by Joy Fielding
Val quickly directed him to the back of the SUV. “Just the top two,” she said, opening the trunk. “Oh, and that overnight bag. That’s it,” she confirmed as Wesley began unloading the bags. “The rest stay where they are.”
“How long will you be staying with us?” Wesley inquired, his eyes drifting back to Jennifer.
“We’re not all staying,” Val told him. “It’s only my daughter and …”
“… the Slut,” James whispered out of the side of his mouth, his hand serving as a muffler, so that the words emerged as more of a sigh.
“… her.” Val nodded toward Jennifer. “They’ll be staying for three nights. The rest of us will be leaving after we grab something to eat.”
“You’re staying for dinner?” Jennifer’s voice echoed the look of horror on her face.
“I’ve been driving for almost five hours,” Val reminded her.
“Of course. I didn’t mean to imply …”
“I could use a bit of a break.”
“No, I understand perfectly.”
“We’re happy to eat at another table, if you’d prefer.”
“Stop it, Mother,” Brianne said, tossing her BlackBerry back into her bag as she approached. “Martyrdom doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m not trying to be a martyr. I’m just trying to make things easier for everybody.”
“By giving Jennifer a hard time?”
“How was I giving her a hard time?” It annoyed Val that her daughter was taking Jennifer’s side, and although she tried to hide it, the brittleness of her tone betrayed her.
“I think we’re all a little tired here,” Melissa interrupted as the familiar chimes of Brianne’s BlackBerry rang out, signaling the arrival of another text message.
“Is that your father?” Val asked. But Brianne was already moving away from her, her thumbs poised and ready for action. “Lovely,” Val said, heading toward the front doors of the lodge, the others following dutifully behind. “Brianne!” she called out.
Brianne responded with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Don’t worry. She knows where to find us,” Melissa said as they entered the front lobby.
“I don’t know who she’s so busy texting.”
“You know how it is when you get a new boyfriend,” Jennifer said absently.
“What new boyfriend?” Val stopped so abruptly that Jennifer walked right into her.
“I’m so sorry,” Jennifer apologized immediately, although she wasn’t sure whether she was more sorry for stomping all over Val’s bare toes or for revealing that Brianne had a new boyfriend her mother clearly knew nothing about.
“Brianne has a new boyfriend?” Val asked accusingly. Both women understood that what she was really asking was Why do you know about this and I don’t? Why would Brianne confide in you and not me? Isn’t it enough you stole my husband? Do you have to steal my daughter, too? Why are you here? Why do you even exist?
“I don’t know,” Jennifer qualified quickly. “I just assumed it must be a boy … But I don’t know for sure. It was just a guess,” she added, unconvincingly.
“Isn’t this place magnificent?” Melissa asked loudly, turning around in a slow circle, her arms extended at her sides, as if trying to draw the whole scene to her. “Just look at that ceiling. It must be fifty feet high.”
Melissa’s exaggerated enthusiasm forced everyone’s eyes toward the wide wooden planks of the ceiling. It was indeed magnificent, Val agreed silently, trying not to picture Jennifer’s shapely legs stretching toward it.
“And that fabulous stone fireplace,” Melissa continued. “And these carpets …”
“And that crystal chandelier,” Jennifer added, grateful for Melissa’s intervention.
“And that concierge,” James said, lowering his chin and staring toward the young man behind the concierge desk. “Just look at those lips.”
“I’m getting my lips done,” Brianne suddenly announced, joining the small group in the middle of the lobby.
“What do you mean, you’re getting them done?” James asked.
“They’re too thin. I’m getting them done.”
“Over my dead body,” Val said.
“Val …” Melissa warned.
“A friend of mine had her lips done,” Jennifer said. “She had these beautiful lips, kind of like yours, Bri, and then she had them done. Now she looks all swollen, like somebody punched her in the mouth.”
“I don’t want to do anything drastic,” Brianne demurred quickly. “Just a little bit of plumping. Here.” She indicated a spot to the side of her upper lip. “And maybe here.”
“That’s what she said, but once you do anything to your lips, you never look natural again.”
Val waited for Brianne to protest, but all she said was “You really think my lips are beautiful?”
“Are you kidding? They’re gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” Brianne said.
Great, Val thought, torn between hugging Jennifer and wrestling her to the wide stone floor. “I tell her the same thing,” she whispered to Melissa. “She doesn’t listen to me.”
“When was the last time you listened to your mother?” Melissa whispered back.
Probably around the same age, Val thought, then decided it had actually been the other way around. Her mother had stopped listening to her. Val pictured her mother lying in her bed, a half-empty bottle of red wine balanced precariously on the pillow beside her head. First her father had checked out, then her mother, her abandonment of her children somehow made worse by the fact she was still there. At least, physically.
She probably doesn’t even remember it’s my birthday this weekend, Val thought, trying not to feel too sorry for herself and deciding she might as well call her mother to remind her. No point in standing on ceremony. Maybe she’d even invite her mother to join them for dinner on Sunday night.
“Can I help you?” a young woman was asking from behind the polished wood of the long reception counter. Her name tag identified her as Tori.
