Damage Done (32 page)

"Hello, Georgeann,
Regina. How are y'all? Fighting over the lapis earrings?" she asked
smiling.

"Rachel, this place is
just amazing this evening. I don't know how you did it, but really, it looks
beautiful," Georgeann gushed, "And so do you this evening, sugar,
wow, you look mighty pretty."

She left her newly colored
chocolate hair hanging over her shoulders, the strapless green dress had been
tailored perfectly, Rachel felt elegant, composed, and even pretty.

"Thank you, it's nice
to get dressed up every now and then, but I can't take credit for the rest of
it. Jake handled every last detail, he'll be thrilled to hear you're happy with
it."

"Well, yes, of course
he did,
” Regina laughed, “That silly boy,
where is he? I want to tell him myself."

"I'm not sure,"
Rachel said, looking around for him, "We just got here. I'll send him your
way as soon as I see him."

The guests hadn't started
arriving, it gave her time to chat with the catering directors from the
restaurants, shmooze with the event coordinator from the Summit, and walk to
the stage and test the microphones for her speech later. The microphones seemed
to be working and the lighting was all set up, but of course Neil was nowhere
to be found. And either was Jake. Kenneth kept the children busy with their
little tablets at an empty table near the entrance.

Lana and Megan walked in,
Lana wore a hideous red gown, but a gorgeous smile.

"Where's Lauren?"
she asked, "I wanna give her this birthday present."

"That was sweet of you,
Lana," Rachel said, and pointing towards Kenneth, "She's right over
there with her daddy and her brother. When you're done, can I ask you to work
the registration table?"

She waited patiently while
Lana gave Lauren her little gift, a hardcover copy of Little Women, something
that Rachel appreciated, but Lauren looked at with disgust.

Rachel led Lana and Megan to the registration table and
explained how to find the reservations and where to put the money for those who
hadn't yet purchased their tickets. She combed the reservation list to see how
many people they expected and how many had already paid, her eyes widened.

Over eight hundred paid
reservations. They'd already made back the money they spent on the event.
Anything that came in from the silent auction or private donations would be
profit. She felt giddy. She needed to find Jake and give him a hard time for
not telling her sooner.

She walked through the arena
looking for him, her gown making it difficult to walk as fast as she'd have
liked. She thought how selfish she'd been lately, how she hadn't even asked how
things were looking with the money coming in. Even as they'd worked on the
table decorations, Rachel was preoccupied with Dylan and Kenneth, Hunter and
Lauren, Michael. She'd made small talk with the volunteers that morning, and
talked with Megan about her new car she loved, but she’d been totally oblivious
to the circus tent around her.

A group of musicians were
setting up on stage, a contemporary string group she recognized from the
internet. Their black tie and ball gowns barely detracted from the tattoos or
the pink hair. Rachel smiled at the thought of her mother's reaction when she
walked in and saw a dozen musicians with classical instruments wearing tuxedos
and facial piercings.

They hadn't spoken since she'd confronted her, Rachel
wasn't sure if Savannah and Jameson would make an appearance this evening,
although she suspected her mother wouldn't miss an opportunity to test the
waters. Or hold court for the socialites who came out to support her poor
community servant daughter. 

She circled around behind the stage and found Neil, still
in his jeans, he was playing on his cell phone.

"Neil, where's Jake?"

"He left to get dressed,
I haven't seen him since."

"You need to go get
dressed, is your tux here?"

He'd have to stick around for any potential maintenance
issues and needed to blend in. The cut up jeans and holey t shirt wouldn't do.

"Yeah man, it's out in
my truck. I'm headed out there now."

She turned and walked out,
eying a few clusters of guests that trickled in. The musicians struck up,
playing some current pop hit on their guitars, violins, cellos and basses.
Rachel put a smile on her face and prepared to spend the rest of her evening
talking with the guests, sharing stories of women they'd supported, children
they'd saved, volunteers they'd recruited.

She grabbed a champagne flute and went to work.

When the musicians took
their first break, Neil stood ready to turn on the music he and Jake had
waiting in queue on his little DJ laptop, and just as she'd started to worry,
Jake finally made his appearance.

He waltzed in wearing his Brioni tux, flashing his charm
this way and that, a bald James Bond. As he made his way towards her he stopped
suddenly, surprise registered on his face, he froze and then spun around in the
kind of perfectly executed dance move kids across the world practiced for years
and never got right.

Rachel laughed hard and walked into his hug, overwhelmed by
how dear he was to her.

"Jake, my dearest love,
you have created a masterpiece here this evening, expect it to make the front
page of Texas Social magazine next month."

"They better put my
picture on the cover with it," he said, "Get a load of this
tux!"

"Regina is looking for
you, she wants to give you her stamp of approval, so you can sleep well
tonight."

"That old heffer will
have to wait, I've got a fancy green dream first in line on my dance
card," he said.

Norah Jones sang through the
speakers about coming away with her, and Jake swung Rachel onto the empty dance
floor. Several guests applauded as he pushed her delicately around the floor,
holding her tight.

"You, Rachel, look
beautiful. You look, dare I say, put together?"

"I feel good, and I
have you to thank. You are an outrageously generous, sensitive, compassionate
and surprisingly graceful best friend."

"Psssst," he
whispered, leaning into her ear to impart an important secret, "Have you
been drinking?"

She laughed and he spun her
around smiling.

"Rachel, I always want
you to look this happy."

"But then you wouldn't
have anybody to counsel or lecture to about mineral supplements."

"Don't turn and look,
but your poetry writing trollop just walked in wearing a very dangerous tuxedo
on his dynamite bod and a very stormy look on his perfectly chiseled
face."

