Carpe Bead'em (13 page)

“I have a lot going on in my life and I
want to enjoy the silence.” Her eyes don’t flutter. She doesn’t turn to look
nor does she flinch any part of her body. The water doesn’t ripple from any
slight movements.

The silence blankets me. I put my hand
to my chest. The minerals aren’t relaxing me and I’m having a hard time
breathing. Lucy’s been my rock over the past years and I need to be her rock
now.

“Lucy?” I don’t move. I want her to stay
relaxed, I just don’t want her to feel alone.

“Yes?” Her eyes stay closed.

“I’m worried about you.” I confess.

“I know you are. I can feel it in the
air.” Her hand reaches for the cool damp washcloth on the side of the tub. I
watch in silence as she places it on her head. “I think I need to regroup my life.”

“Can I ask you a question and keep you
relaxed at the same time?”

“Sure, Hal, you can ask me anything.”
Her hands drape ever so elegantly over the sides of the tub.

“What’s happened for you to think you
need to regroup?” I hear the water starting to ripple.

“This is a room for couples, isn’t it?”
She looks over at me smiling.

“Yes. I told them we were a couple. A
couple of friends.”  I smile over my witty response.

The receptionist did give me a little
lip about holding it for best friends and not a honeymoon couple. I don’t
understand that. I’m the customer and paying the exact same amount. It
shouldn’t matter whether we’re a couple or just friends.

“Thank you. I’ve missed you. And dare I
say,” she gasps. “I even miss Aunt Grace’s middle-of-the-night phone calls.”

“You have no idea how much time I’ve
spent with Aunt Grace,” I say, but decide that I’m not going to bother her with
my worries about Aunt Grace’s health. “Plus, she still calls in the middle of
the night.”

Our laughter fills the room.

Finally, Lucy speaks. “I need to think
about my life in Chicago, my job, and Beck.”

I remain immersed in the tub trying to
relax. The water is warm and becoming more refreshing. I want to take in everything
she has to say before I say anything in return.  

“Work and Chicago will work out, but I’m
not sure if Beck and I will. He wants to move back to Mason Crossing to be with
his mother and wants me to go back.”

“What?” I ask.

Okay, so holding my tongue until she
asks for my advice is not my forte. That’s the last thing I imagined coming out
of her mouth. Lucy is from the same small central Kentucky town that Beck’s
mother lives in.

“I don’t see myself moving back there.”
The glass clinks as she takes a piece of ice out. “Don’t get me wrong, I love
Mason Crossing and my family. But I’m not ready to move out of Chicago.”

“You have to look at what you want in
life and what’s best for you.” I said.

“I want to live in Chicago and I want
Beck. He wants to do the long-distance thing. I need him when I need him.” I
watch her take another piece of ice and place it on her eyelids. “He said it
isn’t about me anymore. He said his mom needs him and he can do real estate
anywhere, just like I can be a therapist anywhere.”

Lucy’s voice is calm. “He’s going to be
there for the next two weeks checking out relocation buildings. That’s why I’m
going to take a two-week vacation and live in Cincinnati with you.”

My body tenses at the thought of having
Lucy living with me in Cincinnati. I can see it now, she’ll be gone to Mason
Crossing the entire time, and I know it.

“Hallie? Did you hear me?” I know if I
look up, she’ll be staring at me and my facial expression will say it all.

“I want you to make sure that’s what you
want.” I lay with my eyes closed.

“It is. There’s no reason not to. I
never take vacation. It’s a win-win situation.”

“How’s that?”  

“You don’t have to be alone and I’m just
a few hours from Beck.” I knew it.

“Yes, it’s a win-win situation.” I can
picture it now. Lucy’s stuff will live with me, but she’ll be in Mason Crossing
the whole time.

“I don’t hear the excitement in your
voice.” Lucy seems somewhat surprised by the reaction I’m trying so desperately
to disguise.

