"How pretty?" Kate exclaimed, pointing at the flowers while the other two women slid into their seats.
Chelsea wasn't paying attention, her large blue eyes riveted on the menu she’d already opened, but Bianca looked at her and raised her eyebrows coolly. Uh-oh. Another mistake?
But then Bianca’s face broke into another warm smile. "Come. Sit by me."
"Okay?" Kate sat down next to Bianca, feeling the strange nauseous energy grow stronger with their increased proximity. She turned to look at Bianca. Wow. She was magnificent. Kate had never seen anyone so beautiful in person.
"So. How are you liking living here? Is it very different from Vermont? I've only been once, skiing," Bianca said, resting her elbow on the table as she faced Kate and cradling her face in her hand. The drink, sipped once, had been abandoned on the table beside her and the menu ignored.
“Skiing? Oh, that’s nice?” Kate said, wanting to talk about Bianca, not herself. Skiing was expensive and no one in her family had the money or the time for it – but she wasn’t surprised that Bianca skied. Bianca was obviously a jet-setter. Kate had seen that right away when she met her. Kate’s eye had practically been put out with that enormous glittering diamond engagement ring and the equally elaborate wedding ring Bianca wore alongside of it that was studded thickly with diamonds and rubies. Kate wondered what Bianca’s husband did for a living to be able to afford such jewels.
And where was Bianca's husband tonight? Probably at home watching TV while Bianca had her night out with the girls. Or did rich people just hang out watching TV like that, curled up on the couch? Did they all have big home theatres with leather seats instead? Oh, it was all so amazing. How wonderful for Kate and Grant's children to have so many opportunities, to be in such a world! Their lives would be a million times better than Kate’s, free from worries and fear.
“Yes, skiing. But Vermont. Tell me about it,” Bianca said.
“Oh,” Kate said, giving a little shrug. “That’s boring. Let’s talk about you?”
“No, you. I’m the boring one. Come on – what’s it like moving here from there? Do you miss it? You must.”
Kate felt a lump harden in her throat, hearing Bianca’s sympathetic concern. She nodded, her eyes misting slightly. “Yes? A lot.”
“What? What do you miss?”
“I guess…the mountains? The people? Everyone knew me in town. And at church? Here I don’t know anyone.”
“Hey, don’t I count?”
“Oh, of course you do! I just meant…” Kate trailed off, the lump in her throat hardening into a sharp rock that made her swallow, fruitlessly trying to make it go away.
“You just miss home. I understand,” Bianca said and reached over to gently touch Kate’s shoulder.
Kate nearly sobbed. Oh, it felt so good to be understood. She couldn’t complain anymore to Grant. He’d heard it too often, and he was the one that resisted their move, finally giving in when she wouldn’t stop bringing it up. He preferred the simpler life of Vermont, the mountains, the people there that he called “real people” as if everyone else in the world were artificial pod-people. “I do. And I didn’t know how different it would be here? Like what I’m wearing? I thought this outfit would be perfect.”
“Well,” Bianca said, looking her over carefully. “I can help. We can go shopping. Get you some makeup.”
“Oh, no?” Kate said, swiftly shaking her head. “Grant hates makeup?”
Bianca smiled and chuckled. “Oh, no he doesn’t. Men just say that. If you apply it correctly, choose the right colors, they don’t even know you’re wearing it. They just think you’re gorgeous. I couldn’t leave the house without makeup.”
“Yes, you could? You’re beautiful!”
“Ho, ho! You’re a sweet one,” Bianca said. “Trust me, I’ll help you. And don’t worry about Grant. He’ll love it.”
Just then Sharon and another woman stopped and stood in front of their table. Chelsea looked up from her menu and saw them. “Oh, thank God. I’m about to faint from hunger. You guys read your menus fast so we can order.”
Sharon turned and looked around before facing the table again. “Here? In Grand Central Station? How are we going to be able to hear each other?”
The other woman, a slim dark-haired woman with a heart-shaped face and a narrow regal nose, said, “We can’t eat here. It’s not good for the digestion, all this noise.”
Bianca looked up at the other woman, “Spoken like a true connoisseur and gourmet chef. Chelsea, Lucie’s right. Oh, Lucie, this is Kate. Kate, Lucie.”
