Sumter Point

by K. G. MacGregor

  Beth couldn’t resist smacking Audie gently on the arm with the card. Then she opened it to read the congratulatory inscription.

  “Aw, that’s so sweet. Thank you.” She held out her arms and Audie stepped into a hug.

  “I really am proud of you.”

  “That means a lot to me.” Beth broke the embrace quickly, suddenly modest about her thin pajamas. “I wish you didn’t have to work today. We could go do something to celebrate.”

  “I think we should celebrate at the Gallery on Friday night. You said you’d go when you finished with your test.”

  “I can’t go this Friday. I have to be at work at seven o’clock on Saturday. What would your Grammaw say if I walked in with bloodshot eyes?”

  “She’s already used to that from living with me.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t giving her medicine.”

  “You got me there. But what about next Friday when you’re off? I’ll get Dennis to drive so we can both have a good time.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “No, I’m Outrageous. Serious doesn’t go to clubs. She went once and made everyone so miserable they asked her not to come back.”

  Beth laughed. “All right, I’ll come next Friday. But you have to promise not to let me drink too much and make a fool of myself.”

  “No promises, except that you’ll have a good time and I’ll get you home safe and sound,” Audie said, shaking her finger at Beth as she walked back out the front door. “I’ll tell Teri to come up and knock when she’s finished. I’m going out to see Grammaw.”

  “Tell her I said hi. I’ll see both of you out there tomorrow morning.”

  She leaned in the doorway to watch Audie leave, delighted by the surprise visit and sweet card. Whatever confusion she had felt yesterday about Audie’s strange reaction was effectively erased.

  Their friendship seemed as solid as ever, and unless she was mistaken, they now had what some people might consider a date. Beth only wished she knew if Audie was one of those people.

  Chapter 14

  Audie had been to the nursing home enough times to recognize an emergency when she saw one. This time, the nurses and aides, including Beth, were gathered two doors down from her grandmother’s room. Wanda waited at the side door to direct the incoming ambulance crew.

  “Looks like something’s going on down the hall, Grammaw.”

  Audie pushed the door so it was partially closed, shielding her grandmother from the somber activity.

  “Can you see who it is?”

  Audie nodded grimly, knowing her grandmother would be upset to hear the news. “I think it’s Miss Platt.”

  “I was afraid of that. She hasn’t been to breakfast all week,” she said.

  Audie went to her side. “I’m sorry, Grammaw. I know she’s your friend.”

  “We all have to be ready when our time comes, I guess.”

  Audie squeezed the frail hand, mentally pushing away a sense of dread. She would never be ready for that to happen to her Grammaw.

  “Joel’s going to try to come by on Sunday to see you.” She usually didn’t tell her grandmother about upcoming visits in case they didn’t pan out, but she was desperate to change the subject.

  “I haven’t seen Dennis in I don’t know how long.”

  “That’s because Dennis is in love with somebody he met at the Gallery. I hardly see him anymore either.” Audie enjoyed the way this news lit up her grandmother’s face. She should have told her about it sooner. “Maybe he’ll bring David by to meet you.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “I’ll ask him tonight.”

  “You’re going out with your friends?”

  Audie smiled, knowing her grandmother approved of this part of her life, or any part that meant she was having fun. “You know I always go out dancing on Friday night.”

  “You ought to ask Beth if—” Before she could finish, the ambulance crew noisily rushed through the hallway.

  The two of them sat quietly, solemnly waiting for a sign that the commotion had ended. Audie checked her watch. She had to be at work in twenty minutes, but she didn’t want to go into the hallway in the midst of all the activity with Miss Platt.

  “I’m not afraid of it, Audie… of dying, that is. I know I’ll see your Grampaw when I get there and it will all be okay.”

  Audie was taken aback by the sudden statement and waited several seconds before she spoke. “I need you here with me,” she said softly, trying in vain to control her cracking voice.

  “I’m an old woman, sweetie. It happens to all of us.”

