by Tonya Kappes
“The landlord said cute Henry can stay, and he’ll keep Henry while we’re away for the next three days.” Prudence smiles in a way that tells me that there’s something up her sleeve.
“I don’t know the land lord.” I conclude Prudence’s hormones are making her crazy.
“I’m the landlord.” Wilson looks down at his feet avoiding eye contact with me. “The rent pays off law school debt. I guess I failed to mention that, too.”
I can’t believe it. This entire time and he never once said he’s the landlord.
“You didn’t tell me that either.” Now I’m just pissed. I’ve been living here for a month and don’t know a thing about him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“No need to. You’ve been a good tenant so far.” He takes a Coke out of the refrigerator. “Until Henry.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Prudence picks up Henry and turns to Wilson. “He’s going to show me around Hyde Park.”
Georgia, Lucy, and I are speechless.
Prudence caresses Henry in a Cruella Da Ville kind of way. Thank God she isn’t into pink fur!
“Maybe we’ll get Henry a little something from Hype Bark,” Wilson says.
We look at each other and laugh. Prudence will do anything for the right man. She just puts a spell on them, and they turn to mush.
I look at my friends. I can’t remember feeling so grateful in my life. They keep me grounded.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There’s something intimate about us driving, laughing over memories while creating new ones. It couldn’t be a more perfect day for the drive to the spa. The road is paved with country landscape adding to the secluded-spa feeling.
The copper dome of the West Baden tops the trees. The entry archway welcomes us, with the brick drive leading up to the five-star hotel that’s rated amongst the 100 most beautiful hotels in America by Travel Magazine.
Our eyes focus on the massive veranda running along the entire outer rim of the hotel.
“I can’t wait to drink my coffee there,” Georgia says, putting her hand up to contain her grin.
“Welcome to the West Baden, ladies.” The bell man opens our car doors as the valet attendant approaches. He starts to put our luggage in the cart. “Let’s get you checked in.”
I chuckle, looking at all the luggage. It’s a two-night spa retreat, not a one-week vacay in Vegas.
The atrium on the inside is something to behold. Our eyes meet the ceiling. “The atrium is two hundred feet across,” the bellman says.
The oversized stuffed chairs make me giddy. The people look like Edith Ann, the Lily Tomlin character from Laugh-In. I want to crawl in and not come out.
“I love being here with you.” Lucy wraps her arm around my shoulder.
“Give me three months away and I’d be fine.” Prudence says, winking even though I know she’s kidding.
“Purdy, who are you kidding? You can’t live without the hustle and bustle of the city. Such a big talker.” Georgia rolls her eyes, and rests her hands on her bulging baby belly.
The room is unreal. The silk bedspread and bolster pillows are the whipped cream to a delicious sundae. The marble flooring, granite top bar and bathroom sinks are the cherry. The bell man opens the balcony doors to the atrium causing a fresh spa air glide around the room.
Our room is on the fifth floor of the sixth story atrium. The lights in the center of the dome change through the colors of the rainbow. We paid the bell-man and sat on the balcony watching the colors for forty-five minutes.
Prudence and Georgia go off to explore the grounds while Lucy and I go for our spa treatment.
The package includes two different spa treatments. I can’t wait to try the mud bath I’ve heard so much about. Plus, it gives Lucy and me the opportunity to really catch up. I can sense that something bigger than me is going on with her and being alone gives me the chance to question her.
The relaxation room is filled with aromatherapy scents, tea, water and light snacks. The chairs are certainly agreeable with the atmosphere. When they call our name to go back for our Moor mud bath, I have to drag my body from the comfy chair.
“Do you think we’ll look like pigs rolling around in the mud?” Lucy looks back at me. I laugh like a little girl. I don’t know what to expect from the Moor mud bath, but I do know it’ll relax me.
To my pleasant surprise, the bath is a large Jacuzzi tub filled with over twenty different minerals to help soothe and calm the spirit.
