Spooky Little Girl (33 page)

“I will not,” Nola said adamantly. “You have no control over me, Lucy. I have a nice life here. A life that is owed to me.”

“Think about it, Nola,” Lucy said carefully. “Because the decision you make could very well haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“He won’t take you back,” Nola insisted. “Not after what you did. You can try to get rid of me, but Martin will never take you back after you cheated on him.”

“I already told you, Nola,” Lucy sternly replied. “Nothing happened between me and Icky Ricky. I’m sorry you formed a life of revenge around a lie, but you did. I’ve told you the truth, and you’re going to have to drop it.”

“I’m not talking about Ricky!” Nola said, her voice rising. “Martin knows nothing about Ricky. I’m talking about Hawaii. I’m talking about when Martin caught you with another man. He called you, and that man answered your phone and told him everything!”

“Nola, your lies are getting ridiculous,” Lucy answered. “I was rooming with Jilly and Marianne. Don’t you think they’d have noticed a strange man in their bed talking on the phone?”

“Not your room phone!
Your
phone! He called you on
your
cellphone and a man answered. He said that you were in the bathroom getting ready to ‘party’ with him and then told Martin not to call back!”

“That never happened,” Lucy insisted. “It’s impossible. Martin would never tell you something that never happened. You’re making this up.”

“It was the night before you came home, Lucy,” Nola added. “A man answered your phone and basically told Martin he was going to have sex with you. He said you were in his room, in his bathroom. You were there; you know it.”

Lucy felt as if she had dropped seventy feet in an elevator with no cables.
That’s what this is all about?
she thought, trying to keep the room from spinning.
That’s what changed my life into death? The fact that I was throwing up in the bathroom and the most disgusting, vile man on the face of the earth answered my phone because he thought he was going to get lucky?

That is why I’m here?

It’s all been for that?

“Lucy!” Naunie whispered from her vantage point in the hallway. “Wrap it up. You’re losing the charge!”

Lucy snapped back, her anger even more intensified. Everything that had seemed unfair had just been brought into a much sharper, closer view. And Nola was certainly a part of it.

“Whether Martin takes me back or not is not the issue; what matters is that you leave him alone and let him have something real,” Lucy said as she started to walk toward the front door and try to get out of the house before she became nothing but the tailpipe exhaust figure Nola had seen of Naunie the night before. “This isn’t real. It’s not genuine or true, and you know it. You’re here because you wanted to take from me what you thought I stole from you. And you’ve been terrified ever since you stepped foot in this house that I would always return and come back for what was mine.”

“I—” Nola started as Lucy opened the front door.

“I’m back,”
Lucy concluded as she walked over the threshold and shut the door behind her.

Nola said nothing to Martin about Lucy breaking into the house and confronting her. She didn’t want to start another fight with him, and she didn’t want to give Lucy the satisfaction of knowing that she had gotten to her. She weighed her options and planned out her strategy, staying quiet and keeping her eyes open. She listened carefully. She knew she could wait this out, even though she was positive that every time she came around a corner, Lucy would be there, waiting for her, telling her what she already knew.

Because she was right. Lucy
was
back.

It was confirmed a couple of days later when Nola saw Lucy’s truck pull into the driveway. There was no hiding this time, no
skulking around, no behind-the-scenes mischief, Nola thought as she peeked out the living room window. The truck sat in the driveway for a long time, simply idling. Martin’s truck was in the driveway too, as plain as day, right in front of it.

Today
, Nola thought,
is the day that Lucy is going to stake her claim
.

She’d brought reinforcements, too, Nola realized when she saw Jilly get out of the passenger side of Lucy’s truck and walk around the front of the vehicle.
What are they going to do
, Nola asked herself,
beat me up? Why would Jilly even remotely need to be here? That was a bad move on Jilly’s part
, she said to herself. She, too, could be easily replaced at the office. It had taken Nola years, but she had found a way for Lucy to go, and she could be patient and find a way for her little friend, too.

