The Better Liar(37)

“What happened?”

“I had to leave my job,” I said. “Leslie offered to let me stay with her, and I needed a change of scenery, so…here we are again.”

“I’m sorry,” Nancy told me, sounding sincere.

I hadn’t meant to make myself seem pathetic. I lost track of my attempt to mirror her and couldn’t think what to do with my hands. “It’s just for a week,” I said. “Did you know you have pink teeth?”

Nancy ran her tongue over her teeth. “Is it gone?”

“No.” I grinned.

“You’re pink too,” she said, peering at me.

I bared my teeth at her. “It looks sort of ghoulish.”

“Not on you.” She brought her napkin to her mouth to try to scrub the stains off.

A family came out of the Pop-Pop’s, ringing the bell on the door. The two children were babbling loudly to each other about somebody’s birthday.

“How come you could come meet me?” I asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I’m only doing paperwork today. I took a break.” Red crept up her neck. “Why are you free? Is your sister working?”

“Yeah. She left me at home. I got creeped out stuck in their big old house. Have you been down there since I left?”

Nancy licked her spoon. “To Leslie’s house? No. I don’t even know what neighborhood she’s in these days.”

“Is there…Do you hear anything about her? About how she’s doing?” I tried not to seem like I was digging.

    Nancy frowned. “What do you mean?”

I shifted on the bench. “I just think there’s something weird going on with her. Maybe it has to do with Dave. Her husband. I think maybe he’s having an affair.”

“Well, I mean, you would know better than I would,” Nancy said, crumpling up her plastic cup and tossing it in a perfect overhand arc into the trash can nearby. “I’ve only run into her a few times at the grocery store, places like that. We don’t really talk.” She gave me a sidelong look. “I thought you guys didn’t really talk either. After you took off. You told me you weren’t going to come back here.”

“I wasn’t,” I said, my heart pounding. “But it’s been a long time. People get over things, don’t they?”

“Sometimes,” Nancy said. “But I didn’t think you would.”

“Yeah?” I rested my head against my arm on the back of the bench, giving her space, so she wouldn’t feel pressured. “How come?”

“Those stories you told me about her,” she said. “About how awful she was to you. But she was just a kid then. And after everything with your guys’ mom…Anyway, you talked to Lindy, you saw. Sisters can be assholes.” She smiled. “I think Leslie knew about us. Just from the way she’s acted when I’ve seen her around. Did you tell her, or did she actually see me sneaking in?”

I laughed. “You snuck in?”

She blinked. “Of course. All the time. You don’t…?”

“No, I do. I only…” I waved a hand at her, at her button-down open at the neck, her flat chest, her tanned hands. “It’s hard to picture it now.”

She glanced down at herself and smiled. “I guess. But I did. I used to climb in your window.”

“You did.” I grinned.

“Yeah,” she said. “I was always so scared.”

“You, scared?” I said. “The law enforcement officer?”

“Terrified,” she told me, returning my gaze seriously. “You used to play jokes on me, you know. The first time I came in, do you remember?”

I shook my head.

    Nancy cleared her throat. She smelled good—even her breath smelled good, sugary. “You barely knew me. You said, ‘Come here,’ and when I got in bed with you, you were naked. I thought you were trying to embarrass me.”

“I didn’t,” I said, surprised.

“Yeah. You grabbed my arm.” Nancy took my hand. “You said, ‘Don’t you want to?’?”

I stared at our intertwined fingers. We sat facing outward, toward a parking-lot audience, like actors in a stage play. Slowly I brought her hand up to my face. The next line appeared in my head, scrolling out in front of me as if it had been scripted. “Let me guess,” I said, tilting my head back as she cupped my cheek. “You did want to. Right?”

“I did,” she said, watching me.

Neither of us moved for a second. Then she drew her hand back. “I have to tell you something,” she said.

“I know.” I looked at my thighs.

“I should have said something,” she went on anyway. “I’m with someone.”

“It’s okay.” I moved back on the bench. “You don’t have to—”

“It only happened last year,” she said. “I mean…we got married so quickly.”

“Nancy. It’s fine.”

There was an awkward pause. “I should get going,” Nancy said at last. I still had my head down; I could feel her eyes on me. “I was only supposed to be out for a break.”

I waited as she got up, patting herself for her keys, and turned toward her car. The right moment was almost there, pressing on my chest. When she touched her car door I called, “Nancy!”