Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  Maybe Cody understood that. But, if he did, he’d have to spell it out himself. I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

  The movie was as good as I remembered; the classic penned by Arthur Miller while still married to Marilyn Monroe. But the whole time I sat in the theatre, I thought about Cody. I didn’t know if I could handle him playing his games with me, leaning over and whispering precisely the scene I’d most enjoyed. What if he were right? Would he take me home with him?

  To avoid an awkward situation, I headed for the ladies’ room at the end of the film. There I saw Nica preening before the mirror. She was wearing leopard-print and looked as if she’d just leaped off the pages of some 50s pulp magazine.

  ‘You liked the film?’ she asked, sounding as curious as Cody.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I’d seen it before but never on the big screen.’

  ‘You like him?’

  ‘Clark Gable? Of course. Doesn’t everyone?’

  ‘Not Gable, Cody.’

  ‘Cody?’ I asked in faux innocence, trying to buy myself enough time to figure out a legitimate answer.

  ‘You were right next to him all through the movie.’

  So she’d had her eyes on me. I shrugged. ‘We didn’t come together.’

  ‘You shouldn’t leave together.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Trust me. He’s not the right person for you.’ Was that what she really meant? Or did she mean that I wasn’t the right person for him? And if that was the case, did she think that she was?

  I stared at her, so unaccustomed to these types of interactions which seemed to occur daily in Raysville. People out here quite clearly didn’t have a problem butting into their acquaintances’ business. In LA, you’d become an instant outcast if you tried this sort of manoeuvre. People would learn quickly to stay away.

  ‘Thanks, but you don’t really know me,’ I said, watching as she expertly outlined her eyes, using a dark kohl pencil.

  ‘You don’t really know him. That’s the whole thing. You might think you do, but you don’t.’

  After the conversation with Nica, I went home by myself. I didn’t go to The Saloon and I didn’t stop by the station. I had strange feelings brewing within me and I felt certain that all of those feelings had something to do with Cody. If I’d stayed at the theatre, would something have happened between us? Did I want something to happen?

  I couldn’t sleep at all. I roamed the cabin, thinking of what he’d said and wondering if he knew something about me for real, or if he was just wagering a good, old-fashioned guess.

  Then I wondered about Nica, and what her relationship with Cody was truly all about. She appeared to date several of the cowboys in town, and she’d been explicit about her prior relationship with Alden. But I’d seen her treat Cody with extra respect, as if she had deeper feelings for him than she did for the others, and I’d seen the way he wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight embrace at the end of an evening at The Saloon.

  My mind wouldn’t shut down. No matter how hard I tried.

  What was I doing up at four in the morning? Simple to answer. I was wandering around my tiny house in a daze, conflicted beyond belief. Girls who need something they aren’t getting are up at four. Girls who want what they can’t have are up at four. Girls who drink too much whiskey all by themselves are up at four.

  I was all of those things.

  Chapter Fifteen

  At the NUDE shoot, I recognised nearly everyone: Willow, Sukie, Geneva, Milly, Elsa … I couldn’t believe how all the women could come together for something like this. Especially with the various rivalries in town. But somehow they were able to overcome their differences, and there was plenty of joking and laughing as people got ready to bare all and say ‘cheese’. Noah’s father, Sam Sweet, had generously approved the use of the large green field next to his ranch-style house for the photo. Aside from him, and the photographer, all of the participants were women.

  The large oval field was across the road from the creek, hidden behind a row of tall evergreens. No gawkers could see the women from the road, although I was sure that almost everyone in town knew about this event. An email campaign had accompanied the flyers, and word of mouth spreads quickly in a town of 350.

  Once all of the women had arrived – with a few latecomers claiming the standard ‘West Marin Time’ excuse – the photographer had everyone lie down in the design that he orchestrated. We models were able to keep our clothes on as the photographer arranged and rearranged us into various formations based on size. Who would make the best curve for the U? He needed someone tall to create the backbone of the B, while the S could be formed by either two tall or three short flexible ladies. This was an event where a yoga-toned body definitely came in handy.

  I joined in on the early portion of the planning, still unsure whether I’d be able to go through with the actual photograph. As I bent my body to form part of the ‘O’ I could hear the girls making up the ‘N’ talking about Alden, and talking just loud enough so that I could hear that his truck had been spotted outside of Sheila’s apartment the previous evening. The women in the ‘U’ joined in, saying they’d seen the two of them together at the Diner early this morning. All of this was news to me. Sheila wasn’t there to say whether the gossip was true, and I kept my head down and tried to disappear.

  Had he felt something was lacking between us in the same way that I did, or had he decided to offer his razor-sharp services to the one other redhead in town?

  When the photographer was finally pleased with the layout, he clapped his hands.

  ‘All right, ladies. You know what to do now!’

  ‘Tell us!’ chorused the group of giggling women.

  ‘Strip down and let’s show Bush what we really think of him!’

