by Maria Geraci
She wasn’t the same Allie she’d been at eighteen, either. But while Tom had experienced marriage and a son and responsibilities, she was still paying for all the fun she’d had in Part Two of her Life Plan. She’d frivolously squandered her share of the life insurance money that Buela had left her. It wasn’t a fortune, by any means, and although a part of Allie didn’t regret that she’d used the money to travel, she did regret that she hadn’t thought to hold some back. A nest egg. Security. Those were the things she now craved.
The things she could have if she got the job at the magazine.
Correction: when she got the job at the magazine.
They drove the rest of the way back to Mimi and Zeke’s in silence. Thankfully, Zeke’s car was parked in the driveway.
“Henry, stay in the car,” Tom said to his son. He turned to her. “If you wouldn’t mind. I need Mimi or Zeke to tag along so they can drive us back to pick up my truck.”
He didn’t seem mad. Or upset. Or even put out. He didn’t seem…anything, actually. Which was almost worse because Allie knew what it meant. It meant he felt bad for her. And he didn’t want to add to it by giving her any grief. She supposed she should feel grateful but she almost preferred he’d yell at her because the fact was she was as much to blame for tonight’s fiasco as Claire. More so, because Allie was supposed to be the adult here. She’d been irresponsible and foolish. She tried to view herself through Tom’s eyes. The image she came up with made her cringe.
Claire dashed out of the car and into the house with Cameron hot on her heels.
Allie swallowed hard. “It seems like all I do these days is thank you for something or other.”
“You’re going to tell Mimi and Zeke what went on tonight, right?”
“Of course. But…I was hoping Claire might come clean first.”
Tom glanced in the minivan’s rearview mirror to make sure Henry wasn’t listening. He lowered his voice. “You mean, like I told my parents and you told your grandmother about the time we spent the night on the beach?”
“Well, you know, nothing really happened that night. I mean, not much.” She was hoping that would elicit a smile from him, but it didn’t. She sighed. “Okay, I get it. Claire probably isn’t going to tell.”
“Put yourself in her parents’ place. Would you want to know if your sixteen-year-old was at a party where there was underage drinking involved?”
Put that way, she had no choice. Tom was right. She was going to have to tell Mimi and Zeke. But she still wanted to give Claire a chance to do the right thing. Oh, boy. Allie had a terrible feeling that tonight would not end well.
Mimi met her by the front door. “I thought you’d be home by now.” She looked out into the driveway. “Is that Tom inside the van?”
“It’s a long story, but basically, he needs a ride back to his truck.”
Mimi’s breath caught. “Did Claire get in an accident?”
“No, everyone’s all right,” Allie rushed to reassure her. “There was just…well, like I said, it’s a long story.”
Mimi frowned. “Okay, you can tell me all about it when I get back. I’ll go grab my purse so I can drive Tom to his car.”
Allie took in the quiet house. “Where’s Zeke?”
“He went for a run on the beach.”
“At this time of night?”
“He says it helps him clear his head after a long day.”
Allie was dying to ask Mimi where the heck she and Zeke had been all night, but this wasn’t the right moment. She found Claire lying on top of her bed, her cheeks wet with tears. Crocodile tears or the real thing? Either way, Allie steeled herself. She wasn’t about to be sucked in by anymore teenage theatrics.
Claire sat up and swiped her cheeks clean. “I’m so sorry.”
“Do you have any idea how frantic I was? Not to mention the fact I could have been arrested for driving with a suspended license?” Allie tried to keep her voice calm. What would Mr. Rogers do? He’d probably strangle Claire with one of his argyle sweaters.
“You were driving? But I thought Mr. Donalan drove the van.”
“That was after one of your father’s deputies nearly handcuffed me with plans to drag me off to jail.”
“Oh God. Do you think Daddy will find out?”
“Of course he’s going to find out. But not from me.”
“Really? Oh, Aunt Allie, you’re the best!”
“I don’t think you understand, Claire. I don’t plan to tell him, because you’re going to tell him.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“But nothing happened! I didn’t even have any of that beer. I was just holding it and pretending to take sips.”
Allie sat down on the edge of the bed. “Why would you do that?”
Claire’s face scrunched up in adolescent embarrassment. “You know, so no one would think I was a prude. You don’t know what it’s like having your father be the chief-of-police. Everyone already thinks you’re some kind of goody-goody. And I really did plan on only being there an hour. I just lost track of time, is all.”
“Claire.” Allie shook her head. “Do you know how childish all that sounds?”
“Fine. I’ll go tell Daddy and then he and Mom can get in a big fight about it. They’re already in couples counseling. This will probably drive them over the edge.”
Allie stilled. “Couples counseling? How do you know that?”
“They think they’re fooling everyone with their big date night story, but I had to use Mom’s phone one day and I listened to a message from their counselor changing their appointment time. That’s where they were tonight, you know. Maybe I did lie about where I was going, but they lie all the time.”
Allie took a few seconds to absorb this. “I’m sure a lot of married couples probably go to counseling.”
“Yeah, and a lot of couples are on the brink of divorce, too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Your parents are not on the brink of divorce. Are…they fighting a lot?”