Silence hangs between us like a thick fog. I can’t recall a time when there’s ever been silence between us. I don’t like it. She’s always shared all her feelings with me.
“You have never been so silent.” I glance over at Lucy who’s relaxing in her tub. Her eyes remain closed in a restful state, making me think she’s okay.
“I have a lot going on in my life and I want to enjoy the silence.” Her eyes don’t flutter. She doesn’t turn to look nor does she flinch any part of her body. The water doesn’t ripple from any slight movements.
The silence blankets me. I put my hand to my chest. The minerals aren’t relaxing me and I’m having a hard time breathing. Lucy’s been my rock over the past years and I need to be her rock now.
“Lucy?” I don’t move. I want her to stay relaxed, I just don’t want her to feel alone.
“Yes?” Her eyes stay closed.
“I’m worried about you.” I confess.
“I know you are. I can feel it in the air.” Her hand reaches for the cool damp washcloth on the side of the tub. I watch in silence as she places it on her head. “I think I need to regroup my life.”
“Can I ask you a question and keep you relaxed at the same time?”
“Sure, Hal, you can ask me anything.” Her hands drape ever so elegantly over the sides of the tub.
“What’s happened for you to think you need to regroup?” I hear the water starting to ripple.
“This is a room for couples, isn’t it?” She looks over at me smiling.
“Yes. I told them we were a couple. A couple of friends.” I smile over my witty response.
The receptionist did give me a little lip about holding it for best friends and not a honeymoon couple. I don’t understand that. I’m the customer and paying the exact same amount. It shouldn’t matter whether we’re a couple or just friends.
“Thank you. I’ve missed you. And dare I say,” she gasps. “I even miss Aunt Grace’s middle-of-the-night phone calls.”
“You have no idea how much time I’ve spent with Aunt Grace,” I say, but decide that I’m not going to bother her with my worries about Aunt Grace’s health. “Plus, she still calls in the middle of the night.”
Our laughter fills the room.
Finally, Lucy speaks. “I need to think about my life in Chicago, my job, and Beck.”
I remain immersed in the tub trying to relax. The water is warm and becoming more refreshing. I want to take in everything she has to say before I say anything in return.
“Work and Chicago will work out, but I’m not sure if Beck and I will. He wants to move back to Mason Crossing to be with his mother and wants me to go back.”
“What?” I ask.
Okay, so holding my tongue until she asks for my advice is not my forte. That’s the last thing I imagined coming out of her mouth. Lucy is from the same small central Kentucky town that Beck’s mother lives in.
“I don’t see myself moving back there.” The glass clinks as she takes a piece of ice out. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Mason Crossing and my family. But I’m not ready to move out of Chicago.”
“You have to look at what you want in life and what’s best for you.” I said.
“I want to live in Chicago and I want Beck. He wants to do the long-distance thing. I need him when I need him.” I watch her take another piece of ice and place it on her eyelids. “He said it isn’t about me anymore. He said his mom needs him and he can do real estate anywhere, just like I can be a therapist anywhere.”
Lucy’s voice is calm. “He’s going to be there for the next two weeks checking out relocation buildings. That’s why I’m going to take a two-week vacation and live in Cincinnati with you.”
My body tenses at the thought of having Lucy living with me in Cincinnati. I can see it now, she’ll be gone to Mason Crossing the entire time, and I know it.
“Hallie? Did you hear me?” I know if I look up, she’ll be staring at me and my facial expression will say it all.
“I want you to make sure that’s what you want.” I lay with my eyes closed.
“It is. There’s no reason not to. I never take vacation. It’s a win-win situation.”
“How’s that?”
“You don’t have to be alone and I’m just a few hours from Beck.” I knew it.
“Yes, it’s a win-win situation.” I can picture it now. Lucy’s stuff will live with me, but she’ll be in Mason Crossing the whole time.
“I don’t hear the excitement in your voice.” Lucy seems somewhat surprised by the reaction I’m trying so desperately to disguise.
“Ladies, it’s time to get showered off and into the sauna.” The attendant calls out from the other side of the door.
