Derailed (14 page)

Downstairs everyone had convened on the patio. The tables were covered with newspaper and large citronella candles. Two crawfish steamers were heating and Ryder and Ari were in the pool.

“I’m going to get a tat right across here to commemorate the event.” Ryder announced as he pointed out to Ari the very spot where his arm had been broken several months back.

“What’s the tat gonna be?”

“Play
buoy
because that was the name of the boat I fell out of.”

Ari frowned. “Oh, that’s unfortunate.

“Mom won’t let me get a tattoo until I’m eighteen. She thinks she’ll get arrested.”

“Hmm, maybe rethink that forearm tattoo. I don’t think it will be too popular with the ladies.”

“Why not?”

“A woman doesn’t want to be with a play
buoy
. She wants to be with someone who’s only got eyes for her. Your tattoo may send the wrong message.”

Ryder’s forehead crinkled, as he was deep in thought. “I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t wanna send the wrong message to the ladies.”

“It’s a worry.” Ari nodded.

Everett chuckled at their dialogue. He caught Fiona’s gaze. “You have a very precocious son.”

“Tell me about it. On the way over here he asked if you and I would be skinny dipping in the pool later tonight.”

“Oh? What did you tell him?”

“No, of course not.”

“Too bad.”

“Everett, can you give me a hand with the baskets?” Parker asked.

Everett donned a pair of heat-resistant gloves and lifted a basketful of crawfish from the boiler.

Ryder had emerged from the pool to assist at his side. “Whoa! That’s a lot of mudbugs.”

“Look out, the steam is hot.” Ryder stepped back while Everett let the bugs drain. “Put on that pair of gloves and you can help me spread them out on the table.” Everett gestured with a head nod at the gloves. Ryder complied. “Ready?”

“Ready!”

Everett carried the basket to the table and dumped the contents onto the newspaper. Hundreds of bright red crawfish steamed in heaping piles, along with corn and potatoes. Everett pushed crawfish to evenly distribute piles down the table. “Just give ‘em a good push.”

“This is fun!”

“Ryder, do you eat crawfish?” Courtney asked.

“No I never have, but I’m gonna.”

Bailey brought beer and soda to the table while Maura carried trays. Dad turned on ESPN and everybody took a seat around the table.

“Look what we have here. It’s so great having you all home at the same time,” Mom announced before taking her seat by Dad.

Everett sat between Fiona and Ryder. “Let me show you how to peel them.” He held a crawfish in his left hand, and then lifted a couple of scales from the tail, following it around the critter. “A pinch and a squeeze.” Then he lifted the tail to his mouth and pulled the meat out with his teeth. “All there is to it.”

Ryder struggled at first, but after a couple more lessons, he was peeling at a good pace.

“Fiona, it’s your turn.” Julian pointed.

Everett noticed she’d only pulled corn and potatoes into a pile before her so he pushed a few crawfish over to her side. “You’ve gotta try at least.”

She bit her lip and nodded, a look of sheer terror on her face.

“Mmm, they’re good, Mom. You’ll like them.” Ryder slurped juice from one of the crawfish heads, having been taught to do so by Everett.

“Eww.” Fiona cringed as she watched her son.

Everett smiled sweetly at her plight. “How about I peel you a few and you just try the tail meat?” He watched her swallow the knot in her throat, but she nodded her consent.

He held the meat up to her mouth. “It’s good and clean, I promise. Almost tastes like chicken.” Her lips parted and he placed the meat inside her mouth. She tentatively chewed as he watched her expression change from apprehension to delight.

“It’s not bad.” She licked her lips. He must remember to forgo the pleasure of watching her taste new foods and wines when dining in front of his family. “It’s good even. I like the seasoning.”

“Of course you like the seasoning. That’s my girl’s new spice rub.” Bailey and Parker high-fived without missing a beat.

Julian cleared his throat and stood. “I heard a new joke this week.”

Courtney held up her hand. “I haven’t consumed quite enough beer to listen to that.”

“Let’s hear it,” Dad hollered.

