The Lying Club by Annie Ward

Author:Annie Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

24

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL kids were playing tag on the playground, and the teenagers were camped out at the cluster of picnic tables, scrolling through their phones. A couple of parents were helplessly trying to get the little ones to behave before someone got hurt. A silver aluminum foil balloon escaped from where it had been tied to a canopy and drifted into the blue sky. From the parking lot, a migration of families carried over their camp chairs and picnic blankets. There was the sound of laughter and conversation. It was the fourteenth of September. The Parent Teacher Association was holding their traditional picnic in Pilgrim’s Park to celebrate a successful first two weeks of school.

For Natalie, it had been hell without Nick. There had been nothing more than brief, work-related interactions, and he seemed to be avoiding the mezzanine whenever she was there working out. Her calls to Nick went unanswered, while her texts received cryptic replies, like, Let’s give it a little more time.

On one side of the grassy square, there was a long table covered with catering platters from Mona’s; grilled chicken and a spinach salad topped with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, and crumbled feta. Mona’s may as well have set up a sign that read, “Grown-up food.” On the other side of the park. JF’s “Junk Food” truck was distributing street tacos, chips, and guacamole.

Asha was behind the wine bar, which she’d set up in the shade of a large cottonwood tree. Phil arrived from the parking lot with a case of Shiraz.

“Thank you,” she said. Sweat was trickling down her back. It wasn’t all that warm, but she was at the start of her third trimester, and she was uncomfortable. She’d chosen this particular spot for the wine bar because she thought it would be cool, but as the sun moved, it kept peeking through the tree branches and landing on her neck and arms. Asha desperately wanted to go sit down in a lawn chair and dump a bottle of water over her head the way Mia sometimes did at the end of a difficult game.

There was a line just starting to form for the drinks when Natalie popped up suddenly at Asha’s side and said, “Hi.”

“Hi, Natalie,” Asha responded. “Nice to see you.” She found herself doing a double take. Natalie looked different. Tired. “Red or white?”

“White, please.” Taking her wine, Natalie leaned in and said, “Do you think you might have a minute to sneak away and talk in private?”

“Of course. When it slows down, I’ll come find you.”

“Thank you.”

As Natalie walked away, Asha watched with concern. Tired wasn’t really the right description for how Natalie looked. Maybe sick.

Brooke walked up and took a position at the very end of the wine line. Under different circumstances in the past, she might have gone straight up to Asha and cut in front of the others, but she wasn’t feeling as ballsy as usual. For one thing, Howard Leland, Reade’s dad, was several people in front of her.

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