Eliza Starts a Rumor(29)
“Oh, Eliza.” Mandy took her nail-bitten hands between her manicured ones. “Do you know what triggered it?”
“I have no idea.” She looked away as she said it, and Mandy knew she was lying. It was the same thing she’d said in high school—she didn’t believe it then, and she didn’t believe it now.
Mandy remembered the day Eliza first retreated to her house like it was yesterday. They were supposed to meet after school by her locker, as they always did, to walk home. Mandy waited and waited, and finally left without her. When she went to Eliza’s house, her mom said she wasn’t feeling well and had “taken to her room.” She remembered her exact words, remembered thinking it was such an old-fashioned way to put it. She went back every day after school for a week, and when Eliza’s mother still wouldn’t let her in, she climbed through the window. She was all set to ask Eliza what the hell was going on, but one look at her and she thought better of it. She would climb back in every day after school and just lie next to her friend, running her hand through Eliza’s hair or gently tickling her arm, if Eliza would allow it. Eventually she asked, “Did something happen to you, Eliza?” Just like today, Eliza insisted that nothing had. On both occasions Mandy knew it was a lie, but she didn’t push her. She could tell, even after all of this time, that she still wasn’t ready to say more. She loved her so much and didn’t want to cause her pain.
“I’m so, so sorry. Is Luke being supportive? The kids?”
“No one knows, Mandy, no one, except now you. All summer I’d get dressed to go wherever we were headed, and half the time I couldn’t make it. I made excuses. By the time we brought the twins to college, it had come back in full force.”
“Why don’t you tell Luke? Eliza, he’s your husband. He adores you. He would do anything for you.”
“I’ve tried, but I just can’t. I feel like I lied to him to begin with by never telling him that it happened in high school.”
She put the plate back down and continued. “Some days are better than others. I’ve never been a big fan of crowds, or elevators, and he knows that, but to just spill this on him like it’s out of the blue, when it’s not—it seems so wrong.”
“Not telling him is wrong, too.”
“I know.” Her eyes filled with tears. “He would want so desperately to fix me. The pressure of that—the pressure that would come from him knowing—it’s too much.”
Amanda rubbed her arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“I just have to get through it. Remember how back then it just ended one day? Inexplicably.”
From her time in therapy, Mandy knew that this wasn’t the best plan, but she decided to wait before pushing her further.
“We’ll figure it out. I’m glad I can be here for you. It must be lonely.”
Eliza did not want to figure anything out. She joked again, “It is. Thank God for Alexa!”
This time Amanda laughed at her joke, and then laughed harder at her own thoughts.
“What’s so funny? Tell me,” Eliza begged.
They lived to make each other giggle, and it felt good to slip back into their old roles, especially after all of the serious discussion.
“I just pictured you chatting with Alexa all day: ‘Alexa, tell me I make the best three-bean dip in all of Hudson Valley!’ ‘Alexa, play “Only the Lonely.”’”
Eliza playfully swatted her on the arm, laughing with her.
“I’ve managed to entertain myself in other ways. Come upstairs.” As she led Mandy down the hall, she explained her grocery store encounter.
“So I checked it out and Valley Girls was getting way more action than my site. Until last week.” She laughed with a slightly villainous tone.
Amanda looked at her suspiciously. She often kept up with the life she was missing back east by scrolling through the Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board, but she hadn’t recently. There was a similar group in Beverly Hills called LA Mommies, but it had a very different vibe—lots of posts complaining about the paparazzi taking up all of the parking spots at the Coldwater Canyon playground, or whether gyrotonics or bumplants (butt implants) are the best way to a Kardashian derriere.
Eliza pulled her by the hand.
“I have to show you what’s been going on. We have scandals in the boring suburbs, too!”
CHAPTER 17
Alison & Olivia
Alison and Olivia took the 11:00 a.m. train into the city without their babies in tow. It was a first for both of them.
“I’m nervous. I’ve never left Lily for the whole day,” Olivia said as they boarded the train. Alison suppressed a laugh because Olivia had been the one to convince Alison to leave the babies home with her “overly capable” sitter.
“Two babies are a walk in the park!” Olivia’s babysitter, Colleen, had assured Alison in response to her long list of instructions regarding Zach.
In contrast, Alison felt fine as soon as they left. More than fine, actually. She was amazed at how quickly she adapted to the freedom of not being bound to an infant. She was feeling a bit giddy about it, and it was not a very familiar emotion. She controlled herself; after all, this trip was not exactly sold as a fun outing. She correctly assumed that leaving Lily was not at the root of Olivia’s anxiety.