Gigi woke up and smiled, thinking it lovely that Alex was there and gazing down on her.
“What are you doing?” Gigi asked, pulling Alex toward her.
“Watching you sleeping and wondering what you might be dreaming,” Alex said, quickly, trying to hide the sudden vulnerability she was feeling.
“I was dreaming of you,” Gigi said, pushing Alex on her back and neatly inserting her thigh between Alex’s legs.
“Gigi,” Alex said, protesting, only to find herself quickly wrapped up in one of those ardent embraces that she had just been remembering.
“We have guests,” Alex said.
“And they would more than understand,” Gigi said, kissing her way down Alex’s stomach.
Alex’s last protest got lost as Gigi’s tongue licked the inside of her thigh.
Aunt Lil winked at Gigi as they came out of the birthday party.
“Getting a little cheer are we?” Fran said.
Alex smiled. “You know how she is.”
“I do,” Lil said, giving Gigi a quick cuff.
“The old ladies are going to bail. We’ve got a drive ahead of us. Happy birthday Gigi, take care,” Fran said, giving Gigi a hug.
Aunt Lil gave Gigi a hug and whispered, “Don’t worry kid, the folks will come around.”
“I doubt that,” Gigi said.
“She has hated me for years but I still get a Christmas card,” Lil said.
“Oh, something to look forward to,” Gigi replied.
“Something is always better than nothing,” Fran said.
Alex found Mallory at the buffet table.
“Where’s Del?”
“She got paged. One last weekend at the hospital on call as a favor, set a bone and she’ll be back. It’s a broken ankle.”
“What—the inseparables are separated?” Gigi teased, coming up to join them.
“Del had to go fix someone’s ankle. She’ll be back shortly,” Alex said, picking up a plate and looking ravenously at the buffet table. Making love always made her hungry. Gigi winked at her lasciviously while she shoved a carrot in her mouth.
The party was still going strong when two new arrivals slipped in the front door. At first no one noticed as people had been coming and going all evening. Mallory was standing by the buffet table. Gigi and Alex were across the table. They both saw Mallory turn pale and let the plate she was holding slip to the floor. Puzzled, Gigi turned around, not having a clue, until she saw Ollie and another woman. Gigi felt her stomach tighten as she recognized Caroline. She knew they weren’t here to wish her happy birthday. Her intuition told her that doomsday was about to become the grand finale of her birthday party.
“Gigi, what’s wrong?” Alex said. She’d never met Caroline but the look on both Mallory’s and Gigi’s faces told of something terrible.
“Oh, shit,” Gigi said, moving to try and intercept them, but Ollie guided them through the crowd like a tribunal set on capturing the victim and beginning the torture.
Mallory stood completely still.
“We thought we would come see you on this glorious day of your birth,” Ollie said.
“Caroline?” Mallory said, feeling like she should rub her eyes and try looking again.
“Hi, Mallory. How have you been?” Caroline said, gently. She had anticipated this as being a shock for Mallory but maybe more than she bargained for.
“I thought you moved to back to Brazil,” Mallory said.
“Actually, Caroline has a little story to tell you,” Ollie said.
“I do?” Caroline said, thinking this wasn’t part of the plan. Ollie had told her that going to the party would guarantee them entrance. She hadn’t mentioned a word about confessing the real reason she had left Mallory.
“Well, let me get it started,” Ollie said.
“Let’s go talk,” Gigi said, grabbing Ollie’s arm.
“Yes, let’s talk. Let’s tell Mallory why Caroline really left her. It didn’t have so much to do with you, Mallory, as it had more to do with Gigi.”
“Ollie?” Kim said, coming to join the tribunal with Angel right behind her.
“What are you doing here?” Kim said.
“I’m tying up some loose ends,” Ollie replied.
“Ollie why don’t you just go away. No one is interested in your stories,” Kim said. “This is not the time or the place.”
“I disagree. This is perfect,” Ollie said.
“Ollie, come on, please,” Gigi said, trying to pull her away from the table.
Caroline tried to get closer to Mallory, who was backing away in total fright.
“I’m not leaving until everyone knows the truth,” Ollie said.
“It’s all in the past. Let it be,” Kim said.
Alex felt her stomach flip as she waited for the other shoe to drop.
“The reason Caroline left you was because she and Gigi were having an affair. Gigi wouldn’t come clean because of you so Caroline left nursing her broken heart. It wasn’t you, Mallory, it was her,” Ollie said, pointing an accusatory finger at Gigi.
“You and Caroline?” Mallory said, trying to let this new point of view sink in.
“Mallory, let me explain,” Gigi pleaded.
“We didn’t mean for it to happen,” Caroline said.
Mallory looked from one to the other.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Gigi said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have slept with her then,” Ollie offered.
“We’ve had just about enough of your shit,” Kim said, grabbing Ollie’s wrist and then doing a karate move that landed Ollie flat on her back.
“You know karate?” Angel asked.
“My father is a black belt,” Kim replied.
“I’m not done. And not only did Gigi cheat on Mallory, she also cheated on you, Alex,” Ollie said, just before Kim put her foot on Ollie’s chest to keep her flat on her back. Kim glared at her.
