Scent of the Roses, page 25
“Oh, no,” Marsha assured her, looking serious again. “She’s definitely not amused. And Celeste wasn’t amused this evening, either. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard her sound so rattled. I know she’s still totally unpredictable with the cards, but those were tea leaves she was reading on Saturday. And today, I think she’d been reading her own.”
“This whole thing has a real bad feel to it,” Lucy agreed, drumming her fingers on the table pensively for a moment. “I suppose you’re sticking to your story, too?” she asked, shooting a mutinous glance at Scout. “Nothing happened Monday night? You and Robyn didn’t fight? She didn’t say anything before she left?”
“What do you want me to say Lucy? ‘Oh, gee. You’re right. I’ve been lying?’”
“Dunno. Maybe. Are you?”
“No.” Scout regarded her former friend, angrily. “But I promise you, if I’d really come back to Oberon just to commit murder, I would not have picked a total stranger for my first victim. Not when I’ve got you guys.”
“Good,” Marsha said, encouragingly, pausing to gulp down some more margarita. “That’s much better. You two have lots of issues. You need to get them off your chests. Might as well be now. I think you’ll both feel better after you’ve talked this stuff out.”
Lucy sighed. “I don’t know Marsha. It’s a nice thought, but I don’t really want to talk to her all that much. No offense, Scout, but I mostly just want to kill you, too.”
“Yeah, yeah, welcome to the club.”
“You know, another thing I like about this place,” Marsha mused. “It’s so loud. I’m sure no one will mind, or even particularly notice, if the two of you were to start screaming at each other.”
Uh-oh. Scout eyed them both warily. Was that what this was about? Was Marsha trying to set her up for a fight? Just when she’d been lulled into thinking they could be friends again?
“Good thinking, Marsha.” Lucy sounded as unhappy about the suggestion as Scout. “Because I’m sure the last thing either of us wants is for someone to get upset with all the noise we’re making and call the cops on us.” She turned on Scout and asked challengingly. “Or, on second thought…would we?”
Scout smiled at her coldly. “Are you just making conversation, Lucy? Or do is there actually something you’d like to say to me about your cousin?”
Lucy’s face assumed a look of mock surprise. “Who, Nick? Oh, that’s right! You two knew each other, didn’t you? I keep forgetting how you told me all about it!”
“You know damn well why I’d’ve kept something like that to myself, back then,” Scout grumbled.
“Because you were such a bitch?” Lucy suggested, sweetly.
“No. Because you’d have opened your big mouth and fucked everything up for me.”
“Yeah?” Fury sparked in Lucy’s eyes. “You want to talk about big mouths?”
Scout ripped a long strip of label from her beer bottle. “Oh, please, let’s.”
“Because, as I recall, I’m not the one who spilled the beans to Sister Ben, or to my cousin either, about our little math project.”
“Ooh. Having problems with the famous memory, are you?” Scout snapped. “Because I don’t recall hearing anything about our little math project either. Not until after I’d blacked out in the middle of class because of it. And, while we’re on the subject, don’t you ever dare call it ‘our project’ to me again. I was never in on any damn project. I was nothing more than your goddamn guinea pig!”
Marsha gurgled as she drained the last of her margarita, and Scout couldn’t tell if she was laughing or choking. She glanced at Lucy, who appeared momentarily speechless. “Ooh. A hit, a palpable hit. I think we’ll have to give that round to Scout, Luce. She’s got us there.” And though the words were spoken lightly, Scout could not detect much humor in her tone.
The waitress returned with their food just then, and Marsha took the opportunity to order another round of drinks.
“Look, Lucy,” Scout said at last, breaking the silence. “The truth is, I don’t know why I told them everything, like I did. I really hadn’t planned to. It was just…your cousin was there and I, I lost it. It was a crappy thing to do. I’m not saying it wasn’t. But they kept asking me questions and…I couldn’t seem to help myself. I just kept right on answering them.
“I don’t know, maybe I was in shock or something? I just could not make myself shut up. I had been trying so hard to keep everyone from finding out about Nick and me, and…all of a sudden, there he was. And I knew it was all over between us. The rest is just a big blur.”
