Unbreakable (21 page)

Then there was a measure of silence and Katherine's eyes narrowed as she imagined several deep swallows of cool liquor burning its way down Gwen's throat.
Oh, great, now I'm thirsty.
Then they heard a muffled sob and despite what they'd found in Gwen's closet, both women felt a stab of guilt over their duplicity and Gwen's distress.

The crying continued for several long minutes, with Katherine shifting uneasily, but silently from one foot to the other the entire time. It was making Audrey insane.

Audrey had almost resigned herself to opening the closet door and facing the music when they heard the melodic tones a cell phone being dialed.

"Dr. Schuster, please. This is Gwen Langtree calling for my afternoon appointment."

Audrey's mouth dropped open.

"Hello, doctor. Thank you for allowing me to do this via phone today. I've been looking forward to our hour session all week. I really need to talk to someone. I appreciate having a therapist as flexible as you are."

"An hour session?" Katherine whispered a little too loudly.

Gwen turned towards the closet and frowned. She cocked her ear toward the door. If there were mice in this place, she was moving everyone to the Westin in downtown St. Louis.

"I'm still here," Gwen said after staring at the door for a moment. "Of course we can pick up where we left off last week."

Katherine and Audrey whimpered quietly and did their best to get comfortable. Maybe they could smother each other with something in Gwen's suitcase and cut short what was sure to be a miserable late afternoon.

Gwen lay back on the bed and closed her eyes and began to talk.

*  *  *

Fall 1982
St. Louis, Missouri

"C'mon, c'mon. Pay up, Katy." Nina, dressed in a University of Missouri—St. Louis sweatshirt and black jeans, tapped her foot impatiently. She'd already asked Katherine three times that day. "I need to bring the rent over to Mr. Gossler before we go to the game tonight." Their landlord lived next door.

Katherine sighed and sat up from her stretched out position on the ratty, burnt orange-colored sofa that they'd bought at a yard sale for $20. No matter what they did to it, the couch still smelled a little like wet dog. "Lemme go raid my piggy bank. Hang on." With a groan, she headed to the small bedroom she shared with Gwen and Nina.

The girls of the Mayflower Club were renting a house that was older than any of their grandparents and was located only two miles from the University of Missouri—St. Louis, where they were freshmen. The school had a mediocre academic reputation and underachieving sports teams, but it was cheap, local, and someplace they'd all been accepted–the top three things on all their lists. Only Nina knew that Jacie had been offered a partial academic scholarship to Washington University, though even with the Priest family's meager assistance she'd been forced to turn it down because tuition and room and board were simply out of her reach.

Nina sat down on the sofa and closed her eyes. She'd have to pay for attending tonight's soccer match by studying all night tomorrow for her first history exam. Still–a small smile appeared–it would be worth it. Jacie did nothing but work or study at the library these days, and if she didn't know better, Nina would have sworn the auburn-haired girl was avoiding her. But the more she thought about it, the more ridiculous the idea seemed. Sure, they hadn't gotten to spend as much time together as Nina would have liked, but Jacie was her very best friend, and that would never change.

Her stomach fluttered happily at the thought of an evening together.

Gwen stepped out of their tiny kitchen with a soda can in her hand. She, too, was wearing a sweatshirt in the school colors of red and gold, this one emblazoned with UMSL Rivermen. She sucked in a breath because her tight-fitting Gloria Vanderbilt jeans were cutting off blood to parts of her body she was pretty sure needed blood. Still, she looked fabulous, and as her mother had drilled into her head–beauty wasn't free.

Gwen glanced around. "Where is everyone? We need to go."

Nina looked at the plastic wall clock shaped like an owl, the kind whose demented eyes danced back and forth as the second hand moved. "Katy's in the bedroom rifling the chair cushions for her portion of the rent. Audrey is in the other room and refuses to come out until she's lost 20 pounds and has a date for Homecoming. And Jacie isn't home yet."

"Oh, God." Gwen rolled her eyes. "I could kill that Tommy for making that comment about Audrey's thighs."

Nina's eyes narrowed. "You and me both. There's nothing wrong with her thighs."

"Who could you kill?" Katy asked as she approached the sofa with a thick stack of crinkled one-dollar bills in her hands. The tips she earned waitressing almost made up for her smelling like grease one hundred percent of the time.

