A Woman Lost (2 page)

Ethan spat out his coffee. “Are you serious?” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and then used it to mop the coffee off the table. “You’re just now telling me this. What did you say?” He couldn’t stop laughing.

“I said I would think about it. Who do you and Lisa see? Is it working for you two?”

He threw his stir stick at me. “God, you
are
a bitch!”

“And you, my friend, are a wimpy intellectual. Throwing a stir stick at me … Ooooo … I’m scared.” I threw it back at him.

My cell phone interrupted. “Speak of the devil,” I said, as I looked at the caller ID. “I better get it.” I opened the phone, and said in an overly cheery voice, “Hey, baby, how’s your day going?”

Ethan whispered, “Don’t overdo it.”

I quickly covered the mouthpiece and kicked Ethan in the shin.

He yelped louder than necessary to get back at me.

“Yeah, I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. I don’t want to be late. My mother can be a bitch sometimes.”

“That’s where you get it from.” Ethan giggled. I kicked him again, much harder this time.

“Ok, honey. I won’t be very late tonight.” I mumbled, “I heart you,” and then I closed my phone. “You can be such an ass,” I told Ethan. After chugging the rest of my chai, I stood up. “So what’s the excuse tonight? A pulled groin muscle so you don’t have to screw your wife?”

Ethan stood too. “Nah, I used that one last week. I may have to slip her some sleeping pills.”

I stopped in my tracks on the way to the trash can. Turning back to him, I asked in disbelief, “You don’t actually do that do you?”

He winked at me and threw his cup away.

“So,” Ethan asked, as we walked to our cars, “when was the last time you saw your folks?”

“Christmas, or one of those holidays. I’m not sure if it was last year or the year before.”

“It’s August. Are you going to be okay tonight?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know. My mother can be brutal. She’d have no qualms about ripping the heads off of kittens.”

“Well, good luck. Call me if you need to talk. By the way, I dig the pinstripe power suit. You look hot.” One hand leaning on the roof of his car, Ethan gestured with the other to my clothes. “I wouldn’t worry too much about losing Sarah. You’re beautiful, and successful, and I think she loves you. Oh wait … she hearts you.” He snickered.

“Thanks. I think.” I shook my head. “Are we on for Saturday?”

“Of course. You know Lisa thinks we are having an affair?”

“So how long are you going to string her along?”

“
Touché
.” He stooped and climbed into his car, turned the engine on, and then rolled down the window. “I heart you.” He waved limply and smirked as he drove out of the parking lot.

I watched him pull away. Briefly, I stared at my key in the car door. Was

I sure I wanted to do this?

Chapter Two

When pulling into the parking lot, I tried to remember the last time I had been to the country club. I used to eat there all of the time as a child. The food wasn’t even that good, but that didn’t matter to my folks. All that mattered was that people saw us there several times a month. I always hated it. We lived in Colorado, not on the East Coast, for Christ’s sake. Our family didn’t come over on the
Mayflower
.

The hostess watched me approach and asked in a snotty voice, “May I help you?”

“Yes I’m meeting the Petrie family for dinner?”

“Oh, are you a friend of the family?”

“I’m the daughter.” I smiled wearily and straightened my blazer to look more presentable. I had my hair down, instead of in my normal ponytail, and I had put on eye shadow and mascara. Usually, I only did that when I was out with Sarah, but even then, I preferred the
au naturel
look‌—‌or at least that was my excuse.

The hostess tried to soften her bitchy look. “I didn’t know they had a daughter.”

I’m sure she didn’t. My parents didn’t really spread the news about my existence.

“I think I am early, though.” I changed the subject.

“You aren’t early. Your party is already seated.” She tilted her head like a confused puppy.

I looked at my watch and noticed it was a quarter to seven.
Nice, Peter‌—‌telling me the wrong time.

I followed the hostess through the maze of tables surrounded by overdressed, pompous asses. I recognized several of them‌—‌women who had been under the knife and hadn’t changed in the past ten years. Or maybe I didn’t recognize them. Rich women were a dime a dozen here. It was how they made it known they had money. How they made themselves feel superior whenever, in fact, they felt inferior.

“May I ask what time my party arrived?” I quickened my pace to keep up with the lanky hostess.

