“When someone shows me their true colors, I believe them.”
Dolly Parton
Grace Parson paced the parking lot of the Landmon Funeral Home. She didn’t want to be talking to her boyfriend on the phone. She wanted him here. By her side. On the toughest day of her life.
“Drake, where are you? Bree and I are about to go in.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I got called out of town. I really wish I could be there to give you a hug.”
“You’re going out of town? Today? How could you, Drake? I need you here.” Grace couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could his company send him out of town today, of all days?
“I tried to fight it, babe. But apparently, no one else is able to make it today. I’m really sorry.”
“Well…safe travels, I guess. At least Bree is here. I’ll talk to you later.” Grace hung up, feeling dejected, and walked to the door where Breena, her best friend, waited.
Grace dreaded opening that door. Her life would never be the same once she did.
Why wasn’t today gloomy or raining? Orlando’s gift of a bright beautiful October morning mocked her.
She smoothed down her black dress and rubbed her bright yellow heels against her tights to shine them up a bit. Finally, clutching Breena’s hand for support, Grace pulled open the funeral home’s heavy oak door.
It was time to say goodbye to her mother.
Grace tentatively stepped into the tastefully decorated room but halted with her first look at the dais. Despite the room’s low light, the casket holding her mother was a beacon directly in front of her.
“Bree!” Grace’s emphatic whisper held a note of shock. “What the heck is Mama wearing?”
Grace wasn’t surprised to find her best friend’s shoulders shaking. Laughing.
They’d come to the funeral home early to have some time alone with her mother before the funeral started. And now she was glad. It was wildly inappropriate to laugh at the outfit her mother had chosen to be buried in—well, costume might be a more apropos word. But Grace knew if they weren’t laughing, they’d be crying.
Of course Mama had probably anticipated that when she’d chosen her burial outfit. She would have wanted her girls to have something to smile about.
Grace grabbed Breena’s hand as they moved toward the coffin to say their goodbyes and to take in a close-up view of the outfit before the doors opened for the service. She shook her head, gazing down at her mother, unable to keep the grin off her face.
Marilyn Parson had been laid to rest in a bright pink jumpsuit—no doubt inspired by her hero, Dolly Parton—that sparkled and shined all over. Silver fringe lined her arms and legs, and the neckline proudly displayed a bedazzled collar that reflected the light shining down on her. At her waist was a similarly glittery belt, and while the bottom third of the coffin was closed, Grace was sure her mother had chosen the silver boots she’d worn to school pick up, so often embarrassing Grace. Grace’s mother sure knew how to go out in style, so to speak.
“Well.” Breena grinned, her eyes shining with tears. “She still knows how to make a statement.”
Grace’s grin widened. “When the funeral director told me Mama had already picked her burial outfit, I guess I should have been suspicious. I suppose we can be grateful she didn’t want to wear a pole-dancing outfit.” She laughed, despite the threatening tears. “She does look good though, doesn’t she?”
“Your mother always looked good.” Breena put her arm around Grace’s waist and squeezed.
“Bye, Mama,” Grace whispered, then leaned down to kiss her mother’s rouged cheek. She closed her eyes for a moment as she caught the light floral-and-citrus scent her mother had worn every day. Estée Lauder Beautiful. A tear rolled down her cheek as she realized that, with her mother’s passing, she was officially an orphan.
People started to arrive as she and Breena drifted to the front row to claim their reserved seats.
Breena leaned over. “Should we save a seat for Drake?”
“No. Just you and me. He had to go out of town for work today so isn’t able to come.”
While Breena didn’t say anything, Grace noticed her frown. It mirrored Grace’s own disappointment.
One hour and a box of tissues later, after saying thank you and goodbye to almost everyone who had come to pay their respects or support her, Grace groaned as she fell into a chair at the back of the room. It was only then she noticed two people still there—a hospice nurse, Nancy, was making her way to them, and an older man still by the coffin.
