Authors: Tara McTiernan
Sharon said, an eyebrow cocked, her tone cool, "It's not. You're right. Lucie wanted to come here. Said the food was great."
"Oh, food," Bianca said, rolling her eyes and chuckling. "That is Lucie's favorite subject. She'll be a great caterer, no doubt."
Sharon leaned forward then, looking more interested. "So, you don't think that's a lie?"
"Oh, no," Bianca said in an apologetic voice, her forehead creasing. "Please, forget I said that. I shouldn't have."
Sharon's eyes narrowed. "Then why did you?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Kate asked, confused. Something about Lucie's catering business being a lie? How?
Sharon said, "Bianca said-"
"Really," Bianca interrupted, shaking her head. "Let's not. It's bad enough that I said it the first time. I'm sorry for it. I spoke out of turn."
Sharon leaned back again in her seat and nodded. "Fair enough...actually, I know exactly how you feel," she said, her eyes turning down on the edges with sadness.
"Oh?" Bianca said, now the one to lean forward, her expression avid. "How do you mean?"
Sharon just shook her head, looking down and away.
Kate looked back and forth between the two women. Other than the fact that Bianca clearly had said something bad about Lucie, she was utterly perplexed.
Bianca paused for a moment and then said, a smile spreading across her fruit-ripe lips, "You're a one for secrets, Sharon. May I hazard to guess that this is once again the case of the lovelorn neighbor?"
Sharon colored and Bianca laughed, a tinkling merry sound. Bianca reached for her champagne glass and lifted it up. "I'd like to propose a toast."
Sharon shook her head, face growing even redder.
Bianca looked over at Kate. "Come on, Kate. Lift up your glass with me. We must toast to Sharon and her beloved Dean."
Sharon jerked and stared at Bianca. "You know his name? How do you know his name?"
Kate brightened, feeling less left out finally. She knew Dean. Bianca and she had made a beeline for him that night at Ibiza before going to the bathroom for their makeup session. Bianca had strode through the crowded bar while everyone had stared at her, Kate following like a little scrawny duckling in the wake of a gliding magnificent swan.
When Bianca had walked up to Dean, he'd been looking in their direction, but past them, toward the front dining area where their table was.
"Hello?" Bianca said, dipping her head to catch his glance.
He startled and looked at Bianca, his eyes wide. "Oh. Hi." He seemed dazed.
"My friend wanted say hello, but she's a little shy. Sharon? Your neighbor?"
He perked up. "She did? Really?"
"Really. Only, she told me your name…, but I'm so silly, I forgot it already. Terrible memory for names. Please. Spare me the embarrassment, would you? I don't want to have to ask her again?"
"Oh, it's Dean. And you are?"
"Bianca. And this is Kate. Anyway, we just wanted to say hello. For Sharon. She's a special girl. You're lucky."
"Hi Kate. Nice to meet you both," he said, nodding at them with a friendly smile. "Lucky? Oh, yeah, she's a great neighbor. And she's just seems so...together. And honest. I like that. I just wish...anyway...say hi back to her for me. I'm glad she's speaking to me now. At least through you."
And he did look glad. Sweet, really. Kate was impressed. Sharon had picked a nice guy, which was rare. Most of Kate's friends back home fell for bad boys, always to their great regret. And they did it again and again, like broken records, never learning. Now many of them were married to those boys whose badness came in various shades of trouble: some with the law, some with the bottle or drugs, some with other women, some with their fists - which they applied to their wives or their children or both. Too often it was a combination of all of those things.
"Yes, we'll tell her. Or better: you should come over to our table."
"Uh," he said and shook his head. "Nah. I'm not going to break up your girl's night."
"Oh, come on. She'd love it."
"No, I know when to leave well enough alone. But, don't worry. She'll be hearing from me," he said, looking thoughtful and then straightening. "Yeah, she will be. Actually, I'm going to call it an early night. I've got an idea."
"Oh, tell!" Bianca said, her eyes getting big and sparkly.
"Nope. It's a surprise. But thanks again. Appreciate it. It was great meeting you both, Sharon's friends."
"Nice meeting you, too. Dean," Bianca said, stretching out the "e" playfully. "Okay, Kate. The mirror awaits, if we can manage to elbow our way to it."
"Bye? Nice meeting you?" Kate said and giggled, feeling as if she was in junior high school again and delivering messages of love to objects of her friends' affection. She thought at the time that maybe Dean would be a way to break the ice with Sharon, warm things up between them.
But then Kate had been swept away by the effect of Bianca's ministrations in the bathroom, the other girls' reaction to her improved made-up appearance, and then, just when she would've been asking Sharon more about Dean at the dinner table, there was too much commotion with the bill coming and the other girls leaving and Sharon's startling decision to stay. The night had evolved and improved so much from there that Kate had forgotten to mention it. And maybe she should have. Because at that moment Sharon looked not only shocked, she was starting to look a little sick.
Should Kate say something now? But why had Bianca said that to Dean if it wasn't true? And if Sharon had told Bianca all about Dean, why was she acting like she hadn't? Sharon was a bizarre mystery: warm and friendly one moment, then daggers shooting out of her eyes, then contradictory behavior like this. Kate started to second-guess her interest in being Sharon's friend. Probably better not go there. Sharon may have borne a remarkable resemblance to Kate's friend, Mary, from home, but Mary, had she met Sharon, would probably say, "That woman has taken up permanent residence in CrazyTown and is running for mayor".