“You certainly can.” Val’s voice was louder than she’d intended. The young woman took an immediate step back. “We have a room booked for the next three nights. The name is Rowe.”
Tori entered the name into her computer. “Mr. and Mrs. Evan Rowe and daughter?” She looked from Val to Jennifer to Brianne to Melissa to James, as if trying to decide who was who.
“I’ll take it from here,” Jennifer said as Val stiffened. She felt Melissa’s gentle hand on her arm, urging her to stay calm. “I’m Mrs. Rowe,” Jennifer said, somewhat prematurely, Val thought. Their divorce wasn’t final yet. There was still time for Evan to change his mind.
“Is this your first time staying at the lodge, Mrs. Rowe?” Tori asked.
“Yes,” Jennifer answered. “It’s Brianne’s first time, too.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay with us.” Tori’s smile managed to include the entire group. “We have everything. A fabulous spa and an Olympic-size pool, plus there’s boating and hiking and all sorts of interesting excursions you can sign up for. I’ll just need your signature on this form, if you will, Mrs. Rowe, and if I could have an imprint of your credit card …”
“Certainly.” Val watched Jennifer sign the registration form with a pronounced flourish, then hand over the credit card Evan was undoubtedly paying for.
“You’re in room 313 on the third floor of the west wing.” Tori stuffed three keycards into a small envelope and handed it to Jennifer. “Nonsmoking, two queen-size beds.”
“What? No. We’re supposed to have a suite.”
“That is our standard suite,” Tori explained. “A living room and a bedroom with two queen-size beds. It’s really very lovely.”
“Not to mention, kind of kinky,” James whispered. “Dad, teenage daughter, hot new fiancée.”
Val winced, not sure if she was reacting to the image or to James’s referencing of Jennifer as “hot.”
“You don’t have any suites
with two bedrooms?” Jennifer persisted. “Maybe two adjoining rooms …”
“I’m afraid we’re fully booked. We might be able to find a cot …”
“I’m not sleeping on any cot,” Brianne said quickly.
Jennifer took a deep breath, forced her lips into a reassuring smile. “We’ll let your father work this out when he gets here. Room 313, you said?”
“Just go down that hall and turn right,” Tori said quickly. “The elevators are on the left. Your luggage will be brought up shortly. And if there’s anything else we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to let us know.”
“Are there any messages?” Val asked, reasserting her presence.
Tori checked her computer. “No. Nothing.”
“Hopefully that means he’s on his way,” Jennifer said, leading the way. “I’m sure Bri and I can manage by ourselves from here on in,” she said as Val pressed the call button for the elevator.
“I was hoping I could use your bathroom,” Val said, bristling at the easy shortening of her daughter’s name as she motioned toward James and Melissa. “I’m sure we’d all appreciate it if we could freshen up a bit before we eat.”
“Of course,” Jennifer said, suspecting that Val just wanted to check out the room, since there were bathrooms off the lobby they could have used. But she was too tired to argue about it.
The elevator door opened and a young girl marched purposefully into the hall, head down, long, straight hair falling into her face. Val had to jump out of her way to avoid being trampled.
“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘Excuse me,’ ” James called after her.
“That’s two words,” Melissa corrected, as the girl raised the middle finger of her left hand high into the air and continued on her way without looking back.
“Did she just give me the finger?” James asked.
“And a most emphatic finger it was,” Melissa said, turning back to Val. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Guess she’s in a hurry. Oh, for Pete’s sake,” she said as her daughter received yet another text. “Would you put that thing away.”
“What if it’s Dad?” came Brianne’s response as they stepped inside the elevator.
“Is it?” Val and Jennifer asked together.
Brianne rolled her eyes and said nothing. They rode in silence to the third floor, accompanied only by the clicking of Brianne’s thumbs as she typed in her response. She was still typing when they exited the elevator and headed down the long ivory corridor to their room.
Jennifer removed one of the keycards from its envelope and inserted it into the slot by the door as Brianne returned her BlackBerry to her purse. The door refused to open, even after several tries. “What’s the matter with this stupid thing?”
“Why don’t you let me do that?” Val took the card from Jennifer’s hand and gently pushed it into the slot. The green light immediately flashed, allowing the door to open.
“Wow,” James exclaimed as they stepped over the threshold. “Not bad.”
Val felt the gentle pressure of Melissa’s hand on her arm as they entered the suite. “Breathe,” Melissa whispered.
Taking one deep breath, and then another, Val looked around the suite’s sun-filled living room, with its impossibly high ceiling and beautiful gold-and-ivory-striped wallpaper. They’d redecorated since her last visit, updating and upgrading. Just like Evan, she thought, catching a glimpse of her tired-looking reflection in the ornately framed mirror hanging above the overstuffed beige velvet sofa. A brass-legged glass coffee table stood in front of the sofa and two floral-patterned wing chairs sat to either side of the gas fireplace on the opposite wall. A series of photographs of local wildlife graced the walls at regular intervals. A bottle of champagne sat chilling in an ice bucket on the round glass table in front of the large picture window overlooking Shadow Creek. Val wondered if the champagne was Evan’s idea or a gift from the hotel.
