by T J Payne
Even before Big O finished speaking, Lilith had turned her back to him and faced Mrs. Crawford. Big O whacked his wife on the shoulder, pretending the joke was meant for her. She laughed.
“You must be Caleb’s third grade teacher,” Lilith said, grasping Mrs. Crawford’s hand.
“Why, yes.”
“Thank you for breaking him out of his shell.”
“Glad to do it. As I was ‘splaining to these folks, the way to handle introverted children is you have to shock their system—”
Once again, Lilith cut the conversation short.
Now her gaze fixed squarely on Amy. Lilith clutched a hand to her heart, the breath snatched from her lips as she stared in wonder at Amy’s face.
“And you. You must be Amy. The Amy. The one and only Amy. Amy, Amy, Amy.”
“Yep,” Amy said after a pause. She shifted her weight and looked around her. “I’m Amy.”
Lilith walked up to her, arms outstretched.
Amy opened her arms too, waiting for the hug.
But Lilith didn’t embrace her. Instead, she reached over and grabbed Amy’s bicep in a firm grip. Her hand travelled up and down Amy’s arm, massaging it, feeling her muscles. Amy just stood there, not sure how to respond.
“My, you are fit,” Lilith said, her hand on Amy’s arm and her eyes on Amy’s face. “And so pretty. So very, very pretty.” Lilith released her arm and put her hands up to cup Amy’s face. “You’re an aerobic dance instructor, correct?”
“Uh, yep.”
“You must have so much endurance. I bet you’re fast. Agile. Slippery, even.”
“Um, sure?”
Lilith removed her hands from Amy’s face.
“I don’t have much use for dance,” Lilith said, a curtness in her voice now. “It’s fun in a childish way. No useful skills, though. There are other ways to get aerobic exercise. I train with an ex-Mossad agent. He taught me Israeli hand-to-hand combat techniques. Much better for strength and cardio.”
“Sounds intense.”
“Oh, it is.”
Caleb, having extracted himself from Big O, stepped toward Mariko.
“You’re Amy’s friend, right?” he asked her.
“Mariko.” She held out her hand, but Caleb made no motion to shake it. Instead, his eyes traveled up and down Mariko’s slim frame, taking her in. His brow wrinkled and his head nodded, like a handicapper sizing up an athlete.
“You seem pretty fit,” Caleb said finally. “You also do dance?”
“She’s got a real career,” Amy said. “She does HR. Director of hiring.”
Caleb’s eyes went wide. “A head hunter! Fantastic.”
“Uh, thanks,” Mariko said.
“A director of hiring knows how to size people up immediately. A few words, or a handshake, or their body language. That’s all you need to know everything about a person. That’s what Big O always taught me, ain’t that right, Big O?”
“Totes, bro,” Big O said, raising his glass, although he probably didn’t even hear the question.
A smile lingered on Caleb’s face as he kept his eyes locked on Mariko. “You can see people’s strengths and weaknesses. You can tease apart the leaders from the losers. Strong from the weak. Survivors from the chaff.”
Lilith now seemed to be interested in Mariko too. She angled her way in, her eyes wide. “Ooh, I like this. Tell me, HR Girl, who in this room is strong?”
Mariko looked around. “Uh, well, I—”
“I don’t mean physique or muscle strength. My cousin Brad over there played linebacker at UCO. He might look strong, but he’s weak in other ways. I don’t think he has what it takes to survive.”
Amy looked toward the guy she pointed at, Brad. A big, hulking man whose muscles pressed against the fabric of his dress shirt.
“When we were kids, he came to stay with us for the summer. We did everything together. Including shoplift. Just candy from a big store. They wouldn’t miss it. Wouldn’t hurt their bottom line. But something about the ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’ really wormed its way into Big Brad’s soft brain. Despite all his promises, the little prick tattled on me.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Weak.”
She motioned toward another of the biggest guys in the room. Amy recognized him as Caleb’s cousin, Rick.