  “You’re not that old. Some of these people here are almost a hundred. You should get to live longer.” Tears began to spill freely from her cheeks.

  “If it’s meant to be, it will be. I just want you to know that I’m at peace with whatever happens, so I don’t want you to worry about me. You hear?”

  Audie wiped her cheeks with her jacket sleeve and nodded.

  Subdued voices outside the door told her things were finished with Miss Platt and she stood to leave. After talk of her grandmother dying, she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. “I have to go to work.”

  “You be sweet, Audie.”

  “I will, Grammaw.” She leaned over and kissed her grandmother’s forehead and walked quickly out into the hall toward the exit. With her eyes puffy and red, she didn’t want anyone to see her, especially Beth. Beth would try to comfort her, which would probably cause her to lose it altogether. The sooner she put this subject out of her mind, the better.

  Audie managed to miss seeing anyone in the hall, but Beth didn’t miss seeing her.

  “Hey, Miss Violet. I just saw Audie leave and she looked upset. Is everything all right?”

  “She doesn’t like it when I talk about leaving her.”

  “Are you thinking about going somewhere? Because I’m not going to like that either.” Beth tried to sound cheery, but the events of the morning had left her drained.

  “What’s happened to Edith?”

  Beth shook her head sadly. “Her heart just gave out. I’m sorry.”

  “Did her son get here?”

  “He came last night. He was with her this morning when she passed.”

  Miss Violet sighed heavily. “I’m glad. She wanted him with her.”

  “It’s always good when the family comes. It’s hard on everybody when it happens, but I think later they’re glad they were there.”

  Beth reached behind Miss Violet to fluff her pillow.

  “It’s going to be hard on Audie when I leave her.”

  “I know. She loves you very much.” She pulled out her blood pressure cuff and positioned her stethoscope. “But she has a lot of friends who care about her. I know they’ll see her through hard times. You shouldn’t worry about her.”

  “Are you still going to be her friend even when she stops coming out here every day?”

  The question surprised her coming from Miss Violet, though Beth had asked herself the very same thing on many occasions. “Of course I will. We’ve been spending some of our free time together getting to know each other. Did she tell you she helped me with my test the other day?”

  “Yes, she told me.”

  “Your granddaughter is a very sweet person and I like her a lot. She’s definitely someone I want for a friend.”

  “She likes you too, Beth,” Miss Violet said, her voice now hoarse from talking more than usual. “I think she… I guess I ought not say more than that. Audie can talk for herself.”

  From her seat on the riser Audie had a clear view of the bar and dance floor as the club started to fill. Joel and Dwayne were dancing already, taking advantage of the open space on the floor so they could execute the elaborate routines they practiced at home.

  Now on her second margarita, Audie was just starting to relax.

  Regan had arrived fifteen minutes earlier and started her social rounds—the same ones Audie usually made to see who might be available for co
mpany later on. Regan wouldn’t venture to this side of the room, since the boys clustered here on Ladies Night.

  Audie wasn’t interested in going home with anyone tonight.

  After leaving the nursing home this morning, she had merely gone through the motions at work, her head filled with depressing thoughts about all sorts of things—death, loneliness, emptiness.

  She would have canceled on her friends tonight were it not for the comfort she always got from Joel’s mature friendship.

  Beth had become that kind of friend too, but Audie didn’t want to lean on her. For reasons she didn’t fully understand, she wanted to be strong for Beth. Everything she had been doing lately—accepting the new job, keeping the house, even cutting back on how much pot she smoked—proved that she was becoming more mature and responsible. Beth could tell Grammaw and she wouldn’t worry.

  But it wasn’t just Grammaw she wanted to convince. She wanted Beth’s respect and admiration too, and that’s what had her so confused and flustered. She clutched the hair around her temples and leaned forward in frustration just as Joel and Dwayne returned to the table.

  “What’s up, babe?” Joel asked, his hand gently rubbing her back.