“That settles it.” Lucy smiles, standing up and wrapping the towel around her. “I can’t wait to see Aunt Grace.”
Leave it to Lucy to finish with a little sarcasm.
We find Prudence and Georgia sitting in the Edith Ann chairs in the atrium waiting for us when we come out of the spa.
“We got you a coffee from the café.” Georgia motions for us to come over. She curls her nose up and turns down her lips. “How was the mud bath?”
“Don’t knock it till you try it.” I smile, picking up the welcoming coffee. “We definitely weren’t two pigs rolling around.” I tell them about the minerals, and how each one does something different or good to your body. I wiggle my shoulders around. “See, relaxed.”
“I saw Piper the other night.” Prudence nonchalantly blurts out.
Okay!
Maybe nonchalantly and blurt don’t go together. Blurt, she did.
She said it out of nowhere and with casualty like it’s no big deal when I know for a fact she hates Piper more than me.
“Not so relaxed anymore!” I throw my shoulders up to my ears to show the tension has returned. All relaxation is down the drain, just like the minerals in the mud bath.”That’s completely random, bringing up Piper when we’re having great time.”
I try to get out of the big chair, but struggle with getting my feet to the floor. Huge news and huge chair equal a clumsy Hallie.
“Sh!” Georgia gently reminds me how my voice carries throughout the dome shaped structure.
“Damn, Georgia! A whisper can be heard around here. What do you expect me to say, Georgia? She’s the reason I don’t live in Chicago. And why I’m not around…”
“Bo.” Leave it to Lucy to finish my sentences.
“Funny too because I asked her how Gucci is doing, as if I give a crap, and she did that blended-word gibberish she loves to make up.” Prudence rolls her eyes, and laughs so loud that the guests at the café tables stop to looks at us. “This time her new creation is wontastic.”
“Shhh.” Georgia didn’t shush us so quietly this time, which make us laugh and ignore Georgia.
“You know wonderful and fantastic put together. Wontastic.” Prudence plays it off like its everyday language and how dare us not know what it means.
“First off, I can’t believe you went into Gucci.” I know firsthand that once Gucci gets a hold of you, it won’t let go. But being betrayed over it is going too far.
“No, at the bar.” Prudence keeps sipping her coffee like no big deal. “Bo’s bar. Didn’t Lucy tell you?”
I look at Lucy, who stares at Prudence like a deer in head lights. Make that a deer about to get hit by a car.
“What the hell, Lucy?” Of all people, she knows how crazy I am over Bo and the situation with Piper. “I talk to you every day, sometimes three times a day and you couldn’t mention it?”
“I don’t think it’s healthy to tell you over the phone when I knew I’d be seeing you soon, and all of us could tell,” she says, trying to save herself.
Unsuccessfully, I might add.
“All of you?” I look at innocent little Georgia this time. By the way she’s fidgeting I can tell she’s avoiding me.
“I’ve been gone a month and I’m already out of the loop.” I’ve been spending my nights agonizing over what they’re doing and how much they must miss me, when the entire time, they’ve not missed me at all.
In true Georgia style, she speaks softly and calmly. “We wanted to tell you that night. The way we see, we wanted to be with you when you hear so you can lean on us.” She emphasizes “us”.
Wait.
Why do I need someone to lean on?
Prudence can’t keep her mouth shut. “Oh, okay, Georgia.” She is getting annoyed. “She needs to know and I’m tired of pussy footing around. That bitch wants your life. Including us!”
Prudence’s anger makes her voice escalate as she tries to prove her point. She isn’t going to put up with Piper and her nonsense much longer.
“What? What do you mean?” I jump to my feet, and start to panic, holding my chest. I don’t know what a heart attack feels like, but I can absolutely say I’m having one.
“Talk about Single White Female. She had her hair styled like yours, dressed just like you, carried that same Gucci bag, your signature brown lipstick with a touch of gloss on top and flirting with Bo.” Her head is bobbing up and down. “Oh and drinking a Cosmo!” She points at me. “Your favorite.”
