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“Do you think I don’t know that?” he says.
“So why won’t you talk to me then?”
Before he can answer, Patty walks toward us and hands Sarah to Carl. Then she gives her husband a kiss on the cheek. A big show. For him. For me. For the party.
“Hi,” she says, kissing me on the cheek too. “Glad you could make it.”
I keep my voice down. “Patty, I’m sorry for walking in on the party, but something’s happened to Owen.”
“Carl,” Patty says, “let’s get everyone out back, okay? It’s time for ice cream sundaes.”
She looks to the group and flashes her smile at them.
“Everyone head out back with Carl. You too, Mr. Silly,” she says to the clown. “It’s ice cream time!”
Then—and only then—she turns back toward me. “Let’s talk out front, yeah?” she says.
I start to tell her that Carl is really who I need to speak with, Carl who is walking away with Sarah on his hip, but Patty is pushing me onto the front porch. She closes the thick red door and I am on the wrong side of it again.
This is when, on the privacy of her porch, Patty turns back to me, eyes blazing. Smile gone.
“How dare you show up here,” she says.
“I forgot about the party.”
“Screw the party,” she says. “Owen broke Carl’s heart.”
“Broke his heart… how?” I say.
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with him stealing all our fucking money?”
“What are you talking about?” I say.
“Owen didn’t tell you that he convinced us to go in on The Shop’s IPO? He sold Carl on the software’s potential, sold him on the enormous returns. Failed to mention that the software was dysfunctional.”
“Patty, look…”
“So all of our money is now tied up in The Shop’s stock. Actually, I should say, what’s left of our money is tied up in stock, which on my last check was down to thirteen cents.”
“Our money was there too. If Owen had known, why would he do that?”
“Maybe he didn’t think they’d get caught. Or maybe he’s a freaking moron, I can’t tell you that,” she says. “But I can promise you that if you don’t leave my house, right now, I’m calling the cops. I’m not kidding. You’re not welcome here.”
“I understand why you’re upset with Owen. I do. But Carl may be able to help me find him and that is the fastest way to get this sorted out.”
“Unless you’re here to pay for our kids’ college, we have nothing to say to you.”
I’m not sure what to say to her, but I know I have to say something before she walks back inside. After seeing him in person, after seeing the look in his eyes, I can’t shake the feeling that Carl may know something.
“Patty, can you take a breath please?” I say. “I’m in the dark here too. Just like you.”
“Your husband aided in a half-a-billion-dollar fraud, so I’m not so sure I believe you,” she says. “But if you’re telling me the truth, you’re the biggest fool in the world, not seeing who your husband really is.”
It doesn’t seem like the greatest time to tell her that, in terms of playing the fool, she isn’t avoiding it either. Her husband has been sleeping with his coworker on and off since Patty was pregnant with the child that Mr. Silly is entertaining in the backyard. Maybe we are all fools, one way or another, when it comes to seeing the totality of the people who love us—the people we try to love.
“Do you really expect me to believe that you didn’t know what was going on?” she says.
“Why would I be here looking for answers if I did?” I say.
