhere close by. When Bea and Dick had started dating, Bea had thought it was his sister who lived close by, learning only after their wedding that the woman was Dick’s sister-in-law. His brother, Louise thought she had heard, had recently been placed in a nursing home.
    â€œIs he all right?” Louise asked.
    â€œOh, sure,” Beatrice responded. “Did you decide you wanted to keep that article?” She’d noticed her friend reading it while she was on the phone.
    â€œYeah. I’m doing a paper on Georgian labyrinths.” It was meant to be a joke.
    Beatrice nodded without laughing. Her brow was crossed as if she was worried, and Louise couldn’t tell if she was confused by what she had just said or if she was still troubled by the phone conversation.
    â€œBea, what’s the matter? What’s the thing with Dick and his brother?”
    Beatrice turned to face Louise, who was still sitting in the chair away from the desk. She could see her friend’s concern.
    â€œI don’t know.” She began picking up papers from the floor. Then she added, “There’s some story.” Louise waited for more. “Some secret he won’t talk to me about.” Beatrice fixed her eyes beyond her friend. “Something that the brother did or his sister-in-law is doing. I don’t know.”
    Beatrice tapped the papers on the desk to square them up. “He goes up there all the time and comes home all torn up, and he won’t talk about it.” She set the papers down. “He says his brother is getting worse and that’s all that I need to know.” She lowered her head. “But I know something else is going on.”
    She raised her eyes to Louise. “I know he’s always been close to Jean, but I don’t understand what’s happened that he can’t tell me. After all, I’m his wife.” And then, as if she were embarrassed to say it, “What could be so bad that he can’t