AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know you feel that way about Terrance,” Nigel said, “but look at her. She’s fine.”
“I’m present,” I reminded them both. I almost raised my hand. “I’m here.”
“I apologize,” Nigel mumbled.
“Betsy,” I said carefully, “I’m sorry, but I think Frankie is likely to inflict more harm upon you than Terrance ever inflicted upon me. You believe that I only do what I do because a long time ago, for a brief period, I had a small eating disorder. Yes, that’s why I started. But I’ve grown, and I continue to be Diana because—”
“You do what you do because of what our stepfather did to you, Crissy! You do what you do because he—”
“Stop it,” Nigel told her.
“And Terrance took advantage of that and now you encourage it!” she said to him. “If our stepfather hadn’t had the grace to fucking kill himself, I promise you, I would have done it for him! I would have killed him. And there was a time when I had the goddamn balls to do it.”
“You’re overreaching,” I said to my sister. “And you’re mistaken.”
“About which part?”
Nigel was looking at both of us, desirous of stopping the carnage before either of us said anything worse, when Marisa returned, soaking wet, and dripped on top of my sister’s back. Betsy glanced up at her when she felt the pool water on her shoulder. When you emerge from a swimming pool in Las Vegas in late summer, you really don’t need a towel; the air is warm and you dry quickly. But still Betsy handed her one (hoping for modesty, I suppose), and the girl wiped her face and asked, “When will the cheeseburgers get here?”
“I think that’s my cue,” Nigel said, standing. Now he was desperate to escape.
“You haven’t ordered them?” she asked.
“Sorry,” he said awkwardly. I wanted to remind him that he was talking to a thirteen-year-old. I handed him my purse, and he started rooting around inside it until he found my wallet.
“No, he hasn’t ordered,” Betsy told Marisa. “We were all too busy debating the meaning of life.”
The girl looked at her quizzically and then turned to me. “Do you ever swim?”
“I do, yes.”
“What kind of bathing suit do you wear?”
“Why?”
“I like your clothes.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you ever been to this water park before?”
“Once.”
“If you ever come back, make sure you wear a one-piece. Some six- or seven-year-old turd who couldn’t swim grabbed on to my bikini bottom for dear life like it was a floatie. I had to drag him to his mom so he wouldn’t drown or create whatever’s the butt version of a nipple slip.”
Betsy said to Nigel, “Why don’t I go instead? Marisa and I will track down someone at the snack bar who can take our order. What do you two want?” It seemed as if she wanted out now even more than Nigel.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Of course you are,” said Marisa.
“A cheeseburger will be great for me, too,” said Nigel, and he handed my sister my wallet.
When they were gone, Nigel looked at me. “I’m sorry that conversation went there. I hadn’t meant it to.”
“Oh, me neither.”
“You okay?”
