Crystal Lies - Melody Carlson [22]
“Things have gotten worse,” I told her.
She frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
“Is it Jacob?”
“It’s Jacob and Geoffrey and me.” I shook my head. “It’s all of us, I suppose.”
“What’s going on, Glennis?”
“I’ve left Geoffrey.”
Her blue eyes grew wide. “No, you’re not serious? When? What happened?”
And so I began to tell her about Jacob’s arrest and the fight over bailing him out and how Geoffrey had thrown his own son out. I paused as the waitress brought us our order.
“But, Glennis,” said Sherry after the waitress left again,“you don’t want to leave Geoffrey just because he threw Jacob out. Do you?”
“It’s more than that,” I told her in a tired voice. “It’s like I couldn’t breathe in that house anymore. It’s like I never belonged there in the first place. I mean as long as everything was absolutely picture perfect, as long as we all stayed in our proper places and played our perfect little roles, well, then Geoffrey was happy. But one wrong step, one false move, and Geoffrey would be on us like—” I stopped speaking when I saw a familiar face coming into the restaurant.
“What’s wrong?” asked Sherry.
“Oh, someone just came in…”
“Who?”
“Oh, it’s just Judith Ramsey,” I said in a hushed voice.
“The city manager?”
“Yes.” I remembered the photo but told myself not to be ridiculous.
“Is she alone?”
“She’s with a couple of women. I can’t remember their names, but they look familiar. I’m sure they work at city hall too.” I shifted where I was sitting so that the post behind Sherry managed to block me from their view.
“Didn’t I hear that Judith got divorced recently?”
“Last year.” I peeked around the post momentarily. “And, don’t look now, but I could swear that woman’s had some plastic surgery done.”
Sherry giggled. “I’m afraid to ask where.”
“Don’t.”
“Are you uncomfortable talking now?” asked Sherry in a gentle voice. “We could go somewhere else.”
I glanced back over to where the three women had just sat down not far from the door and decided they couldn’t hear us. Besides, I told myself, why should I care?“I doubt they’d even recognize me anyway.” I sighed. “Looking like this I mean.”
“Well, you don’t really look like yourself today, Glennis.” She patted my hand. “But now I can understand why.”
“It all feels like a bad dream,” I told her. “I keep thinking I’ll wake up and everything will be like it was before.”
“And that would be okay?”
“Well, maybe not. It wasn’t so great before, either.”
“But do you think you and Geoffrey would still be together if things hadn’t gotten so, well, so out of hand with Jacob?”
I still hadn’t told her about the drugs. I wasn’t sure I even planned to. Or at least maybe not today. It seemed we had enough of the family’s dirty laundry tossed onto the table for one day.
“I suppose it’s possible, Sherry. I don’t really know. Everything seems kind of hazy and blurry to me right now.”
“I can imagine. So where are you staying? A hotel?”
I shook my head. “No, I can’t quite believe I did it myself, but I signed a six-month lease on an apartment.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” She looked at me in disbelief. “When did all this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
“You left Geoffrey yesterday and signed a six-month lease the very same day?
“I did.
“Oh my.”
“Do you think I made a mistake?” I leaned forward and peered into her eyes, longing for some sort of confirmation or encouragement.
“I don’t know what to think, Glennis. It’s all so sudden. I’m sure your head must be spinning.”
“It is. I literally feel a little dizzy.”
She pointed at my untouched food. “Eat your salad.”
I obliged her and considered my straits. Telling Sherry about all this made it more real somehow. What had I gotten myself into?
“What did Geoffrey say?”
“He doesn’t know”
“Doesn’t know? But you said you left yesterday. What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. As far as I can tell, he never came home last night either.
“Really?