“Ladies, it’s time to get showered off
and into the sauna.” The attendant calls out from the other side of the door.

“That settles it.” Lucy smiles, standing
up and wrapping the towel around her. “I can’t wait to see Aunt Grace.”

Leave it to Lucy to finish with a little
sarcasm.

We find Prudence and Georgia sitting in
the Edith Ann chairs in the atrium waiting for us when we come out of the spa.

“We got you a coffee from the café.”
Georgia motions for us to come over. She curls her nose up and turns down her
lips. “How was the mud bath?”

“Don’t knock it till you try it.” I
smile, picking up the welcoming coffee. “We definitely weren’t two pigs rolling
around.” I tell them about the minerals, and how each one does something
different or good to your body. I wiggle my shoulders around. “See, relaxed.”

“I saw Piper the other night.” Prudence
nonchalantly blurts out.

Okay!

Maybe nonchalantly and blurt don’t go
together. Blurt, she did.

She said it out of nowhere and with
casualty like it’s no big deal when I know for a fact she hates Piper more than
me.

“Not so relaxed anymore!” I throw my
shoulders up to my ears to show the tension has returned. All relaxation is
down the drain, just like the minerals in the mud bath.”That’s completely
random, bringing up Piper when we’re having great time.”

I try to get out of the big chair, but
struggle with getting my feet to the floor. Huge news and huge chair equal a
clumsy Hallie.

“Sh!” Georgia gently reminds me how my
voice carries throughout the dome shaped structure.

“Damn, Georgia! A whisper can be heard
around here. What do you expect me to say, Georgia? She’s the reason I don’t
live in Chicago. And why I’m not around…”

“Bo.” Leave it to Lucy to finish my
sentences.

“Funny too because I asked her how Gucci
is doing, as if I give a crap, and she did that blended-word gibberish she
loves to make up.” Prudence rolls her eyes, and laughs so loud that the guests
at the café tables stop to looks at us. “This time her new creation is
wontastic.”

“Shhh.” Georgia didn’t shush us so
quietly this time, which make us laugh and ignore Georgia.

“You know wonderful and fantastic put
together. Wontastic.” Prudence plays it off like its everyday language and how
dare us not know what it means.

“First off, I can’t believe you went
into Gucci.” I know firsthand that once Gucci gets a hold of you, it won’t let
go. But being betrayed over it is going too far.

“No, at the bar.” Prudence keeps sipping
her coffee like no big deal. “Bo’s bar. Didn’t Lucy tell you?”

I look at Lucy, who stares at Prudence
like a deer in head lights. Make that a deer about to get hit by a car.

“What the hell, Lucy?” Of all people,
she knows how crazy I am over Bo and the situation with Piper. “I talk to you
every day, sometimes three times a day and you couldn’t mention it?”

“I don’t think it’s healthy to tell you
over the phone when I knew I’d be seeing you soon, and all of us could tell,” she
says, trying to save herself.

Unsuccessfully, I might add.

“All of you?” I look at innocent little
Georgia this time. By the way she’s fidgeting I can tell she’s avoiding me.

“I’ve been gone a month and I’m already
out of the loop.” I’ve been spending my nights agonizing over what they’re
doing and how much they must miss me, when the entire time, they’ve not missed
me at all.

In true Georgia style, she speaks softly
and calmly. “We wanted to tell you that night. The way we see, we wanted to be
with you when you hear so you can lean on
us.
” She emphasizes “us”.

Wait.

Why do I need someone to lean on?

Prudence can’t keep her mouth shut. “Oh,
okay, Georgia.” She is getting annoyed. “She needs to know and I’m tired of
pussy footing around. That bitch wants your life. Including us!”

Prudence’s anger makes her voice
escalate as she tries to prove her point. She isn’t going to put up with Piper
and her nonsense much longer.

“What? What do you mean?” I jump to my
feet, and start to panic, holding my chest. I don’t know what a heart attack
feels like, but I can absolutely say I’m having one.

