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That relentless damned therapist, as Jessica had taken to calling her, had spent the entirety of their last session together badgering Jess about allowing her friends to visit. If this were what it would take to get that woman off her back, then this is exactly what Jessica would do, she finally decided. The woman had assured Jess that it would help in her recovery to have some normalcy returned to her day-to-day life. Support, the therapist had called it.
Jess would show her all right. She dialed Addison’s cell.
Addison answered on the first ring.
Jessica didn’t wait for her to say hello. She spoke breathlessly. “I’m going to need a party planner. The very best you’ve got.”
Addison sighed, she was none too familiar with her friend’s latest antics. “You need a party planner?”
“Yep.”
“Jessica, you have your own staff… you have people you’ve always used. Why are you asking me?”
“Maybe I don’t want the people I normally use. I mean… this situation is hardly normal. Wouldn’t you say?” The truth was Jess couldn’t recall whom she normally used. Drugs will do that to a person, she thought.
“OK, well, you got me there. What is it you need exactly?”
Jess grinned at her reflection in the mirror, suddenly satisfied with herself. “I’m going to host a luncheon like no other… here… in this place.”
“Oh, good god,” Addison said, exasperated. “You, Clemens… are trouble. And I have to admit—I really, really like it.”
Chapter Four
Jessica worked extra hard in the three weeks leading up to the luncheon to ensure that she would no longer have to use ‘the chair.’ Her dedication paid off as two days before the event, which she had so meticulously planned, she found herself able to get around reasonably well by utilizing a walker.
She poured hours into her therapy each day, and what remained leftover, she devoted to planning the best party possible. Because the Ladies Who Lunch, as they called themselves liked nothing if not a good party. The Ladies Who Lunch was an organization which had formed over fifty something years ago by women in the community who had both excessive amounts of time and money. Her Grandmother had been of the original founding members, then her mother, and now her. Once you were married off it was simply a society you found yourself a part of, if you were of a certain class. As of four weeks ago, there were two hundred and sixty-seven women who qualified and paid their dues (often literally) and these women convened for lunch twice a month. Jess knew exactly how many members the organization contained because she held the title of VP for the organization as well as served as chairperson of the hospitality committee. She was thus in charge of welcoming new members and keeping the existing ones happy. Which as it turns out was less hard than it might seem. You simply stuck them on a committee and kept them busy, which was easy until—as it usually is with any group of women, it wasn’t. But by the time the typical drama began they were under the careful guidance of their own committee chair and for the most part no longer Jess’s problem. It was sufficed to say, the Ladies Who Lunch had a committee for everything.
Jess had made a sizable donation to the rehabilitation facility in order to reserve the dining room during lunch hour. It was only later that she would realize this might not have been the smartest plan. Having your fellow inmates (as Jess called them) eat in their rooms, certainly didn’t win one any fans. Mostly because when you’re confined to a place that you don’t want to be in, mealtime becomes the highlight of your day and a reason to get ‘out into the world’ even if that world is only as far as the dining room.
The morning of the luncheon, Jess had her regular girl, the one she used for special occasions, come in and do her hair and makeup. She had someone assist her in making sure her dress was perfectly in place—a dress which she’d had her stylist purchase and then take back to the seamstress, not once but twice, as over the previous few weeks Jess watched the numbers on the scale drop faster than she could keep up with. No doubt, a side effect of the narcotics, which were known to cause a loss of appetite. But this wasn’t to be a problem today as she had decided to skip her meds completely.
At a quarter till eleven, Jess made her way down to the dining room and was pleased to find that the event planner Addison referred had outdone herself. The room had been transformed from the ridiculous dining hall overfilled with ranch-style themed decor into a beautiful, elegant space. The pleather chairs had been replaced by antique crystal Chiavari chairs and the round tables had been covered in white linen. The fluorescent lighting had been turned off and was substituted with ornate chandeliers that hung over each table. Flowers lined the peripheral of the room as far as the eye could see. The place settings alone were exquisite, and the aroma coming from the kitchen actually made Jess giddy—for it had been a long time since food of any kind had appealed to her.
As the first few guests arrived, she found herself immersed in the commotion, and it appeared as though nothing at all had changed since the last luncheon she’d attended, a little more than a month ago.