Bianca, still smiling, shrugged a little. "Oh, what's the big deal?" she said and then turned to Kate. "Kate? Lift up your glass. We have to toast to true love. The greatest love of all: love thy neighbor."
"What did you just say?" Sharon said.
"Kate?" Bianca was subtly jerking her head at Kate's barely-touched glass of champagne.
Kate took a big breath. This wasn't how she wanted to tell Bianca. She wanted to wait for the perfect moment. But she wasn't going to take even one more sip. It might hurt the baby. "Well, the thing is," Kate said, trying to put on a smile, but finding it hard in the face of Bianca's growing impatience with her non-compliance. "I can't have any more champagne? See, I've got some exciting news? I wanted to tell you earlier, but we were just rushing so much. So...uh...drum roll..?"
"What are you talking about?" Bianca snapped, her impatience turning to irritability.
"I'm gonna have a baby! Me and Grant?" Kate burst out, grinning ecstatically, the words sending a thrill up her spine. It was true! A baby! At last!
Bianca’s eyes bulged, showing white, while her skin drained of color, rendering her usually warm-toned olive skin a pond-scum chartreuse. Her full lips tightened exposing bared white teeth. “What?”
Kate’s hand involuntarily reached for her belly again, as if protecting it from Bianca’s thunderous – almost murderous - expression. Why? What? Bianca?
Sharon perked up, shaking her head a little as if waking up. “Oh, Kate. That's wonderful,” Sharon said, her voice more enthusiastic than Kate had ever heard it. Then Kate remembered. Sharon had told Kate that night at Ibiza that she, too, had always wanted a big family after Kate admitted that was her greatest dream, and that Grant and she were trying – and failing - to conceive. Sharon, unlike Bianca, had been certain they would eventually succeed.
“Ah,” Kate said faintly, eyes darting over to Sharon. “Yes? Thank you?”
“When did you find out?" Sharon asked.
“Just today?” Kate answered. “Bianca? I thought...“ Kate looked back at Bianca. Her friend’s normal coloring had returned and her face was composed again.
“That’s great news,” Bianca said, her voice sounding a little choked. She cleared her throat and continued in a more normal tone. “And just today? You were at the doctor’s office this morning? Oh, right, it takes longer than that. Did they just call you with the results?” As Bianca said "results", her voice grew tight and rough again and she coughed, covering her mouth and then patting her collarbone.
“Oh? Doctor’s office? No? This was a home test,” Kate said, feeling almost as if she would cry. Why wasn’t Bianca happy? She was supposed to be happy?
“A home test,” Bianca said, her face visibly relaxing. “Oh, then can you can have champagne. Those tests aren’t reliable at all. And you know…” She smiled, her expression sympathetic. “I wouldn’t recommend using those. They disappointed me so many times when John and I were trying.”
“What?” Sharon said. “Those tests are perfectly fine. I mean, Kate, you will want to see your doctor, but-“
“No, they’re terrible,” Bianca said, turning to Sharon and looking distressed. “I had five, maybe six, false results in a row. It was incredibly traumatic.”
Kate stared at Bianca. What was she talking about? “I thought you said you and John got pregnant right away? That you didn’t even try? That was why you thought I couldn’t get pregnant?”
“I never said that,” Bianca said, her heavy-lidded calm gaze returning to Kate, not a flicker of recognition or remembrance in her eyes.
Kate suddenly felt very cold, and both of her hands were now on her belly. Had she imagined it? Or maybe she misunderstood their conversation. Maybe Bianca and John just didn't try as long - months instead of years. That had to be it. Bianca had trouble conceiving after all. No wonder she’d been so supportive and helpful. She’d been there herself.
“Oh,” Kate gasped. “I’m sorry. I just must have-”
“It’s fine. With all the stress you've been under? I'm just hoping that the test was accurate, especially after all you and Grant have been through. It's possible, just unlikely,” Bianca said, her head tilted and eyes softening as they regarded Kate. "You didn't tell Grant, did you?"
“Oh?” Kate burst out, a little sob trembling in her throat. All that excitement they’d shared that morning! Grant had held her so carefully when they embraced, as if already cradling his child. How worried he’d been about her outing tonight, already protective. And it could all be a mirage, a fantasy.
Bianca was starting to lean across the table toward her when Kate’s cell phone rang inside her purse. It was her parent’s ringtone, Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”. She’d called them earlier that day to tell them the news, but they were out working with the animals as usual, leaving their kitchen by dawn every morning and not returning to the farmhouse until lunchtime. She’d left an excited message, not telling them why, but just to call her back as soon as possible. Now she would disappoint them, too.
“I’m sorry?” Kate said, picking up her purse and standing up slowly. “I’ve got to get that? It’s my parents.”
“Hey, you guys!” Chelsea called out, bouncing toward them across the pavement in a low-cut black and white polka-dotted dress that flattered her long curled blond hair. She looked just as Barbie-perfect as last time, only this time there were subtle dark circles shadowing her blue eyes.
Kate turned toward her, clutching her purse to her chest and feeling hopeful, “Hi Chelsea?”
Chelsea gave her a quick once-over before turning her gaze back to the other girls, “Hi Kate. You guys, so sorry I’m late. My boss is a jerk. Class-A.”
Looking at the back of Chelsea’s head as she took a seat, Kate deflated. Well, that was that. Chelsea would never be interested in being her friend. Kate said to the group, “Be right back?” She didn’t like to take phone calls when she was out, thought it was rude, but this was important. Sharon was asking Chelsea something, and only Bianca looked up. She smiled kindly at Kate and gave her a nod.