Real Bad Things(25)

She gulped her margarita till the last drop hit her tongue and signaled the server for another. She’d likely regret it later, but she couldn’t let Christlyn and Susannah think she’d lost her edge.

All she’d wanted was a break from the anger and confusion from her encounter with Diane and worries about the election and anxiety about whatever was going on with Warren’s case—if there was one. She’d gathered no more information when she stopped by the station for another desperate attempt at a status update.

As for Diane, Georgia Lee would never give in. Never. Not one cent would leave her bank account and be placed into Diane’s hands. Georgia Lee had to put it out of mind. She’d not give it any more attention. What Diane suggested was illegal. It had to be.

Her phone buzzed. She groaned at the text.

“Everything okay?” Susannah asked, margarita held in midair, as if disaster were about to strike and she needed to know whether she should down her drink or take her time.

“Everything’s fine,” Georgia Lee said. “Tim sent the latest draft of his college essay for my review. It’s quite good.” It was an embarrassment.

Christlyn checked her invisible watch. “Cutting it a bit close, isn’t he?” Her kids had gotten into the U of A via early admission.

Georgia Lee flashed a smile. “He’s a perfectionist.”

“Sounds like someone we know.” Susannah elbowed Christlyn and laughed. Georgia Lee laughed as well to be a good sport.

They all knew the boys would skate by as long as they showed up on time for their football games and didn’t get caught doing drugs or committing larceny. Terrible as it sounded, she longed for them to be out of the house, a desire she wished she could express to her two best friends. But if they carried the same irritation and guilt about their own children, they didn’t share it. Based on what they shared online, they were amazing mothers. Georgia Lee neglected to share anything, including photos, of her sons.

Christlyn and Susannah poked at their phones and gossiped about some new something or other, or someone. Georgia Lee nodded along like an active listener, but her mind kept wandering to the worst. What if Diane went through with it? What if Georgia Lee’s name ended up side by side with Warren’s? With Jane’s?

No. She would not let Diane ruin her evening. She would put her anxiety aside. She would have some laughs. She would—or rather, she wanted to—order a giant plate of chimichangas, all smothered and delicious. But Christlyn and Susannah had both gone right to apps and drinks. They barely touched their loaded nachos while Georgia Lee practically drooled over tortilla chips like a cartoon wolf looking at prey. Why order food if you were only gonna eat a quarter of it and not even take home the leftovers? They’d been like this since they’d gotten boobs, like a switch had been turned on inside them. They’d both gone through bouts of bingeing and purging in junior high and high school. Georgia Lee would not judge. She had, too, after her parents had locked her away like some tragic character in a Victorian novel. It was a real sickness, worrying what other people thought about your appearance, one whose spell she’d not realized she’d fallen under until she and Jane started dating. Jane ate like a person who’d been lost in the woods for weeks. Georgia Lee joined her, not caring about calories at the Burger Depot. Or at the other assorted places she’d taken Jane in Maud Proper, like the Red Lobster or the Applebee’s—all the good restaurants they’d not had, and still didn’t, in Maud Bottoms. At first, Georgia Lee wondered if Jane only hung around her because Georgia Lee fed her and Jason. But Jane had loved Georgia Lee in the end. She had never doubted that.

She’d quietly place an order to go and pick it up after Christlyn and Susannah left. She deserved one good thing that day.

“Didn’t you know her?” Susannah asked.

“Hmm?” Georgia Lee asked. She’d done such a good job of pretending to listen that she’d appeared fully engaged. “Who?”

“Jane Mooney. You know, Lezzie Borden? Have you been living under a rock, girl?” Susannah sipped her drink. “You need to get out more. Stop worrying about that darned election. Maud Bottoms ain’t ever gonna change. I don’t know why you try.”

Before Georgia Lee could complain, Christlyn added, “You knew her. I’m certain of it.”

Georgia Lee crinkled her brow in a show of deep thinking, all while trying to think of what to say and how to hide her shock at them not only paying attention to the news, but news that concerned her. Nothing came to mind. Nothing. Her mind blanked.

“No, I don’t think so,” she answered.

How could they possibly remember? Christlyn’s and Susannah’s capacities for recall had always been limited to fashion, pop songs, and boy crushes. Someone had to have fed them information. John? No. Too lazy to chase down a cold case. Diane? No. Not smart enough. The new hire, Benjamin? Perhaps he was investigating. Perhaps he’d asked Susannah and Christlyn to ask her about Jane. Georgia Lee leaned over to peek behind Susannah’s hair, in search of one of those earpieces they used in TV shows when going undercover. But it was too dark to tell, even with the many string lights and red table candles everywhere. Also, they’d never be caught dead wearing sweatshirts in public, yet here they were.

“Is it hot?” She fanned her face. “Aren’t you hot in those sweatshirts?”