“And Rick, well, he’s Army,” Lilith said. Amy believed it. Rick had that military build and posture. “He’s fit and well-trained. Should be calm under pressure. One of the few people here who could lift that battle axe on the wall. But I don’t know how he’ll react in a real emergency. How dark of a place is he willing to go to? Sweetie, what do you think?”
Caleb shrugged. “Dunno.”
“The thing about Rick is that he’s twenty-eight, never been promoted and never will be promoted,” Lilith continued. “Because despite all of his skills, he’s a bit…” she whacked her hand against her head a few times and crossed her eyes to make the point.
Then she turned her attention back to Mariko.
“So, tell me, Mariko the Headhunter, did you spot those weaknesses?”
“I… I haven’t interacted with them.”
“That’s fair,” Lilith said with a grin. “Before the night is over, I’m sure you will.”
“What about me?” Caleb said. “You and I have talked. You’ve sized me up. I’m sure Amy’s told you all about me. What’s my weakness?”
Mariko glanced from one of them to the other. They seemed to genuinely expect an answer.
“Do tell,” Lilith said.
“Yeah. What’s my weakness?” Caleb pressed.
“You’re, um, you’re too damn charming?” Mariko finally said.
Caleb let out a chuckle. It rolled around his mouth and built in intensity until it was a full laugh. Lilith joined in too. Together, they stood there and laughed. Alone. Amy and Mariko could only look at each other.
“Delightful,” Lilith said as the laugh died down and she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Did you learn to make jokes at Caleb’s expense from Amy?”
Amy felt her mouth hanging open at the comment.
“What? No,” Mariko said. “I just—”
“Your last name is Yamazaki, right?” Caleb asked. “Japanese?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t the Japanese have repressed anger issues? Flip a switch and they go crazy.”
“I was born in Charleston.”
“Banzai!” Lilith shouted. She suddenly raised her hand as though she were going to slap Mariko’s face. When Mariko flinched, Lilith let out a little giggle. “Just having fun, HR Girl.”
At that moment, a woman wearing a headset and a pantsuit appeared behind Caleb and Lilith.
“It’s 8 p.m.” the woman said to Caleb.
“Excellent. Thank you.”
With that, the woman slinked away, pausing only to pass some instructions to some of the wait staff.
Lilith looked back at Amy and clutched her heart again, seemingly saddened that their conversation had to come to an end.
“Dear, dear, Amy,” was all she said.
Then she turned to the rest of Table Ten.
“It was so lovely to meet you. All of you. You’ve been such an important part of turning Caleb into the man he is. Always remember that I love each and every one of you.”
And then, with a little bow, Lilith strolled off.
But Caleb lingered for a bit, standing beside Amy. His eyes stared down at her. She couldn’t place that look of his. It didn’t seem to be fondness or even resentment. His face seemed relaxed and his eyes did that thing again where he seemed to be focusing through and behind her, as though he were watching a movie projected onto her of all the memories of their childhood together.
“It was a beautiful evening,” Amy finally said. “I had a great time.”
“You’re a liar,” Caleb said. “But I won’t hold it against you.”
He winked at her and then walked off to chase down Lilith.
Amy lowered herself back into her se
at.
Candice leaned over toward Amy. “We only heard snippets of the conversation. What were you all talking about?”
“Whole lotta weirdness.”
“Well, thank god he didn’t talk to us, then,” Roger said. “It’s nice being invisible.”
Candice smacked him on the arm.
The string quartet suddenly stopped playing. The conversations at the other tables went quiet.
“Please turn your attention to the main stage,” the DJ announced from his little booth in the corner of the room. “The bride and groom have some announcements.”
Caleb escorted Lilith up the stage to a microphone. Big grins formed on their faces as they looked out at all their gathered guests.
CHAPTER 10
“First of all, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank each and every one of you for making this journey,” Lilith said into the microphone. “This night means a lot to us.”
Someone in the crowd began tapping their wine glass with a fork.
Clink-clink-clink.
Others joined in.