  There was a cheer, and even more joking and laughter than had been caused by the pretzel-like way we’d been positioned for the past half an hour. Even though I’d seen the previous photographs created by the NUDE organisation, I was amazed by how little concern there was for the baring of bodies. From young to old, there were naked breasts, tummies, rear ends. Some were sleek and fit, others more time-worn. I saw tattoos in unexpected places and a bevy of glistening piercings, but although I knew I’d be at the upper-end of the beauty spectrum, I found that I couldn’t undress.

  What was I so scared of?

  Geneva strolled over to me to ask me that exact question.

  ‘We’re counting on you, Charlie,’ she said. ‘What’s the hold-up?’

  I didn’t have an answer for her. I was far too concerned with the fact that Mia had just pulled up in her red Chevy and was hurrying over to Alhambra. Although I did my best to cover my surprise, I was shocked to see her here. According to her most recent emailed schedule, she was due back in LA for most of this week. So why was she at the NUDE event? I shot her a quizzical stare, but she was far too busy making the local girls crazy with jealousy to pay me any attention.

  ‘Am I too late?’ I heard her ask. The Sweethearts, making the three prongs of the ‘E’ in ‘MORE’ all sat up in unison. It seemed they did everything in a carefully choreographed manner.

  ‘Not at all,’ Alhambra said, steering her to a completely different portion of the words. She kept several letters worth of distance between the Sweethearts and Mia, and I felt myself start to relax. Maybe Alhambra wasn’t always into stirring up trouble. Or maybe she had taken an honest liking to Mia. I watched covertly as Mia stripped out of her jeans and yellow silk top, then tossed aside her bra and panty set. She was wearing La Perla. I could tell it from where I stood. I’d been with her when she bought the pale-lilac outfit trimmed in delicate lace. The two-piece set cost more than many of the locals made in a week.

  Mia preened unselfconsciously for a moment, and then took up her position at the instruction of Geneva, who didn’t seem upset at all by the appearance of the blonde bombshell who had so recently smooched with her girlfriend. In fact, she looked as if she c
ouldn’t believe her luck in getting a glimpse at the luscious blonde without her clothes on. I was sure that the men in town would feel the same way when they saw the photo, especially since this one was to differ from the previous portraits. The women would be shown in close-up, to make the most of their ‘no bush’ statement. This time there would be no question as to the identities of the naked activists.

  After a moment, Geneva headed back over to me. Aside from her, I was the only one who still had her clothes on. ‘You’re going to do this, right?’ Geneva asked me.

  I thought for a minute, wishing that I could, and then I shook my head. ‘I’ll help you,’ I promised Geneva. ‘But I can’t take off my clothes in public.’

  ‘That’s not what I heard,’ a voice snickered behind me. When I spun around, I couldn’t tell which portion of the ‘NO MORE BUSH’ statement had made the snide comment, although several of the women were smiling wickedly. Geneva hadn’t heard, or at least she acted like she hadn’t.

  ‘Take off your clothes, gorgeous,’ she said softly. ‘Nobody cares. Everyone’s supportive here. It’s for a good cause, you know.’

  ‘Maybe next time,’ I said, choosing a seat on the bleachers behind the photographer. ‘Maybe –’

  ‘You went to all that trouble getting shaved.’

  My eyes widened, and she winked at me. ‘Firefighters talk, you know. We’ve got all that time together in the station with nothing else to do.’

  ‘So he told you –’

  ‘Sounded like a fun way to pass an evening. But this is different, Charlie. This is for the cause.’

  ‘I can’t,’ I said, staring at all of the women who had more confidence than I did. Then I watched as Geneva called out a few directions. Women scooted around to take up the space that I’d left behind. Then Geneva took off her own clothes and lay down in her position on the freshly mown clover next to her girlfriend. She whispered something to Alhambra, who stood and hurried to relay the message to the photographer. I caught a glimpse of Alhambra’s sweet rear cheeks as she spoke to the man. Was I imagining it, or had those supple white globes been very recently spanked? They were decidedly a blushing pink in places, much more rosy than the rest of her skin. Nobody else seemed to notice, or to care, but I felt a thrilling wave rush through me.

  Clearly, I wasn’t the only person in town with a kinky side. But that thought still wasn’t enough to help me gain the confidence to step out of my clothes and join the naked women on the field.

  I was right about the men in town. When this spread hit the pages of the Levee Road News, the paper was an instant sell-out. For the first time in the history of the weekly, the publisher did a second run, selling a slightly different version on Friday, with the added note that the first run had completely sold out. Everyone bought the paper for the picture, and copies were sent around the country and around the world to friends, family and the rest of the press.

  I was also correct in my assumption about how people would react to Mia. Men were talking about her at the Cowpie and at the Daisy Diner. Women discussed her at the post office. I had to give Mia credit. She seemed to know exactly how to keep herself in the news. Noah appeared to be extremely proud, and a bit possessive. I saw him talking to Mia on the corner of Main Street, his brow furrowed. Was he telling her to keep her clothes on in the future? Could the unwinnable Noah Sweet finally have been won over? I didn’t dare call Mia on her cell phone in case she was with him when it rang, but I emailed her for an update.

  She wrote back, ‘Don’t you listen to the gossip any more now that you’re not headlining it?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He’s head over heels, Charlie.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I’m enjoying the ride.’