Lucie turned to look at Kate and nodded in a way that made Kate think of a princess. So graceful, pretty green eyes dipping. "Nice to meet you," Lucie said.
"You, too?" Kate said, delighted that all these women might end up being her friends. Life was so hard without friends to talk to.
Chelsea slapped her menu down on the table. “Come on! It will be hours before we can get another table. Lucie, Sharon, please?”
“Oh, all right,” Sharon said, and sat down.
Lucie paused for a moment before sitting next to Sharon on the opposite side of the banquette. With much impatient prodding from Chelsea, they all managed to read their menus and place their orders with the waitress within minutes.
“I’m so excited?” Kate said, “I love mussels. And I can never have them at home? Because of Grant?”
“Really?” Bianca said, leaning closer, almost looming over Kate. If she didn’t know that Bianca was a friend, she’d be scared at the way the woman was looking at her, like electrified fiery darts were shooting out of her eyes. “Tell me more about you two. How did you meet?”
Although she still wanted to know more about Bianca and didn’t want to talk about herself, she relaxed under the heat of Bianca's intense interest, letting herself prattle and telling Bianca all about Grant and their romance that sparked at her family’s farmer’s market stand over chunks of aged cheddar cheese. Bianca asked a lot of questions and Kate found herself saying things she hadn’t told anyone – not even Grant.
It would have been incredibly fun except for the way Sharon kept glancing at the two of them and narrowing her eyes. Was she jealous? No. What was it? All Kate wanted was for all of them to like her, to be accepted by this group of smart chic women. Bianca clearly liked her, but the others were less welcoming. Chelsea ignored Kate and talked to the other women at the table exclusively. Lucie seemed to not be there at all half the time, staring off into space in a distant way which was disconcerting. And Sharon’s evil eye; it saddened Kate as she’d been certain they’d click. Sharon looked so much like her best friend from home, Mary, that Kate kept expecting her to be like Mary. But she wasn’t. Sharon outright didn’t like her; it was obvious and filled Kate with a sad cold feeling, wondering what she’d managed to do wrong.
The waiter arrived with their meals and placed a large bowl of steaming fragrant mussels in front of her. She stared down at them in their ebony shells, these shellfish she'd been so excited about because they reminded her of the one and only vacation her family had taken when she was nine. They'd gone camping in Maine and had lunch one day at an open-air restaurant by the water there where they’d eaten mussels from a big bowl and laughed at how messy the meal was, melted butter dripping everywhere. That memory had a special glow - the smiling faces of her parents and siblings, the sharp sea air fresh and invigorating, and their cares forgotten for once - and when she had seen mussels on Ibiza's menu she couldn't wait to taste them and feel that glow again.
But now she only picked at them, her appetite gone under the relentless jabbing looks being pointed at her by Sharon on the other side of the table.
Strawberry Daiquiri
Chelsea swallowed the last bite of her beef empanada and let out a little burp, covering her mouth delicately. A puff of garlic, pungent and hot, hit her nose. Garlic! She couldn't have garlic-breath, not tonight! Why didn't they warn you about things like that on the menu?
Thin
gs were going all wrong tonight. First Sharon kept wanting to leave, almost left after only one measly drink. Then it turned out she'd been hiding a whole exciting romance with a neighbor from Chelsea. After all that Chelsea had told Sharon about her love life - even told her about her infatuation with Travis, which was taking a huge risk as he might find out by overhearing them talking or through the speed-of-light TMB office grapevine if someone else overheard - and Sharon told her nothing. Didn't Sharon trust her?
Then that business about Lucie being a compulsive liar. Was it true? It was hard to believe. But of course it was true. Bianca wouldn't say something like that otherwise. Maybe Lucie was better now...but it made Chelsea nervous. She couldn't help seeing Lucie in a different light all of the sudden. Every word Lucie said sounded like a lie. Was she really opening her own catering business? Was it true, as she had just told them, that her father was going to give her seed money? Or did she make that up? Also, Lucie kept acting weird - spacey. She wasn't paying attention. Maybe she was on drugs!
