Aryl’s eyebrow cocked. “Then maybe I haven’t seen it.”
“There was drinking and dancing and beautiful clothes…” Her eyes went to some far off place, remembering.
“Is that good or bad you got to experience that again?” he asked cautiously.
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh, fingering the hem of the dress she planned wearing that day.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. He’d waited for this, for her to need something, a chance to prove he was capable of being there for her when she needed him.
“Not about that. It’s about Arianna.”
“I’m sure she was right at home,” Aryl said and laughed. Claire didn’t.
“She went wild.” No sense in beating around the bush.
Aryl tried to gauge how serious she was. He didn’t like the pained look on her face.
“She scared me, Aryl.”
He sat on the bed and gestured for her to join him.
“Tell me what happened.”
***
Arianna moved through the crowd hoping for an open table. She poured and drank another drink as she walked. Ava and Claire pushed through the crowd, struggling to keep up with her.
She found a small table near the band and claimed it.
“Isn’t this fun!” she yelled over the band.
“What?” Ava yelled back. It was so loud her ears hurt. Claire leaned across the table. “Let’s go back to the bar!”
“Why!? This is where the party is!” Arianna laughed and refilled everyone’s glass.
“You should slow down!” Ava yelled as Arianna polished off the drink with a hard tilt.
“Oh, no. I’m making up for lost time!”
Ava leaned close, but still needed to raise her voice to be heard. “We know where this place is now. We can come back. You don’t have to cram everything into one night.”
Arianna’s look answered, her smile devilish, her eyes sparkling.
“We should dance!”
Ava looked out at the sea of people. Everyone was having a good time, and she found herself in that familiar place, watching others having the time of their lives while she sat on the sidelines, nervous and shy. She swallowed hard. That wasn’t who she was now. She wasn’t scared and mousy anymore. She was starting to find her place in the world and that place wasn’t nearly as frightening as she’d once thought. She was allowed to have fun. She grabbed both her friend’s hands.
“All right then. Let’s dance.”
Claire tried to relax even as something nagged. She tried to be a good friend and pushed the worry aside to enjoy the evening with her friends.
An hour went by and they hardly noticed. Out of breath and grinning, they went to find their table again. Arianna’s eyes blazed. “Someone drank our bourbon!” she said, holding up the bottle that was nearly empty.
“That someone was you, Arianna. You ran back to the table a half dozen times, remember?”
She frowned. “I’ll just go get some more.”
“No, I think we’ve all had quite enough,” Claire said. She had stopped after two drinks, seeing that Arianna would need someone to look after her. Ava stopped after four, and not having any sort of tolerance, that was plenty.
Arianna scoffed and tossed the bottle aside. It crashed on the ground. She giggled as she turned.
“I’m going with her,” Claire told Ava.
The band was taking a break, sitting at the back of the stage, wiping sweat from their necks and foreheads, drinking copious amounts of water. The ballroom was abuzz with a more subdued chatter, the collective catching their breath.
When they returned from the bar, Arianna was wearing a new accessory. He was very tall, standing several inches over her. Mysterious eyes were ringed with lashes so thick they bordered feminine. His smile was relaxed as he brushed a lock of dark hair from his forehead. That hair looked like it might have been styled well at the start of the night but had mostly fallen out of place. Arianna came strutting back to the table, a new friend on her arm with Claire behind her. The look on Claire’s face as she sat down said it all. She and Ava locked eyes. This evening had officially gotten out of control.
“Girls, this is Josh. He works in Boston.”
They struggled to smile and didn’t bother to introduce themselves. Neither did Arianna.
She opened her newly purchased bottle and began pouring all around. Claire put her hand over her glass. “I think we should head home soon.”
Arianna’s eyes became fierce. “We only just got here.”
“It’s been a few hours and it’s getting late,” Claire countered.
Arianna acted as if she didn’t hear her and stared coldly as she downed another drink.
After several silent, tense moments that didn't seem to affect Josh’s good time in the least, the band started back up.
“That’s my cue!” Arianna said and threw her chair back. Her new friend followed, taking her hand and off they went.
Claire leaned over. “We have to get her out of here.”
“But how? There’s music, endless alcohol, and…” she looked in Josh’s direction, “a new toy.”
Claire’s eyes found them on the dance floor and she cringed. “This was a bad idea. Can you imagine if Caleb could see her right now?”
“He’d go crazy. One of us should play sick. That can be our excuse to leave.”
“You think she’ll care? In her head, it was five years ago, and this is all that matters. Not us, not Caleb, not responsibility. The party is all that matters.”
Only this was worse, Ava said to herself. Because Caleb wasn’t here to temper her self-destruction.
Claire tried to keep a close eye on her, and the more they danced, the more she groaned. She covered her eyes with her hand. “Look where he has his hands.”
A half hour later, they, as well as everyone else in the room, were watching the show Arianna was putting on.
“She was never happy until every eye was on her,” Claire said, sitting back with a huff. She was genuinely tired now and desperately wanted to go home and end this nightmare of an evening.
