“What?” I ask, startled by how quickly he's changed his mind.
“One time,” Garreth says. “One time this guy gets me out of a hole, and now he expects me to go against everything in me—everything that I've been fighting all these years.”
“You love doing this. Come on. I'm not asking you to go on fucking tour. I'm asking you to play one show, trip totally paid.”
“We can't afford that,” I say, horrified at the suggestion.
“I told you,” Jarek replies, “I was planning to make a donation anyway. This will be my part.”
This is way too much, especially for Jarek, who has no reason to be going so far out of his way for me.
“When is this fundraiser?” Garreth asks, his face locked in a resigned expression.
“Not this weekend, but the next,” I say.
Garreth looks to Jarek again. “Seriously? I'm supposed to have something to play by then? You never cease to amaze me.”
“As if you haven't been playing plenty already,” Jarek says. “Just promise us you'll be there, all right?”
“You can count on me.”
Did Jarek just save my job? And why is he offering to pay for Garreth's expenses? This is way too much. Although if I have Garreth Pulzer at the fundraiser, that will draw plenty of people and likely a slew of donations that will ensure its success—and my ability to keep hosting them.
Jarek extends his hand to shake on it, and Garreth takes it, a look of determination in his eyes.
Garreth turns to me. “Lana, looks like we have a show to put on,” he says as we shake.
I'm thrilled and terrified. Will I really have the opportunity to tell Mr. Farcon I landed Garreth Pulzer? Will he actually show? Considering how stubborn he was when we first arrived, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to back out like the Frenley Brothers, but if he does show up, I'll have a solid foundation for my future career at Farcon & Williams.
Chapter Nine
With Garreth Pulzer slated to participate in the fundraiser, it appears I have little to worry about. I owe Jarek for his generosity in assisting me, and I'm starting to reconsider these notions I've had about him, all these beliefs about the kind of person he is—was. What kind of man would do this for someone? A rich man, obviously. But why for me? On one hand, we have a long history together and perhaps he isn't just doing it for me, but for my father. Still, what about when he left me? I can't distance myself from that memory, regardless of what he does. However, I can accept being the recipient of his generosity, and as much as I don't want to, I appreciate it.
Two days pass, and it's the night of Mom's birthday party. These past two weeks have been little more than a series of events that have drained me emotionally and physically, and while it's been a lot of work, I'm capable of handling it. I just wish there had been some promise of breaks in between—not a continuous workload to get through from one large event to the next. But that's life.
“Jarek will be here again tonight,” Mom says to Kelsey. Why is he coming tonight? And why is she telling Kelsey?
I'd considered inviting him, especially after what he did for me, but it was difficult to justify inviting him because he'd be coming as my date, and to my mother's birthday, which didn't seem right.
Mom lounges in a stool beside the table while I organize trays and plates for food. Janet scrubs down wine glasses on the other side of the table while Kelsey unloads the liquor she's brought with her—two crates full, an impressive load that Janet keeps eyeing a little too eagerly, as if she's one step away from escaping so that she can single-handedly delight in the selection. My concern about her drinking only amplifies the more I'm around her, and I've already decided I need to keep an eye on her tonight so she doesn't turn Mom's party into another drunken episode. However, in this moment, Janet's drinking doesn't concern me as much as what Mom just said to Kelsey.
A sly expression sneaks across Kelsey's face. The gleam in her eyes is the sort I imagine she gets when she plots to find herself a new husband. I noted her clothes when she first arrived. A high-collared, bright-red dress molds against her curves, and though it doesn't show cleavage, the way they shape around her ample breasts leaves little to the imagination. A black belt ties around her waist, matching her boots, which make her appear what seems to me a foot taller than usual. Her blonde locks are bound in an elegant up-do that hangs to one side of her face. As great as Kelsey looks normally, it is evident she's spent some extra time on her look, and now I know why. She's eager to impress Jarek.
She and Mom have undoubtedly determined that Jarek is the best option right now, because he's a damn good option. I imagine they've even discussed this already, and I can't help but wonder if they left me out because of my past with him. Although I doubt Mom and Kelsey understand what happened. They're too self-absorbed to think that much about me.