  ‘Well, why are you still here?’

  ‘Let’s meet and I’ll tell you in person.’

  I caught sight of the brochure on my desk for the ferry that travelled from Larkspur Landing to San Francisco’s recently remodelled Ferry Building. I typed in a time and date and was rewarded with a smiley face response from Mia.

  But even our covert operations weren’t enough to thwart local gossip. When I arrived at the ferry platform, I was disappointed to see Donny and several of the other local Deadheads waiting in the ticket line ahead of me. Donny spotted me and came over to chat.

  ‘You like small-town life so far?’

  I nodded, scanning the parking lot behind him for Mia’s car. When I saw her pull up, I made a big point of staying in the group with Donny and the two Zeppelins. They were going to a potluck in the Haight, carrying paper bags filled with various goodies from Raysville, and, from the scent of Donny, the goodies included those of an illegal, smokeable variety.

  Mia got the message and avoided me on the landing. Even after we boarded the ferry, she kept her distance. Luckily, once we boarded, Donny and his friends went upstairs, to smoke – this part said with a grin, as if they were actually going to get stoned up there. But then the workers on board all looked as if they were a little high themselves, so maybe this was acceptable behaviour for ferry crossings. I took a seat by the window and was surprised when, a few minutes into the voyage, my cell phone rang.

  ‘Just talk as if you’re talking to anyone,’ Mia’s voice said.

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘At the bar.’

  ‘And where are they?’

  ‘Upstairs. But it doesn’t matter. Everyone’s on cell phones. Just look around.’

  I did as she said, and realised she was right. Whenever I see two people sitting at a café table, each yakking away on a phone, I like to pretend that they’re talking to each other, but that they need the safety of a cell phone in order to create a faux intimacy not actually present in their relationship. Now, I was doing virtually the same thing with Mia, having a conversation on a telephone that we could easily have had in person. But at least we wouldn’t appear to be talking to one another, in case another local was on board and caught sight of the two of us.

  ‘So, what’s going on? Why are you still here? I was sure you’d have blown through town by now, leaving a broken-hearted Noah in your wake.’

  ‘I don’t want to break his heart.’

  ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘I don’t know. That’s one of the reasons I needed to meet with you. What if we both end up out here? Can we form a friendship without people realising we’ve always been buddies? I couldn’t stand not being able to hang out with you, to pretend for the rest of my life that we’ve never met.’

  I thought about it. ‘Why not? It would make sense that two strangers to the place would find each other. But that’s not what you’re really worried about, is it?’

  There was a pause, and I watched as she lifted her beer and took a sip. It seemed decadent to be drinking in the middle of the day, but boat rules appeared to follow the same guidelines as aeroplane rules. Alcohol could flow earlier than usual. I actually felt myself thirsting for a cold one, too.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘If I come out here, I want to know that Noah and I have something real. Not something simply based on a fairytale that you and I created.’

  I got up and walked over to the bar, keeping the phone in my hand. When I stood next to her, I ordered a beer, paying no attention at all to my pretty blonde friend. I brought the beer back to my chair, and saw that Mia was having a truly difficult time not breaking up with laughter.

  ‘Well, does it feel real?’

  ‘Real enough.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’

  ‘You know me. I don’t usually get deep into relationships. The thought of breezing through town and having a fling with a handsome musician fit my fantasy. Staying out there, in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t seem right at all.’

  ‘And yet –’ I prompted her.

  ‘And yet I can do my work anywhere. I’ll have to travel, but that’s normal. It’s a bit longer to SFO than LAX, but so what? He wants me to move out here. He’s asked me
to.’

  I sipped my beer, and I found myself warming up to the thought of having a real friend in town. But did that mean I was planning on staying, too? If Mia moved in with Noah, would I end up buying my little cabin in the woods? Things were getting far more complicated than I had expected, and my plan had actually been meant to simplify the situation.

  ‘Hey, I’m coming into port,’ Mia said, as if really speaking to someone far away, and not to me, who could see the port as clearly as she could. We’d chosen a glorious day to visit San Francisco. The fog had burned off and the city sheened in a silvery light. ‘I’ll call you later.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘No problem.’

  At our favourite bar Mia and I were finally able to relax. I found it peaceful to be slowly rotating. Our view changed drastically every fifteen minutes, like magic.

  ‘I know what boys like.’ Mia grinned at me.

  ‘The Motels, right?’

  ‘No, the Waitresses.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘But I really do know. At least, I know all about what Alden likes. And I’ll bet I know a considerable amount more than you do.’

  I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so I took a sip of my drink and waited for her to continue.

  ‘He’s known around town for having a distinctly wild side.’

  ‘I could have told you that.’

  Now her eyebrows went up, and she said, ‘Really?’

  ‘He came over with cuffs one day.’

  ‘And had you put them on him?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Noah says Alden likes it when a woman takes charge. That’s why he always heads back to Sheila. She’s got a dominant streak in her that cannot be broken. And it’s the very thing that Alden craves the most. He tries to shake it off, but it’s what he wants. It’s why you’ll see his truck outside of her apartment, or her car at the station. Because you know about that, don’t you, Charlie?’