“Grace honey, Breena, I’m so sorry for your loss. Your mother was a treasure.” Nancy sat down next to Grace and rummaged through her purse. “I have a note for you from your mama. Somewhere in here.”
Grace exchanged a confused look with Breena before the nurse handed her a pink envelope.
“She asked me to write a few things down for her the day before she fell into her coma. Some of it didn’t make sense, but I wrote down everything I could understand. I’m so sorry I forgot about this.”
“No problem, Nancy. Thank you for coming today, and thank you for all your help and compassion with Mama.” Grace stood and gave her a hug, then watched as she left the room.
Grace nodded her head toward the casket. “I wonder who he is?”
“Yeah, I was wondering too,” Breena said softly. “He seems pretty broken up about your mother’s death. He’s been up there for some time now.”
Just then the man turned around and strode toward them, stopping in front of Grace. “I am so sorry for your loss. Marilyn was a wonderful woman.” He held out his hand. “I’m Edward Pillingham. Your mother and I were friends for three decades.”
Grace shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Pillingham. You knew my mother for so long, I’m surprised I don’t know you.”
He smiled. “I live in Nashville. I just happened to be in Florida when I was alerted to your mother’s passing. I am so thankful I was able to make it here for her service. You probably wouldn’t remember me from your father’s service. I had to leave shortly after it finished and was unable to meet you then.”
Grace studied the man in front of her. About her mother’s age, mid- to late-sixties. Which meant they were in their thirties when they met. His full head of white hair was perfectly cut and combed, his charcoal gray suit looked made to fit him. He was a handsome man. She wondered how her father fit into all of this.
“I…uh, no. I don’t remember.” Grace knew her confusion must have shown on her face.
“May I?” He gestured to the seat in front of the two women. At her nod, he turned the chair around to face them and settled into it. “I was your mother’s lawyer. Like I said, we met over thirty years ago. Your father and I were good friends, and I met Marilyn through him. She was pregnant with you when we met, actually.”
“Oh.” Grace wasn’t sure what to make of this new information. She didn’t know much about her parents’ past, but this was a lot to take in. Especially today. At her mother’s funeral.
“You’ll be heading to Nashville at some point?” Mr. Pillingham asked.
“I hadn’t planned on it.” Grace was confused.
Mr. Pillingham didn’t say anything for a moment. “Your mother kept her apartment up there. She didn’t mention it?”
“Oh. No, she didn’t. I didn’t find any paperwork in her things, so I thought she must have sold it before moving here.”
Mr. Pillingham shook his head. “No, she wanted to save it for you. She was actually very insistent.”
“Well, I guess I’ll need to plan a trip to Nashville. We can probably go in a couple of weeks or so.” Grace looked at Breena for confirmation.
This was one of the many times Grace was thankful to be her own boss. She was able to take time off without putting in for leave or worrying about how many days she had left. Of course, because she was her own boss, she also didn’t get paid until she secured her next client. Her dwindling savings account had been feeling the squeeze lately.
“I’ll have my secretary call to set something up at your convenience. I’ll be back up there in about two weeks, so the timing should work well.”
“I…um…” Grace sagged back in her chair. She was having a hard time focusing. It had been not only a long day but a long several weeks. Heck, a long couple of years. “I have the address, but I don’t have the key.”
He smiled kindly. “I have those at the office. I’ll have my secretary call Brian to let him know to expect you.” At her blank look, he continued, “Brian is the doorman at Marilyn’s building. He can help you until I get back and get the keys to you.” He stood and spoke to both of them. “Again, I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“I guess we’ll see you in a few weeks then. Thank you, Mr. Pillingham.”
As she watched him walk away, Grace felt her life was headed down a completely new path. One she wasn’t prepared for.
The scary part was, she had no idea what direction she was supposed to go.
* * *
“That was nice of Drake to give us a ride,” Breena said as they arrived at their gate.
