Flipped Out

by Jennie Bentley

  “I spent seven years of my life with Melissa,” Derek said, leaning back on his elbows and looking straight ahead, into the past, his eyes unfocused. “Two years dating, and then five years of being married. It was all ups and downs, right from the beginning. I guess I didn’t realize how different we were at first. I fell in love with the way she looked, and the way she seemed to like me so much, and it wasn’t until later that I realized that she liked me because I was going to end up being a doctor, and I was going to give her the things she wanted. She wasn’t born rich, you know.”

  “Really?” I’d assumed the expensive and elegant creature I knew had come from a long line of expensive and elegant women down there in Maryland or West Virginia. Old family, lots of money.

  Derek shook his head. “When I met her, she was waiting tables to put herself through college.”

  “Melissa!”

  “Sure. And it wasn’t in a fancy restaurant, either. She was like Candy: ponytail and jeans, serving up coffee and eggs in an IHOP around the corner from the hospital.”

  “Wow,” I said.

  He smiled. “We started talking, and then we started dating, and then sleeping together, and by the time she started hinting about marriage, I was too far gone to even realize what a mistake that would be. I knew my mom and dad hadn’t taken to her when I brought her up here to meet them, but I figured that was on them, and not because there was anything wrong with Melissa.”

  “What about her family?” I’d gotten interested in the conversation in spite of myself. And in spite of the fact that I was still upset with him, and with her. “Did you meet them? Before you got married?”

  “Just once. She’d made sure she went to school hours away from them. They lived in a dingy tenement-type apartment in a coal mining town in West Virginia. And they were nice enough, but I felt a little like a show dog on display. I assumed they were just looking out for their daughter and were protective of her in case she’d hooked up with a jerk, but later . . .” He shook his head. “After I realized that Melissa wanted me because she wanted to be a doctor’s wife, I guessed that they were really trying to figure out how much I’d be worth in a few years.”

  “That’s crappy.”

  “To be fair to Melissa, she didn’t have much contact with them. After we got married, they kept asking for handouts, and although she would help them with things like keeping the power and water on and medical bills and such, she didn’t go overboard. At least not with my money. I don’t know about Ray’s.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and leaned my shoulder against the newel post. “Why are you telling me this?”

  His eyes were the blue of cornflowers in the bright light from above. “Because I want you to understand why you don’t have to worry about Melissa. When she packed up and moved out, it was like I could finally breathe again. I didn’t have to justify why I didn’t want to stay in medicine, or explain that I just wanted to do something that made me happy. All she saw was that I was ruining her perfect life. She didn’t understand that it didn’t feel perfect to me, and there wasn’t anything I could say to make her understand, and every day was just one fight after the other. When she left, I felt like a weight had been lifted. There’s nothing in the world that would make me go back to her.”

  I blinked. “You sure?”

  “Positive. C’mere.” He held out his arms. I hesitated for no more than a second before I moved into them. He pulled me down on his lap and buried his face in my hair, his voice muffled. “I love you, Tink. Why would I ever go back to Melissa when I’ve got you?”

  “You loved her?” I suggested, a little distracted by his warm breath against my skin and the way his arms tightened around me.

  “Past tense. I don’t feel that way about her anymore. Not sure I ever did. Not the way I feel about you.” He braced his legs and stood, still holding me. I held on as he turned and started up the stairs. And nothing more was said—at least not about Melissa and her marriage to Derek—for the rest of the night.

  Our first move the next morning, after getting showered and dressed, was to head over to the Waterfield Inn. Wayne might be there, but if he wasn’t, Kate would probably know whether we could go back to work on the house today. If we couldn’t, we had to find something to do to keep the crew occupied if we had any hopes of getting enough footage for an episode of Flipped Out! in the can by Friday night. Maybe we could take Adam to the salvage yard while Wilson filmed us picking out a porch swing.