I could certainly do with a little alcoholic refreshment right about now, she thought in her mother’s voice, as she followed her daughter past the beige-marbled bathroom into the ivory-and-gold bedroom. Here the floral pattern of the living room chairs was repeated in both the curtains and the bedspreads of the two queen-size beds. Watercolor renderings of the surrounding landscape had replaced the photographs of local fauna. A gold canopy was draped across the headboards of both beds, matching the gold upholstery of the chair in front of the exquisitely carved mahogany desk next to the window.
“My God, is that an antique Chippendale?” Melissa asked, temporarily abandoning Val’s side to check it out.
“Don’t you have to use the bathroom?” Brianne reminded her mother.
“Right.”
“So, who’s going to sleep with who?” Val heard Brianne ask as she was leaving the room.
The question remained unanswered as Val closed the bathroom door.
Val was washing her hands when she remembered her earlier decision to call her mother. The poor woman had no doubt been trying to reach her all day to wish her a happy birthday, she thought, pulling her cell phone out of her purse and trying to find a connection. She was probably worried sick. “Yeah, right,” Val thought in Brianne’s voice, tossing her cell phone back into her purse when no connection could be found. When was the last time her mother had remembered her birthday? When was the last time she’d worried about anything other than where her next drink was coming from? “Would it be okay if I use your phone?” she said when she returned to the bedroom. “My cell phone isn’t getting any reception and I really should call my mother.”
“Now?” Brianne asked. “What for?”
“Just to check that she’s okay.”
“You mean sober.”
Val approached the phone by the side of the bed farther from the window, studied the instructions for placing an outside call, and punched in her mother’s number. “We’ll give you some privacy,” she heard Melissa say as her mother’s line rang once, twice, three times, four …
“My turn in the bathroom,” James was saying as they left the room.
The phone was picked up in the middle of its eighth ring, although no one said hello. “Mom? Are you there?”
“Allison?” her mother asked.
“No, Mom, it’s Valerie.”
“Valerie, dear. You’re sounding more and more like your sister every day. How are you?”
Val wondered when was the last time her mother had actually spoken to Allison, who’d relocated to Florida two years earlier in a largely futile effort to reconnect with their father. “I’m fine. You?”
“Just fine, darling. Although you caught me at a rather inopportune moment. I was just about to step into the bath.”
Val bit down on her lower lip. Her mother was always either just stepping into or out of the bath. It meant she was either about to pass out or pour herself another drink. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be in Manhattan for the weekend. I was going to call earlier but … something came up.” She waited several seconds for her mother to ask what. “Anyway, I’ll be at the Plaza,” she continued when no such question was forthcoming. “In case you need to reach me.”
No curiosity as to why she might be staying at the Plaza for the weekend. Just silence.
“It’s a fortieth-birthday present from James and Melissa,” Val offered.
Another long pause. Then, “I was planning to phone you later …”
“I’m sure you were.”
“You didn’t think I’d forget my daughter’s fortieth birthday, did you?”
“I was hoping not.”
“So, have a great day, darling,” she said after an uncomfortably long pause. “I really have to go now. My bath is getting cold.”
Val nodded into the receiver.
“If you’re talking to your sister, be sure to give her my love.”
“I’ll do that.” Val doubted that Allison would remember her birthday, either, or call her even if she did. She couldn’t remember
the last time they’d exchanged such mundane pleasantries. And it had been years since she’d spoken to her father.
If I have a birthday, and my family doesn’t remember it, she asked herself now, do I even exist?
“Bye, darling.”
“Maybe we could have dinner on Sunday,” Val began. But the line was already dead.
Brianne appeared in the doorway between the two rooms. “How drunk was she this time?”
Val lowered the receiver to its carriage. “Please don’t talk that way about your grandmother.”
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah,” Brianne said. “It is.”
“Are you all right?” Jennifer asked from beside Brianne.
“Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?” Val jumped to her feet. The last thing she needed at this particular moment was Jennifer’s sympathy. What she needed was a drink. Hell, it worked for her mother. She marched into the living room. “So, is everybody hungry?”
“I think I’ll wait to eat until Evan gets here,” Jennifer said.
“I’ll wait with Jennifer,” Brianne said before anyone asked.
“Your father might not be here for hours,” Val reminded her as James and Melissa walked toward the door.
“That’s fine. It’s too early to eat anyway.”
“Suit yourself.” Val was just stepping into the hall when the phone rang, its surprisingly shrill sound bouncing off the walls like steel balls in a pinball machine.
“Hello? Evan? Thank God,” she heard Jennifer say. “We got here about fifteen minutes ago. Where are you? Are you on your … What?”
Val waited outside the door for the inevitable.
“No, please don’t tell me that. Not till tomorrow?” Jennifer said.
“Surprise, surprise,” Val muttered.
“That’s just great,” Brianne said.
“I’m really sorry,” Val imagined Evan saying, “but this whole deal is exploding in my face. There’s no way I can leave now.”
“But how can they be threatening to renege?” Jennifer was asking. “The deal is in danger of falling apart,” she explained to Brianne in the next breath. “They have to work through the night. Hopefully they’ll have everything sorted out by morning …”