It was sometime after appetizers, but before announcements, when Jess began to feel light headed. Although she’d consumed a fair amount of hors d'oeuvres, she hadn’t had pain meds in almost twelve hours, and she was beginning to become aware that she might not make it through the three hour-long luncheon without having them. She began to feel anxious and irritable so she found herself a chair and tried to catch her bearings. But it wasn’t long before the cold sweats started, and it only got worse from there. Jess remembered as the room swirled around her that her nemesis if she ever had one, Shannon McCain, called for a nurse. President of the organization for six years running, Shannon had once been a close friend of Jessica’s.
Now the two barely spoke, and Jess saw her for what she was—a twig of a woman no one dared disagree with and whose upright stance and blonde bob, cut precisely, nary a hair out of place, only served to prove that she was all business. The truth was Shannon had had it out for Jess ever since the two disagreed over what became later known as the ‘Christmas Bazaar Incident.’ It should have been known that the number one rule of the Ladies Who Lunch was never, ever to disagree with Shanon McCain. To do so, and to do so publicly, would mean certain demise. Jessica had not given careful enough consideration to this unspoken rule, and so it had become classic and almost humorous the way Jess’s former friend had so passive-aggressively made her life hell by vetoing and negating every move she’d made since.
As Jess pondered this predicament, a nurse appeared and asked a series of questions. Once the oversized woman determined that Jess had forgone her evening and morning medication, she simply shook her head and assured the gaggle of women corralled around Jess that this was the cause of the faintness and that she would return with the pills in a few moments. Jess felt relieved, suddenly less anxious, knowing she could soon look forward to the familiar metallic taste of the chalky pills sliding down the back of her throat. She considered that she shouldn’t have been so stupid to skip the only thing that gave her comfort these days, and she realized then that the pills were not the enemy as once believed. As Jess took in the women surrounding her, her mind suddenly transformed their heads into vultures. Vultures waiting to consume their prey, she thought. One of them handed Jess a glass of water, which she downed in three gulps. Jess tried to focus on the hallway, listening for the nurses footsteps, thinking surely it shouldn’t be taking this long to get four little pills, but she couldn’t help noticing how the women eyed her, a mixture of pity, worry, and something else Jess couldn’t place written across their faces. As she searched for something to say, the nurse returned with her medication, thankfully. She chewed the pills instead of swallowing them, desperation taking over as her name was announced. It was time to address the crowd.
She downed anot
her glass of water and swallowed before carefully standing and making her way to the front of the room. All eyes were on her. Although Jess would scarcely remember the speech she made that day, she would later recall that she did at least two things right. She thanked everyone for coming, and even though she likely slurred, she did manage to make it through every single item on the list of upcoming events and agenda items that someone (presumably Shannon) had handed her.
The Ladies Who Lunch gave a standing ovation as Jessica slowly, carefully, and painfully made her way to her seat along the side of the room. She took her seat, finally, which was no small feat, but just as soon as she was settled and the servers began serving, Jess felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned and saw Shannon flanked by a few members of the board. Jess did her best to keep a straight face as Brenda, Shannon’s Girl Friday, did her bidding. “Is there somewhere around here that we could have a little privacy?”
Jess smiled and glanced around. She did her best to scoot her chair out to face the group of women. “This seems as good a place as any.”
Shannon looked nervously at the women seated around the table before clearing her throat. “Yes. How rude of me... I know it must be hard for you to get around.” Shannon glanced at the women by her side and then looked back down at Jess. “Anyway, about that… the ladies and I were talking it over, and we can see that you obviously have a lot going on here.” She paused as she seemed to search for the right words even though Jess was pretty sure that she’d had them planned out for quite some time. “The board and I have decided that it’s best if you step down from your role as VP.”
Jess smiled. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“We feel it’s necessary given the circumstances,” Brenda chimed in.
Shannon continued. “We just think that you need a little reprieve… some time to pull yourself together. I mean… it’s certainly reasonable considering all that’s happened—”
Jess cut her off. “Don’t tell me what’s reasonable. Look around. I have fulfilled my duties… considering.” She felt her face grow hot as she recalled just how hard she’d worked to make today happen. She eyed each of the women one by one, as it became more and more clear that there would be no argument she could offer up to change their minds. They had already been made up. Jess swallowed hard. “This is bullshit and you all know it.”