“So this old lady calls the cops and Boudreaux’s on patrol. He’s called to Mrs. Duplechan’s house, his former Sunday school teacher. When he gets there she’s very upset and carrying on about a naked man in the neighbor’s yard. Boudreaux says, ‘Mrs. Duplechan, I checked and der is no naked man in the neighbor’s yard.’ To which she replies, ‘Oh yes der is, come inside and I’ll show ya.’ Boudreaux walks in the house and looks through the window into the neighbor’s yard. ‘Mrs. Duplechan, der is no naked man in da yard.’ Mrs. Duplechan pulled Boudreaux to the bathroom where he proceeds to look out the window. ‘I’m telling ya, der’s no naked man in da yard.’ Mrs. Duplechan puts the toilet seat down and says, ‘You hafta stand on da toilet to get a good look at him.’

The crowd broke out in peals of laughter, including Everett who for the first time ever, appreciated the humor in one of Julian’s jokes.

“Maura, do you ever get tired of hearing Julian’s jokes?” Mom asked.

“No ma’am. I could listen to him all day.” She cooed lovingly at the man in question while Courtney mimed gagging herself.

“I think my grandbaby will need to carry on Julian’s legacy.”

“So do I! I think his first joke should be the leech joke. I can’t get Julian to tell it to me.”

“I already told you Maura, count your blessings. The leech joke is the dumbest one.” Courtney snorted derisively.

After dinner the men resigned to stay on the porch drinking beer and watching ESPN while Mom announced she was retiring for the night. The girls accompanied Bailey to the living room to discuss wedding plans and left the men to their game.

***

Fiona listened as Bailey discussed the wedding reception plans. “The David family is pretty extensive, but I think the country club can fit everybody nicely. Courtney, I received RSVPs from all the Davids except Ashton. Is he not coming to the wedding or what?”

“Oh.” Courtney’s eyes grew large. “There’s a story there.” She removed her shoes, tucking her feet beneath her on the couch to get comfortable. “Ashton has crippling social anxiety.”

“Oh, that’s terrible.” Maura said.

“He didn’t always. It happened after the incident with his mother and father. I’m sketchy on the details, but he lost his parents when he was in high school. I doubt he’ll venture out for the wedding.”

“But Parker said he lives next door.”

“I know but even still, we hadn’t seen him in years until Everett became his lawyer.”

Fiona bit her lip to keep from speaking as she recalled the troubles he’d caused Everett. If it weren’t for Ashton, he’d still be working in Baton Rouge. Lights beamed through the window and washed the room in a haphazard glow. Courtney got up and walked to peek from the open shutters. She shrugged, and then took up her seat on the couch.

“So anyway, you can scratch Ashton David off your guest list.”

Maura drew one line through the name on the list in her lap. “That will free up some much needed table space.”

Bailey frowned. “It’s too bad. I really wanted to meet all of Parker’s family.”

“Don’t worry Bailey—you won’t be at a loss for Davids. Although you may wish you were.”

Bailey paced the room while Maura spoke of her bridesmaid’s dress that could not yet be ordered due to her expanding size. “I told Parker we planned the wedding too close to Adrian’s birth. There’s not going to be enough time to get you fitted.”

“It’s going to be fine. We’ll make everything work out. I don’t want you to get all worked up.”

Bailey nodded, but resumed her pacing.

“Mom is an excellent seamstress. Any last minute adjustments that need to be made can be done by her.” Courtney added.

“Wonderful!” Maura smiled.

“Who’s that woman talking with Everett out by the fountain?” All eyes turned to Bailey, who was now peering out the window.

Looking through the slats, Fiona saw a very attractive woman with long legs that looked shapely and sophisticated in a pencil skirt and silk blouse. She stood next to the fountain—too close to Everett for Fiona’s liking. In her heeled dress shoes, her height was equal to Everett’s and Fiona wondered if he found that desirable. Even in four-inch heels she only came to his shoulders.

“Do you know who that is?” Fiona asked of the room.

“I’ve never seen her before.” Maura answered.

Courtney leaned in to get a closer look. “I think that’s Clarissa Girouard. Everett used to date her when he was at LSU. Although date is a stretch. Mostly I think they just”—

“That explanation will suffice, we don’t need any more.” Maura interrupted.

“Oh, sorry. Everett’s never really had a steady girlfriend until Fiona.”

“Thanks, but that’s not really making me feel better at the moment.” Fiona watched their body language through the window, as did the other women. Everett and Clarissa were now seated on the fountain, the glow and trickling water adding a romantic backdrop to their escapade.
Clarissa
. Fiona thought the name to be very fancy. It was the kind of name a woman with style and social standing would have.
Clarissa
. She imagined Everett’s release of her name from his lips during heightened passion and her stomach rolled.