She turned to me, obviously puzzled. “I think they’ve been here thirty minutes.”

Bravo, Peter. Bravo. Tell me 7:30 p.m. and then show up a little after 6:00 p.m. I should have known.

As the hostess led me to the table, she asked, “Do you live far away?”

“Not really. I live in Fort Collins.”

“Oh … you’re right. That’s not very far.” She looked disappointed in me.

“I’m working on my PhD. I don’t have a lot of free time to hang out.” Why was I justifying myself to this girl?

“That makes sense.”

Well, thank goodness the hostess accepted my excuse. As if I needed that haughty girl’s approval for my absences from family dinners at the club. We reached the table.

“Here’s the last member of your party.” The hostess plastered a huge fake smile on her face.

“Right on time, Elizabeth.” My brother stood to shake my hand. I’d never understood why he always insisted on shaking my hand, or on using my full name. Everyone else called me Lizzie.

“Hello, Peter. I thought dinner was at 7:30.” I stared at him angrily. Then, following a deep breath, I blurted out, “Hello, everyone. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

Mom answered, “Half an hour. That sounds about right for you.” She took a sip of her scotch.

“Peter told me dinner was at 7:30 p.m.” I threw him another nasty look. Mom’s statement had already pissed me off. I was usually the annoying person who showed up early for everything. Whenever I went to a party, I had to wander around the neighborhood so I wouldn’t show up too early and annoy the host. Yet, Mom preferred to think of me as a complete and total fuck-up.

Peter smiled at me, his usual backstabbing, shit-eating grin. It was one of those charming smiles that could make most women believe anything. His clean-cut appearance helped. Tonight, my brother was going casual; his tie was loosened. “I remember telling you 6:30 p.m.”

I turned to the woman I assumed was my brother’s fiancée. My mouth fell open; I think my jaw may have even hit the floor. Oh, my God! She was stunning, easily the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Finally, I found my voice again. “Hello.”

I reached out to shake her hand and she rose graciously and accepted it. Long blonde hair. Stormy, ocean-blue eyes. Flawless skin. Very little make-up. And arched eyebrows that suggested a devious side.

My brother’s fiancée flashed me a smile that almost made me wet. “I’m Madeleine,” she said. “But my friends call me Maddie.”

Madeleine. What a beautiful name
.

“Very nice to meet you, Maddie. People close to me call me Lizzie.” I shot a look at Peter, hoping he’d get the hint. I despised being called Elizabeth.

“Geez, my bad. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce you two. I don’t know where my head is.” Peter kissed his fiancée before sitting back down and placing his napkin in his lap. Why he had stood that long in the first place baffled me.

“I apologize for my tardiness,” I said.

“Always the schoolteacher, Elizabeth.” Peter tsked.

I took my seat opposite my father. A man of few words, my father gave me a nod of acknowledgment. I knew he wouldn’t talk much, if at all, during dinner. My mother, unfortunately, hadn’t learned from him.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” stated Maddie. “I’m just glad that you made it here. I hope the drive went well.”

“Yes. Quite pleasant. It’s always good to get some time to relax.”

“I definitely know what you mean. I love to drive. Whenever I’m stressed out or need time to think, I jump in my car and drive my worries away.”

“I hate driving. Too many fucking assholes on the road,” said Mom, following her statement with another swallow of scotch.

“Maddie, do I detect a southern accent?”

The blonde flushed and looked over at Peter and then at my mom. “Well, I was born in Alabama, but my family moved to California when I was in high school.”

My mother bristled. Not only was she from the South, but she was also from California. My mother always believed herself to be a great woman, ranking herself among the Rockefellers and Carnegies. The idea was preposterous, of course. She was a small town girl from Montana who had married a man who became wealthy. Before that, they lived in a trailer. It was hard not to say anything to ruffle my mother’s feathers, but I didn’t think that was the best way to get to know my future sister-in-law. Everyone else in the family already hated me. It would be nice to have one ally in the bunch. I wondered why Peter had taken such a risk. He had to know Mom wouldn’t approve of a Southerner. I bet her family had connections to his work.

The waiter came over to take my drink order.

