Chapter Sixty-Four
Sixty-Four
‘Thomas?’ Denise asked, as she and Mary moved their conversation to the L-shaped sofa in front of the panoramic windows that faced the San Francisco Bay.
‘That’s the name he gave me at first,’ Mary confirmed. ‘And that was when I fucked up.’
‘How do you mean?’
Mary half grimaced. ‘I knew his real name was Quaddra, and I was not expecting him to give me a false one, so when he introduced himself to me as Thomas, I frowned at him, as if Thomas was the weirdest name I’d ever heard in my life.’
‘And he noticed it.’ Denise phrased it as a statement, not a question.
‘Of course he noticed it. Wouldn’t you?’ Mary exaggerated a frown that made her eyebrows almost touch above her nose.
Denise laughed. ‘What did he say?’
‘He asked me if there was something wrong with his face.’
Denise laughed again, harder this time. ‘What did you say?’
‘The first crap that came into my head,’ Mary explained.
‘Which was that he didn’t look like a Thomas.
I then tried to patch that bullshit up by telling him that I used to have a teacher called Thomas when I was a young girl, so I always associated that name with his image, which Quaddra looked nothing like. ’
‘That doesn’t sound so bad,’ Denise tried to reassure Mary. ‘It’s believable.’
‘Maybe, but I still thought I’d blown it because he never asked me for my number, though I really thought he would. The flirting was definitely there… the chances were definitely there, but nope – he just walked away… again.’
‘You didn’t ask him for his number, did you?’ Denise, once again, dipped her chin to look at Mary.
In their game, asking a mark for his number was a very big ‘no-no’. For it all to seem legit, the mark is the one who has to do the chasing… not them.
‘Of course I didn’t.’
‘So, what happened?’ Denise asked. ‘You bumped into him for the third time?’
‘Not even close.’ Mary quickly explained what happened in the days following the exhibition – the gift, the note, the invitation, and their first date at the Legion of Honor. ‘And that was when I excelled, Denise.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My performance,’ Mary explained. ‘I honestly deserved to be nominated for an award that night.’
‘Why?’ Denise got even more comfortable on the sofa. ‘What did you do?’
Mary told her about the first hissy fit she threw when Quaddra had suggested that she wasn’t from San Francisco.
‘You actually legged it?’ Denise’s eyes became two large marbles. ‘Just left him there, right in the middle of the exhibition?’
Mary nodded, a proud smile on her lips. ‘Ran all the way down to the road, like Cinderella leaving the ball at midnight.’
‘That was risky,’ Denise commented. ‘What if he hadn’t come after you?’
‘No chance of that,’ Mary said back, her tone full of confidence. ‘I knew he would. He was already firmly on the hook. All I was doing was reeling him in… tight.’
‘Had you two kissed yet?’
‘Nope, but I knew I had him.’ She paused just to heighten the suspense. ‘But my second hissy fit was really the one that was worth the Oscar.’
‘What do you mean “second”?’ Denise appeared confused. ‘On the same evening?’
Mary took her time explaining what happened after she’d run out of the Legion of Honor – how Quaddra had apologized to her, the restaurant in Vista Del Mar, the dinner, the conversation, and what happened when the bill came.
‘That was my chance to play the role of a scorned woman,’ Mary said. ‘Who had just been lied to.’
‘You did not.’
‘I did… and it was an Oscar-winning performance.’
‘This bitch.’ Denise’s lips stretched into a wide smile before she high-fived Mary.
‘To keep me from running off on him again,’ Mary carried on, ‘he came clean and explained why he’d given me a false name when we first met. As a small “quid pro quo”, I told him my story.’
‘Which story are you talking about?’ A hint of worry crept into Denise’s tone.
‘Abusive husband, who I had divorced,’ Mary clarified.
‘I told him that I was trying to start a new life for myself – that’s why I’d been traveling for a while.
I also told him that the reason why I had been so skittish about him knowing that I wasn’t from San Francisco and giving me a false name was because my ex-husband wasn’t the type who’d let go easily. ’
Denise’s face almost dropped, but Mary was quick to calm her down.
‘It’s alright, Denise. Abusive ex-husband is a very, very common story in the USA. You know that. I never mentioned Nelson’s name, or my married name, or Massachusetts, or the fact that Nelson is in prison.’
‘And he never asked about any of it?’ Concern was still cloaking Denise’s words.
‘No,’ Mary confirmed. ‘He’s actually a very understanding kind of guy.
He knows that everyone has a past. He also told me that when I was good and ready to tell him about mine, he’d be ready to listen.
’ She shrugged. ‘After that… I mean, after dinner, we ended up at his place, and we fucked for the first time. Since then, it’s been pretty much smooth sailing. ’
Denise’s eyes avoided Mary altogether.
‘What’s wrong?’ Mary asked.
‘Nothing. He just sounds like he’s a nice guy, and I’ve seen you together. You do look like a very happy couple. Are you sure that you want to destroy his life?’
‘Don’t do that, Denise,’ Mary said, her tone serious.
‘Do what?’
‘Start getting soppy on me.’ Mary repositioned herself on the sofa, moving closer to Denise.
‘He’s a mark, Denise… and he’s a man. They are all the same.
You know that. Might not look like it just yet, but in time, he’ll come round.
They all do. The story always repeats itself – kind, understanding, caring and loving at first, but the facade never lasts.
Very soon, the lying and the cheating starts…
why? Because no matter what we do, Denise…
no matter how much we sacrifice… no matter how much in love we might be with them…
no matter how beautiful, sexy, loving, understanding, supportive, or whatever we are… we are never enough.’
Denise looked down at the floor, but Mary softly touched her chin and brought her gaze back to her.
‘Have you forgotten it already?’ Mary asked, her tone firm, but not aggressive.
‘Your mother gave her life to your stepdad, and her life wasn’t enough for him.
He wanted yours too… and he took it, with absolutely no regards for how much pain and devastation he was bringing into your life.
He took it simply because he wanted it. Our childhood…
our innocence… our trust… our possible future…
we were both robbed of all that. And that’s something that we’ll never get back.
And why did they do it? Simply because they couldn’t keep it in their pants.
One minute of pleasure for them, and a whole life of hurt and psychological destruction for us.
They wear the crown, and we wear the pain…
forever. Does that seem like a fair trade to you? ’
Denise was clearly fighting back tears.
‘Quaddra might seem like the perfect man at this point in time, but trust me, that just won’t last. It never does.
Very soon the hurt will start – emotionally, psychologically, maybe even physically…
’ She smiled at Denise. ‘And that’s why we take them for everything they’ve got.
’ She paused to make sure that Denise had locked eyes with her.
‘One last time, sis… I promise you… and then we’re done.
We’ll live in luxury for the rest of our lives.
No more cons… no more stupid men. They can all go fist themselves. So, what do you say?’
Denise wiped her eyes clean of tears before nodding. ‘Let’s go get this motherfucker.’