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Looking unconvinced, she picked up the paper. Put it down and resumed reciting in a softer, weaker voice. “…I had broke up with a loser—…I already said that…okay…Forrest and I were in love and Tyler was our friend but then Tyler and Forrest started something.”
Milo’s eyebrows rose.
Lisette Montag saw it. “Not that, don’t be gross. Money. They started to talk about money. All the time. Forrest investing in Tyler’s gym and then building a whole bunch more. A whatyoucallit…”
Looking at Bloomfield.
He said, “A fitness franchise.”
“A franchise,” she said. “Like McDonald’s, they were going to be huge.”
Milo said, “You were jealous of that.”
“No, not getting rich. The time they spent together. It was moneythis, money that, the two of them meeting. Money money money. They were always looking at maps, planning, Forrest used to show Tyler articles about money. They never included me. Not once. I even said hey, Forrest, if you do that for Tyler can you do it for me—let’s make a franchise for salons and skin care, out here in the desert people’s skins get fucked up, it’s perfect.”
She shook her head.
I said, “Forrest said no.”
“He said it was a different financial model, one thing at a time, maybe one day but right now the gym thing was the thing. The thing. Like it alreadywasa thing. He said if I needed money, he could give me some. I said okay, whatever you want but it’s not the money. I could tell he didn’t believe me.”
Milo said, “How?”
“The way he smiled at me,” said Lisette Montag. “I’ve had lots of guys smile that way. Like you’re just a stupid girl, you don’t understand, you’re not smart, you don’t get it. But I didn’t get mad at Forrest, he was an older guy, from a different place. To him women were to be protected. He held doors for me, brought me flowers, never let me pay for dinner, never did the I-left-my-wallet-at-home. I understood his soul. I didn’t get mad.”
“But you were still jealous.”
Al Bloomfield said, “Lissy, I think you should go back to reading.”
The iron in his voice caused Montag to shift her eyes toward him. He remained stony-faced.
“Yes, sir,” she said. Back to the second page. “…so…could I smoke?”
Milo said, “Sorry, no smoking.”
“Notthat,” she said. “Some weed or an edible. It’s legal, right?”
“It is, Lisette, but we haven’t come that far policy-wise.”
“Why not?”
“You know,” he said, “I’ll have to ask someone. Now if there’s nothing more you want to—”
“Read,”said Bloomfield.
“Yes, sir, sorry…so…Tyler and Forrest planned their franchise and I was left out of it but it was okay. Forrest and I were in love and I figured it’s time to stop having sex with Tyler because it could be complicated. So I told him. And he was cool with it. Said the main thing with him and Forrest was the franchise, I was a great person and he was happy for me to be happy.”
She rolled her eyes.
I said, “Tyler’s reaction surprised you.”
“Totally. He was always…like a hungry animal. He wanted it, he went for it…”
Bloomfield said, “Please.Stick with reading.”
“Okay, okay, sorry…so…so I told Tyler and that was that and we kept doing Mexican and Italian when they had time off from their franchise-talking and then Forrest changed his mind about doing the franchise. He never said why, he never told me anything to do with it, so when he stopped I learned it from Tyler who was mad.”
She looked up. “Tyler had anger management issues. He could get mad like that.”
