“What happened? Is it true? What is going on?”
“It’s off. She’s not going through with it. She caught him. He was cheating. Apparently, she’s suspected for a while, and then she caught him.”
“Unbelievable!”
“She caught him in the pool with Penny.”
“Jesus, not Penny!” I said even though, at that exact moment, I hadn’t a clue who Penny was. Then, “The pool?”
“The pool.”
My mind began to reel. “Indoor or outdoor?”
“What difference does it make, John? My God!”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I can’t think straight. Just calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! Do you know what I’ve been through, any idea?”
“How is she? Can I talk to her? Is she there?”
“She’s in her room. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”
“I can’t believe this. What do we do now?”
“Nothing.”
“We have to do something. Start calling people.”
“Sally and Sal are taking care of everything. Calling everyone. The caterer, the band. We have to pay for some rooms, most of the rooms, probably.”
“God, I cannot believe this.”
“We were lucky that this happened now, not two days from now. No one’s really here but us. But we’re going to have to pay for the rooms.”
I was silent, overwhelmed.
“Hello? John? Am I keeping you from something?”
“I don’t know what to say.” I paused. “Okay, I know I must know her, but who is this Penny person again?”
“A bridesmaid. A sorority sister.”
“I don’t know her.”
“You know her.”
“Well, I don’t remember her,” I said.
“I never liked him. From the start. Never trusted him, that jaw of his. His family, they all have that same damn jaw.”
“Let’s try to focus on Karen.”
“If you cared so much about Karen, you’d be here by now. You would have taken a plane out here, instead of … of … walking.”
“Planes don’t work with him, you know that.” I stood and tried to pace, but the bathroom was too small, so I had to sit back down on top of the toilet. “Well, Mindy’s here. With me. She just got here.”
“I know that.”
“We’ll be there either tomorrow or the day after. You’re going to stay and wait for us, right?”
“I guess. We paid for the rooms. We took over the whole inn. It’s empty, the whole thing.”
“Did Roger and his family go home?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. Beth was very unapologetic. She implied that Karen was overreacting.”
“What did Everett say?”
“Everett? Not a word. He just sat there like some beaten-down old dog. That whole family is so dysfunctional.”
I paused. I had found myself in the middle of an infidelity mine field, and thought it would be best to slow down. “This has got to be tough on them too.”
“Please. Do not defend them.”
“I’m not defending them. But it’s not Everett’s fault. He didn’t screw anyone in the pool. His son did.”
“You should have been here for this,” Mary said. “She’s your daughter too.”
“I’m sorry this happened this way. I’m sorry.”
She was quiet. I searched for something positive to say.
“At least Ethan had a good day,” I said.
“For once, I don’t want to talk about Ethan Nichols. We have other children.”
“You’re right, I know, you’re right.” I paused, helpless. “Is there anything I can do?”
“No. I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Are you sure you’re going to stay?”
“Yes.”
“Well, good night then,” I said.
And as expected, she hung up.
5
The next morning, invigorated by a full eighteen minutes of teeth-grinding sleep, I immediately launched into a litany of worries about Karen as soon as we were inside the van. I hadn’t gotten far before Mindy cut me short.
“Can we not talk about this?” She was slumped down in the passenger seat, juggling a massive cup of Starbucks and a copy of USA Today, compliments of the Knoxville Marriott.
“Why, what’s wrong? Why don’t you want to talk about it?”
“Because I’m sick of talking about it.”
“Sick of talking about it? It just happened.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Really? I think there’s a lot to talk about.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it. Besides, they’ll probably kiss and make up, screw in the pool themselves.” She took a deep slug of her coffee. “I’m not sure why I’m even going anymore.”
“You have to go. Karen needs you.”
“She doesn’t need me, trust me. She doesn’t need anyone. You know what she said to me, she said, ‘You don’t have to stay long. Just come to the service and then leave. We don’t really need you there.’”
“She didn’t say that.”
“Yes, she did.”
“That doesn’t sound like Karen.” I shook my head. Unfortunately, that sounded exactly like Karen. “Well, then your mother needs you. We all need you. We need to be together.”
“Right, right. Family. Family…”