Highly Illogical Behavior(53)
TWENTY-SIX
LISA PRAYTOR
“Are you okay?” Lisa’s mother shouted, standing in the driveway, where Lisa had been sitting for ten minutes with her car engine running.
“What?” Lisa yelled, opening the door.
“Oh good. I thought you were dead.”
“What’re you doing home?”
“We need to talk.”
Lisa followed her mother inside and after a few minutes of watching her bang around in the kitchen as she made tea, Lisa couldn’t take anymore.
“Mom, it’s been a really long, weird day, so if you could just . . .”
“Ron got a job,” she interrupted.
“Okay.”
“In Arizona.”
“Oh.”
“And, after talking about it a lot. A whole lot, well, we just think it’s best to go our separate ways.”
“You’re getting a divorce?”
“Eventually, yes.”
She was surprised her mom wasn’t crying. She almost seemed relieved about it, so Lisa wasn’t sure if she should console or congratulate her.
“You seem okay.”
“I am. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
“Sorry,” Lisa said. “Are we moving again?”
“No, honey. I’m keeping the house.”
“Thank God.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Why you were catatonic out there in the car?”
“I think it’s over with Clark.”
And then her mom cried. Not much, but she was definitely holding back tears as she listened to the whole story. Lisa told her everything, too—every little detail, from the essay to the conversation she’d just had with Solomon. And she told her about Clark and the secret she was so convinced he was keeping, too.
“I don’t see it,” her mom said. “But what do I know? Everybody’s gay these days.”
“I guess I thought we’d always be together.”
“That’s what everyone thinks when they’re seventeen. Believe me.”
“Weren’t you with my dad at seventeen?”
“Yep. And you see how that turned out. I thought I’d be Mrs. Jacob Praytor forever. He wasn’t gay, he was just an *. Funnier than anyone I’ve ever met. But a total *.”
“Clark’s the nicest person I know,” Lisa said.
“Me too. But if this is the way it is, then what can you do? At least it isn’t your fault things didn’t work out.”
“At least.”
“Is Clark going to tell him? About the essay?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “But who knows? I never got the chance to ask him not to.”
“You really want into that school, don’t you?”
“It’s the second-best psych program in the country,” Lisa said.
“Your experience with mental illness. You could just write anything. Seems like a dumb topic to me.”
“They’re looking for the right story,” she defended. “Something ambitious and courageous.”
“Lying isn’t courageous.”
“You should know.”
“Watch it,” her mom snapped. “Don’t start a fight just because it’s the easiest thing to do.”
“Sorry.”
“So, can you fix it?”
“Probably not.”
“Lisa,” her mom said, looking her right in the eyes. “I’ve never heard you say you couldn’t do something. Not in your entire life.”
? ? ?
Even when Lisa was super busy, she and Clark always kept in touch with a quick phone call or a text. Just to check in. They’d even talked while she was at camp, long enough to say hello and discuss Solomon’s progress. But now, a day after he kicked her out of his house, Lisa hadn’t heard a word out of Clark.
She hadn’t heard from Solomon, either, which made her worry even more. Were the two of them together now? Maybe Solomon had taken her advice, professed his love, and they were already living happily ever after without her. But, didn’t she deserve to know? She was the only reason they even knew each other. And you’d think Clark, of all people, would have the decency to break up with his girlfriend before getting his first boyfriend. What the hell was going on?
When she called Clark’s house, Drew answered and said he’d spent the night at Solomon’s. Now Lisa was almost certain the truth had finally come out. To her knowledge, he’d never stayed the night at Solomon’s, not even once. So, why was he suddenly doing it now?
Later that evening, at just about dark, Lisa grabbed her keys and walked out to her car. She didn’t know what she’d say or do, but she had to see them. And if it hadn’t been such a weird week, and she hadn’t spent the afternoon watching Ron pack up his things while her mom cried in the kitchen, Lisa might not have had it in her to drive to Solomon’s and climb over the back fence.
But she did. And now she was standing in the backyard, the only light coming from the swimming pool in front of her. And before she could turn around to face the house, she heard the glass door sliding open.
“Lisa?” Solomon asked. He was standing in the doorway in swim trunks.