He'd started working two years before me. When I was scraping together the down payment on the house, he lent me fifty thousand dollars without blinking.
At the reception, he raised his glass and said, "Brother, Marjorie's a good woman. You better treat her right."
I had my arm around Marjorie. "You know I will."
He grinned. A wide, genuine grin.
Back then, I never could have imagined that Rufus Gilbert's name would reenter my life the way it did.
I replayed that message in my head over and over, countless times.
"Hey sis, whenever Edmund's away on a trip, just plant a couple cabbages in FarmVille. I'll see it and come over."
Planting cabbages. A coded signal.
Every time I left on a business trip, she'd plant cabbages in the game, and he'd see them and come over.
Come over to do what?
I didn't want to think about it. My brain didn't listen.
Every single time I'd dragged my suitcase to the door and said Babe, I'm heading out, she'd wave from the doorway and tell me to come home soon.
Then she'd turn around, open the computer, plant two cabbages in that virtual little field, and signal my best friend.
Coast is clear.
Maybe in the bed I slept in.
Maybe under the comforter I'd paid for.