“But I’m sure Kim already told you about that night in the van when she found us fucking,” Ollie said.
Kim moved in to do something hideous but Angel grabbed her around the waist and raised her aloft.
“Put me down. I’m going to kill her,” Kim said, struggling to get free.
“I am not going to have a prison romance,” Angel said, dragging her from the room.
“Where are you taking me?” Kim said.
“Home, where you won’t get charged with assault.”
“But she deserves it,” Kim screeched.
“I know she does, but I love you too much to spend all my time writing letters to my incarcerated girlfriend.”
“Alex, I’m sorry—I should have told you,” Kim said as they made their way to the door.
“It’s not your fault. Gigi should have come clean about everything,” Alex said, trying to get closer to Mallory, who looked like she was starting to hyperventilate.
“Mallory, are you okay?” Alex asked softly.
“I think I need some air,” Mallory replied, making a quick move to the arcadia door.
Caroline came toward her. Mallory freaked and before anyone could do anything she had walked right into the glass door and shattered it. Mallory tripped and fell into the pile of glass, cutting her right forearm nearly clean through. For a moment everyone stood still. Mallory sat up and looked at her arm. Alex was the first to think of first aid measures.
“Oh, my god,” Gigi said, starting to panic.
“Gigi, you need to help me,” Alex said, firmly. “Get a belt and a towel. Right now.”
Caroline moved to help.
“You need to leave and take your friend with you,” Alex said.
Caroline backed away. Between them Gigi and Alex got a tourniquet on Mallory’s arm and helped her into the car.
“Mallory?” Gigi started to say something.
Mallory smiled at her sadly. “I don’t think there is anything you could say that would even touch this, Gigi.”
>
Gigi nodded. For once in her life she didn’t have a single word to cover this. She doubted even Robert’s Rules had a funny quip for this. You deceived your best friend for years because you stole the love of her life and then trashed it because you were a coward. She had loved Caroline, more than she had ever thought herself capable of, more than anyone since, including Alex, but she couldn’t make herself tell Mallory the truth, so she had told Caroline goodbye. Caroline in desperation had vacated all three of their lives. It had always amazed Gigi how one act of cowardice could have had such huge consequences.
Alex started the car and then realized the congestion problem. Mallory noted it as well.
“I’ll get them to move,” Gigi said, going inside.
“That won’t be necessary,” Alex replied, as she whipped the car across the desert rock landscaping, ripping a jojoba bush up with her front grill.
Gigi stood mouth gaping while Alex and Mallory laughed.
“Never liked that bush anyway,” Alex said.
“Me either,” Mallory said.
“Next stop Desert Samaritan Hospital,” Alex said. “You should really put your seatbelt on,” reaching over to help Mallory.
“Oh, no not Desert. Del will be there. I don’t want to see her like this.”
“Mallory, it’s the closest hospital,” Alex tried to reason.
“I don’t care. Drive fast and we can make it to Saint Joseph’s.”
“Mallory, in case you haven’t noticed you’re losing blood at an astonishing rate. You’ve cut one of your major arteries.”
“We can make it.”
Alex drove like a maniac until they got pulled over. As Alex slowed the car down with the police lights and sirens kicking up a storm behind them, she said, “You’re going to bleed to death.”
“I am not. When he comes to the window just point at my arm,” Mallory advised. It did look ghastly.
Alex did as she was told. The police officer’s eyes got huge.
“I’ll give you an escort,” he said, running for his car.
“See how easy that was. All fixed,” Mallory said, leaning back in the seat. She didn’t feel so good.
Alex sat in the emergency room making an attempt at filling in the blanks on the admittance paperwork. Mallory had thrown her her wallet just before they carted her off on a gurney. Finally completed, Alex handed the clipboard back to the nurse and went to get a cup of coffee. She was trying to stave off processing what had just happened, how all her worst fears had been brought to light. Part of her knew Gigi played around, but having someone actually say the words made it real, made it something she could no longer bury. Her partner was a cheat. A cheat with a long history of cheating. There was no going around that and as she sat in the ER waiting for the other casualty of Gigi’s history of cheating, Alex knew there was no going back, no overlooking, no pretending it wasn’t happening.
She stood in front of the coffee machine waiting for the small paper cup to fill. Mallory came around the corner.
“Hi, we can go now,” Mallory informed her, looking around furtively.
“Shouldn’t we check out?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Mallory said, leading Alex by the arm, minus her coffee to the stair exit.
“Mallory, why do I get the idea we’re sneaking out of the hospital?” Alex asked as they scurried down the stairs.
“Because we are,” Mallory said.
“Why?”
“They want to keep me overnight. I’m not staying.”
“Do you have a hospital phobia?” Alex asked.
“You could say that. I’m fine. My arm feels great,” Mallory said, as they slunk through the cars in the parking lot.
“You don’t look great,” Alex said, when Mallory winced as she tried to shut the car door.
“Well, I did almost slice my arm off. I think that is to be expected.”
“Are you all right . . . you know, about the other stuff?” Alex asked.
“Oh, that little thing about Gigi?” Mallory replied.
“Yes.”
