Stay by Larkin Allie

Author:Larkin, Allie [Larkin, Allie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2010-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

When we got to the restaurant, Alex dropped me off at the door and parked the truck. I stood in the lobby waiting for him. Two bluehaired ladies with handbags and shoulder pads sat in the corner. Twinkle lights from a fake ficus tree reflected in the polished wood walls.

“Gladys,” a woman with a huge gold pleather purse said, loudly, to the woman sitting next to her on the bench, “did you see the Brandt boy drive up?” She was leaning in to Gladys like she was telling a secret.

“The Brandt boy?” Gladys said, leaning back, equally loud.

“Yes. The blue truck.” She fished through her purse and pulled out a lipstick.

“He drove up but he didn’t come in?” Gladys started rummaging through her purse too.

“I think this one is his date.” The woman smeared hot-pink lipstick around her mouth.

“Which one?” Gladys raised her chin and gestured at the woman to wipe the corner of her lip.

“This one,” the woman said, pointing at me. I was the only other person in the lobby.

I looked away and pretended I couldn’t hear them. There was an enormous gumball machine in the corner of the lobby, even though I couldn’t imagine they had a big market for gumballs.

“Oh,” Gladys said, like it had six syllables. She looked back at the other woman. “She’s the spitting image of Mary Alice.”

“She’s prettier than Mary Alice.”

“Mary Alice is a gorgeous girl.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t gorgeous, I’m saying-”

Alex’s ex-wife’s name was Sarah. Who was Mary Alice?

Alex opened the door and stepped into the lobby. He hooked his arm into his side and offered me his elbow. I smiled and took his arm, trying to keep my worries to myself.

“Shall we?” he said.

“Oh, Alex,” Gladys said, waving the tips of her fingers at him. “How are you?”

“Mrs. Liberatella, Mrs. Goldfarb!” Alex said, turning us toward them.

“You look terrific.”

“We were just talking about you,” Gladys said. “Weren’t we, Ruth?”

“Yes,” Ruth said, reaching in her mouth with her index finger to scrub off any lipstick that might have made it to her teeth.

“Good things, I hope.”

“Oh, you!” Gladys winked at him, showing off her shiny blue eye shadow.

“This is Savannah Leone.”

I put my hand out to shake theirs. Ruth shook my hand back. Gladys used my hand to pull herself up so she could hug me. She was shaky on her feet. She smelled like lavender and her body was soft like jelly around her bones.

She put her hand on my face. “It’s nice to meet you, dear.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“We have a table waiting,” Alex said, excusing us.

“Enjoy!” one of the ladies yelled after us. I turned around and they were both waving.

A waiter in a white shirt and a black bow tie seated us at a small round table in the corner. He pulled a long lighter out of his apron pocket and used it to light a candle in a squat red votive cup at the center of the table. He grabbed my napkin, snapped it out with one hand, and draped it across my lap.

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