The crowd burst into applause—at the band or Arianna, they weren’t sure, and they prepared what they would say to convince her to leave. They waited. And waited. And waited five minutes more. Desperate eyes searched the crowd.
“She’s not out there anymore,” Claire said.
“Well, where did she go?” The second bottle of bourbon was still half-full. “I don’t know, but we need to find her.”
They searched the ballroom, squinting between throngs of people, checked the grand foyer and, just to be safe, the bar.
Claire held her hands up. “She just disappeared!”
“Let’s try the ballroom again,” Ava said.
Their heads were on a swivel, dipping and stretching to see through the crowd.
“There!” Ava pointed. “She just walked out!” They pushed their way to the door, and once they got to the grand parlor, there was no sign of her.
“I can’t believe this. We’re supposed to be relaxing and having a good time.”
“Unfortunately, this is Arianna’s idea of a good time.”
They were both panicked. Before, they’d always had the men there with them helping to keep Arianna in check. Caleb knew especially well how to deal with her when things got too out of hand. And neither wanted the night to end in disaster or they’d ruin their chances of getting away alone again.
“If we were Arianna, where would we go?”
Claire turned to look back into the ballroom. No—no one joining the band or dancing on tabletops. They raced over to the bar. It was subdued there, no wild women running to and fro.
Back in the parlor, they discussed splitting up to look for her but decided against it. Being alone was the last thing they wanted.
“What if he took her up to one of the rooms?”
“She wouldn’t!” Claire said. “As crazy as Arianna goes, I don’
t know that she’s ever gone that far.”
“So far as you know,” Ava said with her eyebrows raised in question.
“Let’s check the bathrooms, and if she’s not there, we’ll go look upstairs.”
A man who looked in his late thirties with stylish blond hair sidled up between them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders.
“Hello, ladies. How are we this evening?”
Claire spun around with a ferocious look, and he backed off, hands up.
She wasn’t in the bathrooms. Ava was beginning to become truly frightened. “What if they went outside?”
“It’s pitch black out there. We’d never find her.”
“I heard about a woman who disappeared from a place like this. They found her dead in the woods.”
“Ava, stop! We can’t think like that. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
They climbed the stairs, walking around people and ignoring requests for them to stop and join the party.
“What do we do, just start opening doors? I’m sure they’re closed for a reason.”
“I don’t know,” Claire growled.
The stairs blunted at the top, stretching right and left in wide hallways. They looked each way. To the left, they saw a cluster of people standing near a half table set against the wall.
“Let’s ask them if they’ve seen her.”
They slowed as they approached. The group broke out in bursts of laughter, huddled around the small table.
“Excuse me,” Claire said, tapping one woman on the shoulder. She was rail thin. Claire guessed she was young despite the hard lines that ringed her eyes and mouth. Her short white hair was wild and spiky, a fashion they’d not seen around town or in magazines. She was dripping with cheap jewelry. Her eyes lingered for a long time on Ava. She gave a fake smile and spoke with the faintest of accents.
“Line starts on the other side, love. And it ain’t free. You ‘ave money?”
“Money?”
“As in cash?”
“What is…”
The white-haired woman walked away, clearly out of patience with Claire’s ignorance. The table at the center of the commotion could be seen now. Someone was bent over it nearly face down on the table.
She raised her head. Arianna had a euphoric smile and passed the rolled up paper to the next person in line.
Claire’s eyes went wide. “Christ. She’s snorting cocaine.”
Ava rushed around the table and grabbed Arianna’s arm.
“That’s enough. We’re going home now.”
Arianna yanked away. “The hell we are! The party’s just getting started!” She wobbled over to Josh, who was waiting for her by the wall. It was clear by his glassy eyes and disconnected look that he’d already had his time at the table.
“This is not what we agreed to, Arianna.”
“You agreed to come, and now you’re acting like old ladies! Afraid to have a little fun?”
Josh draped an arm over her shoulder.
“She’s married,” Claire said matter-of-factly. “And her husband isn’t exactly small. I suggest you move your arm so we can take her home.”
His eyes slid lazily from Claire to Arianna. “I don’t see her husband here tonight. Do you want to go home, darlin’?” he asked.
She snorted and then laughed. “Go home to what? A boring husband? A crazy mother-in-law? Screaming children and piles of dishes?”
Arianna glared at Claire. “Why don’t you go home?”
“Arianna, you’ve lost your mind.”
Arianna found this hilarious, dropped her purse on the floor, and bent over in fits. Then she sobered her eyes boring into Claire’s.
“If you only knew,” she whispered, and for a fraction of a second, she looked as if she might cry.
If Claire thought there was any chance she could win, she’d slap Arianna senseless, tackle her, and drag her by the hair back to the truck.
“We’re not leaving without you,” Ava said, stepping in.
“Then have fun trying to keep up.”
Arianna and Josh turned away, moving toward the staircase.
“What are we going to do?” Claire asked in desperation. “She could kill herself tonight.”
Ava spotted Arianna’s small beaded purse lying on the floor. She picked it up and fished out the keys. Her eyes flashed with the answer.
“I’ll stay here and keep my eyes on her. You go get Maura.”