They continued their dance
in silence, Jake humming the tune while Rachel considered where to head when
the song was over. She wanted to race for Dylan, but felt compelled to find
Kenneth and the children instead. She made her way towards where she'd seen
them last, but stopped first for another champagne flute.

"Rachel," Kenneth called, he was sitting with his
dad, Hunter and Lauren stood a few feet away raiding a pastry buffet, Kenneth's
mother supervising as she spoke with the catering attendant.

"I was just coming to
find you," she smiled, and leaning down to hug her father-in-law,
"Hello, David. I'm so glad y'all could come this year."

"Of course,
Rachel," David said kindly, "Anything to support all the wonderful
work you do, we're sorry we missed it last year. This food is excellent."

He took another bite of the
fancy quiches stockpiled on his plate. Rachel slammed the rest of her champagne
and looked over to the children.

"How are the kids? Is
everything okay?"

"Sure," Kenneth
said, "We're good. You do whatever you need to do, I know you need to
mingle and talk to people."

"Thanks. If Lauren gets
too tired, I'll ask the arena coordinator if she can lie down in her office, there's
a couch in there."

Silence.

"Have you eaten
anything?" she asked him, searching for something kind to say.

"No."

It would take time before
they weren’t awkward, she still had hopes of salvaging a friendship. But she’d
grown tired of digging conversation out of him.

"Try the salmon from
Javier's, it looks delicious. I'm going to say hi to the kids and see how the
silent auction is coming," she said, excusing herself without waiting for
the response that may or may not have come.

"Hello, my sweet beautiful
loves," she said crossing over to the kids, "Hello Barb, how are
y'all?"

Lauren stood on her toes to
reach a pastry at one of the buffets, her fingers already coated in chocolate,
and Hunter shoved chocolate covered something into his pockets. Her mother-in-law
hugged her and went straight for the kill.

"I'm so sorry you and
Kenneth are having a difficult time, Rachel," she whispered, "All
married couples hit the skids every now and then, it happens to the best of
us."

It hadn't surprised her that
Kenneth would confide in his parents, but she wasn't having this conversation
with them this evening.

"Thank you, Barb. Did
y'all get settled into your hotel alright?"

"Oh yes, it's a very
nice suite, the kids are going to have so much fun tonight!"

"They're very
excited," Rachel smiled politely, then leaned in to kiss Hunter on the
cheek, "Hey bud, are you having fun?"

"Mom! There's a lot of
people here," Hunter said.

"Yeah, there sure are."

"Do you know all of
these people?"

"No, only some of them,
but they're all here to raise money so I can help other people."

"Oh Mommy! Did you see m
émère
?" Lauren asked, "She’s a
princess today, too!"

"Is she? I'm sure she's
not nearly as beautiful as you are, my angel," Rachel said, her stomach
tightening with anxiety.

"Your mother does look
stunning, Rachel," Barb added, "How she keeps herself looking so
young is just beyond me."

"It's an enigma,"
Rachel said under her breath, "I've got to check on the silent auction,
I'll come find y'all in a bit, okay?"

Savannah had rallied herself
for a performance, called Rachel's bluff. She reached for another glass of
champagne, slammed the Brut and prepared for the silent battle that would
surely follow. The crowd was thick by then, Rachel stopped to talk to guests,
constantly on alert for her mother.

And Dylan.

She hadn't seen him yet,
he'd disappeared into the crowd before she and Jake finished their dance. She
made her way to the silent auction tables when she saw Jameson talking at some
thirty-something in a light pink Vera Wang. Savannah chatted with another man
nearby, laughing and touching his sleeve as they looked at the silent auction
pieces. Her blond hair was piled high on her head, a shiny tiara tucked neatly
into the waves. She wore her fitted gold lame' gown, the lights overhead making
her glow like the sun. She was hard to look at.

Rachel lost her nerve.

She made her way back
towards the stage instead, thinking she'd mingle until the time came to give
her speech and to recognize their sponsors. The crowd continued to grow, and
Rachel did her best to charm the increasingly drunk socialites. She laughed at
bad jokes and smiled when she felt like scowling, she drank champagne. She
never ate.

Jake nodded his agreement
that it was time to make their speeches, and they found Lana waiting patiently
near the stage, nursing her own nerves and preparing to share her story with
the crowd. Megan sat with her, wearing the little black dress Rachel had given
her, she looked nothing like the tiny timid woman Rachel had seen sitting with
her husband the night of that game two months before.

Lana sat looking over her notes, she was a tough old bird,
but this would be her first time standing before a crowd this big, sharing such
a personal part of life. The three of them made their way onto the stage where
they stood next to one another quietly, tall and skinny Rachel in her green
gown, short and round Lana in her red, clashing like a cheap Christmas
decoration.

Jake held the microphone and waited offstage as the music
wrapped before he gathered the attention of the crowd.

"Good evening," he
began, "We hope everyone is enjoying themselves."

He waited until the crowd assembled quietly and continued,
"We'd like to thank each of you for coming this evening, my name is Jake
Ross and I'm the Director of Operations for ReachingOut, a non-profit
organization serving survivors of domestic violence through web-based support
services. ReachingOut was founded ten years ago by our Executive Director and
my dearest friend, Rachel Daniels, in an effort to enhance the resources
available to survivors of domestic violence. Many of you may not know, but
domestic violence is the nation's leading cause of injury to women. Every year,
more women are harmed by partners who abuse them than are harmed in car
accidents, muggings, and rape combined."

He spoke at length about the
domestic violence statistics in Texas, about domestic violence in the gay and
lesbian community, about how their organization helped people.