She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [81]
At Tramps, Celeste and the twins had their hair done. Tracey, too, showed up. After Denise finished their hairdos, Celeste asked, “Do you have time to do Tracey’s?”
“Sure, sit down,” she said. Denise went to work, fluffing and brushing. Then she looked at Tracey’s lips. “You need some lipstick. I’ll get some.”
She came back with a tester tube she smoothed over Tracey’s rough lips.
“You look dykey,” Celeste said laughing, when she was finished. Denise laughed, too, but Tracey didn’t seem to mind. Denise thought she seemed proud to get the attention.
That night, Jimmy served hamburgers and hot dogs to a group of forty that included a few of the twins’ friends but mostly Celeste’s buddies, everyone from Dawn and Jim Madigan, her friends from the lake, to both her hairdressers. On the buffet table Celeste placed trays of vegetables, cheeses, and fruit, a crockpot of chili con queso for chips, and cheese cake for dessert. Music blared, and many danced, including Jimmy and Celeste, so close that few who saw them wouldn’t assume that they were lovers.
Among the crowd, Tracey watched Celeste’s every move, wondering what was going on between her lover and her ex-husband. As the night wore on, Celeste announced another party, for Halloween. “Everyone will dress up as Jimmy,” she said, visibly drunk. “You can all wear cowboy boots and jeans.”
Soon after, she disappeared upstairs. Downstairs, the party continued, but Tracey, a short time later, followed her and found Celeste sleeping in Jimmy’s bed. When Kristina walked in moments later, Tracey was draped over her mother, stroking her.
Upset, she found Jimmy. “Tell Tracey to get off mom,” she said.
Jimmy ran upstairs and saw the two women in bed. “Get the hell off her,” he ordered Tracey.
Tracey appeared not to hear, continuing to rub against Celeste.
“I said get out,” he ordered, pulling her arm. Tracey stood, unsteady on her feet.
“Tell her I’m not a lesbian,” Celeste mumbled.
Jimmy turned and followed Tracey downstairs, pushing her when she stopped and tried to go back upstairs. At the door, Kristina and Justin offered her a ride home.
“No,” she shouted. “I’m fine.”
She wove out the door, obviously drunk. At the street, she stopped and shouted. “You tell Celeste I want her at my house in one hour.”
Jimmy slammed the door and locked it.
Inside, the party wound down. Amy had so much to drink she threw up and put her foot on the floor to keep the bed from spinning. Jennifer fell and scratched her face.
Half an hour later a guest who’d left called. “That gay woman got arrested,” he told Jimmy. “We saw her on the side of the road with a squad car.”
The phone rang and Travis County Jail came up on Jimmy’s caller ID. He took the phone off the hook.
At the jail, Tracey tried Celeste’s cell phone, then, in the early hours of the morning, the Toro Canyon house. When the operator told Steve he had a call from Tracey Tarlton at the Travis County Jail, he hung up, too. The next day he told Celeste what had happened and to bail Tracey out and stop seeing her. “I don’t want you to spend any more time with that woman.”
Celeste laughed that afternoon when she picked Tracey up at the jail. “Steve’s really mad at you,” she said. “He didn’t even know about the party. He was so pissed.”
In September, the month in Europe with Steve must have gaped before Celeste like approaching doom. She told Tracey to meet her at the lake house one afternoon, to brew a second batch of botulism. When Tracey got there, Celeste had all the ingredients, and they began stirring into the jar corn, a few tablespoons of chopped meat, and dirt from the yard. Then, just as Tracey had the first time, Celeste filled