I wish I could say something to Jarek to discourage him from pursuing my sister, but I know that will only make me look jealous and interested. But what am I concerned about? I doubt she'll capture his interest, yet maybe she's what he wants in a woman. Kelsey's the kind of girl a guy like Jarek marries. I suppose I'm destined to be the girl he just hooks up with.
I want to believe he couldn't marry a girl like her, but do I know the real Jarek? Once upon a time, I deluded myself into believing he was someone other than the guy who abandoned me. I can't permit myself to make that mistake again. If he decides he wants to date my sister, I will have to find a way to deal with that. But what would I do if things grew more serious? Would I need to attend their wedding? Would I have to survive family get-togethers with them holding hands and exchanging loving gazes? I wouldn't. I couldn't! I'd have to stop attending family events altogether. Become more like Janet.
“How is that working out?” Mom asks Kelsey. Working out? How far have they gone? He sure as hell hasn't said anything to me about their rendezvous. Has he been juggling us ever since he got back in town?
“Yes, how is that working out, Kelsey?” I press.
“He's coming along. He seems fairly preoccupied with work...” It's not just work he's preoccupied with. “...but we've gotten together a few times, so I think it's just a matter of him coming around.”
“When have you gotten together?” I ask.
“Just those two times. For dinner and then drinks at the bar that night.”
I had him one of those times, so screw you. It's not a competition, but I can't help but feel it is. That's how everything seems to be with Kelsey, so all I can think is, “I'm winning, winning, winning!”
“But he's coming tonight as my date, so...”
“Your date?” I ask. I need to shut my mouth. I can't play cool if I'm freaking out every time she reveals a new piece of information.
“I invited him.” Maybe he doesn't care who he plows. For a classy guy, this seems like the least classy behavior ever.
The news hurts, but I'm not sure if I have a right to be hurt. I haven't said anything to suggest I like him beyond our flings, but what was I supposed to think when he helped me wrangle up a hermit artist for my fundraiser? Didn't that mean he wanted more? Or did I read too much into it?
If he really likes me, and that seems to be what his behavior has suggested, then why would he go behind my back and make dates with my sister? I'm overreacting. Attending a party he knows I'll be at is hardly ‘behind my back.’ I have to keep in mind that Kelsey can make things sound a little more dramatic than they really are, especially to satisfy my mother's shallow imagination.
“How's Kirk?” Kelsey asks Janet.
“He's good,” she replies as she finishes wiping the inside of a glass and moves on to the next. “He's pretty swamped in Dallas right now, but he'll be home tomorrow. Yay!”
I've never heard Janet sound so enthusiastic about his return. Although, get a few drinks in her and she sounds enthusiastic about anything. But I've only seen her take a few sips from the glass of wine beside her.
“That's good,” Kelse
y says. “It's amazing how much time he spends away from home. Chad was like that, and that's how I found out about Tara.”
Janet's expression shifts to worry. Of course she would worry. Who wouldn't at least entertain that idea if their husband was gone as much as Janet's is? I'm certain Kelsey brought it up to hurt Janet—a dig, perhaps just to make herself feel better about her own failed marriage. Whatever the reason, Kelsey has already found her way onto my shit-list tonight.
As guests begin arriving, Kelsey delivers a glowing hostess performance, demonstrating all the skills she's acquired from Mom over the years. Janet and I make last minute preparations, during which I catch Janet downing two glasses of chardonnay. As much as I would hope a sight like that would turn me off of drinking, it makes me want to sneak my own. I don't want to be emotionally present for this. I don't want to see Kelsey putting moves on Jarek, parading around in front of me like she's won a contest.
As I mix and mingle with the guests, I see Jarek step through the hallway, carrying a bottle of red wine. He approaches Kelsey directly, not even looking at me. Interesting that he would avoid me considering our last encounter, but I shake it off and continue mingling.
Kelsey drags Jarek aside, I guess to accost him with a flirtatious moment. But maybe that's what he wants.
