Crystal Lies - Melody Carlson [21]
“Sorry to bother you, Glennis,” she was saying. “But I just keep thinking of—”
I snatched the phone and breathlessly said,“Hello.”
“Oh, Glennis,” she said, relief in her voice. “Am I catching you at a bad time?”
“Well, sort of.” I glanced at the dresser in the middle of the kitchen.
“I’m sorry. Do you want me to call back later?”
“How about if I call you back on my cell in just a few minutes?”
“Great. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Better yet,”—I felt a wave of hunger coming over me—“can you meet me for lunch at…” I was trying to think of a place away from downtown and city hall or anyplace where I might run into Geoffrey.
“How about Ziddies?” she suggested.
“Perfect,” I said in relief since Ziddies was a new lunch spot near the mall, a place where Geoffrey would never think to go. “Sure, I’d love to. When?”
I glanced at my watch. It was already one fifteen. “How about one thirty?”
“Great, I’ll be there.”
So I managed to get the dresser safely loaded onto the blanket that I’d spread out over the backseat of the Range Rover. I knew Geoffrey would be furious if I damaged the precious leather seats. At the same time, I wondered why I even cared. Habit, I guess. Geoffrey had picked out this Range Rover when both kids were still in high school. He said it was the “perfect family vehicle,” although I had suspected he simply liked the idea of driving one of the most expensive rigs in town. For several years he was the primary driver of the Range Rover and parked it in prominent places at city hall as if to proclaim to anyone paying attention that Geoffrey Harmon had made it in this town… that the city attorney was a big success. But after a few years, he had grown tired of the Range Rover’s size, or so he said, and that’s when he urged me to trade in my old Mercedes for his new Porsche. Naturally, I became the driver of the slightly used Range Rover. At first I had balked at the size, but I soon grew accustomed to the luxury of this quality SUV and began to think of it as my own. How long would that continue, I wondered as I locked the back door to what used to be my house. Then I got in the Range Rover and left, without looking back even once.
I spotted Sherry in a corner booth, already sipping a coffee. “Sorry to be late,” I told her as I slid in across from her.
“No problem.” She smiled. “It sounded like you were busy What’re you up to these days?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
She nodded and handed me a menu. “I’ve got time.”
I nervously glanced around the restaurant, not sure whom I expected to see, but thankful not to recognize any of the faces. Then I skimmed the menu and decided on the turkey-and-apple salad just as the waitress arrived to take our orders.
“Now, don’t take this wrong,” began Sherry after the waitress had left,“but you don’t look so good.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
“I know you’ve been going through the wringer with Jacob this summer,” she continued,“but you still need to take care of yourself.”
Sherry was the only person I’d been able to confide in about Jacob. And then only partially. She had no idea that he was using drugs. She thought he was just going through a little rebellious period and partying like so many of the kids in our town seemed to do. The same way her own two sons had done not so many years ago. But now her boys were doing fine, and she would often tell me that, as if to reassure me that it would soon be the case with Jacob as well.
I weighed my options as I watched her stirring her coffee. I could spill my guts and risk shocking her so badly that I would lose her friendship entirely—if that was possible, and I wasn’t even sure. Or I could skim the surface as I usually did and risk the chance that she’d find out about everything soon enough and be mad at me for