Grace and Breena were both exhausted, so when Drake offered to give them a ride to the Orlando airport, Grace gratefully accepted. After two weeks of cleaning the townhouse, sorting through her mother’s belongings, and preparing for the next chapter, it felt good to settle into the hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs with nothing to do except wait for their flight to Nashville to be announced.
She looked at the woman who had been her true friend through thick and thin for so many years. Breena O’Malley was lovely. Even in middle school, she’d been lovely. No awkward phase for her. Soft, curly, dark red hair that fell just past her shoulders, bright green eyes, and the creamy pale skin many Irish women are blessed with—though Breena certainly didn’t see it that way.
Grace kept her smile inside. “Yes, it was nice, wasn’t it? He’s been very attentive since Mama passed away.”
She knew Breena didn’t like Drake, so she appreciated the comment. Grace smiled a little, thinking of her beau. Drake was beautiful—dark brown hair, always perfectly cut and coiffed, startlingly light blue eyes, a Hollywood smile he used to charm everyone. It was one of the reasons he was successful in his sales position. That and the fact he always looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of GQ magazine. And for some reason, she thought, he chose me.
They’d met briefly at a charity auction and ran into each other in the parking garage at his office building after she’d just finished a frustrating meeting with a fundraising committee. She had a talent for running fundraisers, but all too often, she let others run over her and change what she knew was a good plan, resulting in a fundraiser that was rarely as good as it could have been. That day, coming out of the meeting to find her Toyota wouldn’t start had added to her bad mood.
Drake had walked out behind her, saw her car troubles, and offered her a ride home. He seemed surprised and impressed by her address in one of the nicer, older neighborhoods in Orlando. She was grateful she’d been able to live in the townhouse she grew up in after her mother moved out several years before.
Since then, he’d been courting her, to use an old-fashioned term. But it felt kind of old-fashioned to Grace. He wasn’t pushy or forward with her, which she appreciated. He showed a proper amount of interest without scaring her away.
He regularly sent flowers and made it known he was her boyfriend when she had meetings in his building…not that she had hordes of men lining up or anything. Besides, she didn’t really have the time or emotional capacity for an all-in relationship right then. Drake made it easy, and somehow, he’d slid into her life.
“He’s been talking about the future,” Grace hesitantly added. “That maybe we should get married.”
She hadn’t mentioned this to Breena before because she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Could she picture being with Drake for the rest of her life? He was certainly nice, considerate, handsome, but was that enough? She’d always dreamed of someone who made her stomach flutter, of a kiss that made her forget where she was. Maybe that kind of thing wasn’t real, just fairy tales and romance novels. Maybe what she had with Drake was as good as it got.
Breena looked over at her, startled, opening her mouth, then closing it again. “And how do you feel about that?” she finally asked diplomatically.
Before Grace could answer, her phone pinged. Confused, she pulled up the security app to see what was going on in her townhouse.
“Hang on a sec while I check the house. The alarm must be malfunctioning…you and I are the only ones with keys.” Even as she said it, she remembered a day last week when her purse had been lost for a few hours. Drake had found it tucked away somewhere. She wondered now if someone had copied her keys.
Her mouth hung open as the app’s video feed revealed someone in her house.
“Hey, everything okay?” Breena’s voice was laced with concern.
Grace held the phone so her friend could see the video as well. They watched as two people walked around her living room before moving in close together. Whispering? And then they kissed, which was extraordinarily odd if they were there to rob her house.
“What the…?” Grace and Breena looked at each other, confused.
The couple, hand in hand, went from the living room to Grace’s bedroom. It was clear they were not there to rob her. Drake’s face came into focus.
Grace flinched as if she’d been slapped across the face; her heart hammered. An internal war between hurt and anger waged inside her.
“That bastard!” Grace said through clenched teeth.
Breena rubbed her back. “Who’s the woman?”
