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“They asked where you were. They came to the office to see you, but you weren’t here.”
“I already had another appointment!” Mazie practically shouted. “I can’t be in two places at the same time!”
“I said you would be back in the office later.”
“You made them wait for me?” She sounded aghast.
“They wanted to, Mazie.”
She pointed a bony finger at Elizabeth. “And then you talked to them and talked to them and talked to them. So friendly. They just love you now, don’t they?”
Elizabeth didn’t answer as her blood pressure rose. She realized that someone had been blabbing to Mazie about the Sorensons, probably Pat, the gossipy receptionist, and selling the older woman a bill of goods about Elizabeth’s intentions. “They asked if they could wait, and I said it was okay, that’s all,” Elizabeth said through her teeth.
“I’m sure.”
“If you don’t want me to work with them, I won’t.”
“I don’t want you to work with them,” Mazie snapped back.
“Then, you’re on your own.” Elizabeth stalked away, boiling. Die, she thought. Disappear. Evaporate. Go away permanently.
Now, Elizabeth shuddered. She set the empty wineglass on the table next to her without realizing it.
The next afternoon she related the story to her Moms Group, though she didn’t tell them her childish wish that Mazie die, of course. The moms were sitting on outdoor benches while they watched their kids playing on Bright Day Preschool’s outdoor equipment. It was the mothers’ custom to convene about the same time every school day and meet with their friends while their kids packed in a last few minutes of playground time before everyone went home.
Deirdre listened to Elizabeth’s complaints about Mazie and said, “Old bitches like that create misery and mayhem, and then they die.”
Remembering Deirdre’s words startled Elizabeth for a moment, they were so prophetic. She realized her glass was empty, poured more merlot, and took a sip, lost in her memories.
“Hopefully.” Vivian made a face and bobbed her ponytail in agreement. “She sounds like a total nightmare.”
Elizabeth agreed. “She is a nightmare.”
Springing to her feet, Vivian called sharply to her daughter, “Lissa, be careful!” The little girl was trying to climb up the slide’s ladder on Little Nate’s heels, all the while nudging him to move more quickly. “Lissa! Do you hear me?”
From a bench nearby, Jade yelled, “Nate, watch out!”
Elizabeth turned to see Chloe stomp to the ladder, pump her fists onto her hips, and give Lissa a piece of her mind. Unhappily, Lissa backed down, making a mean face at Chloe before racing to the monkey bars.
Jade glanced over at Elizabeth and she knew Jade was thinking. About another time when, from behind a post, Elizabeth had seen Little Nate slip on the jungle gym and get his foot caught, hanging precariously. At Elizabeth’s scream of warning, Jade had rescued him in the nick of time before he fell headfirst.
“How did you know?” Jade had asked in wonder.
Elizabeth hadn’t been able to come up with a plausible answer. Because there hadn’t been one. “I just caught a glimpse,” she’d lied to her friend.
Jade’s eyebrows had pulled together, puckering her forehead as if she didn’t understand, but she’d let it go.
Oblivious to the look Jade sent Elizabeth, Tara said, “Karma will get bullies like Mazie every time.” She shaded her eyes with one hand, stood and watched the jungle gym where a group of kids had gathered.
“Maybe,” Elizabeth muttered.
“Things’ll change. They always do,” Jade said. “Just when you think you can’t stand it one more minute, something always happens.”
Elizabeth wasn’t so certain. “I hope you’re right. It’s a mystery how Mazie ever makes a sale. She’s like Jekyll and Hyde, nice to the client but god-awful to anyone else. Before I got my license, I was seriously thinking about quitting.”
Deirdre’s green eyes were serious. She warned, “You do that and she wins. End of story.”
“That’s right,” Vivian agreed.