I wish I could slip away and see how she's tilting her head as she bats those long lashes at him. I'm sure she's posing so he can see her figure in its most accessible of positions. I can't judge, because I know I've done the same thing with him. But I had a right to! He's mine!
After a few minutes, they rejoin Carol and Melanie and laugh and chat amongst one another. Kelsey laughs heartily and sets her hand on his shoulder. I don't know what's been said, but I know what she's up to. Get your hands off him!
My jealousy consumes me. I want to believe it's something else, perhaps my natural rage to protect him from my sister's clutches, but I know better. As much as I want to deny and fight it, I still crave him.
“Hey, Lana,” I hear behind me. I spin around, and Charlie Gruber approaches me.
Charlie is Mom's friend Andrea Glider's son. With his hair slicked to the side and his glasses resting on the edge of his nose, he looks like as much of a goober as he is.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, my curtness stemming from my lack of enthusiasm about being assaulted by his advances, which are constant whenever I'm unfortunate enough to cross his path at a party. “I thought you were in Phoenix.”
“I am, but I came back to visit the family. You know how it goes.” He starts on about his work as a lawyer for his father's firm. He rants on about how much he detests it, but how necessary he is for everyone else to function. I could only imagine the way he would talk about a girl if he was in a relationship, a prospect that doesn’t seem very likely.
I do my best to act involved, if only so that I can keep my mind off my sister's work on Jarek, but I can't help but note how, after over ten minutes, Charlie still hasn't asked me to say anything about my life or what I've been up to since we last spoke what must have been two years ago.
Kelsey and Jarek make their way to Mom's cluster of friends, primarily Charlie's mother and Vera Chiles. Andrea and Vera have been Mom's friends since Daddy first purchased this house. Andrea's husband is in corporate real estate and Vera does something with hedge funds.
As Charlie's monologue ascends to an all-time high level of boredom, I find myself struggling to keep from yawning, so I tell him I need another drink. It's the least I need to put up with him. I may need several. I'm just a few more Charlie-brags away from becoming Janet.
I head to the bar, placing myself beside Mom, Andrea, Vera, and their friend Charlene, who always finds an excuse to give me grief about my lack of relationships.
Charlene, my mother's age, with platinum blonde hair in an up-do, wears some poor forest creature around her neck and a set of pearls with an off-white pantsuit. She greets me with a mischievous look, as if she is just waiting to get around to me, to assault me about my life. Fortunately, my rush to the bar and Mom's current conversation with her keeps her from yanking me into one.
“Janet has been doing just fine,” Mom says. “She and Kirk are talking about getting married, but they're waiting for him to get a promotion to management.”
“He's such a nice young man,” Charlene says. She hardly talks to Kirk about his relationship with Janet. None of us really know that much. She just enjoys that he makes so much money and is prize-worthy for our family's collection of prestigious men. I guess that role has to go to someone since Kelsey can't brag about her wealthy husband anymore. Mom has to look forward to some well-off in-law, and I clearly won't be bringing one to the table.
“Is Lana seeing someone?” Charlene asks.
“She has some mystery boyfriend in the city,” Mom lies.
“There's no one,” I say, speaking loudly so that even Jarek and Kelsey turn my direction. I didn't imagine I'd capture their attention, but I didn't want Mom to get away with insisting I had some secret boyfriend I was hiding from everyone. If Charlene managed to discover the truth from Kelsey or Janet or Charlie, I'm sure she would make a dig, as if I had been the one to perpetuate the lie, and I'm not in the mood for that. “I'm happily on my own,” I insist.
“You're not seeing anyone?” Charlene presses, as if she knows better.
“No. I'm actually perfectly content with being a single woman with a decent career and very close friends.”
“But don't you want someone?” Vera asks. “Don't you want someone you can come home to?”
“Who says I don't come home to anyone?” I ask. Some wicked part of me is trying to cause a stir. “I come home to whoever I want to come home to, but I don't need it to be the same person—and I don't need a relationship to make me happy. Let's be honest, how many people do we know who are in relationships that they'd be happier without?”