She took a deep breath. “Deanna. I worked with her on my last project. I can’t believe he’s with her.”
The phone slipped from her fingers. Her hand automatically went to her throat, only to find it bare. She hadn’t been able to find her necklace when she dressed that morning.
Grace ground out, “Will you call the cops for me?”
“Absolutely.” Breena’s Irish temper simmered.
Grace watched as Breena talked to the operator at 911, pacing in a tight circle with her right arm wildly gesticulating, causing a few passengers to move further away.
Grace, her anger giving way to nausea, took a few screenshots of a shirtless Drake and Deanna, then turned off her phone and stuck it in her purse. Closing her eyes, she furiously wiped away the traitorous tear running down her cheek. He doesn’t deserve my tears, she scolded herself.
Grace wished her mother were here to give her a hug. Grief lanced through her heart once again; sadness for the moments that would never be gripped her. Grace remembered something her mother used to say all the time. “Honey, if someone shows you who they really are, believe them.”
Well, Mama, I guess I know who Drake really is now, don’t I?
With the cops alerted and on their way to her apartment, Grace wondered what she had done to make Drake cheat on her. Maybe if she’d been more attentive or more available…
But that had been impossible. Between caring for her mother and running her own business, her time had been limited. She let out a long, frustrated breath. She was ready to get the heck out of Florida. She needed a fresh start; maybe Nashville would offer one, at least for a little bit. Did she even have a reason to come back to Florida? She had no family here, no job since her last contract finished before her mother passed away. And now no boyfriend.
Oh sure, she had a townhouse she would have to figure out, but Florida seemed to be handing her one heartbreak after another lately.
When the gate agent called their row, Grace and Breena moved to the back of the line. Grace stuck her hands in the pockets of the long black cardigan she’d jokingly thrown on to “dress up” her black leggings and white T-shirt. She felt the stiff edge of a piece of paper in her pocket. Curious, she pulled it out.
“Whatcha got there?” Breena asked, looking at the envelope in Grace’s hand.
Grace was holding the pink envelope the hospice nurse had given her at her mother’s funeral. “How could I have forgotten about this?”
“Excuse me, ma’am.” The gate agent held her hand out for their boarding passes.
Grace quickly stuck the note back in her pocket, scanned her boarding pass, and headed onto the jetway.
Several moments later, buckled into seat 24B, she pulled the note back out.
Sitting next to her, Breena leaned over. “Do you want to talk about Drake?”
“I really don’t.” Grace shook her head. She didn’t have the emotional capacity to think about him at the moment.
Breena nodded, understanding. “Let’s have a look at your note then.”
Grace slid the paper from the envelope and unfolded it. She held the pale pink paper to her heart and inhaled deeply. A wave of memories rolled over her along with her mother’s scent. She thought of her mother dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten. The Christmas the two of them had worn matching pink-and-green dresses with white boots for a party. The day her father died when she and her mother hugged so tightly, sharing their grief. The day she graduated from college—her mother was definitely the loudest in the arena, but Grace hadn’t cared.
“What’s it say?”
Grace smiled a little as the memories faded. She held the note under Breena’s nose and watched as she inhaled and smiled too. Grace thought Breena probably had her own mental movie of memories playing through her mind.
She unfolded the letter and laid it on Breena’s tray table. With their heads together, they read the short note from her mother.
My Darling Grace,
There’s something on my mind I really need to share with you.
It’s very important!
After I pass away, I want you to find Dolly.
It’s so important.
Find Dolly!
(Marilyn was very emphatic about this.)
Grace smiled at Nancy’s commentary before reading the rest of the note.
My past was in Nashville.
Your future is there.
Find Eddie and Carl in Nashville, they can help you.
I love you, baby girl.
Mama
Grace looked at Breena, whose furrowed brows mirrored her own confusion.
“Find Dolly?” Grace questioned. “Why would Mama ask me to find Dolly? Dolly who?”