Martin saw Lucy’s truck pull into the driveway, after he heard the familiar sound of its engine and peered out the bedroom window to investigate. While Jilly had called and said she’d be over with Tulip’s ashes, he’d never expected this. A part of him felt ambushed, while another, truer part of him felt relieved, as if the whole last year was finally over, everything had been fixed and was now working the way it should have been. That feeling, however, only lasted for a moment. The driver’s side door opened.

Instead of Lucy sliding out of the driver’s side, it was someone Nola didn’t know, didn’t recognize. After the doorbell rang and Martin walked past her and answered it, Nola realized that only two people had arrived in Lucy’s truck, and Lucy wasn’t one of them.

Jilly looked terrible. Her face was drawn and tired, her eyes puffy and red. It was apparent that she had been crying. But once Nola saw what she had in her hand, she understood. A small brass urn, no bigger than a mayonnaise jar. Nola wanted to scoff, but couldn’t. She understood what it was to love something and lose it, even if it was just a dog.

“Alice?” Martin said as the next woman walked into the house. He looked very surprised. His mouth opened to form another word, but he couldn’t finish it, and he stood there, as if frozen.

Naunie gasped from the couch, where she had been reclining. “Lucy, it’s Alice!” she nearly screamed. “It’s Alice! It’s Alice!”

Lucy ran in from the kitchen, where she had been reading the flap of the newspaper Martin had left open on the table. Naunie was already next to Alice, getting as close as she could.

“How are you, Martin?” Lucy’s sister said, and she gave him a faint smile.

Martin nodded, but still didn’t say anything.

“Lucy, look!” Naunie said, pointing. “It’s Alice! She’s here!”

Lucy stood in the doorway and looked at her sister. She was relieved, grateful, overjoyed to see her. Just as when she’d seen Alice at her funeral, she wanted to embrace her and hug her tightly. Now Alice looked far better than she had at the funeral home, and Lucy was glad. She couldn’t stand the thought of her sister being in any kind of distress, and to see her looking better was a huge relief to Lucy.

Naunie was simply giddy. The look on her face said it all; a wide, bright smile, her eyes sparkling like the sun off water. She could not get enough of Alice, and danced around her almost like an elf, trying to take all of her in.

“I wish I was here under better circumstances,” Alice said to Martin. Nola lurked silently behind him.

Martin agreed, although he was curious why Alice had come with Jilly to deliver Tulip’s ashes, and thought for a moment that this might indicate a tug of war over them. In that instant, he decided, if Alice really wanted them, he wouldn’t fight her for them; he had his memories of Tulip and didn’t feel entirely entitled to them, since he’d given the dog to Jilly.

“May we sit down?” Alice asked politely.

“Of course,” Martin replied, and motioned toward the couch. “It’s hot out there. Can we get you something to drink?”

“Water. Just water would be wonderful,” Alice said as she took a seat on the couch. Jilly sat next to her, Martin took the recliner, and Nola stood there for a moment until she understood that she was in charge of refreshments.

“Water would be great, thanks,” Jilly said, and Nola scooted off to the kitchen, looking quite unsettled as she passed Lucy.

“Martin,” Alice started right away as Naunie squirmed in delight, sitting behind her on the top of the couch, “I need to say something that is not easy to say, and I’m sorry. I thought I had already said it, but after talking to Jilly I realized that I hadn’t, so here I am.”

Martin decided to jump in. “I have no problem with you taking Tulip’s ashes, Alice; I know Lucy would like to have them. I completely understand, or we can share them,” he said. “Either way, whatever you decide is fine with me. You won’t get an argument.”

Alice clasped her hands together tightly. “That’s not it, Martin,” she said, shaking her head softly. “About a year ago, I tried to contact you. Your phone number had changed and I didn’t have your email address. Because of that, I thought the best way to reach you would be by letter. It wasn’t an easy letter to write, but I hoped you would understand my reasons for writing it and not coming down to Phoenix to see you. At the time.”

Martin looked confused, but hung on Alice’s every word, thinking that the next thing she said would piece it all together.

“I never got a response from you, Martin. I gave you my phone number and all of my other contact information, but I never heard from you,” she explained. “So after several months—more than several months—I wrote you again, and again, and again. You never answered any of my letters.”