It could be stated that Fiona never liked her name. In fact, she’d been teased at school. Some people even thought it was okay to nickname her Fifi without asking. While she hated her name, she hated the nicknames even more. Then the dreaded Disney movie released and upon every new introduction for the next three years she was likened to Princess Fiona, the ogre.

Fiona watched the former lovers with a jealous eye. They sat close, shoulders touching. Everett was relaxed. She even thought she’d seen him throw a dazzling smile at Clarissa. “Do you have any idea what she’s doing here?”

“No. I can’t imagine Everett’s too happy about it though. I always suspected she was the reason he escaped to Boston.”

Escaped?

Downtrodden, Fiona moved from the window to the table where Ryder had left his homework laid out. She picked up his Spider-Man backpack and began to load it with his textbooks and folders. Her vision blurred at some point during the task, which was silly she thought, since it wasn’t a crime for Everett to speak with a former girlfriend. She didn’t want to be that woman, but still, she couldn’t deny it hurt a little.

Maura was at her side. “Hey, are you getting ready to leave?”

“Yeah, it’s approaching ten o’clock. Ryder needs to get to bed.”

She placed her hand on her shoulder. “He loves you. I can see it in his eyes and his expression.”

“I know.”

“They say he’s never had a girlfriend so he probably doesn’t know that this situation is worrisome.”

“You’re right.” Fiona nodded and waved away her previous anxiety. She hugged and thanked Maura. Then she issued goodbyes to Courtney and Bailey.

***

Everett was more than shocked at standing toe to toe with Clarissa Girouard.

“I hope you weren’t too busy.”

“Not at all. You’ll have to excuse me, I would have invited you in, but all of my family is in attendance so I thought we’d have more privacy out here.”

“This is fine.” She offered him a nervous smile as she roved him from head to toe. “You look great.”

“As do you.”

“What’s it been, like six years?”

“Has it been that long?” He watched her and noticed, not for the first time, that she seemed a bit more shy around him than she used to. “What’s on your mind, Clarissa?”

“I’d heard you were back in town working at the Baton Rouge firm and I wanted to see you.”

“Well your information is out of date. I no longer work at the Baton Rouge firm. I’m in Boston. I’m only home for the weekend.”

“Oh?” Her eyes widened.

“Yeah.” She seemed disappointed with his explanation.

“Well I just wanted to stop by and welcome you back so I guess there’s no point in my hanging around.”

He pulled her by the hand to sit on the fountain. “Clarissa, I think I owe you a very long, overdue explanation and apology.”

She fidgeted with the bracelet on her wrist. “I was stunned that you’d left without so much as a goodbye.”

He’d hurt her. He could see the residual pain in her expression and her warm honeyed eyes.

“I was young and stupid. Instead of having a confrontation with your father about why I wasn’t interested in interning at his company, I fled. It was cowardly, but at the time our relationship was building and it was starting to grow into something I wasn’t ready to pursue.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Everett. I wasn’t trying to trap you or take away your freedom.”

“I don’t think you were. I think your father was.”

“Well you’re right, but he just wanted to see his only daughter united with a great guy. You can’t fault him for that, can you?”

“Absolutely not. However, you’re much too good to settle for the likes of me.”

“I disagree. And for what it’s worth, so does my father.”

“I’ve gotta say, I’m a little surprised he didn’t come after me.”

“I begged him not to. After you left without a word I realized our intensity had been too much for you and I regretted it. Regretted us.”

Everett didn’t remember there being much about their relationship to regret and he wondered what she was getting at, but he wouldn’t make light of her admissions, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

“Everett?”

“Hmm?”

“I’d like to pick up where we left off, if you would. I still have feelings for you. I haven’t been with anyone since you. I was so happy when I heard you were working in the Baton Rouge office I couldn’t wait to see you again.”

Holy fuck!
Despite wearing a tie or even a starched collar he felt a noose tighten around his neck and reached up to rub the area. Sure, he cared about Clarissa in a I’m-her-former-shitty-boyfriend-turned-friend kind of way, but he wasn’t into her like that. He never had been. She eyed him with intensity, gauging his every flutter.