My gaze shifts to Charlene. I can tell by her wide eyes and open mouth she takes it as a jab at her own marital issues—her husband’s eager law partner who eventually transformed into his partner in the bedroom. I didn't intend it to be directly related to her own failed marriage, but I don't mind her making the correlation.
The red hue that overtakes Mom's face reveals how scandalized she is. Is she offended that I said I'd sleep with whatever man I want to or that she thinks I called out Charlene's miserable marriage? Probably both. I grab my glass off the bar. "I think I'll run to the ladies' room."
As I turn, I catch Kelsey's bowed head, putting on an oh-so-embarrassed performance for Jarek and the group she's collected with. Jarek winks at me. It's a familiar moment, reminding me of when we were young and always on the same team. Angry as I am with him, that same eagerness and excitement returns, like when we had all those jokes and played together.
When I return from the restroom, an all-too-eager Charlie approaches me. Judging by the sparkle in his eyes, he's picked up some hope from overhearing my comment to Charlene. Desperate as I may get, I would never get that desperate.
“What are you up to after this?” he asks.
“She's hanging out with me.” Janet leans against the doorframe to the kitchen, a grin on her face, a glass of wine close to the cleavage her black dress reveals, as if she's afraid to let her glass stray too far from her lips. “Isn't that right, big sis?” she asks as she brushes a lock of her dark hair that dangles across her face behind her ear.
“That's right.”
“Well,” he says, “maybe some other time we should meet up in Atlanta and grab a drink or something.” You can't take the hint?
Is it just because he's Charlie that I find myself so disgusted by his words? If Jarek approached me the same way, I doubt I would feel so disgusted by this approach.
After I turn down Charlie's offer, Janet and I escape and work our way to another corner of the room. When Janet sneaks away to the bathroom, I saunter about the room on my own, sipping on a glass of chardonnay that, at least for now, is my
only friend. To avoid talking to anyone, I chat up one of the caterers at the party, who is pleasant and discusses his desire to create his own catering business with me. He sounds like a great contact for Farcon & Williams, so I ask for his card.
Before I know it, nearly half an hour has passed, and as I scan the crowd, I become increasingly concerned about Janet's absence. I excuse myself from my conversation with the caterer and begin my quest for Janet, trying to appear as if I'm just checking to make sure everything is in place so no one will suspect my real interest.
Between dodging chatter and cleaning up messes here and there, I finally make it upstairs. The faint sound of the ruckus downstairs echoes in the back of my mind, as if it's a memory I've conjured up. I check the bedrooms for my sneaky sister.
Did she leave? I open the door to her old bedroom and hear a sound that startles me. I turn on the light.
Janet sits on the carpet before the guest bed, a bottle of wine in hand, a guilty look sparkling in her eyes. “Really, Janet?” I ask.
She holds the bottle out. “Here,” she says, “It'll make you feel better.” I take the bottle and sit beside her. It's like when we used to sit in her room when we were little, with the addition of the bottle of wine.
I already feel loopy from the chardonnay I've downed, but being swamped with the prying curiosities of mother's company and forced to endure Kelsey's attempts to snatch Jarek, I'm willing to take the easy escape. I take a swig. Perhaps I can join Janet in whatever magical place she wanders to when she attempts to dilute the sting of this harsh world.
“They having fun down there?” Janet asks as she wraps her arms around her legs.
“I guess.”
“And Kelsey?”
“As fun as ever.” It's hard to reflect on a time when Kelsey wasn't having a good time. She's always smiling or laughing. Even senior year, when Brittany Krider spread rumors about her blowing Derren Sparks in the restroom, Kelsey smiled, exposing her bright white teeth as she said so eloquently, “I guess we'll need a replacement for the top of the pyramid until you can fight off that muffin top.” These sorts of girl-on-girl moments were the only times she revealed her intellect. With men, she never tried to be clever or biting, and I could tell it was because she thought it wouldn't be advantageous to behave that way.
Every Time He Leaves (The Raeven Sisters Book 1) Page 13