Locust Lane(13)

“She said he got rough with her. Which if you knew Jack, you’d know was totally ridiculous. His parents only paid because there are people out there who are jealous of the Parrishes.”

“Wait, his parents paid?” Alice asked as she reached for the corkscrew.

“Yeah. Like, a lot.”

It took her several more heavy pours, but she finally got the whole story. Despite Jack strenuously maintaining his innocence, money had indeed secretly changed hands between the Parrishes and the Lirianos. An NDA was signed. And so the accusation never became public, even as gossip. Although Hannah continued to swear that Jack was the victim in all this, Alice kept an eye on him. Because she could kind of see him strong-arming some young thing. He had a hint of the bully about him. Those big hands and the harsh laugh that erupted at strange moments. And once or twice he’d hinted at a worldview that sounded a tad Paleolithic when it came to matters romantic.

But he’d always proved a perfect gentleman to her stepdaughter, even though there were times when Alice suspected it was something of an act. And then there was the fact that Hannah’s rules as to what constituted abusive behavior might be a bit more elastic than the norm, given her own history of self-harm. But look though she might, there were never any actual grounds for complaint. So Alice kept out of it. No way was she going to jeopardize the girl’s happiness on a hunch.

Meanwhile, her friendship with Celia blossomed. They exchanged texts, they shared stuff they found online. The only bump in the road had been the strange dinner party with the husbands. With Oliver, she’d expected some sort of white-shoe Visigoth, but he turned out to be witty, handsome, gracious, and utterly charming, with a voice aged in oak and a face etched in granite. Even his eye-to-temple scar was magnificent—it looked like a dueling wound worn by a dashing archduke. Geoff, clearly cowed by the setting, wound up playing the rebel, provoking the other guests with opinions Alice knew he didn’t really hold. But Celia had handled it all with surpassing grace. She was the best. Alice didn’t know what she’d do in Emerson without her.

And then, there she was, arriving right on time, looking as poised and perfect as ever.

“Are you all right?” Celia asked after the hug. “You look a little stressed.”

“Just the usual stuff at home.”

“So Geoff’s not being any more responsive?”

“As if.”

Celia frowned sympathetically. She knew things weren’t great with Geoff. The waiter swooped immediately; they ordered salad specials, as was their habit. And then they caught up. Colleges and summer plans. Celia’s renovation of her back patio; Oliver’s herculean travails at work, which had just forced her to spend another night alone.

“How long’s he gone for?”

“Just until this afternoon,” Celia said. “Actually, I’m kind of glad he wasn’t there last night.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m not sure what he would have made of Jack spending the night with Hannah.”

“Oh. Right.”

“I mean, are we okay with that?” Celia asked.

“I am, but I get the feeling you might not be.”

“It’s just, I’m not sure they’re ready for this yet.”

Normally, Alice would put this down to Celia being a fuddy-duddy, but then she recalled Hannah’s stricken expression in the Sub-Zero’s spooky light.

“You might have a point. I found Hanns wandering around the kitchen in the middle of night in floods of tears.”

“Oh dear. Did she say what it was about?”

“Not really.”

“Because something was eating at Jack as well when he stumbled in this morning.”

Alice waited, correctly guessing that more was coming.

“It just seems that we shouldn’t be sanctioning it,” Celia continued. “Obviously they’re going to do what they’re going to do, but allowing them to spend the night together seems a bit extreme for high schoolers.”

Alice could have debated the point, but she understood she might not be in the mainstream on this one. Her first sleepover with a guy had been when she was fifteen. The fact that he was the associate pastor at her father’s church complicated matters. As did the fact that he was married.

“I’ll have a word with Hannah,” she said.

“I’d still like to know what all the drama was.”

“I’ll ply her full of wine and get the full scoop.”

Celia smiled. She thought Alice was kidding.

“So I presume that everything was hunky-dory when they were at your house,” Alice said.

Celia looked confused.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean before they showed up at our place. They were with you, right?”

“No. Jack left right after dinner. He said he was going to your house.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. In fact, he said it again this morning.”

“No, it was definitely after midnight when they wandered in.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“Maybe they were at Christopher’s,” Alice said.

“Then why wouldn’t they say that?”

“Oh well,” Alice said. “As long as they were together.”