Gwen sat down next to Nina. She set her soda on the floor and picked up the earrings she'd left on the coffee table. "Audrey's bastard ex-boyfriend." In one ear she placed a simple, fake diamond stud. In the other ear she slid in a stud with a long chain attached and a longer white feather that dangled at the end of that. Then she adjusted her pink headband. Olivia Newton John would be jealous. "He really did a number on her self-esteem."

"Is she still in the bedroom?" Katy had assumed since Audrey had been in there so long that perhaps her cousin had ended her self-imposed exile and somehow she'd just missed it.

Nina nodded. "Still in there."

Katy sighed. "I'll go get her."

Gwen looked at the door. "We're going to have to leave Jacie if she doesn't get here soon." She grinned girlishly, her blue eyes dancing with delight. "Malcolm Langtree is going to meet me at the game and I can't be late."

Nina blinked. "The tall boy you've been flirting with since the first week of school? What was his name again?"

Gwen looked aghast. "C'mon, Nina, don't tell me you've haven't heard of the Langtrees!" She gestured wildly. "Are you crazy?"

Nina batted round, innocent eyes. "I'm sure I don't know who you mean."

Gwen stamped both her feet. "Nina!"

Nina couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. "Duh, Gwen." She smacked the taller girl on the arm. "Everyone in St. Louis knows who they are."

Gwen gave her a sheepish look, the color of her cheeks rivaling her headband. "I'm sorry. I'm just–"

"Excited?" Nina gazed at her indulgently. "I noticed."

"He is awfully cute, though," she defended. "And he's taking me out to a late dinner after the game."

"Are those from him?" Nina inclined her head toward a wobbly end table that held a bouquet of fragrant flowers. The flora had been stuffed into an empty coke-bottle-turned-bud-vase.

"Uh huh. My first roses!" Gwen's dreamy expression turned wry. "They almost drown out the smell of the sofa."

Both girls began to laugh.

The front door flew open and Jacie, still dressed in the black slacks and black silk blouse she wore every time she tended bar using her fake ID, strode into the living room. "Sorry I'm late, guys, but I need as much overtime as possible this week." An art class she'd taken on a lark was turning out to be her favorite course and the cost of supplies was killing her.

Nina's face lit up when she saw Jacie. She admitted privately that she loved the sight of her in her work clothes.

Jacie stopped near the sofa and looked back at the front door. "Don't be shy, Karen. C'mon in." She motioned to a slender woman who was waiting quietly in the doorway. The woman looked to be in her mid-to-late 20s, and Jacie smiled as she strolled into their living room.

Gwen recalled seeing this woman once before when she'd given Jacie a ride home from work last month. She eyed her red suede jacket enviously. "I saw your coat in the Famous-Barr's store window last week. It's great."

The pretty woman smiled, showing off perfect white teeth. "Thanks. I think so, too."

Nina wanted to gag over Karen's syrupy sweet Southern accent.

"And that's Charlie perfume you're wearing," Gwen continued, looking closer to see if the jacket had the plain gold buttons or the ones with tiny silver flecks in them.

Impressed, the woman nodded. "That's pretty good. I'm barely wearing any."

Gwen blew on her fingers and then buffed them on her sweatshirt. "It's a gift. I'm taking fashion design."

Nina glanced at Jacie, whose gaze was riveted on Karen, and inexplicably felt like growling, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention.

"Gwen, Nina, this is my uh… my friend Karen-Michelle," Jacie introduced, not able to look Nina in the eye. She and Karen had recently become lovers, and Jacie was drowning in guilt. She had no doubt whatsoever who really owned her heart. And it wasn't Karen. "We met at work." She rocked back on her heels. "And… uh… she's going to come to the game with us, okay?"

Gwen shrugged. "Sure."

"That's great," Nina said, unable to project a single ounce of enthusiasm into her normally bright voice. Was this who Jacie was spending all of her free time with? She felt the sting of jealousy burning deep in the pit of her stomach and was instantly ashamed.
Stop being an idiot! She's allowed to have other friends.

Unable to sit still for another second, Gwen popped up off the couch and grabbed her purse from a hook on the wall. "Okay, let's go." She was already moving for the door.

"Katy and Audrey are still in Jacie's room," Nina reminded.