Marsha nodded understandingly. “Repressed memory. Happens all the time with trauma victims.”
“What repressed memory?” Lucy demanded, nearly choking on her beer. “It sounds to me like she remembers everything just fine.”
Marsha shrugged. “Not really. It’s like the other day with, uh, you know, Mandy? She hadn’t remembered anything about that, either. Did you, Scout? Until afterwards, I mean?”
“No,” Scout answered, shuddering as she thought about it. “No, you’re right. I didn’t remember anything about it.”
Marsha’s gaze was compassionate, her voice quiet. “I have a feeling there’s a whole lot of stuff that you don’t remember yet. It’s really not that uncommon, Luce. Take my accident, for example. I don’t remember why I went over that cliff. Was there another car? Maybe I swerved to avoid an animal in the road.”
“Yeah, maybe it was your power animal,” Lucy suggested. “Maybe what you thought was a vision is really just a repressed memory of having run it over. That would explain the whole vegetarian thing, too, if you ask me.”
Marsha grinned. “Oh, I don’t think so Luce. I think that would be extremely unlikely. On either count, actually. But forget that.” She turned her glittering green eyes toward Scout. “I’m dying of curiosity here. And I can’t believe that you both have been holding out on me like this. What’s the deal with you and Nick?”
“Remember back in high school,” Lucy asked, answering before Scout had a chance to open her mouth. “How we all knew she was seeing someone, but we didn’t know who it was? Turns out it was Nick.”
“You’re kidding?” Marsha looked impressed. “I mean, wow! He’s cute and all, but he must have been, what? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
“He was twenty-two,” Scout answered quietly.
“Well, what the hell was he thinking, running around with a fifteen-year old?”
“Obviously he didn’t know she was only fifteen,” Lucy snapped. She gave Scout a withering glance. “She lied to him. Big surprise.”
Scout nodded. “He thought I was nineteen or twenty. He got the idea I was going to the community college, and I didn’t tell him otherwise. And anyway, I was sixteen.”
“Just barely,” Lucy argued. “And it wasn’t only your age you were lying about either, was it?”
Scout sighed in exasperation. “No, of course not. I also had to lie about where I was going to school. And about my family, ’cause, you know, he wanted to know why we couldn’t go out like normal people. And about why I didn’t drive. And my name.”
“So, basically, it was all a scam.”
“That’s not how it felt at the time, but, yeah, I guess it was. I had to lie about pretty much everything.”
“Well, you have a real talent in that direction.” Marsha beamed admiringly. “I’ve always said so.”
“You make it sound like it’s an achievement or something.” Lucy scowled. “Believe me, she’s got nothing to be proud of here.”
Marsha shrugged. “Still. You gotta admit, it’s pretty damn useful, at times. So, uh, where did Glenn fit into all of this?”
“She was screwing both of them,” Lucy said, answering for her, again—something Scout was beginning to feel more than a little annoyed about.
“Not exactly,” Scout corrected. “I was never really interested in Glenn. I just— I needed a way to divert everyone’s attention away from me and Nick. Glenn agreed to give me a hand.”
Lucy snorted. “Oh, I’ll bet he did. Both hands, would be my guess. As well as a few other assorted body parts.”
Scout ignored her. “Honestly,” she said as she turned to Marsha. “I couldn’t believe how easily you all fell for it. You all knew how I felt about Glenn. You knew I could never understand what everyone else saw in him.”
“What we saw in him? That’s funny. I was wondering the same thing myself, just this afternoon.” Marsha smiled at her. “But he was sooo cute, back then. You have to admit that. He and his whole family were like…local celebrities. Everybody knew the Gilchrists. Plus, he was captain of the high school swim team. And that was back when they actually won occasionally.” She turned to Lucy. “Remember all the fuss senior year when he dropped swimming altogether and decided to train for the biathlon? I mean, skiing? Here? What was up with that?”