“You have to talk to someone to fight with them. They’re probably the most polite parents on the planet.”
“Polite is good, isn’t it?”
“If you say so.” She put on her little girl face, the one Allie found so hard to resist. “I’ll tell Daddy, I swear I will. Just not tonight.”
“Claire—”
“Please, Aunt Allie. I promise, I’ll tell them. The thing is, Friday night is a big home football game and I really, really want to go.”
“A football game? What does that have to do with anything?”
“When Daddy finds out about the party he’ll ground me, which means no football game, which means they’ll kick me off the cheerleading squad.”
“For missing one game?”
“He’ll ground me for the entire season!”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Pause. “What about your mom? Doesn’t she have any say in your punishment?”
“That’s the thing. She’s a lot softer than he is. More reasonable, really. And after he pronounces sentence, she’ll get upset and the two of them will lock themselves in their room and when they come out they won’t be talking.” Claire squeezed out a couple more tears. “I hate to be the reason for another fight between them.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have snuck out to that party in the first place.”
“I know what I did was wrong. But didn’t you ever do anything you weren’t supposed to? Do you know how hard I worked to get on the cheerleading squad? I had to take gymnastics lessons just to learn to do a back flip, which you have to do to make the squad and the lessons were expensive. Mom had to talk Daddy into them and if I get kicked off the squad the whole thing will have been for nothing.”
“I don’t know, Claire—”
“Please, please, please, Aunt Allie.” It was like the tears faucet had been turned on full force. Claire’s eyes were puffy and mascara ran down her cheeks.
Allie shouldn’t give in to the drama. But would Zeke really punish Claire to the point that she got kicked off the cheerleading squad? It didn’t seem a fair punishment for what was undoubtedly a typical teenage indiscretion.
Instinctively, Allie knew the answer to that question was a resounding yes. Zeke was more than capable of grounding his daughter for the entire football season.
Good Grief. Her brother had turned into the Gestapo.
But more than that…Allie had to admit what Claire said was beginning to make sense. Mimi wasn’t the old Mimi. She and Zeke walked on eggshells around one another. And Zeke… Had Allie seen her brother smile once this visit? He was like a grenade, ready to explode. Oh God. Claire was right. Zeke and Mimi were on the brink of divorce.
It was against her better judgment, but nothing could be served by telling Mimi and Zeke what had gone down tonight. At least, not until Allie had a chance to think about it some more.
“What about Cameron? He witnessed the whole thing and—”
“Don’t worry about Cameron,” Claire said, her voice filled with hope. “If I tell him not to say anything, then he won’t.”
Allie hated to think what methods Claire might use to extract a promise like that from her younger brother. Bullying? Blackmail? Bribes? None of those options sounded good.
“You have to promise me you’ll never do anything like this again. And you have to stop fighting with Cameron. No bullying him into getting your way. In other words, you have to be a complete angel.”
Claire grabbed her into a hug. “I promise! I swear, no more sneaking off. And I’ll stop whining about my own car and everything. You’ll see, I’ll be perfect.” She swiped her tears, taking most of the mascara along with it. She almost looked like Claire Bear again.
Why couldn’t her niece go back to being eight years old? When life had been uncomplicated?
“This is just a reprieve,” Allie warned. “Just till after the game Friday night. Then you and I are going to sit down with your parents and tell them everything. Got it?”
Claire nodded eagerly. “Got it.”
*~*~*
“Let me get this straight,” Mimi said. “Tom just happened to be driving by when the van wouldn’t start up? And now it’s miraculously running fine again?”
“Weird, huh?” Allie faked a laugh. “He insisted on driving us back to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
“Why didn’t he just follow you in his truck?”
“Can you believe no one thought of that?”
It was obvious from the look on Mimi’s face that, no, she didn’t believe it.
Allie hated lying to her sister-in-law, but if she told her the whole story then Mimi would be forced to tell Zeke and then Allie would have betrayed Claire’s trust. Or worse, Mimi would keep the truth from Zeke and the lie might cause their marriage to crumble. Was she doing the right thing? Or was she just making everything worse? Maybe it was best to get everything out in the open. Allie decided to test the waters.
“Claire told me you and Zeke are going to counseling.”
Mimi looked taken aback. “She said that? I had no idea—that is, I didn’t know Claire was aware.”
“She found out accidentally by listening to a voice-mail from your counselor.” Before Mimi could ask, Allie said, “And no, I’m pretty sure Cameron doesn’t know anything.”
Mimi smiled but her eyes looked blank. “It’s more like couples communication. No big deal. It’s been great for our marriage.”
Allie nodded. She desperately wanted to believe Mimi, but the sour feeling in her gut told her Claire was right. Mimi and Zeke were having major marital problems. They would have to be told about Claire’s extracurricular activities, of course, but delaying the bad news for two days would give Allie a chance to gauge just how serious those problems were. Despite feeling guilty, Allie was convinced more than ever that she was doing the right thing.
*~*~*
Allie punched her pillow, for what, she didn’t know, but it felt good doing it. She turned to her side and glanced at the bedside clock. It was nearly one a.m. and she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep.