I can’t believe my ears. A month! One month!
“She’s a thief!” I scream out, “And she is getting away with it!”
“She sent you here. I know it. She wants your life so bad.” Prudence is like a water fountain, spewing out all the words while Georgia and Lucy shake their heads in disbelief.
“She asked all about you, and what you’ve been doing in Cincinnati.” Prudence points to herself. “Me, I didn’t say a word. But, loose-lip Lucy told her everything. Even about your house, your job, and down to crazy Aunt Grace.”
Lucy got up to her defense. “Prudence, that’s not fair. What did you want me to tell her? Hallie hates it. Why, Prudence? Why give her the satisfaction when I know she’d shit if she thought Hallie was happy.”
Good point, I thought. “Good way to work it.”
“Work what?” Lucy is mad now.
“Piper. She thinks I’m happy, and will be mad her little plan didn’t work.” Screw her!
I completely understand why they waited, and I appreciate their concern, but it still sucks to hear.
“Bo did ask about you.” Georgia’s smile is as big as the Grand Canyon. “He wanted to know if you were settled.”
Immediately I can picture his note.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I gave him your email addy. He said something about a note he gave you and something about you losing it during your move.” She shrugs, looking at me suspiciously.
“What does he want? Did he say?” I wonder why he confided in Georgia out of all three of them.
“No clue. I do know if he and Piper are an item, they sure don’t act like it. She was paying for her drinks and he made her wait like the other drunks.” The three of them carry on about how Piper was bent over the bar flinging her money around.
“He did take her money.” Lucy laughs. “I bet she thought she was going to get it for free.”
We spent the rest of the night, and most of the next day catching up, relaxing, and enjoying our friendship.
For dinner, we decide to leave the resort, hit the local Mexican restaurant and throw back a few margaritas. Well, Georgia knocked back a few waters. It is perfect timing for my presentation of the bracelets and the big reveal of my plan with Dee.
“You are such a liar!” Lucy holds the bracelet up, squealing with del
ight, almost knocking over her margarita glass. “You don’t have a creative bone in your body other than Gucci.” “Where is it?”
I help Georgia put hers’ on. “Where’s what?”
Her hand digs in the bag, sending tissue paper flying everywhere. “The designer’s card.” Lucy really doesn’t believe me.
Prudence is busy trying to figure out the toggle clasp.
“I want order a few more pieces. Oh, I’ll be living with you so I can go to the place where you bought it.” Lucy won’t let it go.
“Really, Lucy. I did it.”
It’s at that moment I begin to feel so proud of myself. They all have promising futures in their careers.
Let’s face it, I love Gucci and it turned into my career. Now I have another hobby, beading. Why not turn that into a money maker and sell my designs through Dee?
“You tried to help out with decorating the apartment, and it looks like a cross between country and India,” Lucy says. But I love my shabby chic furniture and my Buddha. They may not look the best when put together, but they work for me.
“Seriously.” I tell them about One Bead at a Time and Dee. I blab on and on about all the different styles of glass beads, sterling silver findings, charms, spacers, toggles and clasps.
“We get it.” Prudence put her margarita glass in the air for the server to refill. “More con queso too.” I can’t stop staring at her wrist, adorned with a Hallie original. The bracelet really is pretty.
“I haven’t seen you this excited since your hire interview with Gucci.” Lucy glows for me.
“I have to come up with a business card and a name.” I sat back and look around. Even though I had two more months in Cincinnati, I’m happy. The thought of those two months doesn’t scare me like it did before.
“What about Beadnicks?” Lucy is licking the salt around her strawberry margarita. “Get it, Beadnicks. Beatnicks, hippy, beads.”
Beadnicks.
The girls’ weekend went by so fast. We spent a lot of time laughing, and cherishing our friendship.
“Henry?” Lucy and I open the door to the best greeting from the cutest little white poodle. Pink Henry is no longer pink, and I was getting used to having a metrosexual dog.