“Yeah,” Lucy agreed. “The shooting part didn’t go over too well with anyone, either, as I recall. But, you know, in a way it was just typical. I mean, the reason everybody knew about his family was because they were all so weird.”
“That’s true.” Marsha chuckled. “Remember his mother? Anyway, he’s still kind of cute. Don’t you think? In a weird, wounded sort of way.”
“I suppose.” Scout shrugged. “But he’s still not my type. I mean, did you all really not remember how I kept telling Lisa to dump him?”
“Well, sure.” Lucy nodded. “That was why. We figured you were just saying that because you wanted him for yourself.”
“Wait, a minute,” Marsha interrupted. “I don’t understand. If you weren’t involved with Glenn, why was Lisa so sure you were sleeping with him?”
Scout hesitated. She’d been wondering how to bring the conversation around to Lisa. It had been easier than she hoped it would be. Easier, and about a thousand times more awkward. The ensuing conversation was likely to destroy the fragile bond Marsha had been trying to build between the three of them.
She was surprised to feel a pang of disappointment, but she suppressed the emotion, ruthlessly. She could not afford the luxury of friendship right now. Or pride either, for that matter. She needed answers.
“Okay, I’m not saying I didn’t sleep with him.” She shrugged. “But it was only the one time. And I told Lisa I didn’t want him. She just didn’t believe me.”
“Gee, imagine that,” Lucy drawled. “Because nothing says, ‘I don’t want to bone your boyfriend anymore’ quite like doing the nasty with him in the first place.”
“Besides,” Scout continued. “She didn’t leave just on account of me and Glenn.”
Lucy looked disgusted. “Oh, right. Of course, she didn’t.”
“No, really. You read her letter, didn’t you? She had other issues.”
“Maybe. Other issues to do with you,” Lucy said, eyes narrowing. “Like the whole math thing.”
“Oh, don’t even go there. You guys promised you’d stop. But you didn’t, did you? You think Lisa was upset about that? Well, so was I! And, I’ll tell you something else; if there were repercussions, she had it coming. You all did.”
“Repercussions? Scout, we got expelled!” Lucy glared at her. “My parents decided they couldn’t trust me about anything after that. It took me years to live that down. Not to mention that just about everyone in Oberon thought we were freakin’ Satanists, or something.”
Scout nodded. “So I’ve been hearing. And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry things turned out the way they did. But I’m not the one who started it.” She took a quick sip of her drink and then continued, “Anyway, Lisa had other problems too, you know. Problems that had nothing at all to do with me. Like the little matter of her being pregnant.”
Lucy’s face went white. “You— You couldn’t have known about that.”
“Oh? Well, you did, obviously.” Scout eyed her coldly. “I wonder what else you’ve been keeping to yourself?”
“She’d only just found out about it. She wasn’t going to tell anyone yet.”
“Well, she did.”
“Not you.” Lucy shook her head solemnly. “She might have told someone, eventually, but it wouldn’t have been you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Marsha said gently. “It wouldn’t have made any difference.”
“How can you say that?” Lucy demanded, turning on her. “How can you be so sure? Maybe, if Scout hadn’t made things so hard for her just then, she wouldn’t have left!”
“The Lisa I remember would never have left anyway,” Scout said quietly, surprised at the tears that glittered in Lucy’s eyes. “Not like that. Somebody has to know something about what happened to her. Something they’re not telling.”
Someone like who?” Lucy looked perplexed. “And what could they have known? And why would anyone have kept quiet, if they knew something that would have helped find her?”
Marsha sighed. “I don’t think the who, what, why are all that important. Sometimes things just happen.” She looked at Scout sorrowfully. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but you’re not going to find her on this plane. You need to move on with your own life, now, Scout. Just let it go.”
“You may be right, Marsha. But I can’t. Not yet, at any rate.”
“So, you’re still planning on sticking around?” Lucy asked, the muscles around her jaw clenching tensely.
“Yeah. I am. Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Well, I still think that’s wonderful,” Marsha insisted, adding—in what Scout could only imagine was an attempt to restore their previous good humor. “So, what are you gonna do for a social life while you’re here? Any plans?”