Heard a rumor that your wife left you.
At least, that’s what Neighborhood Guy aka Mr. Nosy Pants had said. It had felt like such an invasion of Tom’s privacy, hearing it the way she had. But Tom hadn’t appeared the least bit ruffled having his personal failings put out there for everyone to see. He had handled it all with the grace of a man who was…a man. Like he didn’t have anything to be ashamed of or owe anyone any explanations.
Still. Allie had wanted to knock Mr. Nosy Pants down a peg or two.
Did Lauren really leave Tom? Did Tom still love her? According to Mimi, Henry had been a large part of Tom’s motivation in returning home, but could there be more to it? Did he hope to win Lauren back?
Then there was Jordan’s mother, Cougar Extraordinaire. Now, lying alone in her bed, Allie could admit she’d been jealous. Not of Jordan’s mother. She didn’t think she was Tom’s type. But the incident had her wondering about Tom’s love life. He’d been divorced a year now.
He’d asked her why she wasn’t with someone, but Allie hadn’t asked him the same question in return. Why wasn’t he with someone?
Or maybe he was. Despite what Claire thought, there was a very real chance that he’d been out on a date tonight. But then, there was that kiss they’d shared. He couldn’t have kissed her like that if he had a girlfriend. Could he?
Allie punched her pillow again. Men. Of course, he could have kissed her like that and still been in a relationship with someone else.
Confusion and insecurity and…something else roiled through her. Of course she didn’t hate him. But she didn’t want to like him. And she certainly didn’t want to want him. Not again. But she did. On both counts. There was no use denying it any longer. But did she have the guts to do anything about it? Probably not.
Compared to Tom, she was a fraud. Running around town masquerading as this hot shot journalist, when the truth was all she had to show for her career was a near empty bank account and one good article under her belt. That, and the slim promise of a maybe job that in all probability depended on Phoebe Van Quack and her mysterious Madame Gloria.
Then there was the matter of her personal life.
What a joke that was.
She told Tom she’d sowed her wild oats. Sure, she’d gotten to do a lot of traveling, (which, if he’d let her explain the other night was what she had meant by the expression). She’d surfed in Australia, backpacked throughout Europe and even gone on safari in Africa. But her love life had been nothing more than a couple of semi-serious relationships, neither of which had been more inspiring than an I really like him a lot. And the sex? She didn’t have much to compare it to, but even she knew it hadn’t been much more than a mediocre episode of Sex and the City or worse, it’s more modern day counterpart, Girls.
Maybe that was the problem. She’d watched too much T.V. Her expectations were too high. Or maybe nothing ever compared to the way Tom had made her feel at eighteen.
Maybe all these years she’d been waiting for Tom Donalan to just do her so she could get on with the rest of her life. Allie rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.
Big Girls Don’t Cry.
Wait. Where had that thought come from?
Frankie Valle began wailing in her ear in his falsetto voice.
Strange. Her room was adjacent to Claire’s. Had her niece turned on the radio? The music suddenly got louder.
BIG. GIRLS. DON’T. CRY…
Allie sighed. Maybe Claire had been messing with the alarm on her clock radio and accidentally hit an oldies station. But you’d think she’d have hit the off button by now.
After tonight’s teenage drama, she couldn’t believe how inconsiderate Claire was being. How was anyone supposed to sleep with all that racket going on?
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered. She sat up and grabbed a sweatshirt to pull over
her camisole top. Then the music stopped. Good! But she needed to make sure it didn’t happen again, so Allie padded her way to Claire’s room and opened the door. It was quiet and dark.
Claire sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I just want to make sure we don’t have a repeat with the clock radio.”
“What clock radio?” Claire asked, still sounding sleepy.
“The sixties station you were listening to. You know, Big Girls Don’t Cry?”
Claire flopped back in her bed. “I don’t have a clock radio. Will you close the door, Aunt Allie? I have to get up really early in the morning.”
Allie stood there a moment, frozen. If the music hadn’t come from Claire’s room, then where had it come from? She shook her head. Maybe she’d imagined it. Maybe the stress of lying to Mimi and Zeke was causing her to hallucinate. Maybe her brother and sister-in-law weren’t the only ones who needed counseling. Allie wondered briefly if the medical benefits at Florida! magazine included mental health screening.
Argh! There was certainly no use trying to get any sleep. Not now. Not with all the crazy, woops—strike that word from her vocabulary—not with all the unusual things swirling through her brain. Maybe Zeke was on to something and a run along the beach would clear her head. Allie slipped on her sneakers and quietly made her way out the back door.
Tom repositioned the pillow behind his neck and settled back for a long night spent sleeping inside his truck. Damn kids. He’d caught a couple of teenagers, probably stragglers from the Grayton Beach party, sneaking around behind the building. A few stern words had scared them off, but he couldn’t count on that keeping them away all night. An abandoned building was too much of a temptation. Especially one that was rumored to have a ghost dancing on the roof.
Not that he was concerned about damage to the building. In two days it would be gone. But he was concerned about someone getting hurt. One dumb kid breaking their leg on the premises. One dumb mistake and everything he’d worked for in the past couple of months could go up in smoke.