  “I think I’m losing my mind.”

  Dwayne leaned over and shouted above the music. “That’s nothing. Dennis is in the bathroom with Alan Edwards losing his soul.”

  “That shithead! What the fuck does he think he’s doing?”

  “I don’t know. I guess things fell apart with David.”

  “If they haven’t, they’re about to.” Audie nodded in the direction of the door, where David was craning his neck to look around.

  An unsuspecting friend pointed him toward the restroom.

  “Shouldn’t somebody go in there and head him off?”

  “Dennis is making his own choices,” Joel answered. “He knew David was coming tonight.”

  “But his choice is going to get somebody hurt.”

  Joel nodded in resignation. “Yeah, and Dennis is the one who’s going to have to live it down. It’s his reputation on the line. If he ever wants a real relationship, he’ll have to work harder to earn somebody’s trust.”

  They watched helplessly as David angrily stormed from the restroom and out the front door of the club. Moments later, a smirking Dennis arrived at their table.

  “You fuckhead!” Audie couldn’t contain her disgust.

  “What’s it to you? You’re the one that laughed at me for caring about somebody.”

  “I never laughed at you! I just didn’t think you were grown up enough to care about somebody else’s feelings, and apparently I was right.”

  “I didn’t know you and David were best friends,” he shot back.

  “Besides, I don’t need lessons in relationships from a slut like you.”

  Audie lunged across the table, instinctively wanting to smack that smug look off his face. Dennis stepped backward out of her reach, but his foot slipped off the edge of the riser and he tumbled onto the dance floor.

  In no time, the bouncers were at their table directing all four of them to pack it in for the night. When they reached the lot, Audie stuck with Joel and Dwayne, leaving Dennis to drive home on his own.

  Joel put his arm around her shoulder. “Let it go, Audie. He didn’t mean it.”

  “Then why’d he say it?”

  “You guys talk to each other like that all the time. It just comes out different when one of you is angry.”

  “He can go fuck himself.”

  Dwayne chuckled. “When word gets around about tonight, that’s probably all he’ll be fucking for a while.”

  “Serves him right.” She squeezed into the back seat of the compact car, swinging her legs sideways so she would have more room.

  Joel eyed her in his rearview mirror. “Why does it bother you so much that Dennis is tricking again?”

  “I don’t care where he puts his dick. But David’s a nice guy and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like shit.” But that wasn’t all that bothered her. “What happened to all that bullshit about caring about somebody?”

  “I guess he wasn’t ready,” Joel said.

  “He needs to grow up and realize there’s more to life than just fucking.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir, you know.” Joel’s face sported something between a grin and a knowing smirk.

  “Don’t give me any shit, Joel. I’m not in the mood.”

  “… Mallory went over and asked Bruce about it and he said it wasn’t a big deal, they just needed to go out and cool off.”

  “So you didn’t even see who started it?” Beth asked. She and Ginger were crammed in a small dressing room, where she was trying to find something nice to wear next Friday when she went out with Audie to the Gallery.

  “No, nobody saw anything until the one guy fell and the bouncers threw them all out.”

  “I wonder what it was about.”

  “Why don’t you ask Audie? And then tell me so I can tell everybody else.”

  “Mmmm… She doesn’t talk to me much about things like that… probably because I made her feel like going out to the Gallery was beneath me or something.”

  Beth twisted from side to side with a questioning look. The brown leather miniskirt clung to her hips and showed off plenty of her thighs. She had never worn such a provocative piece in her life.

  “That’s the one,” Ginger said, beaming her approval. With a whisper she added, “You are going to get so laid.”

  “Stop it!” Beth could feel her face get red. “Audie doesn’t think about me like that. She just wants me to meet her friends and show me what she does for fun.”

  “Do you seriously think Audie Pippin wouldn’t go for you? I’ve seen her in action. She’s hot for anything that moves.”

  “Thanks for the ringing endorsement,” Beth said with a groan.