“Alice, I don’t know what to say,” Martin said, knowing the situation to be a misunderstanding. “I’m sorry you’ve been upset about this, but I never received anything from you, a year ago or since. I certainly would have replied to a letter from you had I gotten it. I’m terribly sorry.”

“Martin, you did get the letter,” Jilly interrupted. “But you thought it was from Lucy. That was the letter you threw away, the one you got right after she left.”

Martin looked puzzled. “What?” he asked. “What do you mean? That wasn’t from Lucy? Of course it was from her. It had her name on the return address.”

“It was
my
name on the return address,” Alice said. “I changed it back after the divorce.”

“I thought it was from her,” he said, not looking at anyone. “I always thought it was from her. Well, you see the confusion now, Alice. I apologize. I don’t know what else to say. But whatever was in the letter, I’d be happy to discuss it with you now.”

“It’s about Lucy,” Alice said, hesitating a bit.

“I assumed so,” Martin said, and nodded. “What is it? Do I have something of hers, did she need money, was it an issue with the wedding? Because I canceled all the arrangements, and all the deposits were forfeited. There was nothing left to split. I lost everything.”

“I really don’t think any of that ever crossed her mind,” Alice said. “It isn’t about any of that.”

Then Alice went on and told Martin about that last day, how Alice’s car wouldn’t start and how Lucy gave her the truck, saying she’d take a bus to the unemployment office, and then what happened after that. Then about the accident.

What she didn’t mention
, Lucy thought when Alice had finished,
is that it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and the breeze
was perfect. My hair looked great for a change. I was wearing my favorite boots, the ones I’m wearing now. I never saw the bus. I never saw it. I just saw the bus driver’s eyes and then heard it on me. She was nice, the bus driver. Everything was perfect that day. I feel terrible that she hit me
.

No one would ever know that, Lucy thought. No one would ever know that part of the story.

Martin didn’t respond to Alice. He said nothing and looked far, far past her.

Lucy watched Martin, who was confounded by what he couldn’t grasp, not yet. He sat there in a moment of shock, the last moment he would be able to push it away for a long, long time.

Jilly reached out and took his hand.

“I’m so sorry, Martin,” she said so lightly that it was barely audible. “I didn’t know, either. Lucy’s phone was destroyed in the accident, and without it, Alice didn’t know how to find me under my married name. She counted on your reading that letter and then telling the rest of us what happened.”

“See, Lucy?” Naunie said, with comforting eyes. “Alice didn’t just let you vanish. She did try to tell them. It’s just that no one heard her.”

“They’re lying,” came a bold declaration, and everyone in the room looked up to see Nola standing in the doorway. “Lucy Fisher is not dead. She was standing in this living room, two feet from me, a few days ago. I saw her. The mailman saw her. She’s broken into the house numerous times, and whatever you’ve said, it’s not true. I saw her.”

“That’s impossible,” Jilly said. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“Because it’s true!” Nola asserted. “She told me I needed to leave and that she was back. That was the last thing she said before she walked out the door, ‘I’m back.’”

“I don’t know you,” Alice interjected. “But I can guess who you
are. My sister was killed in a terrible accident almost a year ago, and I happen to think that your little joke is in poor taste. For you to call me a liar is unthinkable. What would I possibly have to gain by saying and pretending my sister is dead?”

“Get her, Alice!” Naunie cheered from the sidelines.

Nola scoffed. “Well, her life insurance policy, for one,” she huffed.

“Again, that’s ridiculous,” Alice protested. “Lucy didn’t have a life insurance policy.”

“Yes, she did!” Jilly said quickly.

“I did?” Lucy said.

“We all have one at the office,” Jilly added. “It’s included in our benefits.”

“But she had gotten fired. She was no longer employed,” Alice reasoned.

“Her benefits were good until the end of the month,” Nola said with a wry smile. “So if you’re claiming she died when she did, she just made it under the deadline. What a coincidence. Another coincidence is that there is an accidental death benefit rider to the life insurance policy we have, double the amount of the benefit. And another coincidence is that you have a year to make a claim. And your time is almost up.”