But the worst thing, the bottom of the barrel, was that Bianca had invited that Kate. Chelsea wasn't lookist, she was friends with all kinds of people, but when you went out and you wanted to meet someone, hopefully someone special, your posse had to be cute. Hot, even - like Bianca. Definitely not ugly. Kate was nice, but she wasn't even mildly cute. She looked like a drowned albino gerbil. Going out was the most important thing in Chelsea's life; she knew that one night she'd meet her Prince Charming and finally get married and live happily ever after. That wasn't going to happen if a drowned albino gerbil was hanging out with them. So the night was shot. All that effort to get out of the office, risking Kevin's displeasure and the good-girl rep she had strived to build at work, for nothing.
It was as if she'd been cursed or something. Was it accepting that date with John later? No, it wasn't a date. Even if she wanted him, he didn't want her. She knew that. So why couldn't she stop hoping? God, she wished she could just control her heart. It was like a wild galloping thing. Even now, after all this time had passed since John and Bianca’s wedding where Chelsea had been a puffy-faced miserable maid of honor. Even after visiting Bianca in the hospital a year later to see her beautiful friend glowing and holding sweet little Sebastian in her arms.
"You're lost in thought. What's up?" Bianca said, finally tearing herself away from her conversation with Kate. Chelsea had noticed how interested Bianca was in Kate and it depressed her. Bianca was a better person than Chelsea, never judged a book by its cover. Bianca had been gazing at that ghostly-pale buck-toothed face all night and probably never thought once about her new friend's appearance. Of course, Bianca was married, wasn't lonely and desperate to meet someone like Chelsea.
Yes, Bianca was married...to John. And Chelsea was going to see him tonight. Behind Bianca's back. Oh, she, Chelsea, was a horrible person!
Cringing a little, Chelsea shook her head. "Oh, nothing? What-what are you guys talking about?" she said, and smelling garlic again, covered her mouth. "Do you have a breath mint by any chance? I didn't realize there was garlic in the empanadas."
Bianca shook her head. "No, sorry."
"I have some?" Kate said, leaning into the table and craning her neck to look at Chelsea. "Do you want one? Tic Tacs?"
Chelsea felt bolts of guilt shoot through her. But... "Sure. Thanks. That's nice of you." It was official. She was going to hell.
Kate, looking so bright-eyed and happy it hurt to look at her, pulled the clear plastic container out of her purse and handed it to Chelsea. Well, maybe there was some hope for redemption. "I'm glad you could come out tonight. It's...nice meeting you."
"Oh? It's so nice to meet you, too?" Kate said, eyebrows flying up and wrinkling her lily-white forehead.
Chelsea shook out a few peppermint Tic Tacs into her palm and handed back the container. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”
“I’m so glad I could help? I always carry Tic Tacs?”
Bianca turned back to Kate. “Maybe soon you’ll be carrying makeup, too. Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we go powder our noses and we’ll try out a little lipstick out on you now? I’ve got a color with me that would be perfect on you. A pretty pink.”
Chelsea, overhearing this, realized Bianca was going to take Kate under her wing. How kind! Bianca was like an angel. And if anyone desperately needed help, it was Kate. Those jeans were fine, but the sweater! It was like a pink sack. And not a drop of makeup on her washed-out face. Bianca always thought outside the box like that – why couldn’t Chelsea? Chelsea popped the Tic Tacs in her mouth and sucked on them glumly.
“Oh, really? Would you?” Kate said.
“Sure. Let’s go,” Bianca said and then turned to the other girls. “Back in a sec.”
Lucie and Sharon paused their conversation long enough to acknowledge Bianca and Kate’s departure, raising their eyebrows and chins in a face-wave, before turning back to each other. Bianca and Kate slid out of banquette and walked away, winding their way through the crowd.
Sharon was talking about waiting tables and the steps to take to make sure a table had what it needed while Lucie wrote furiously on the back of a receipt she’d taken out of her wallet. According to Sharon, the first thing to make sure of was that a table was served drinks as soon as possible. “So they have something already. It makes any other waiting they may have to do a little easier. Not too much waiting, though! People get antsy.”