  Shannon was sitting at the breakfast table when we got there, nursing a cup of coffee and looking like she’d spent a mostly sleepless night. And then I wondered whether I was imagining things, because she looked up when we came in and managed a very passable smile, as if nothing much was wrong. “Good morning.”

  “Hi,” I said, taking a seat while Derek headed for the coffeepot. “Where’s everyone?”

  “Mom and Wayne are still at the carriage house, and no one else is down yet. Up, maybe, but not down. You guys are out and about early.”

  I glanced over at the lighted display on the stove. 6:58. I guess we were. “We went to bed early.”

  Shannon sent Derek a speculative look. “You left Guido’s early, too. I thought I’d find you here when we got back, arguing with Wayne about why he can’t keep Melissa in jail.”

  “Shit,” Derek said, and when I turned to look at him, I saw that he had turned pale under the tan. He must have remembered last night and realized that while we’d been busy doing what we’d been doing, Melissa had been languishing in lockup. I wondered if he regretted his priorities.

  But no, it didn’t look that way. When he met my eyes, his expression was half sheepish, half rueful, with a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Oops.”

  “That’ll teach you not to get distracted.” I was unable to hide my own smile. “I guess we should probably go look for Wayne, huh?”

  “I’ll go. You stay here and keep Shannon company.” He headed for the back door.

  “What was that all about?” Shannon wanted to know when the door had swung shut behind him.

  I turned back to her. And decided that she’d find out anyway, so I might as well tell her. “Derek was with Melissa the night Tony died. I guess he has personal knowledge that she couldn’t have done it.”

  Shannon’s eyes widened. She has her father’s eyes, big and dark, surrounded by long, thick lashes. Even without makeup, they’re stunning. “He was with Melissa? Like . . . with her?”

  I shook my head. “Of course not with her. Just with her. Apparently she wanted to talk.”

  “And you believe that?”

  I blinked. “Of course I do. Why?”

  “That’s what Josh said he and Fae did,” Shannon said darkly.

  Ah. So her incredulousness had nothing to do with suspecting that Derek and/or Melissa were lying, but everything to do with being jealous of whatever Josh and Fae had been doing last night. I made sure my voice was sympathetic when I leaned my elbows on the table and settled in to talk. “What happened?”

  “After you two left Guido’s, you mean?” She shot me a quick look from under those thick lashes and focused her attention on the cloth napkin she was pleating and repleating on the table. “I put up with Adam breathing on me and sat and talked to him and Wilson and Ted for an hour. Those two are all right, but give Adam an inch, and he’s all over you.”

  “I got that impression, too,” I admitted, although of course he hadn’t come within a foot of me. Derek had made sure Adam knew I was off-limits. Apparently Shannon hadn’t been so lucky.

  “Usually Josh makes sure nobody bothers me. But he was too busy with Fae to notice. And it was my own stupid fault, anyway. I encouraged him.”

  “Adam?”

  She nodded.

  “To make Josh jealous?”

  She shrugged.

  “He’s waited a long time for you to notice him, you know.”

  “Notice?” Shannon said, her voice just a little shrill. “I�
��m not stupid, Avery. It’s been impossible not to notice, yeah?”

  Well, yeah. Josh’s feelings had been rather obvious, and I’d often wondered why Shannon didn’t say or do anything to acknowledge them.

  “I guess you didn’t want to mess up your friendship, right? Starting a relationship with your best friend can be awkward. I mean, what if it doesn’t work out? You’ve lost your boyfriend and your best buddy.”

  Shannon nodded. “He’s been making eyes at me for years now. And I love him, I really do. I could even see myself being with him. You know . . . with him?”

  I nodded.

  “But what if it doesn’t last? I’m twenty. That’s kind of young to choose someone to spend the rest of your life with. And when it ends . . .” She shook her head. “He’s not gonna wanna stay my best friend after we break up, and I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just nodded and waited for her to continue.