Jacie nodded. "I'll get them and then change my shirt and– Yeow!" She tripped over plastic bin of clean laundry that had been carelessly left out by Katy and ended up sprawled out on the carpet like a turtle on her back. "Ugh," she said to the ceiling. "That was graceful."

Both Nina and Karen rushed to her side. "Are you okay?" they asked at the same time. Surprised, they turned and stared at one another with slightly wide eyes. Then each woman stuck out her hand to help Jacie up. "Here," they chorused again. This time the looks they shot each other were filled with annoyance.

Jacie blinked slowly, her eyebrows crawling up her forehead and her gaze flicking from hand to hand.

Forcing herself to act like an adult and not a spoiled girl who now had to share her favorite toy, Nina gritted her teeth and began to withdraw.

Without her permission, Jacie's arm shot out and she clasped Nina's hand, feeling warm, strong fingers wrap around her own. A tiny squeeze was her reward.

Karen's eyes took on a knowing glint.

Confused but smugly satisfied, Nina tugged Jacie to her feet and after a few awkward seconds, reluctantly let go of her hand. She took a step backwards, finding something terribly interesting about their avocado-green shag carpet, though she couldn't stop the small smile from appearing.

"Thank you, Nina," Jacie said softly, forgetting for a moment that Karen was even in the room.

Karen rolled her eyes as so many mysteries about Jacie finally came into focus. Now she understood why Jacie, though she'd finally allowed herself to be seduced, had seemed reluctant to move forward with their relationship. She was in love with someone else. The interaction between the two younger women made her wonder why the dishwater-blonde with the intense blue-green eyes was so blind.

Finally aware that Karen was watching her, Jacie tore her eyes from Nina and snatched a shirt and pair jeans from the clothesbasket. The shirt was Katy's but she wouldn't mind, and a quick check at the tag told her the pants belonged to her and not to Gwen, who would mind but would get over it. With a little wave, she headed for the bedroom, giving the clothesbasket a small kick as she went. "One second."

With Jacie gone, the silence in the living room stretched on endlessly. "So," Gwen began politely, resisting the urge to check her watch again, "what do you do, Karen?"

Karen sighed loudly. "Way too many stupid things." She gave the girls a wry smile. "And I ought to know better."

Not having the faintest idea of how to respond to that, Nina and Gwen just stood there, shifting from one foot to the other and praying that Jacie would come back soon.

Karen turned to Nina. "Will you give Jacie a message for me?"

"Uhh…" She pointed to the bedroom in which Jacie had disappeared. "She's just in there. You can tell her your–"

"Why don't you tell her for me?" Karen interrupted, giving Nina a direct look.

Nina's mouth snapped shut. "Well, sure. Okay," she finally muttered.

Karen smiled. "Thanks. Tell her I had a lot of fun and I'll see her around sometime. I suddenly remembered that I have other plans for tonight."

Nina's shoulders slumped. She hadn't exactly been rude, but she hadn't really welcomed Jacie's new friend either. "Look, if you'll just wait–"

Karen waved a dismissive hand. "No thanks. I have a feeling I'll be waiting forever for that one."

"You will?" Nina said, shaking her head a little, clearly befuddled.

Karen's gaze sharpened and she searched the girl's face, trying to decide whether she was being mocked. But a good look into earnest eyes yielded a quick and certain answer and, despite herself, she had to smother a chuckle. If this weren't happening to her, it would have been too cute for words. "I'm sure of it." And with that, Karen saw herself out the front door and out of Jacie's life, allowing the screen to slam behind her.

The door hadn't been closed for three seconds when Jacie showed up, followed by Katy and Audrey. Jacie's gaze bounced around the room. "Where's Karen?"

Nina braced herself for Jacie to be upset. "She… um… she said to tell you she'd had fun and would see you around."

Jacie's jaw sagged.

"And that she suddenly remembered a prior engagement," Gwen added, quickly losing patience and wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just catch the bus. "Can we go now, please?"

Katy held up her car keys and jangled them. "I'm ready."

"Me too," Audrey said. Having been the recipient of a pep talk by Katy and Jacie, she and her less-than-perfect thighs were once again prepared to face the cruel world.

"I'm sorry about your friend, Jacie," Nina said quietly, truly meaning it.