Folly Beach - Dorothea Benton Frank [7]
I looked around at the small crowd of people, shivering from the cold. Suddenly, it seemed that their jaws were tight and their faces unsympathetic. Was I imagining this? No. If that’s how they felt, why had they come?
Amen.
The service was abruptly over, Pastor Anderson stepped over and shook my hand, and everyone stared at me. I had my arm around Sara then. My poor daughter had wept an ocean of tears. Look what you’ve done, Addison. Look what you’ve done. I just wanted to scream. I invited Pastor Anderson back to the house but he begged off. The weather, he said. I knew he was rushing back to that hot young thing he had married recently. Judi was her name and there wasn’t a woman in our church who didn’t want to be her. I thanked him for everything and thought, Gosh, everyone has a purpose in their life except me.
As Pastor Anderson turned and walked away, Addison’s blond twenty-two-year-old secretary was the first one to approach us.
“Lauren, thank you for coming,” I said. “You’ve met our daughter, Sara?”
“Yeah. I can’t believe he’s dead, and what he did, you know? I mean, he was so great back when we were together . . .”
“When who was together?” I said.
“Uh, you know,” Lauren said and then paused, her eyes growing wide. “You mean, you didn’t know?”
“Know what?” I said, the sordid truth dawning.
“Jesus, Mrs. Cooper, don’t look at me like that! I thought everybody in New Jersey knew it! It was all over Twitter last year! He hooked up with like every girl who ever worked in the office!”
“What?” I felt all the air rush out of my chest and I thought I was going to faint. Did she mean that Addison had sex with all of them? Little Lauren read my mind.
“Like we had a choice? If Addison Cooper wanted something, he got it and you know it! A bunch of us were gonna file suit for sexual harassment but now that he’s gone . . .”
“Mom!” Sara said. “Do something!”
“Lauren?” I was at a loss for words. “I think it’s time for you to leave. Now.” It was all I knew to say. If I had been in possession of my mind, I might have given her the back of my hand right across her face. Who was this horrible young woman? The Lauren I had known over the phone was polite and kind. True or not, how mean and unforgivably rude to say such a thing at Addison’s funeral.
I turned away from her and nearly knocked down Shirley Hackett, the wife of Addison’s most senior partner.
“I just wanted to say that, well, I feel for you, Cate.”
“Thanks, Shirley. This was such a terrible shock.”
“I’m sure. Between you and me, there are probably more shocks to come.”
“What do you mean? And where’s Alan?”
“Humph. Cate? I mean this in the nicest possible way, but if Addison had not died, Alan would’ve killed him. I came out of respect for you and the children but believe me, there’s no love lost with Alan.”
“Why? What in the world are you talking about? We’ve been friends for years!”
Shirley stood there and stared at me for what seemed like an eternity until finally she spoke again.
“We’re broke, Cate. Addison lost all our money and most of the firm’s clients. It’s going down the tubes. Chapter Eleven.”
“You’ve got to be wrong. You’re exaggerating.”
“Oh, my God,” Sara said.
“No, I’m not. Remember that gorgeous house we had in Upper Saddle River? Well, now instead of taking a Citation X to San Francisco for dinner I’m driving a used Kia. I’m shopping at the Pathmark and cooking ramen in a studio apartment in Tenafly.”
“What on earth are you talking about? When did all this happen?”
“Am I to believe that you don’t know anything about this?”
“Absolutely! I mean, I heard Addison wasn’t himself for the last year or so, and I knew things weren’t great at the firm but I had no idea!”
“Well, then, darling? You’d better brace yourself.”
She couldn’t have