Two Truths and a Lie(67)

Rebecca looked troubled. “I think I thought you were going to be on my side. Tell me I was right.”

“I am on your side,” said Sherri. “I am, I promise. But I think Daniel might be right about this one. I don’t think you need to hide him.”

She watched a wide range of emotions travel their way across Rebecca’s face: confusion, defensiveness, maybe even a little fear. A small helping of hope.

“Just consider it,” said Sherri. It felt really good to step outside of her own problems and into somebody else’s for a moment, or an afternoon; it felt more than good to consider the possibility that she might be helpful. “Think about it,” she continued. “And if you need to talk more about it, you know I’m here.” She picked up her sangrita and went to town on it.

“Two more,” she told the pretty, tan waitress. “One for me, and one for my friend here.”





48.





The Squad


What we heard about the Tyler/Alexa breakup was this. We heard that immediately when Tyler got back from Silver Lake toward the end of July he stopped by the Cottage during one of Alexa’s shifts. She refused to talk to him while she was working.

One of us had gone to get a Ringer one evening after dinner and witnessed the whole thing. We won’t say who it was, and also we would never say that the person in question should not have been consuming a Ringer, claiming as she did to be lacto-intolerant and eating low-carb. That is not our place.

The person in the Cottage bought her Ringer, walked up to the beach and back again, and upon returning to her car saw Alexa and Tyler arguing near Alexa’s Jeep.

Tyler accused Alexa of ghosting him the whole time he was in Silver Lake, and Alexa shot back that one look at @silvergurl’s Instagram told her that it didn’t look like Tyler was thinking too much about Alexa.

Alexa then asked Tyler what was the point of continuing their relationship anyway, since he’d be headed to UMass in the fall and she’d be long gone herself. (Alexa was going to Colby, according to Rebecca, but some of us who had watched her video on understanding current market conditions swore that she’d mentioned something about moving to L.A.)

“So you’re just, like, giving up on us?” Tyler asked, perplexed. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” said Alexa. Cucumber cool, according to our source.

We heard that Tyler was insanely angry and that he shouted, “You’re going to regret this, Alexa Thornhill! For as long as you live you’re going to regret this!”

The person in question waited in the shadows at that point, in case Alexa needed help. Because Tyler was known to have a temper.

Alexa said, “I doubt it,” and drove away in her Jeep. Tyler ran after the Jeep, but he didn’t get very far, because lacrosse season had ended some time ago, and he wasn’t in shape.

Okay, it was Gina, all right? If you must know. It was Gina who heard and reported on the whole thing. But please don’t tell anybody that we told you that. We promised we’d keep it to ourselves.

Next we heard that Tyler immediately started dating Zoe Butler-Gray, whom he’d taken to Blue Inn earlier in the summer.

We also heard that he’d never taken Zoe Butler-Gray to Blue Inn.

We heard that Zoe Butler-Gray worked at Blue Inn and Tyler had given her a ride one day—they were old family friends.

We heard that Blue Inn was closing.

And also that it was expanding.

And that Alexa, with her Silk Stockings money, was one day going to buy Blue Inn outright.

After that, when Alexa wasn’t with Cam Hartwell she was often spotted around town with her little sister, Morgan, and Katie Griffin.

Speaking of Cam Hartwell. We did seek out Cam’s checkout line when he was working at Market Basket that summer. He was incredibly efficient with the scanner, and managed to make a little conversation at the same time, which wasn’t easy. It was a real shame, what he got caught up in later in the summer.





August





49.





Rebecca


“There are way too many people using plastic straws around here,” said Morgan severely. “Don’t they know that the Pacific garbage patch is now the size of Russia?”

Rebecca, who had been planning on indulging in a cold brew at Commune, respectfully reconsidered. After shopping they were planning to go for poke bowls at Lolo Poke. Rebecca understood the folly of this endeavor—Morgan would get a build-your-own bowl but would build it with only rice and cucumber—but she herself wanted the signature Kai bowl. She’d noticed that since she’d begun dating Daniel her appetite had begun to return, tiptoeing in quietly like a teenager home past curfew.

They were on Pleasant Street, coming out of Pretty Poppy, where Morgan wanted to look at earrings and scrunchies. She was clutching her wallet but in the end had decided against parting with any of her allowance—she was actually rather tightfisted. They had parked Bernice outside, her leash looped around a pole.

“Can we get Bernice one of those dog cones from Harbor Creamery?” asked Morgan. “Just as a little treat?”

“Honey, no,” said Rebecca. “You know we have to be careful with her caloric intake. It’s not good for her heart or her joints to be overweight.”