Rapid Falls(10)

Larry nods and rewards me with a smile. “That sounds perfect. I’m not sure how things would run without you here, Cara.”

I laugh self-deprecatingly. “And James . . . ?” I trail off. I need Larry to come to this decision alone.

“It’s probably best to send him off with a good recommendation at this point,” Larry says, already pulling out his cell phone and scrolling through email.

“That’s what I thought too. Thanks, sir.”

“No, thank you, Cara. Thanks for being on top of this. Hope Maggie feels better soon. If you need to go early, please do.”

“Appreciate it. Oh, and Henry wants to do a follow-up interview with you this afternoon.”

Larry grimaces slightly, then smiles. “Of course. Schedule it for after three p.m.” I can hear him start to whistle as he turns the corner out of my office. Success as a bureaucrat can be measured by how good a person is at ducking responsibility, I think as I walk toward James’s desk to deliver the bad news. The best political tacticians know exactly when to throw someone else under the bus. It’s the reason I’m so good at my job.





CHAPTER FOUR

June 1997

Jesse was late, as usual. I retouched my lip gloss again even though my mouth already felt thick with the coating of pink, watermelon-scented shine. Jesse told me once that my lips always looked like I was about to tell him a dirty joke. My thick reddish-brown hair was swept up in a French twist, and the hairdresser had used white shadow and liner to make my blue eyes pop. I felt sexy, buoyant with joy and a half tablet of a painkiller left over from six months ago when I got my wisdom teeth out. I’d stopped taking them and doled them out carefully for times when I needed to relax. Tonight I wanted to float. Tension made me look ugly in photos.

I knew my dad would be snapping pictures left and right, overcompensating. Jesse’s dad wasn’t around. Cindy Foster, Jesse’s mom, would occasionally speak of the loser, as she called him, jabbing out her cigarette violently as she described his decision to take up with another woman before Jesse was even born. Jesse was ashamed of his mom’s story, but I didn’t care. When we were kids, all that mattered was that Jesse liked playing with me way more than he liked being with Anna. Jesse and I were the same age, and I could always keep up with him. We often left Anna behind.

“Did you use my razor?” Anna shouted from the bathroom.

“Yeah,” I said absently, pulling a stray hair away from my lips.

“Where is it?” she asked. Her tone was impatient. I knew she hated it when I was the center of attention. Tonight was my prom. It was all about me, and it was driving Anna crazy. I smiled into the mirror, turning my head to make sure my blush was even on both sides.

“Cara!”

“Sorry. Um, I’m not sure? On the shelf in the shower?” I said lightly.

“No. God. Would I be asking you if it was there?” She had come down the hall in her towel and stood glowering in the doorway. I tried not to notice how thin and perfect her body was. Being on the track team gave both Anna and Jesse long, lean muscles. Sometimes I wished I had chosen running instead of volleyball, but I hated the places my mind went when I ran long distances. Running was boring, I told them when they laced up their shoes for weekend runs together. I tried not to take it personally when they ignored my requests to go to the diving rocks instead.

I turned to face her. “Whoa. Take a chill pill. I’m sure it’s there somewhere.”

“So you took my razor without asking and now you won’t even tell me where it is.”

I felt a rush of anger, but I squashed it down. “Oh my God, Anna. Just look around.”

“Did you take one of those painkillers? You’re acting like a total space cadet.” She stalked over to my night table and grabbed the bottle.

“Hands off,” I said, snatching it from her hands. “Those are for tonight.” Not that Anna would ever take one. She glared at me as I smiled sweetly. “I think your razor is in the drawer by the toothpaste.”

“It better be.” She turned on her heel to leave the room.

“If you are not ready in ten minutes, Jesse and I are leaving without you,” I yelled after her.

“You’re such a bitch,” she called back.

“Whatever,” I said to my reflection. No matter what she did, Anna wouldn’t ruin my night.

I heard a car engine but no knock. My dad must have heard Jesse and opened the door for him. My parents were excited too. It felt so good to be a central part of the biggest night of the year in Rapid Falls. I had played in big games before on the volleyball team, but even the largest tournament paled in comparison to prom. Tonight everyone in the graduating class would be treated like champions, and Jesse and I were at the top. People looked up to us.

“Hi, son,” I heard my dad say.

“Hi, Mr. Piper.”

My mom cried with delight, “Oh, Jesse. You look so perfect!”

Her voice made my pulse race. I could tell from her tone that she was starting to understand what all the fuss was about. She wasn’t like other Rapids Falls mothers. Normally she didn’t care about big dates or school dances. My mom had grown up in Fraser City, and she often said the fever in Rapid Falls around graduation was over the top, but I could tell she was excited now too. Rapid Falls was only three hours away from Fraser City, but it was a different world, especially in June when graduation season came around. I checked my lip gloss one last time and smoothed the front of my deep purple dress. I took a breath, then started down the creaky wooden stairs. Jesse was standing in the kitchen with my parents, his tan skin a golden contrast against the pure white of his tuxedo shirt. He looked amazing, but his eyes seemed strangely sad.