  “So maybe we’re better off just being friends, you know? And not trying for anything more? At least I’d never lose him totally.”

  It made sense, as far as it went. And it was obvious she had it all figured out and didn’t need any help from me.

  She continued, “I just thought, if I never said anything, then after a while, he’d stop feeling the way he did, and we’d be just friends again. But then she showed up!”

  “Fae.”

  Shannon nodded. “I guess I just never considered that if I didn’t want him—you know, that way—then sooner or later he’d find someone who did. I guess I just thought that we’d keep going the way things were.”

  “With both of you single and best friends.”

  Shannon looked miserable. “The thing is, I liked her. We spent a couple of hours together the other night, watching movies, and she’s nice. If I wanted Josh to be with anybody, I’d want him to be with someone like that. Someone who makes him happy. And someone I like.”

  “But you don’t want him to be with anyone?”

  She looked miserable. “I don’t think I do. I think I want him to be with me. But he’s happy. And I can’t ruin that.”

  “No,” I said, “I really don’t think you can. But she’s only here for a few more days. Surely they can’t get too serious in that time.”

  What kind of attachment could they form in just five days, after all?

  “You don’t know Josh,” Shannon said, not entirely accurately. I did know Josh, although obviously not as well as she did. “He makes his mind up quickly. The first time I met him, the first day of eighth grade, just after Mom and I had moved here from Boston, he took one look at me and decided we were going to be best friends, and that was it. There was nothing I could say or do about it.”

  “So if he’s chosen to fall in love with Fae, then it’s already a done deal? He’s not stupid, Shannon. He knows she’s leaving on Saturday. And that she lives on the other side of the country.”

  “You don’t know him,” Shannon said again, her voice wobbly.

  I abandoned the argument. Apparently Josh wasn’t the only one who, when he made up his mind, was unmovable. “So what happened last night? Anything?”

  Shannon shrugged. “After you left, we all sat and ate pizza. Then they left, so we left, too. I thought Fae would be back here, but he must have taken her somewhere, because she didn’t come home until late.”

  “And . . . ?”

  “I didn’t want to ask her.” She hesitated a second, and then she added, her voice low, “Guess I was afraid of what she’d say.”

  I could understand that. “You said Josh said they’d been talking. . . .”

  “I called him. He’d just dropped her off, so I knew he was still up.” She looked up at me, her eyes miserable. “He didn’t even come in. He always comes in, and he just dropped her off and went home!”

  “Probably afraid of facing you,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, he didn’t have to be! I was nice on the phone. I pretended I didn’t care and that I just wanted to make sure he’d had a good time. He said he’d taken her up the coast and shown her the view of the islands and they’d talked.”

  “They probably did,” I said.

  “Well, of course they did! But what else did they do?”

  “In Josh’s Honda? Probably not much. It’s tiny. And he’s, like, six-five. And it was a first date. He wouldn’t seduce a girl on a first date, would he?”

  “Of course he wouldn’t,” Shannon said, offended.

  “Then I don’t think you have anything to worry about. But you could ask Fae if you’re worried. I think I hear her coming.”

  The murmur of voices out in the dining room had gotten louder, and a moment later, the swinging butler door opened, and Fae stepped through. Backward, facing the camera, which Wilson kept pointed at her face.

  “. . . and here we are,” she said, in her best plummy television voice, gesturing with her hand, “back in Kate’s kitchen at the Waterfield Inn to see whether we will in fact be going back to work today after the terrible events of yesterday.”

  They both passed through the door and into the kitchen, followed by Adam and Ted. Ted was his usual impassive self, but Adam was grinning as he watched Fae. There was a flash of unease in his eyes, though. Maybe he was worried that Nina would think Fae was doing such a good job that she’d replace Adam with her.

