“Ugh,” I say, “that’s good to hear, but gross to think about.”
“Good for them,” Lilly says with palpable disgust.
“Good for Reece and Rye,” I say and Chloe gives me a funny look. “Later,” I whisper.
“As you might guess, very few are privy to this information and it won’t be made public until a designated time and, of course, the legal issues already in play will still have to be dealt with, but rest assured,” she smiles, “things have been set right pertaining to the matter of Catherine Hilliard.”
“Just like you said,” I say and Lilly nods in agreement.
“Just like I said,” she smiles and pours herself a drink.
News of the beat down spreads fast and Mason, Ethan, and Logan Hatter arrive shortly after we get settled into our comfy seats. They all make a fuss over Chloe to the point she gets annoyed and politely asks them to stop treating her like a burn victim. She tells us that Richard gave her a cocktail of pills every night and she didn’t know what they were and didn’t care; she just took them because they made her numb.
“I picked this up before I left,” she says and pulls a really expensive laptop out of her bag. “It’s Richard’s.”
“That will be most useful, I’m sure,” Gloria Peacock says, “but let’s save that for later. The Sheriff just arrived and you need to get that dealt with.”
The Sheriff comes and looks uncomfortable at first, but when he sees the whole gang sitting around, he appears to relax a little. Deputy Dax comes in behind him and doesn’t so much as cast a glance at Lilly. The questioning goes quickly and is mostly a formality. He gives Chloe a long hug and tells her that he will take care of everything and she needn’t worry her pretty little head about a thing. Upon his exit, Gloria Peacock turns to Mason.
“Sweetheart, how long will it take you to draw up some divorce papers?”
“Not long, but we need a notary.”
“Well,” she opens a drawer and pulls out some kind of silver thing that looked like it might cut really thin cookies, “I just happen to be one.”
“Wow,” Mason says, “is there anything you can’t do Mrs. Peacock?”
“Cook corn bread,” she says. “I tried for years and got so frustrated I swore I’d never do it again and I’ve been hiring people to cook it for me ever since. So that’s one thing. Now, how about those papers?”
“I can do a standard no-fault in about an hour, but I don’t think no-fault is the way to go.”
“No, she really needs to nail him.” She hands a list to Mason and he looks over it then gives it to Chloe, who nods in approval and hands it back to him.
“Get to work, sonny boy,” Gloria Peacock tells Mason. “Now girls, I recommend that as soon as Richard Stacks regains consciousness, we get those papers signed.”
“How would we do that?” Lilly asks.
“Easy,” Gloria Peacock says, smiling, “just go in there and offer him a little motivation.”
“I can do that,” Chloe says and Gloria Peacock smiles.
“Ethan, keep your ears open at the bar tonight and let me know what the word around town is.”
“Will do, Mrs. Peacock.”
“Coach Hatter, could you do the same at school tomorrow?”
“Too easy, Mrs. Peacock.”
“And you two wild women,” she says, looking at Lilly and me. “No more stalking. Anything after today can and will be an issue of the court.”
“Yes ma’am,” I say and Lilly just nods and looks at the floor like someone just slapped her hand for being bad.
“Why don’t the three of you just stay here this afternoon?” Gloria Peacock asks and my eyes light up. “We can relax in my private spa.” She looks at Chloe, then Lilly, then me. “I think you girls could use a little rest and relaxation.”
“Sounds good to me,” I chirp.
“Speaking of court,” Mason says, “I got a call from the school attorney and they have scheduled Lilly’s court hearing for Monday,” he pauses, “and I asked about yours, Ace, and she put me on hold, then came back and said that your paperwork had disappeared and she’d have to call me back.”
“Well, I wonder why,” I say sarcastically.
“That’s not all,” he continues, smiling. “No more than five minutes after I hung up, Catherine Hilliard called me and requested a meeting with the two of you. She said that all charges will be dropped against Lilly and you can both have your jobs back if we could, and I quote, ‘find a way handle all of this privately and quickly’.”
“My ass,” I grunt “she’s just trying to cover her own.”
“I’ll tell you what she wants, she wants to sweep the whole deal under the rug,” Chloe says, “just like everyone does everything around here. Just make it go away.”
“Well, I’m not a fan of sweeping wrongs under the rug,” Gloria Peacock says. “Never have been, never will be.”
“Me either,” I say. “Let’s make this so public that Anderson Cooper shows up to cover it.”
“I don’t know about all that,” Lilly mumbles.
“I don’t want a big scene,” Chloe says, “but I know that’s what I’m in for after today.”
“You do not worry,” Gloria Peacock says, putting an arm around her shoulder, “we will take care of you.” She looks at Lilly, “With Catherine’s forced resignation, the school district does not have a legal leg to stand on and, even if they did, they would not be interested in pursuing the dismissal of a teacher who works as hard as you do, Lilly.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Peacock,” Lilly says, beaming.
“And, Lilly, your Uncle Rye wishes to speak with you and I would consider it a personal favor if you would give him a call.”
“Yes ma’am,” she said flatly and starts staring at her feet again.