***
“I had a fair idea of what this madness looked like from stories I heard ye tell.” Maura watched Arianna dancing on a tabletop, a sea of men surrounding her, cheering her on. It appeared that instead of dancing to the music, the band was playing for her. “But it’s quite somethin’ else to see it in person.”
“Can you get her to leave?” Claire asked.
Ava rushed up and grabbed Maura’s arm from behind. “Thank God you’re here. Another five minutes and she’d be topless.”
Maura cocked a critical eyebrow. “She’s damn near there now. How much has she had to drink?”
Ava lolled her head around, estimating. “Bottles. I don’t know. Enough to put a horse under along with a taste of everything else this place has to offer.”
She patted Ava’s hand. “Aye, I’ll see what I can do.” She shoved her way past people without apology. When she approached Arianna’s personal stage, she whacked the back of a few heads with her handbag to get them out of the way.
With her arms up in the air, her hips gyrating wildly, she caught sight of Maura glaring up at her. The smile slid, the show stopped.
Maura beckoned with two fingers for her to get off the table. Ava and Claire held their breath, wondering if she’d comply. Much to their surprise, she did. Of course, they knew she’d eventually obey Maura. They just didn’t expect her to so without a fight.
She climbed down, holding the hand of a stranger as she stepped from table to chair to the floor.
“Yer husband will be waiting fer ye at home,” Maura said, meeting Arianna’s harsh glare.
She blinked slowly and then walked with as much dignity as she could muster past Maura toward the door.
“How…” Ava looked at Claire.
“If ye think I’ve some magical powers, I don’t,” Maura said as the three followed a stumbling Arianna. “It’s all in the timing. She’s on the verge of passing out.”
Arianna spun around at the door to face them. “I had a good time tonight,” she declared. “They loved me!” She threw her head back and it, along with the rest of her body, kept going. Maura, Ava, and Claire stared at her lying quite undignified, sprawled out on the floor of the grand foyer.
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to carry her to the truck now,” Maura said with a sigh.
***
Aryl took Claire’s hand. “I’m glad you told me,” he said. “I’m sorry the evening went so wrong.”
“So far as Caleb knows, Maura went with us last night. She agreed to go along with it. It was the only way to explain why she was there to help Arianna home. He wasn’t thrilled to be woken up in the middle of the night to help carry his drunken wife into the house and then have to drive all three of us home.”
“No, I don’t suppose he would be. He’s got a long day of building ahead of him.”
“I had no idea she’d go crazy like that. Not now. I expected her to have a few drinks and be fine. I’ve seen her do it a dozen times over the last few years. I never expected it to set her off like that.”
“With Arianna, a few is fine. But anything past a few, there’s something that disconnects in her mind. Common sense leaves the room.”
“Last night it left the county,” Claire said, shaking her head. “I don’t ever want another girl’s night again.”
“Don’t say that. I happen to think you need them every now and then. Not like last night,” he added quickly. “Definitely something more subdued next time.”
“I don’t want to think about a next time. What’s wors
e, I don’t know how much of last night she is going to remember. I don’t know if she’s going to be angry at us for bringing Maura into it.”
“I’m going to wager she won’t remember much past the first bottle of bourbon.”
“Why does she do this, Aryl? I thought she was different. I thought she’d changed. I don’t miss this version of Arianna.”
He squeezed her hand, staring at their laced fingers. “I know why she did it then, and why she’s doing it now,” he said softly, “to run away from life when life gets to be too much to take.”
“Like you did?” she asked with a knit brow. She’d never considered the similarities.
He nodded. “As if our life’s implosion wasn’t enough, now she’s got her hands full with Ethel, the kids, Caleb being home and taking this chance on his farm. Frankly, I’m surprised she was able to handle this much before she broke.”
“Aryl, the problems with Ethel and the kids, and even Caleb aren’t going to go away. They are still there this morning, and she still has to deal with them.”
“I know. I think she knows that too—which is why she really went out of her way to get as far away from reality as she could last night. Relaxing wasn’t enough. She needed to forget it entirely.”
“But will she do it again? Especially after having a taste of it?” She touched his face. “You know how hard it is once you get a taste,” she whispered.
“Only time will tell,” he said. “She needs her friends. She needs support. We’ll keep an eye on her.”
“And if it looks like she’s headed down that road?” Claire asked.
“Then we intervene. We find Arianna’s version of being tied to a tree.” He smiled. “Let’s go. Caleb needs my help with the house today.”
Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth.
“Don’t worry, I told you I’d keep this secret and I will.”
She walked into his arms, and he held her closer than he had in months.
The ice that shrouded their relationship lately had broken, and for that, Aryl was very grateful.
***
Claire went straight to her garden, not quite ready to see Arianna. She sent Aryl to feel out the situation. The door was open, and Aryl walked into an empty, quiet kitchen. He helped himself to a cup of coffee, adding cream and sugar, behind him the dragging footsteps of a very hungover Arianna thumping down the stairs. She groaned as she sat down.
Purling Road - the Complete Second Season: Episodes 1-10 Page 4