“Talk about Single White Female. She had
her hair styled like yours, dressed just like you, carried that same Gucci bag,
your signature brown lipstick with a touch of gloss on top and flirting with
Bo.” Her head is bobbing up and down. “Oh and drinking a Cosmo!” She points at
me. “Your favorite.”

I can’t believe my ears.
A month! One
month!

“She’s a thief!” I scream out, “And she
is getting away with it!”

“She sent you here. I know it. She wants
your life so bad.” Prudence is like a water fountain, spewing out all the words
while Georgia and Lucy shake their heads in disbelief.

“She asked all about you, and what
you’ve been doing in Cincinnati.” Prudence points to herself. “Me, I didn’t say
a word. But, loose-lip Lucy told her everything. Even about your house, your job,
and down to crazy Aunt Grace.”

Lucy got up to her defense. “Prudence,
that’s not fair. What did you want me to tell her? Hallie hates it. Why,
Prudence? Why give her the satisfaction when I know she’d shit if she thought
Hallie was happy.”

Good point, I thought. “Good way to work
it.”

“Work what?” Lucy is mad now.

“Piper. She thinks I’m happy, and will
be mad her little plan didn’t work.”
Screw her!

I completely understand why they waited,
and I appreciate their concern, but it still sucks to hear.

“Bo did ask about you.” Georgia’s smile
is as big as the Grand Canyon. “He wanted to know if you were settled.”

Immediately I can picture his note.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I gave him
your email addy. He said something about a note he gave you and something about
you losing it during your move.” She shrugs, looking at me suspiciously.

“What does he want? Did he say?” I
wonder why he confided in Georgia out of all three of them.

“No clue. I do know if he and Piper
are
an item, they sure don’t act like it. She was paying for her drinks and he made
her wait like the other drunks.”  The three of them carry on about how Piper
was bent over the bar flinging her money around.

“He did take her money.” Lucy laughs. “I
bet she thought she was going to get it for free.”

We spent the rest of the night, and most
of the next day catching up, relaxing, and enjoying our friendship.

For dinner, we decide to leave the
resort, hit the local Mexican restaurant and throw back a few margaritas. Well,
Georgia knocked back a few waters. It is perfect timing for my presentation of
the bracelets and the big reveal of my plan with Dee.

“You are such a liar!” Lucy holds the
bracelet up, squealing with delight, almost knocking over her margarita glass.
“You don’t have a creative bone in your body other than Gucci.” “Where is it?”

I help Georgia put hers’ on. “Where’s
what?”

Her hand digs in the bag, sending tissue
paper flying everywhere. “The designer’s card.” Lucy really doesn’t believe me.
 

Prudence is busy trying to figure out
the toggle clasp.
“I want order a few more pieces. Oh, I’ll be living with you so I can go to the
place where you bought it.”  Lucy won’t let it go.

“Really, Lucy. I did it.”

It’s at that moment I begin to feel so
proud of myself. They all have promising futures in their careers.

Let’s face it, I love Gucci and it
turned into my career. Now I have another hobby, beading. Why not turn that
into a money maker and sell my designs through Dee?

“You tried to help out with decorating
the apartment, and it looks like a cross between country and India,” Lucy says.
But I love my shabby chic furniture and my Buddha. They may not look the best
when put together, but they work for me.

“Seriously.” I tell them about One Bead
at a Time and Dee. I blab on and on about all the different styles of glass
beads, sterling silver findings, charms, spacers, toggles and clasps.

“We get it.” Prudence put her margarita
glass in the air for the server to refill. “More con queso too.” I can’t stop
staring at her wrist, adorned with a Hallie original. The bracelet really is
pretty.

“I haven’t seen you this excited since
your hire interview with Gucci.” Lucy glows for me.

“I have to come up with a business card
and a name.” I sat back and look around. Even though I had two more months in
Cincinnati, I’m happy. The thought of those two months doesn’t scare me like it
did before.