In response, Caleb placed his arm around Lilith, dipped her down, and laid a passionate kiss on her lips. The crowd cheered and applauded, the unending stream of free booze having apparently loosened everyone up.
Lilith righted herself and caught her breath as she mouthed, “Wow.”
She cleared her throat to collect herself and then continued with her speech. “There are a few special guests we want to give a shout-out to. First, is my perfect little sister Trina. Everything comes so easy to her. Everybody loves her.”
Amy craned her neck to see where Lilith pointed. At a table near the stage sat a young woman who looked very much like Lilith. Their features were similar, and they were very clearly sisters, but Trina had been blessed with the slimmer frame and perfectly angled face.
Amy had noticed the woman earlier and even pointed her out to Mariko. Trina was easily the most attractive woman at the wedding.
“She looks so beautiful today, doesn’t she everyone? I’m glad that I finally found a man who isn’t just going through me so that he can bang my little sister.”
Trina’s lips tightened and her smile became strained.
“Or are you?” Lilith said, gently elbowing Caleb.
He laughed along and jokingly made the Call me motion toward Trina.
A few drunken uncles chuckled, but the predominant sound in the room was of people shifting in their seats.
“Let’s hear it for Little Miss Perfect!” Lilith announced.
The guests responded with a tepid applause.
“I also want to thank my father for coming,” Lilith continued. “And he brought his lovely secretary… I mean wife, Hazel.”
Amy tried to view the man she pointed to, but too many heads blocked the way.
“I’m sure most of you here don’t know this, but today is actually their eight-year anniversary. I remember the date they moved in together vividly. Here’s a funny story about Dad,” Lilith said, already laughing at the mere memory of it. “I don’t think I ever told anyone this. I saved it just for today — my special day.
“So, Dad had moved out and was living with Uncle Ben at the time, right Uncle Ben? Anyway, Dad wanted to come back to the house to get his things, but he didn’t want Mom to see him because he didn’t want a fight. And so, he timed it so that he came to the house while I was taking Mom to her treatment. You see, Mom had ovarian cancer at the time. I think Trina was the one who told him Mom’s treatment schedule, right Trina?”
Trina kept her head angled down, not looking at her sister.
“Anyway, Dad didn’t know I changed the locks in the house. When he couldn’t open the door, he broke in through the bathroom window. And he stepped down right into Mom’s chamber pot, which I hadn’t cleaned because I was running late to get her to her chemo.”
Lilith’s smile had taken over her face by now as she took heaving breaths to try to quell the laughter that threatened to bubble out. “And so, I come home, pushing Mom’s wheelchair, and we both wrinkle up our noses. I didn’t even know Mom had much sense of smell left at that point. Full of surprises, that woman. Anyway, I look around and our stuff — I mean Dad’s stuff — is all gone. The computer, the TV, even the router. But you know what he left us in its place? Stinky footprints! Everywhere! On the carpet, on the floor, in the kitchen.”
She doubled up in laughter. Her heaving cackles filled the otherwise silent room. Bit by bit, she managed to calm herself. With a tear in her eye, she stood up straight and stared at her dad, a little smile dancing on her face.
“You’re my father. I know you feel bad for how it all went down. I appreciate the letters you sent, and the apologies. I’m just busting your chops because it’s my wedding day. I forgive you, Dad. And I’ll always love you.”
The words felt strangely earnest. A spontaneous applause broke out.
A tear rolled down Lilith’s cheek. She had to turn away to wipe it. She held out the microphone for Caleb.
“Well, uh, I don’t have as much to say as Lilith,” Caleb began, shifting his posture back and forth in a way that reminded Amy of the nervous slouch he used to have whenever he had to do a presentation in front of class. “I want to thank my mom and dad. They always pushed me. I want to thank all my old coworkers and college buddies and my high school friend who made the trip. All my extended family as well. Thank you for being here. It means the world to me.”
Another respectful round of applause.
“And now is the time when toasts usually happen,” Caleb said. “Lilith and I don’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen. No one has been asked to prepare a toast. We figured we would provide a kind of open mic opportunity if anyone wants to come up and say something nice about us.”
