by Sheri Duff
#
As soon as I pull into my driveway, my phone explodes.
Text from Vianna: Need someone to pick me up. Now please!
I toss my phone onto the passenger’s seat and back up. Natalie and I show up to Vianna’s house at the same time on opposite sides of the street. It’s dark but it looks like Vianna’s mother is standing in the front yard with her arms crossed, and Vianna’s father is calmly talking to a man in a uniform. I think there is a gun on his belt. There is one cop car on the side of the house and another cop car directly in front. Someone in the back seat of that car is throwing a fit. I look closer.
It’s Wendy. She looks like she’s kicking the back seat.
Natalie keeps her car at the end of the street. She gets out and quietly walks toward Vianna. When Natalie reaches our friend, she slips her arm around her and pulls her away. Vianna’s mom doesn’t miss a beat. She nods at Natalie. Vianna puts her head into Natalie’s shoulder. Natalie leads her to my car.
“Is it okay for you to go?” I ask.
“My mom insisted,” Vianna says.
As much as we want to know what’s going on, Natalie and I know better than to ask. Vianna will spill when she’s ready and not a minute sooner. The three of us get into my car. Natalie takes the back seat, which is something she rarely does when it’s the three of us. I drive to Pollywog’s and, after we order drinks, we sit at the square table nestled in the back of the shop. It’s quiet back here. It’s where Jack and I drew Pollywog Annabelle—which I gave to Natalie. She loved it. Then she gave it away to Annabelle, who loved it even more.
A group of people in the front play music. The guitar and fiddles are calming. A harmonica blends in. Vianna laughs. She hoots so hard that she snorts, and then chokes. Natalie jumps up and rushes to the sink for water. “I’m not doing the mouth-to-mouth thing and my epipen won’t work for this, so you better breathe.” She rushes back and hands Vianna the half-filled glass of water.
Vianna laughs until her eyes water. She finally composes herself. “Wendy’s cheating on my dad.” She lifts her index finger motioning for us to wait while she takes a deep breath. “With her plastic surgeon.”
“Okay,” I say, moving forward, wanting more details.
“My mom met the plastic surgeon’s wife today at a book signing,” Vianna says.
“This is going to be good,” Natalie pipes in.
“The plastic surgeon’s wife caught Wendy and her husband—doing what, I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. She knew about my mom’s book signing and waited at the end of the line. That’s when the wife spilled the news,” Vianna says.
“I bet your mom went nuts,” Natalie says, leaning in closer. Neither one of us wants to miss a single detail.
Vianna takes a deep breath. “I came home and my mom told me I needed to leave for a while. She and the doctor’s wife were visiting. My mom tried to get me out of there before my dad showed up. But neither one of you answered my texts,” Vianna says.
“Dinner with Jack’s mom,” I say.
“Story time with Annabelle,” Natalie says. “Tyler came with me. He was so freaking cute. We read her Green Eggs and Ham. He read it really fast and Moo-Moo couldn’t stop laughing. Tyler’s actually perfect.” Natalie claps her hands together.
Vianna rolls her eyes. “For now. Some other bad-boy Colby type will come along and you two will be history. I say three months, tops.” Vianna looks at me. “What do you think?”
“Wow, you’re optimistic. I give it two,” I say.
“You both can kiss my ass,” Natalie stomps off. But she returns quickly to hear the rest of the story.
“My mom called my dad and asked him to come to the house. I think my mom knew he wouldn’t come alone. When my dad and Wendy showed up, my mom sent the doctor’s wife to answer the door. That’s when the screaming started,” Vianna says. She can’t stop laughing and the tears in her eyes keep producing enough water to make them sparkle.
“When did the cops come?” Natalie asks.
“Wendy grabbed my mother’s hair, and I went in for the kill. My dad stopped me. My mom pushed her back, then my dad let go of me. My mother gave me that look. I knew better so I went inside. She followed me inside, locked the door, and then called the cops.”
“Wow, your mom has control. I would’ve pounded her ass.” Natalie makes a tight fist.
“My mom won’t let an insignificant woman bring her down. She isn’t built that way,” Vianna says proudly. “She worked too hard to allow some gelatin sensation bring her crashing to the bottom. And even though she was mad at my dad she wasn’t going to let Wendy bring him down either.”
“It’s not fair that everything is working out for us and you still have to deal with the shit,” Natalie says.
“Not really. My shit is going away too—in a police car.”
We all laugh.
“I’m glad I didn’t judge before I knew her. I tried, I gave her a chance and she still lost. Rule number nine: We can’t judge people before we know them.”
And the three of us decide that one is worth writing down.