“Not really. I’d like to kill her. As it stands now I don’t think I’ll ever speak to her again,” Mallory said stoically. “How about you?”
“I’m going to kill her,” Alex replied, pulling out of the hospital parking lot.
Mallory’s eyes got big.
“Not really. I haven’t given it a lot of thought yet. But I’m sure there will be some heavy thinking going on before I see her again.”
“Would you like to borrow some clothes?” Mallory said, diplomatically.
“No, I’ll be fine,” Alex replied, taking Mallory’s outstretched good hand.
“Where will you go? Want to stay at my place?”
“No, you and Del are just starting out. You don’t need a third wheel. Besides I’ve got somewhere to go.”
“And someone to see?”
“Yes.”
Taylor clicked off the movie when she heard the doorbell. She thought she saw lights pulling up in the drive. Puzzled, she went to the door.
“Hi,” Alex said. “I was wondering if I might stay at your place tonight.”
Taylor stood staring. Alex was wearing a white T-shirt that was covered in blood.
“You didn’t kill her, did you?” Taylor said, envisioning some grisly scene involving a large kitchen instrument.
Alex burst out laughing, kind of laughing and then she started to cry. Suddenly all the stress and emotion of the last few hours came crashing through. Somehow she muttered the whole story to Taylor, who watched sympathetically as Alex spilled her guts. Then she ran her a bath, got her a brandy and a clean outfit. She put her to bed and stayed until she fell asleep.
Taylor got up to leave and Alex woke up.
“Please stay with me,” Alex said.
Taylor crawled in next to her and held her until morning, knowing that despite tragedy they would begin their new lives together in the morning.
When Del pulled up in the drive she immediately sensed something was wrong. Perhaps it was the bush torn out of the front yard, or the trail of blood leading up to the front door. She noticed Alex’s car was missing but Mallory’s truck was still there. She tried to breathe a sigh of relief. The living room floor didn’t look much better and the gaping hole in the glass arcadia door seemed to sum up the situation.
Del looked around for Mallory, Kim or Angel but couldn’t find anyone she knew. A group of party animals sat around the couch and were laying out shots of Apple Pucker. A pretty young woman was making an attempt at cleaning up the glass out on the patio. She obviously hadn’t made it into the house yet. No one else seemed to care. Gigi was nowhere to be found.
“Have you seen Mallory?” Del asked.
“You must be Del,” Caroline said, thinking she fit the description Ollie had given her about Mallory’s new girlfriend. Caroline had been rather relieved to discover that Mallory was no longer pining after her. It assuaged some of her guilt.
“Who are you?” Del asked, studying the huge hole in the door and the sticky puddle of blood full of glass. Whoever went through the door had been bleeding badly.
“I’m Caroline,” the young woman replied.
It took Del a minute to make the connection. “Caroline, the woman Mallory was in love with, that Caroline?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
“This mess, you, it was Mallory,” Del said, pointing frantically at the door.
“She didn’t take it well.”
“Seeing you?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ollie told her about the affair Gigi and I were having while I was with Mallory. And then she told Alex about the affair she and Gigi had been having. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Where is she? Tell me she didn’t bleed to death.”
“She’ll be fine. Alex made her a tourniquet and took her to the hospital,” Caroline said.
Del fl
ew to the door and turned around.
“Stay away from her,” Del warned.
“Don’t worry, she won’t let me near her. I really am sorry.”
Her apology fell on deaf ears as Del screeched out of the driveway.
Much to Del’s consternation Mallory had not been admitted at Desert Samaritan, which made no sense, considering it was the closest hospital. The admitting clerk called around and found her at Saint Joseph’s. Del flew across town, still trying to figure out why Alex had taken her there. The nurse took her to Mallory’s room. It was there they discovered the empty hospital bed and a pool of liquid from where the IV was dripping.
“Where is she?” Del asked the nurse.
The nurse checked her chart.
“She’s supposed to be right here,” the nurse replied.
“Do you normally let your patients walk around after they’ve ripped their IV’s out?” Del asked.
“No, Doctor, we do not. Let me call the main desk and see if she checked herself out. We certainly didn’t let her go. She’d lost a lot of blood.”
“I know. I saw the site of the accident,” Del said, following her back to the nurse’s station.
The nurse called downstairs.
“She didn’t check herself out. It seems she must have escaped.”
“Perfect,” Del said, hoping that when she went to Mallory’s house she would find her there.
The living room light was on when Del pulled up in the driveway. Del felt her racing heartbeat begin to slow as she now, at least, knew Mallory was safe at home. Perhaps Mallory had left the hospital because she didn’t like it rather than the nagging thought Del kept having about Mallory going straight off the deep end. After all, she had come home and not disappeared off the face of the earth.
Del knocked. No one answered. She rang the bell. Still there was no answer. She tried the knob. The door was locked. She heard someone move inside.
“Mallory, it’s me. Open the door,” Del called out.
She heard footsteps to the door and then a slumping noise as Mallory slid down the door. At this moment, Del knew all her fears had instantly materialized. Mallory had gone over the edge and if she didn’t get her back quick she’d be gone forever.
Saxon Bennett - Talk of the Town Page 20