The room went quiet.
Everyone’s heads swiveled around, looking for someone else to raise their hand and volunteer.
Amy felt her father jokingly grab hold of her wrist and start to pull her arm up. She jerked her hand away and swatted him in the chest.
“Anyone?” Caleb called out.
No takers.
“Last chance. No pressure.”
Silence.
“That’s a-okay. There’ll be opportunities for toasts later,” he said. “Let’s start the festivities!”
Lilith stepped forward and grabbed the mic.
“We need three volunteers for a little contest,” she announced. “The winner will receive an amazing grand prize. But the losers…” her face creased into an exaggerated frown as her voice got low and menacing. “The losers will be severely punished.” She smiled again. “Three people! Who wants to volunteer?”
Dance pop music blared out through the speakers as the bride and groom climbed off the stage and made their way through the crowd, cajoling their guests to participate.
“Who wants in?” Lilith called out.
Lilith danced toward her immediate family’s table. She reached out and tried to grab the hand of the woman Amy guessed to be Hazel, Lilith’s father’s new wife.
Lilith gave a tug on Hazel’s arm, but Lilith’s father, avoiding eye contact with his daughter, simply put a beefy arm across Hazel’s front, like a seatbelt restraining her to the chair. His other hand waved Lilith off, telling her to go elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Caleb had already found a volunteer. He guided one of his coworker’s dates out of her seat. Amy sort of remembered the woman introducing herself as Yolanda. She was young and pretty, but in the brief interaction Amy had with her in line for the photobooth, she seemed dumb as a tuna. Mariko theorized that the woman might be a paid “escort” for one of the obnoxious day-traders with whom Caleb used to work.
In any case, Yolanda, in her too-tight and too-short blue dress, shimmied up to the stage.
Lilith then dragged the second volunteer up. “Uncle John, everyone!” she announced into the mic. Uncle John was a squat, middle-aged man whose face glowed bright red from alcohol. Twenty years from now, if
he grew a white beard, he would make a wonderfully lecherous Santa Claus, Amy thought.
As Amy scanned through the crowd to see who else might get picked, she made the mistake of locking eyes with Caleb. She tried to turn away, to pretend to be adjusting her napkin or stifling a cough, anything to not draw him toward her. But she sensed his movement.
With his hips swaying to the beat of the music, he danced over.
“Come on up, Ames,” he said as he got near.
“Hard pass.”
“Come on.” He stood beside her now, his shoulders and elbows swinging to a cha-cha that didn’t quite match the genre or beat of the music.
She smiled and waved him off with one hand while motioning toward her stomach with the other. “Too much to drink. I have gurgle-tummy.”
He reached out anyway and grasped her arm.
“No,” she said with a forcefulness that shocked even her.
And for a moment, Caleb stopped dancing. He stopped smiling. His face turned cold. Amy wanted to look away from him, but his eyes transfixed her. Those eyes burned with an anger she had never seen before. A hate.
“Yeah, Grandma!”
The shout from Lilith seemed to snap Caleb back to the moment.
Everyone turned and watched as Lilith pulled an elderly woman up to the stage.
“Your loss,” Caleb said to Amy with a shrug.
And then he danced back to the front.
“Please give a hand for our volunteers — Yolanda, Uncle John, and Grandma Foley,” Lilith announced into the mic.
Everyone clapped.
“Remember, winner gets an amazing prize. The losers get punished. And the contest is… A DANCE OFF! Show us your moves!”
The DJ cranked up another dance-pop song.
The three contestants on the stage looked at each other for a moment.
“Dance, dance, dance,” Caleb and Lilith chanted.
The crowd joined in. “Dance, dance, dance…”
And so, the contestants started to dance.
Uncle John pulled out the only move he seemed to know — riding a pony while slapping an imaginary ass in front of him.
Yolanda seemed to go into her own world as she slid her body up and down a pole that wasn’t there while sensually rubbing her hands over her breasts and hips.
