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“Uh, oh, now you are going to have to stand the tour.”
“If we have time.” Randi added another faux smile and nose wrinkle.
The three women drank their coffee and talked about the old days in Pinehill.
“So how is the crew from up on Birchwood Lane? Do you keep in touch with them?” Randi asked.
Jenna rolled her eyes knowing her best friend was trolling for an argument. She had hated the Pinehill High A-listers—girls bent on bullying her. Anne answered, counting on her fingers. “Married…separated… divorced…on her third marriage…and dabbling in lesbianism.”
“Great, glad we’re all caught up.” Jenna said. Her tone was breezy as she steered the conversation away from past grudges. But Randi was standing firm on institutional tile edged by a row of lockers. “You know, back in school Jen and I had a really funny nickname for you and your besties. We called you the Snotty Six.”
“Randi!”
“It’s all right.” Anne gave an apologetic lift of her shoulders. “We earned the title.”
Jenna gnashed her teeth together as she spoke. “Well that was then. Randi, get your phone and show Anne pictures of the boys.”
It shifted the conversation momentarily to children, holidays, and vacations. But thedétentelasted only until Anne mentioned strapping, six-foot-two, blue-eyed movie star Eric Laine. “I’m telling you he still cares for you,” she insisted as she bit into a beignet.
“You don’t know the man. How can you say that?” Randi argued.
Anne defended her position. “Well, for one thing he’s here in town. And I saw the way he looked at Jenna at the hotel. He still wants her.”
“Of course he wants her.” Randi threw her hands in the air. “She left him. It’s a male ego thing. Men all want what they can’t have.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Anne’s expression softened like a teenager spying a crush, eyes dreamlike and lips slightly parted. “They were married and in love; and now he’s come back for her. It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen.”
Randi’s countenance was the polar opposite, teeth gritted and eyes ablaze. “Oh you have no clue. No idea what that man did to her.”
“I do too. Jenna told me everything. She still has feelings for him, and I think she should give him a chance. If not for herself than for Janie.”
“She shouldn’t give him the time of—”
“Hey!” Jenna shouted. She’d been quietly listening to the exchange and had enough. “I’m still in the room.”
Both women said the word “sorry” simultaneously while continuing to glare at one another. Before the subject of past love and loss had a chance to get cold, they resurrected the argument. Randi insisted Eric was scum and should be drawn and quartered. Anne contended he was Jenna’s true love, and she should ride off into the sunset with him.
“You’re the same know it all you were in high school,Annabelle.”
“And you’re just jealous because your best friend has a hot movie star in love with her,Freed.”
Chairs scraped against wide planks of pale stained oak as both combatants stood.
“That’s it, fat girl!”
“Watch it, shorty!”
Jenna brought two fingers to her mouth and whistled loud enough to almost shatter the crystal fruit bowl resting on the center island. “Knock it off! I can’t believe you two. I’m having a hard enough time with all of this, especially after what happened at the Plaza.”
The need to hear an explanation for the statement took an immediate back seat to thename-calling and threats. Anne and Randi both leaned toward Jenna, eyes wide and ears perked.
“I knew something happened. You were smiling the entire ride home.”
“Spill it,” Randi ordered with a hard rap on the table.
Jenna pushed at her cup. “Damned caffeine.”
Anne and Randi closed in more, their heads poking forward like turtles reaching for raw hamburger. They dropped back into their chairs and waited.
