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She leans closer and lowers her voice. “I was just wondering…” she starts to say before she trips over her words. “Have you noticed…”
She tests my patience. My head throbs. I help her out. “Have I noticed what?”
“Well,” she says hesitantly. “I was wondering if you’ve noticed anything odd about Ann?”
“Ann?”
“Yeah…I can’t put my finger on it, but something seems off.”
“I hadn’t noticed. No.”
She leans into the wall. “I’m sure I’m just being silly…it’s just, I know you two are close, and well, I was just looking for—”
“What were you looking for?” Ann asks, appearing like a magician. It’s her specialty.
“The ladies’ room,’” Amy says nervously, the way you do when you’re caught red-handed talking about someone behind their back.
“It’s there,” Ann points. No one says another word. Not even me, who realizes there’s truth in Amy’s question. I have noticed something about Ann. She hasn’t invited me here because all is forgiven. She invited me here to keep an eye on me. Same as Darcy.
LATER, after the table has been cleared, and the women have cordoned themselves off in the kitchen, Ann clinks a knife against a glass to gather everyone’s attention. “I’m so glad we could all get together,” she says. “Especially in light of what happened.” Slowly, she dries her hands on a dishtowel. God, I love her. Her hands especially. “It’s important to be there for one another.”
Most of us nod our agreement.
Amy, Darlene, Kathryn, Lisa, Heloise, and Denise do, anyway.
Personally, I’m not so sure. I just want her alone.
Either way, the result is the same. She keeps talking. She keeps stalling what is inevitable. “We should do this more often,” she suggests. “Make it a regular thing.”
“That’s a great idea,” Lisa says.
Ann smiles. “I think we should make it official.”
“Like a club?” Denise asks.
Once again, Ann is all smiles. “Like an alliance.”
“This isn’t one of those multilevel marketing deals is it?” Kathryn jokes. “Where you’re going to try and recruit us…”
“No,” Ann asserts. She has that devil-may-care look when she says it. But I can tell she means business. “This is something to make our lives more fulfilling.”
“Those lamb chops were certainly fulfilling.” Kathryn laughs.
Ann ignores the lame attempt at humor. “I’ve seen the way you ladies look forward to my parties. And there will definitely be more where that is concerned—but—I don’t know…I want more. And—correct me if I’m wrong,” she says, glancing around the group, from woman to woman. But never at me. “I think we all do.”
A couple of them shrug. Some glance at the person standing next to them. No one knows what to say, so just like in the rest of their lives, they look to someone else from whom to take a cue.
Ann goes on. She may be addressing us all, but she’s really only speaking to me. “No one looks up from their phones these days. Everyone’s reality is based on somewhere they aren’t. We have friends, sure. But how many of them do we actually ever spend time with?”
“Not many,” Heloise admits.
“Who has the time?” Amy wants to know.
Ann presses her lips to one another and hesitates momentarily before continuing. I love her speech. It all seems so well thought out, so well rehearsed. “Well, I’ll tell you who doesn’t have the time, and that’s Darcy.”
Suddenly, everyone is staring at Ann’s Brazilian Spruce flooring. Everyone except her. And, me, of course. We’ve all heard the story of its import, and how lucky they were to find that much in the exact color of cherry they desired.
“Maybe Darcy was depressed—I don’t know.”
