Chapter 37

thirty-seven

River

February

River:

It's been a while since I was able to catch you on video chat, working a lot to wind down the season?

River:

Sad I didn't get you yesterday, it's been a long day here. I miss hearing from you. We don't have to talk about next month. Let's just watch the next episode of that show we started together

Lily:

Later this week? People keep leaving for new gigs and my schedule changes non-stop…

Lily isn't coming back just yet and I'm worried she's trying to put it off, so I'm headed to approach the Salvatore women about their meeting plans. Cautiously opening the door to Curl Up & Dye, I see Bella standing at the reception desk with her little sister Sofia and their cousin Chaira .

Looking like Carmela Soprano, Anna Lucia is drinking espresso in a little seating area and waves me over before I can even greet the group by the door. I breathe out because this means it will be going to the moms instead of handling this with my peers. My peers seem to agree the punishment is weird, unnecessary, and ridiculous on its face. Why is Ava Marie so hell bent on this?

I don't have to wonder for long, as Anna Lucia gestures for me to sit and join her. She snaps her fingers and Bella rolls her eyes but leaves the group to go to the small kitchenette where they store the staff lunches and hair dye supplies. A few awkward moments of silence stretch between us, until Bella places two more espresso cups on the wood and gold cafe table.

The navy ceramic cups are a traditional shape but the paint matches the town aesthetic, as do the small golden spoons topped by an engraved peacock feather. I'm anxiously tracing the engraving over and over when Anna Lucia breaks the silence finally,

"River, son, are you familiar with the background of the peacock?"

On a deep sigh, I say what we learn in school growing up, "Sure, they are the symbol of eternity and royalty. Peacock Springs was right by the Delaware Crossing, so it was initially because of the Red Coats adoration for King George until it became an ironic take on the way that royalty was the opposite of our values." This rolls out of me like the good townie I've grown into.

With a giant smile, one that suggests she's about to drop a truth bomb in my lap, Anna Lucia says, "Sure, if you want to be about this town. Isn't the world a bit larger than just one shitty little town in New Jersey?"

I nearly choke on the laugh I am fighting, but manage to nod and wait for her to finish.

"No, my dear, the peacock goes back way further. To Roman art, to Jewish folktales, and to India and Iran. There's more magic in one little bird than you could ever imagine. In this instance, it's not about royal figures, but about the magic that comes with mediating between the heavens and the ground. The gift of flight. The desire for us to flee the mundane and reach for something bigger, something unbelievable and unexpected. Break the chains of what holds us back," she pauses and gives me a stern and thoughtful look .

Her philosophical answer is stoking an anger in me. "If the town's about breaking chains then why are we meeting about literally chaining Lily to a historical piece of wood for setting her cheating ex-husband's things on fire? While still married to him? She was nineteen, he cheated on her. Publicly, her parents turned away from her. So she's, to keep our theme, flown the coop. She has not stopped running, and won't stop." I hate how desperate I sound right now.

"Exactly," Anna Lucia affirms to me.

Exactly? What the hell does that mean?

"It's not about the town, it's not about the physical restraints, which she could have sat out, or tried to talk us out of, it's about the running away. She's still chained to us. She has to face everything. She has to face herself. Until she does that, she's tethered to everything. From what I hear, you knew a little something about that marriage being destined to fail and it chains you too, George River Hendrix. I wouldn't be so quick to judge how we each handle secrets."

The only person I have ever told this to was my mom and Seth was throwing up far away from us, he didn't hear. The gears are turning in my mind when she interrupts the thoughts.

"The answer to the question you came here to ask, son, is no. We cannot take it away. We can, however, revise keeping her out of the conversation. Tell that witchy little coven of hers too. Make it clear that we'll grab her from her bed or out of the lineup for the wedding if we have to. She cannot run forever, but River, neither can you."

She then picks up her espresso cup and goes back to the magazine she was leafing through as a silent dismissal.