  She pulled off her shirt and hung it neatly on the hook.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Ginger handed her the sparkly white top she thought would go well with the skirt. “I just meant she could have pretty much anyone she wants, but you’re the one she asked to come with her.”

  “Yeah, with her and Dennis Bell.”

  “He’s the one that ended up on the floor. Mallory says he’s usually fun to be around.”

  “Right, and he’s her best friend. Why didn’t you take me on your first date with Mallory?” Beth tugged the hem of the spandex top in a vain attempt to have it meet the waistband of the skirt.

  “This is too little.”

  “It’s supposed to fit like that. Show a little skin.”

  Beth remembered Audie’s outfit the night she stopped by on her way to the Gallery. Her bare midriff had sported a very sexy belly ring. “I don’t think I have the figure for it.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You look great. Except you’ll need to wear a thong with that skirt or you’ll have lines.”

  “A thong? With this?” Beth gestured at the hemline. “Why don’t I just go naked?”

  “Naked works too.”

  Beth huffed and pushed the curtain aside, stepping into the hallway to ponder her appearance in a three-way mirror. It was definitely a hot look, one that seemed ridiculous if Ginger was wrong. “What’s Audie going to think if I show up looking like a hooker?”

  “You don’t look like a hooker, Beth. You look like half the women at the Gallery. But if you’re more comfortable in wool slacks and a pastel sweater set, that’s what you ought to wear,” Ginger said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. “Just don’t expect to get laid.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to just get laid? Some people want relationships with a little more depth.” Despite her protests, she had been fantasizing about Audie so much that she wasn’t sure she even cared anymore whether there were strings attached or not. If it turned out to be only a sexual fling—which it probably would—at least she would have the satisfaction of knowing she could interest Audie that way.

/>   “Look, I know you haven’t asked for my opinion, but you’re my best friend so I get to tell it to you anyway. Right?”

  Beth rolled her eyes and nodded.

  “If you’re wanting more out of Audie Pippin than a quick fuck, you’re wasting your time. Mallory says she just hooks up and moves on. She might come back later or she might not. It’s all a game to her. And I hate to admit it, but Mallory says she knows from experience.”

  Beth felt her stomach roll over. She could have done without knowing that Audie had once slept with Ginger’s girlfriend. But it wasn’t fair to judge her for how she had acted with other women.

  “That isn’t the Audie Pippin I know.”

  “Maybe not, Beth, but that’s who she is. I’ve seen it for myself. The way she moves from one table to another at the Gallery, how she dances with her hands all over somebody. She’s sexy as hell, but she’s not somebody you ought to get hung up on if you’re looking for more than just a night or two. You deserve better than that.”

  Beth sighed and slumped onto the bench. “You know what’s ironic, Ginger? I believe Audie actually cares about me. But I bet the thought of us having sex has never even entered her mind. She doesn’t give off anything like that around me.”

  “Maybe it’s because she respects you too much to treat you like she treats everybody else. That makes you lucky.”

  “You say that like she’s a terrible person. She’s not.”

  “I’m sure she’s nice. But she better not treat my best friend like shit either.”

  “We haven’t even been out yet, Ginger. At least promise you’ll hold off on kicking her ass until she’s done something to deserve it.”

  Ginger grinned. “Fair enough. But I guarantee if you show up on Friday night in that, she’s going to hit on you big-time.”

  Beth looked back at the mirror one last time. “I guess I’m going to need some shoes too.”

  “Let’s go, Buster!” Audie picked up the Frisbee and headed out the kitchen door with the excited dog on her heels. It was probably too cool for her Grammaw to sit outside, but she could watch them play from her window.

  For most of the weekend, she stewed about the incident on Friday night, so much that both her Grammaw and Beth had commented on her quiet mood. And as she headed outside, she was none too pleased to see Dennis pull into her driveway, blocking her exit. She tossed the Frisbee into the backyard for Buster and dropped to a seat on the top step of the porch.