She went on for ten minutes, outlining the things people needed most and telling stories about her waitressing experiences, before concluding, “So, that’s the extent of it; waitressing is really just about paying attention to what people need. Oh, and anticipating a little bit, too. The waitress we had tonight was good. Paid attention.”
Lucie was nodding and scribbling on her cocktail napkin now that the receipt was covered. Sharon turned her head to look back over her shoulder toward the bar before facing the table again. She looked across at Chelsea for a moment, a considering look, and then said, still looking at Chelsea, “Lucie…”
Lucie was still writing. “Yeah?”
“It’s interesting…”
Chelsea suddenly had an idea about what Sharon might say and shook her head quickly, bugging her eyes out at Sharon. Sharon ignored her and turned to Lucie.
Lucie finished her notes and looked up. “What were you saying?”
“Well, it’s funny, see Bianca-“
“Nothing!” Chelsea said. “So! Aren’t you excited about your new business? How’s it going? Wow, I-"
“Bianca was saying,” Sharon continued in a louder voice. “That you two knew each other way back?”
Lucie blinked and then stuttered, “She...she did?”
“Well, did you?” Sharon said.
“Uh,” Lucie said, looking uncharacteristically flustered. “Yeah. Yes. We did. At a hedge fund company in Greenwich.”
“You really worked at Pinnacle?” Chelsea burst in. She couldn’t believe it. But she had to. Lucie – the ever-cool, smart, and funny girl she liked so much – was a compulsive liar. Or had been. It was crazy.
“Yes,” Lucie said carefully and giving a little nod. “At Pinnacle. I knew Bianca then.”
“Wow! I just can’t believe the coincidence!” Chelsea said and stopped, stumped about what more she could safely say. This whole situation was uncomfortable. Why had Sharon brought it up? What was she thinking?
“It’s interesting,” Lucie said. “She acted like she didn’t know me.”
Sharon said, “But you acted the same way - you shook her hand, too. Like you didn’t know her.”
Lucie's lips tightened, her face closing off. “It was awkward. This whole thing is...”
“Why?” Sharon said. “What happened?”
Lucie opened her mouth and shut it again. She shook her head. “I-I’d rather not talk about it.” She looked at Chelsea as she said it and then away. “Can we drop this?”
Sharon leaned in, “But really, I want to know what-“
Chelsea squealed, “I don’t! Let’s drop it.”
Sharon turned to Chelsea. “But the thing is, I don’t think that Bianca was being entirely honest. Sorry Chelsea, she’s your friend, but I have this feeling-“
Just then, Chelsea saw Bianca approaching, the crowd parting to allow her red-clad form through with Kate following right behind her. Chelsea bugged out her eyes and smiled an artificial smile that showed all her teeth. “Sharon? Please change the subject now?”
“What? Oh,” Sharon said, glancing back.
Lucie sighed and relaxed back against the banquette’s cushions in apparent relief just as Bianca and Kate stopped in front of their table. Bianca fanned her hand toward Kate like a game show hostess. “Ta da. Doesn’t Kate look wonderful?”
Kate straightened and smiled at them, her pale cheeks glowing with blush and her thin lips rosy with a pink lipstick. Even her flat dishwater-blond hair had been fluffed so that it looked thicker. Chelsea was impressed. The gerbil was actually kind of cute. They all made appropriate sounds of praise.
“Oh, thanks?” Kate said, her shoulders going up near her ears.
“So,” Bianca said, still standing over them. “This calls for a celebration. Kate’s first night out in the area. I’ll treat – let’s get a bottle of champagne. Let’s drink and be merry and stay out to the wee hours!”
Chelsea startled. Wee hours? She was meeting John at ten, the safest time when everyone would probably need to go home. Didn’t Bianca have to go? What about... “Wee hours? What about Sebastian? Don’t you have to relieve the nanny now?”
Bianca looked at Chelsea, giving a little jerk of irritation, her eyebrows lowering. “What? No. That’s the nanny’s job. That’s why we pay her far too much.”
“But…” Chelsea trailed off. She didn’t like the way Bianca was looking at her. Like she suspected.
"Well," Lucie chimed in. "I can't stay out. I have an early day tomorrow. Sorry to miss all the fun, though."
Cocktail Hour Page 10