“Alright, ladies,” Gloria Peacock says, getting to her feet, “Let’s to the spa room.”
“Let’s,” I say and I’m genuinely excited.
We follow Gloria Peacock through the majestic hallway, down a marble staircase, and into the most luxurious locker room I’ve ever seen in my life.
“There are some robes in there,” she says, pointing, “and towels, swimsuits, sandals, lots of other stuff. Please help yourself to whatever you need and I’ll meet you all out by the hot tub in thirty minutes. It’s out that door and around to the left.”
I grab a swimsuit that looks like it might fit me, then head to the robe closet and grab a big fuzzy one. I slide on a pair of fluffy slippers and prepare myself to be pampered.
40
Lilly, Chloe, and I slip into the hot tub and wait for Gloria Peacock to reappear. When she does, she is wearing a blue one-piece swimsuit and her body looks like that of a 25-year-old yoga instructor. She tells us that two women have just arrived to do pedicures, manicures, and facials and the masseuse and his partner will be arriving shortly.
The servant lady appears and informs Mrs. Peacock that the nail technicians are set up and she asks Chloe to join her in the cushy white pedicure chairs about a hundred feet from the hot tub.
“Can you believe this place?” I ask Lilly, once they’re out of ear shot.
“No, I can’t” she says, laying her head back. “Can you believe our luck that we are sitting here?”
“No, I can’t.”
“So what about that Chloe?” she asks, raising her head back up.
“Man,” I say, shaking my head, “what a day.”
“What a day, indeed,” she says. “This is just what I need right now.”
“So, uh, what’s up with you and Dax?”
She takes a deep breath and sighs heavily before answering, “Old girlfriend just got a divorce and she’s been staying with him for the past week.”
“Aw, Lil, I’m sorry to hear that,” I say, “at least he told you.”
“He didn’t,” she says, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “She answered his phone when I called last week and told me, in so many words, not to ever call him a
gain.”
“Jeez, no wonder he wouldn’t even look at you today. That’s got to be embarrassing,” I say. “How juvenile can you get?”
“Well, he’s only 23, Ace, so she’s probably around the same age.” she gets a pained look on her face, “or younger.”
“That’s a pretty shitty deal, Lilly,” I say. “I hate it didn’t work out.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she says but I can tell by the look on her face that it does.
I decide to stop asking questions and soak in the peaceful calm of our surroundings and allow my poor jilted friend to do the same.
After the single most relaxing afternoon of my life, Lilly and I leave The Waverly Estate with specific instructions from Gloria Peacock to lay low. Chloe graciously accepts Gloria’s offer to be a guest of honor at The Waverly Estate and the golf cart chauffer is loading her bags onto the six-seater as we drive out the gate.
“That sure was nice of Mrs. Peacock to invite Chloe to stay,” Lilly says as we drive away.
“No doubt,” I agree. “There is no better place on Earth for her to be right now.”
“Gloria Peacock certainly has taken a keen interest in us,” Lilly says. “I wonder why, I mean, we could be a bunch of idiots for all she knows and she has taken us in like we’re her own.”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” I reply. “You know Mason’s grandmother is one her close personal friends, so maybe that’s it.”
“Maybe,” Lilly says, “but it still seems kind of random, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” I say, “maybe she’s just lonely and bored.”
I drop her off at her pink doll house and head home. When I get there, Mason McKenzie’s Escalade is sitting in my driveway. I walk through the gate and find him asleep in one of my loungers with Buster Loo tucked under his arm. I smile despite myself and my heart starts to flip and flutter and I wish I could make it stop, but I can’t. Buster Loo opens one eye, sees me, and goes ape-shit crazy.
“Hey,” Mason says, rubbing his eyes.
“Hey,” I say, smiling so hard my face hurts.
“Y’all have a good afternoon at The Waverly Resort and Spa?”
“Oh, absolutely,” I say, “massage, manicure, pedicure, cucumber facial, the whole nine yards.”
“I’ll give you a facial,” he says with a devilish grin and starts laughing.
“You wish,” I say and open the door. “You could’ve gone inside, you know.”
“Well, I didn’t want to piss you off, so I thought I’d hang around out here like a stranger.”
“Or a stalker,” I offer.
“Or that,” he says, getting up and I see he has a boner the size of Nebraska. I can’t help myself. I just stare.
“Oops,” he says, grinning and adjusting himself. “My bad.”
“Why don’t you come on in the house?” I say.
“Are we gonna have sex?”
“Let me think a minute,” I say. “Uh, no.”
“Good because I wasn’t going to come in if you said yes.”
He wants to go to Ethan Allen’s but I tell him that we were instructed to lay low and I don’t think showing my face at the bar the same day Chloe Stacks nearly beat her husband to death is a good way to do that. So we order Chinese take-out and pick up some movies.
“So you and Lilly really had it out over the Panama City trip, huh?”
“Yeah, I was pretty pissed,” I say, “especially when I thought she was doing it to ol’ Drake Driskall.”
“Is that Dean Driskall’s kid?” he asks.