“Is she asking you to find the Dolly? As in Dolly Parton?”
Grace felt her eyes go wide. “She wouldn’t ask that…would she?”
“Of course she would.” Breena snickered. “And Eddie and Carl? Who the heck are they? Are they more country music superstars you’ll never be able to find?”
They talked through it for a bit longer, but it made no sense. Breena announced she was going to take a nap before curling into the window, and within minutes, she was breathing deeply.
But Grace, never able to sleep on a plane, thought through her mother’s note. What had she meant her past had been in Nashville? Sure, her mother did live there for a few years before she came back to Florida, but that could hardly be considered a past, could it? Then she thought about the man she’d met at her mother’s funeral. Mr. Pillingham. He said they’d known each other for thirty years. And he lived in Nashville.
So many questions.
As for her own future, Grace had no idea where it was headed. She just knew it wasn’t with Drake. But Nashville? She had no reason to think her future was there.
And then there were Eddie and Carl.
Who were they? And why would her mother think she’d want to find them?
Grace recalled that when her mother had first moved back with her, she’d often talked about a man named Carl. From her mother’s stories, Grace had the impression Carl was a kind, older man who was a little lonely. If she remembered correctly, he was her mother’s contractor. She couldn’t recall her mother mentioning Eddie at all.
“Would you like a drink or snack?” A flight attendant stood in the aisle with the clunky cart in front of her.
Grace glanced at Breena, still sleeping peacefully, her head leaning awkwardly against the window. She shook her head. “No thanks.”
Grace looked back at Breena, envious of how her friend could sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime. Her gaze wandered back to the note and journal in her lap.
The message from her mother was confusing. Why would her mother send her on a mission to find Dolly? As far as Grace was concerned, she only needed to go to Nashville to get her mother’s condo ready to sell and to see a little of the city.
Why had her mother left her this crazy mission?
Grace’s time in Nashville was going to be busy, and she needed to get her thoughts organized. The best way to organize was always to write it all down.
Pulling down the tray table, she opened her journal and decided the best place to start was to write down what she knew right now.
Finding Dolly Project:
Here’s what I know so far…
1. I rediscovered the note Nancy gave me at Mama’s funeral today. It was in the pocket of my cardigan. The days after the funeral were so busy, I completely forgot about it. In the note, Mama gave me a mission. A mission to find Dolly. I’m headed to Nashville now, so maybe I’ll run into her at the grocery store, LOL. I’m curious what Mama had in mind. Why she’d want me to find Dolly, and how she thought that might happen? Nancy said Mama gave her the message the day before she fell into a coma. Maybe Mama wasn’t thinking right. After all, she had dementia, and it was pretty bad by then. Who knows what she was thinking?
What I do know is Mama really enjoyed and respected Dolly Parton. When I was growing up, Dolly influenced Mama’s wardrobe, and for a while, mine too. Mama always loved the bright, sparkly, and outlandish, and was disappointed when I turned away from it.
Bright and sparkly suited Mama though. It was just who she was. She was bright and sparkly herself, so it very much worked for her to wear all those fun and crazy outfits. I remember when Mama came to live with me, we watched so many Dolly movies during those three years. Her favorite was Steel Magnolias.
I know Dolly is a country music superstar.
I’m pretty sure she’s from Tennessee and lives somewhere near Nashville.
I know Mama loved her music, her movies, and her clothing.
2. Mama thinks my future is in Nashville. While that’s a little crazy for her to think since my whole life has been in Florida, it’s even crazier to learn Mama’s past was connected to Nashville. Especially since she’d just bought her apartment there six years ago. When Mr. Pillingham told me he had known Mama for thirty years, I didn’t know what to think. Thirty years! And he and Daddy had been friends too?
So many questions…but both Mama and Daddy are gone, and I can’t get any answers. Maybe Mr. Pillingham will have some. I’ll meet with him in a week, so hopefully, I can learn something.