“Social life?” Scout looked startled. “I don’t know what you mean. What kind of plans?”
“Well, I know you said you were out with Glenn the other night, but it doesn’t sound like you’re interested in pursuing that. So how about you and Nick? Are you going to start seeing him again now, too?”
Lucy’s beer glass hit the table with a loud thunk. “No. Bad idea, okay? Nick’s already got a life. He does not need Scout coming back here and fucking with it.”
“Well, I don’t know, Lucy. Maybe he’d like it.” Marsha twinkled. “What do you think Scout? You want to fuck with his life? Or, you know, maybe just with him?”
“I’m not here to socialize,” Scout said, carefully avoiding Lucy’s glare. She shrugged. “Besides, for all I know, Nick is happily married by now with half a dozen kids.”
Then she busied herself with cutting and chewing a piece of her steak while she waited to see if either of them would answer the question she hadn’t exactly asked.
“That’s not the point,” Lucy replied, after a moment, her voice edged with frost. “I’m sure you’re both over each other by now. And I can’t imagine why either of you would want to do anything so purely stupid, anyway. You can’t pretend you were good for each other, back then, can you?”
“Maybe not,” Scout admitted softly. But her heart pattered excitedly. He wasn’t married. He couldn’t even be seeing anyone seriously, or Lucy would surely have mentioned it. Maybe there was a chance she could bring a few of her fantasies to life, after all?
“But maybe you could be good now. Right?” Marsha asked with a small, knowing smile. “Now that you’re both older and unattached?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucy snapped. “Whatever they had – or thought they had – that was twenty years ago. I’m sure they’re both over it by now.”
“Over?” Marsha stared at Lucy in disbelief. “What’re you talking about? You saw the two of them today—I know you did. They were almost as bad as you and Dan.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lucy replied coldly. “Dan and I are — Wait. What do you mean, bad?”
“Lucy, please.” Marsha’s smile widened. “You and Dan aren’t nearly as subtle as you think you are. When you two get into one of your moods everyone knows about it. And, this afternoon, you could have set off a bomb in that living room and neither one of them would have noticed it. Whatever else it is, it ain’t over. Am I right, Scout?”
Scout merely shrugged. She was aware of Lucy fuming beside her. There didn’t seem to be any way to answer that question without making her angrier.
“Well. Don’t worry about it,” Marsha said, at last, breaking the long awkward silence. “Things happen if they’re meant to. Otherwise, they don’t. Eventually, everything works out for the best.”
Lucy snorted. “If that’s not the most nauseating, Pollyanna-esque piece of crap I’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is. A lot of things that happen in the world are just shit from start to finish. What are you supposed to do then?”
Marsha smiled. “Well, Luce, in cases like that you just have to look for the lesson in it, you know? And just keep believing that things will work out the way they’re supposed to. Like I said. Eventually.”
“Eventually?”
“Mm-hm.”
“And what are you supposed to do in the meantime?”
“Well, that’s what dessert’s for.” Marsha’s eyes twinkled. “Which reminds me, did I mention that they also do a really incredible Kahlua Cheesecake here?”
21
“Oh, yeah,” Marsha moaned, eyes closed in ecstasy. “Oh, that’s good. That’s really good.” Along with the cheesecake, the source of her present bliss, she had also ordered coffee laced with more Kahlua, and topped with whipped cream.
“So, I’m guessing you like Kahlua, huh?” Scout asked, as she dug into her chocolate parfait.
Lucy paused, with her coffee cup halfway to her mouth, and rolled her eyes at Scout. “You wanna know how much she likes the stuff? She named her daughter after it.”
“What? No way.” Scout stared at her. “Marsha, is this true? You have a daughter named after a liqueur?”
“Oh, like that’s a big deal?” Marsha put her fork down on her plate and stared at Scout, challengingly. “I suppose no one has ever been named Brandy? Or Sherry? Or…oh, I don’t know, I’m sure there are more names like that. Anyway, it’s just her middle name. And it made perfect sense to call her that. After all, she probably wouldn’t have been conceived without it.
