“Well, tell him he owes you an apology and then go from there. You don’t have to stay angry with him if you don’t want to. Tell him to apologize, and if you’re satisfied with the apology and you want to see where things go, then I say go for it. Shit, you can always dump him if it doesn’t work out.”
Evie didn’t like the sound of that last bit and that told her all she needed to know. She was unsure of how it would all work out or even if it would, but she wanted to give Zach a chance if he was interested. She needed to confirm that important bit of the equation too.
“Maybe I’ll wait until your date with the doctor. You can tell me if you liked him and why, or if you didn’t and why, and then I can compare notes to how I’m dealing with Zach.”
Blaire let out a short chuckle. “Okay. But just an FYI, we have totally different taste in guys. I like them quiet and nerdy. You like them . . .”
“I like them like what?”
“Like Zach Pleasant.”
* * *
After she finished her call, Miss Leona explained the plan for the rest of the day. Around five thirty, Jesse would arrive with her new full-time nurse, Vega. She and Tilde would swap intel on Evie’s physical well-being and then Tilde would catch the red-eye back to New York.
Corie, who had been gone all day running errands for Miss Leona, came home a little after four. She broke up some of the tension between Miss Leona and Tilde with her bright personality. Evie tried to help her put away all the stuff she’d picked up at the store, but Corie wouldn’t let her. Instead, Evie sat at the island and talked to Corie while she restocked some spices in the pantry.
“My mom is actually Miss Leona’s goddaughter. My grandma used to be Miss Leona’s body double back in the day.”
“Oh wow.”
“Later, we’ll watchSeeds of Sunshine. The 1959 version.”
“The only version,” Miss Leona said from her seat on the couch.
“She’s right. The 2017 version was terrible. The movie is literally about the Civil War and somehow they managed to downplay the war andwhoopsall the Black characters away.”
“They made my character White,” Miss Leona said. “I didn’t go to the screening.”
“I’d love to see your version,” Evie replied. She enjoyed the few movies she’d watched in the hospital. It would be great to see one starring Miss Leona herself.
“Let me put the rest of this stuff away.” Corie took off down the hall with two loaded-down bags and enough toilet paper for twenty. When she came back they sat on the couch and Corie brought up the movie. Evie noticed Tilde was still reading her book, which was fine, but somehow a little rude twenty minutes into the story of a group of women trying to aid, and then ultimately falling in love with, Union soldiers. More than halfway through, she finally put down her book and watched the film.
Miss Leona played Belle, a former slave whose current employer had set out to lend a hand at the battlefront. Her husband dead, she asked Belle to accompany her. Belle agreed, for a price. Evie was immediately sucked in by the love stories that were at the center of this epic tale of the Civil War. She knew it wasn’t real, but she wanted so much for Belle and her sweetheart, Homer. She realized she owed so much of what she was feeling to layers of emotion Miss Leona was pouring into the character.
It was so strange to see such a younger version of Miss Leona on the screen and sort of amazing to see how well she’d aged. She still carried a certain fresh beauty that Evie had a feeling was unique to Miss Leona herself. The story was so dramatic and the performances so enthralling, Evie found herself moved to tears more than once. When the end credits rolled, she turned to Miss Leona.
“That was wonderful.Youwere wonderful,” Evie said, unable to stop herself from gushing.
Tilde added her own grunt of approval. “It was an excellent film.”
“Thank you. Both.”
“How’d you know you wanted to be an actress?” Evie asked. Her wardrobe alone clued her in to the fact that Miss Leona had a flare for the dramatic, but you couldn’t fake that kind of talent or the confidence that seemed to accompany it.
Miss Leona looked down at her lap and made a show of smoothing out her flowing top over her knees. “When we were little my father would make us sing for our supper. My sister and I started doing full dramatic productions. She would ‘write’ them and I would do the bulk of the performing. My father used to have me perform for our neighbors. I fell in love with entertaining even the smallest crowds.”
“That’s amazing. I can’t wait to watch more of your films.”
“There are plenty more where that comes from,” she replied with a wink.
“May we check the news?” Tilde asked.
“By all means.”
Evie didn’t miss the way Miss Leona rolled her eyes.
As Corie turned to a local station for the start of the five o’clock news, Evie excused herself to the restroom. When she stepped back into the hallway, she heard Jesse call out his hello from the front door. Evie found him and Lilah in the living room, where he introduced them all to Vega Ro, a very beautiful, very petite brown-skinned woman in adorable rainbow scrubs. She was younger than Evie expected, no older than thirty. She had long, curly black hair pulled back in a loose braid and she had a beauty mark just below her lip.