“Don’t bother offering her alcohol,” said Mom. “She can’t drink.” She raised her scotch glass and took another slug. Then she set the glass down and smoothed her navy suit.

The suit covered the whitest shirt I had ever seen, and a pearl necklace ringed Mom’s over-stretched neck at the collar. The pearls and shirt were stark against her olive skin. The combined effect was Mediterranean.

I ordered a Coke. “It’s not that I can’t drink, Mother. I don’t like to drink when I have to drive.” Her statement embarrassed me. My mother always referred to my preference for drinking only at home. I was such a lightweight that one drink gave me a buzz and forced me to find a cab. In Fort Collins, there was no cab service; hence, I never drank in public.

After the waiter left, Peter said, “Seriously, though … a Coke? Come on, Elizabeth. Why don’t you try some of this wine? It’s one of the best they have to offer.”

Peter always pretended to be a wine connoisseur, swirling his glass, sniffing it, and doing all of that annoying rigmarole to show off his knowledge. I hated wine. Every time he offered me wine, I reminded him that I loathed the stuff.

“Peter, you know she shouldn’t drink wine,” Mom scolded. “She’s already been pulled over for a DUI.” Another gulp of scotch.

“I was not, Mother!” I looked over at Maddie, horrified of what she would think. “I used to deliver newspapers when I was an undergrad, to help pay the bills. To save time, I rolled the papers while I drove my route. There wasn’t much steering going on, so I got pulled over. Once the cops realized I was just working, they let me go. I was never arrested or cited for anything.”

“They never gave you a ticket? Not even for reckless driving?”

“Nope. They were very nice about it. It was almost like we had a bond of some sort, since we all worked really crappy hours. The hours were brutal.”

I watched my mother raise the scotch glass to her lips again. I had once seen her drive away and lap the house eight times before she was able to get out of our neighborhood. She kept driving by the house as I watched from the front window. She hit the same trash can twice. And I was the fuck-up with alcohol?

Peter asked, “You can’t stay the night?”

“No. I have class first thing in the morning. It’ll be easier to head home tonight.”

“I thought college professors got to pick their own schedules.” His smile was truly smeared all across his face.

“Professors do. Doctoral students do not. We have to teach the classes no one else wants to teach.” I tried not to bristle. His condescension got under my skin, but I had learned over the years not to show any weakness around my family, or they would pounce.

“What classes do you teach?” asked Maddie, giving me another bedeviling smile.

“I teach Western Civ,” I said, gazing into her gorgeous blue eyes.

“I have to admit that history wasn’t my best subject.” Her smile this time was shy, sexy, but she never took her eyes off my face.

I reciprocated. “I hear that a lot. It surprises me that people aren’t fascinated by it. But I think the problem is that too many teachers concentrate on the facts‌—‌you know dates, places, and names. I want my students to appreciate that history is the greatest story ever told. It has violence, sex, love, romance, adventure, betrayal, drama, comedy. It has it all.”

“You teach your students about sex?” sniggered my mother, The Scotch-lady. The extravagant diamond on her ring finger nearly blinded me as she raised her tumbler to her mouth again.

Out of everything I had just said,
that
was what Mom honed in on.

“I don’t get out the dolls or anything.” I rolled my eyes. “But sex is important to history.” I swiveled my head in Mom’s direction. She took another sip of her drink and looked away.

“What do you do, Maddie?” I turned back to the blonde.

“I’m an interior designer.”

“Really? One of my good friends studied interior design at CSU. Her program was tough. She pulled all-nighters all of the time.”

The waiter arrived with my Coke and I took a sip. Secretly, I wished I could add a shot of rum, maybe two shots … or three.

“Yeah, a lot of people think all we do is put pretty throw pillows on a couch. They have no idea how complicated it is.” She laughed.

“You should see her work; it’s beautiful.” Peter leaned over and kissed Maddie’s cheek. I wasn’t sure if he was marking his territory or being affectionate.

Could he be jealous that Maddie and I were hitting it off? I wouldn’t say that fireworks shot into the sky for all to see, but there was a connection. Was it apparent to all?

“I’d love to see your work. Any chance you brought your portfolio?”

She laughed and shyly rolled her napkin. “Yes I did. I have an interview here in Denver.”