“Yep,” I reply. “Heck of a football player.”
“Just like his daddy and his granddaddy,” Mason says. “Football runs deep in that family. Has he signed anywhere yet?”
“He’s going to the University of Alabama,” I say. “It’s a tragedy.”
“Oh God,” Mason wails. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“Wish I was.”
“So, would you have sex with him?”
“What kind of question is that? Hell no! I’m not into pedophilia.”
“No, I mean if you were in high school, would you?”
“I’d be on his ass like white on rice,” I say in an overly serious tone.
“Damn girl,” Mason says and looks at me in a way that makes my blood run hot.
After dinner, Mason goes into the living room and sprawls out on the sofa.
“What do you want to watch first?” he calls.
“I don’t care,” I say, “whatever you want.”
“Come in here and sit down and tell me,” he whines.
On the table, his phone starts buzzing.
“Hand that to me, would you?”
“Sure,” I say and tell myself not to look at the caller ID. But I just can’t help myself, I look at the caller ID.
Candy.
That gets me good and pissed off.
Candy was the reason I left three years ago.
I hold my breath and smile when I hand him the phone, praying my countenance doesn’t betray me. He looks at the caller ID, gets up off the couch, and walks out the back door.
That pisses me off even more and I think for a second about going out the front door and sneaking around back so I can hear what he’s saying, but I remind myself, yet again, not to be so pathetic. Seven minutes and thirty two seconds pass and he walks back in, says nothing, and returns to his spot on the couch.
“Did you pick a movie?” he asks.
I just stare at him, shaking.
“What?”
“Who was that?”
“Nobody,” he says and picks up the movies. “Why?”
My inner bitch and outer grown-up tangle in a vicious brawl and I just sit there and stare at him like I might rip his head off and feed it to some wild hogs.
“Oh my God,” he says, getting up. “Don’t tell me you’re pissed off because I took a phone call outside.”
“I’m pissed off because the caller ID said Candy and, if my memory serves me right, I remember a Candy.”
“Ace, really?” he says, walking into the kitchen. “I’m not having this fight with you again.”
“Again?” I explode, “what the hell do you mean, again? We never had it to start with! She showed up and I left and that was the end of it until you came up here on your little trip to save our souls.” I say dramatically.
“Graciela,” he says, giving me a hard look, “don’t start being a bitch.”
“How can you expect me not to be a bitch when you come to my house, weasel your way back into my life, tell me you are staying here until I marry you, then you take her call in my house, or rather outside my house, and then, as if that weren’t enough, you have the nerve to tell me not to act like a bitch? What the fuck do you expect?”
“I meant it when I said I wanted to marry you,” he says. “Don’t throw that up in my face! And for your information, psycho, Candy is Daniel’s wife, you know my new partner, and she’s helping him out around the office and he’s working late and needed to know something, so she called me. But, please, let me thank you for thinking the worst of me!” He storms back to the guest room and Buster Loo starts running up and down the hallway looking like he’s about to have a nervous breakdown.
“I can’t put up with this,” he says, coming back with his bags. “I have tried everything with you and you have made it clear that you don’t want anything to do with me, plus you are still impossible to get along with. I’m leaving.”
“Mason, I want an explanation!”
“For what?”
“For Candy!”
“I just told you!”
“Not her, the one who showed up at your house that night.”
“It’s been three years and now, all of a sudden, you want an explanation?”
“Yes! I do.”
“Wouldn’t it have made a bit more sense if you’d asked for an explanation then,” he says, “instead of wasting three years of our life that we could’ve spent toge
ther?”
“You didn’t offer an explanation!” I yell. “She just showed up and waltzed into your house like she owned it and you politely asked her to leave then walked outside and spent thirty minutes talking to her and when you came back in, you said nothing! Nothing! Just acted like nothing had happened and went back to watching ESPN!”
“Honestly, I didn’t think I had to explain anything to a woman I’d just moved into my house,” he says, getting angry. “I didn’t think I had to explain anything to a woman I’d just spent the best six weeks of my life with. To a woman I bought a building for, a whole fucking building that I still own, by the way, so she could create the art studio she’s always dreamed about. I didn’t think I had to explain anything to you because I was so sure you were happy with me. I’d planned to give you a ring that night and when that fucking idiot showed up, it ruined my plans, and I went in and sat down and was trying to decide if I should go ahead and give you the ring or if I should wait, but I didn’t have to worry about that too long, because you blew up and left.”
“I didn’t know about the building then,” I say quietly, “or the ring.”
“No, but you did when you got back home and Ethan told you about the building and Lilly told you about the ring and what did you do?” he looks at me coldly. “Not a damn thing.”
“I’m sorry, Mason,” I begin.
“No, Ace, I’m sorry,” he says, “I’m sorry for coming back up here and trying to make this work.”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me who she was and why she was there?”
“Because it didn’t matter who she was or why she was there,” he said, “that wasn’t the important part.” He looks me right in the eye. “The important part was that you didn’t trust me,” he picks up his bags, “and you still don’t.”
“Mason,” I say, but he walks out the door.
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl Page 15