Southern Lights: A Novel

“It was fine,” Alexa said brusquely, and then turned her attention to Savannah to say goodbye. They were both fighting back tears when Alexa got into the cab for the ride to the airport. Savannah stood on the sidewalk and waved until her mother disappeared, and then she got in her father’s car and they drove to Mt. Pleasant. It felt weird to her sometimes—she had a father suddenly, and she wasn’t used to it at all. She told him about the weekend and all the things they’d done.

She unpacked her bag when they got home, and the new things her mother had bought her. Daisy bounced into the room and chatted with her. Julianne and two other girls called her, and Travis and Scarlette came to dinner. Scarlette brought Savannah some magazines, and Travis a funny old photograph he had of her when she was three. By the time Alexa got off the plane in New York, Savannah had settled back into her new routine, and in an odd way, it almost felt like home.

Daisy had commented to Savannah that night that her mom was really pretty and seemed nice, and apologized to her that her own mother was so mean.

“I think my mom is jealous of your mom,” Daisy said with the wisdom of young children.

“Maybe,” Savannah conceded, and then they both burst out laughing as they both said at the same time, “Bless her heart.”

Chapter 12

On her first day back after her weekend in Charleston, Alexa was busy with endless cops and investigators. Everything was coming together in the case, and she had dumped enough discovery on Judy Dunning to drown her. There was so much forensic evidence, and so many reports to go through, that the public defender was totally overwhelmed. Alexa took a break at noon, which was rare for her these days, and went to the family court to see her mother and have lunch with her in chambers. Alexa seemed like she was in a good mood.

“So how was it?” her mother asked her. They were each eating a salad from the deli across the street.

“It was better than I feared,” Alexa said to her. “Savannah was in great shape. And we ran into Luisa coming out of church, and she was a total bitch. But other than that, it was great. Charleston is as pretty as ever, and Savannah and I had a wonderful time together. I ran into an old friend of mine there, who defected when Tom divorced me, and that was creepy. But on the whole it was pretty good.”

“I told you. This is interesting for her, and it’s good for her to discover the other side of her family. She’s a smart girl. She’ll pick and choose. No one’s going to pull the wool over her eyes. It sounds like Tom bought himself a one-way ticket to hell with Luisa. Why does he stay with her?”

“Probably for the same reason he went back to her,” Alexa said curtly. “No guts. When he left me, he did what his mother and Luisa told him to do, and now she has him by the throat.” Or worse.

“How does he look?” Muriel asked with interest, and her daughter laughed. She was in good spirits. It had done her a world of good to see Savannah.

“Handsome and weak. I guess I never noticed. He’s still the best-looking man on the planet, but I know what he’s about now, and who he is. I guess I’ll always think he’s gorgeous, but thank God I’m not in love with him anymore. That’s something at least.” She sounded freer and less angry than Muriel had heard her sound in years. She wasn’t as tense, despite the pressures of the Quentin case. She’d been working closely with the FBI, and now that they weren’t threatening to take her case away every five minutes, she was enjoying working with them. There were no female agents on the case, and she didn’t mind being the only woman in a world of men. She liked it. And the FBI agents were interesting to work with.

While her mother was back at work, Savannah was busy at school in Charleston. She had added a Chinese class to her AP French, and was having fun trying to learn the language. She didn’t need it for credit, so there was no pressure on her. And she was starting to make a lot of friends in school. She and Julianne met for lunch almost every day.

She went to all the volleyball and soccer games, and rooted for their teams. They let her join the swimming team because someone had dropped out with a serious problem with her ears.

And the weekend after her mother had been there, the captain of the soccer team asked Savannah out on a date. Julianne nearly fainted when she heard. He had just broken up with the prettiest girl in school.

“Are you going to go out with him?” Julianne asked breathlessly when Savannah confided in her.

“I might. I have nothing else to do.” She sounded very cool.

He took her to a movie on Friday night, and they stopped at a coffee shop afterward. His name was Turner Ashby, a descendant of the general of the same name, he informed her over burgers and shakes.