  I didn’t think he had anything to worry about. Fae, though glib in front of the camera, didn’t look like the host of a DIY television show. A little too unrelatable to Middle America, maybe, with her pigtails and Goth-girl makeup and clothes. Not like the injured Stuart, with his sandy hair and freckles and corn-fed grin, or even Adam, with his glossy good looks and solid all-American charm. But Fae was clearly having fun, and so was Wilson, grinning as he aimed the camera at her.

  “Here’s our hostess with the mostest, Shannon McGillicutty, and half our renovating team, Avery Baker, sharing a cup of coffee.” She nailed both names, unlike Adam. “Tell us, Avery, do you have any news about today?”

  I had no idea whether the camera was in fact rolling or not, or whether they were just having some fun, but I smiled and talked to it anyway. “So far, no word. Derek’s out in the carriage house talking to the chief of police. Once he gets back, I guess we’ll find out.”

  “And that’s a wrap,” Wilson said, lowering the camera. “Good work, ladies. You better watch out, Adam, or she’ll take your job.” He grinned. Fae did, too. Adam smiled, but I thought it looked forced.

  “You were actually filming?” I said.

  Wilson turned to me after putting the camera down on the counter next to the eight-slot toaster. “Well, sure. It started out as just fun, but we use so much tape anyway, and film so much footage we never end up using, that when something’s going on, I usually just keep things rolling. You never know what you might end up with and how it can be used.”

  “How long have you been doing this job?”

  He passed a hand over his thinning hair. “I’ve been with Flipped Out! since the beginning. Four years now. But I’ve been a cameraman for over thirty years. Started out back in the days of black and white.” He winked.

  “Really?” Adam said.

  Wilson shook his head. “No, not really. Black and white was a whole lot longer ago than thirty years. NBC made the first coast-to-coast color broadcast in 1954, with the Tournament of Roses parade.”

  Ted nodded. “By 1972, more than half the households in the country had a color TV set, and that was the year when ‘in color’ notices before programs ended.”

  “Wow.” I looked from one to the other of them. “You two know a lot about this.”

  Ted shrugged. “You know your business, we know ours.”

  “So how long have you been working in television?”

  Ted opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the back door opened and hit the wall with a thud.

  “I don’t care what you think of it!” Wayne growled, striding in. “
I’ve got her where I want her, and that’s where she’s gonna stay until I say otherwise!”

  12

  I cut my eyes to Derek, following on Wayne’s heels. He looked unhappy. Obviously the “she” they were talking about was Melissa, who was still in jail and would stay there until Wayne was good and ready to let her out.

  “You tried,” I told Derek when he came to stand behind me.

  He snorted, resting both hands on my shoulders. “You think that’s gonna carry any weight when Melissa asks me why I let her spend the night in jail?”

  “You’re not married to her anymore,” I reminded him, twisting my neck to look up into his face.

  “I know that, Tink. But she’s still gonna wanna know why I didn’t just convince Wayne she didn’t do it.”

  “It’s not up to you to convince Wayne of anything. And anyway, you tried.”

  “Obviously not hard enough,” Derek said, with a scowl at the chief of police. Wayne sent him a flat glare back.

  “Watch it, or I’ll run you in, too, for interference.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Derek said.

  Personally, I didn’t think so, either. But only because he had no reason to. Nobody in their right mind would think Derek had had anything to do with Tony’s death, and dragging him to lockup would be a supremely stupid move. Wayne wasn’t stupid. He proved it when he said, “You can have your house back. That should keep you out of my hair for today.”

  He had that right.

  “C’mon.” Derek took his hands off my shoulders and pulled the chair out with me on it. The legs scraped across the tiled floor.

  “Just give me an hour to clean the kitchen and change the beds,” Kate said, “and I’ll be over.”

  “I’ll call Josh,” Shannon added, and then she looked at Fae. “Unless you want to?”

  Fae shrugged. She was back into her jeans today, with a black shirt and matching nail polish. “You can if you want. I don’t mind.”

  “Big of you,” Shannon muttered, but under her breath. I don’t think Fae heard, or if she did, she didn’t comment.