CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cara
“That’s what I’m saying… he was there waiting on me,” I said to Olivia a couple of days later. I had debated calling her, not wanting to worry her, but I’d finally caved. I needed her advice.
“Purposefully?”
“Yes.” I had her on speaker while I put my stage makeup on. I was at the theater early on purpose to avoid any unnecessary conversations with Nora. “It was very purposeful.”
“I hate the fuck out of that,” she muttered. “And Kelisha saved you?”
“She intervened,” I said, frowning at myself in the mirror. “I don’t know about saved. That seems dramatic.”
“But you were scared—you felt threatened,” Livy prodded.
“Well, yeah.” I thought back to how it had seemed like he would chase me if I ran, how he put his body between me and my car.
“So, she saved you, then. Don’t minimize it, Cara,” she snapped at me. I winced, but I knew she was frustrated, not mad. “I wonder,” she said, almost as if she were talking to herself, “what he would have done if she hadn’t been there?”
I shuddered, careful to move my eyeliner away before I made myself look like a clown. “I… don’t know. Until that incident, I would say I didn’t think he would hurt me. But now? I’m not so sure.”
“I’m not, either. I’m afraid I misjudged him.”
“Thanks,” I said, sarcastically. “That makes me feel so much better.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel better—I’m trying to determine if you’re in any real danger from this guy, or if he’s just obsessive. Tell me a little more about him.”
“How do you mean? Like, what do you want to know?”
“Does he have a job?” Livy asked, and I knew she was slipping into her analyst mode.
“Um…” I thought about it. “Not really. I think he has a position within Hart Family Farmers Markets, but I’ve never heard him or any of the Harts mention him working.” I tapped the tube of mascara against my cheek thoughtfully. “He’s often in a suit, but he never says anything about a job.”
“Huh. Where did he go to school?”
“He and Nora had tutors.”
“Really? You said there are six Hart children, right?”
“Yes.”
“Were they all tutored?”
“I don’t think so. I think it was just the two youngest. The rest went to boarding school or private school, I think.”
“So, he and Nora were socially isolated?”
“I mean… somewhat, I guess. I think the Harts got scared their kids would be kidnapped after they became bajillionaires, you know? But they weren’t hermits or anything. Nora has tons of friends from around here.”
“But what about Monty?” Livy prodded. “Have you met his friends? Or any of his ex-girlfriends?”
A sense of unease washed over me. “Now that you ask,” I said, “I can’t remember meeting…
anyone Monty’s close to besides his family.
” I thought about the few interactions I’d seen between Monty and his older siblings.
“Come to think of it, I’m not all that sure he’s very close to most of his family, either. ”
“Hmm.”
“Livy, you’re freaking me out. Are you about to say he’s a serial killer or something?”
She chuckled. “Jeez. You give me a lot of credit. I can’t possibly know that just from a few questions. Stalker material? Yes. Serial killer? I don’t think so.”
Somehow ‘I don’t think so’ wasn’t that comforting. I finished my makeup and made a kissy face at the mirror to check my lipstick. “I’m about to have to go.”
Livy sighed. “I really don’t like this at all. You need to be extremely careful around him. And firm. Don’t let him think there’s any chance at all that you would be interested in him.”
Inwardly, I cringed. “I’ve tried. I’m not great at that…”
“I know. But you’d better become good at it if you want any chance of getting him to leave you alone. Even then I don’t think your chances are good.”
“Great.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. How did I get in this mess? “Why all of a sudden? I knew he had kind of a crush on me, but it was no big deal until recently.”
“That,” Olivia said confidently, “is easy. It’s Edward.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re so damn busy you rarely have time to date.
Monty thought he had all the time in the world to win you over.
Then here comes Edward—handsome, confident, wealthy, intelligent—and you have a romantic history?
And then you started seeing him, dating him, staying at a hotel with him?
Monty’s lost all control of the situation.
He’s suddenly faced with losing you, and it’s pushed him to escalate his behavior. ”
Now that she pointed it out, it was totally obvious. I glanced at the clock. “I need to go do a few warm-up exercises…”
“One more thing,” she interrupted. “Does he seem to have a sense of entitlement? Like it’s his right to date you or have you as his girlfriend?”
I made a face. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t really know him well enough to know that. He’s not a big talker. Nora does, though,” I said absently. “She’s always acted as if she deserves certain things, whether or not she’s earned them.”
Olivia was silent for so long I thought she might have hung up. “Watch out for her, too, okay? I’ve always sensed there was more to her than the face she publicly shows.”
“My God, you have a way of putting things that scares the hell out of me. What do you mean?”
“She’s jealous of you,” she said. “And jealousy can make people do terrible things.”
“Jesus, Liv. You’ve been bingeing Snapped again, haven’t you?”
“Maybe. I just can’t wait for you to be out of there. I know you have to go get ready for your performance. Just be careful. I love you, you know?”
“I know. Love you, too, sis.” I hurried out the door as soon as we hung up. I was running a bit behind schedule and had plenty to do before the curtains opened for tonight’s performance.
And plenty to think about, unfortunately.
***
About a week later, I was feeling slightly better about things.
I hadn’t seen Monty since the night in the parking lot.
He hadn’t even come to performances. He also hadn’t sent me flowers or candy to my dressing room.
Maybe he’d gotten the message or was embarrassed over his behavior in the parking lot.
I’d also managed to mostly avoid Nora. And when I hadn’t been able to? Things had been pleasant between us.
Almost normal, in fact. Kind of like when we were back in college. We’d even started laughing over things that happened years ago. Maybe, I hoped, I had been wrong to suspect my friend of anything dark.
At least maybe she wasn’t about to go all I Killed My BFF on me, like Livy had implied.
But then, on the way to my dressing room, I heard something that made me stop in my tracks.
The sounds of women laughing and talking with each other was nothing new. That I heard my name being mentioned loud and often? That was new. It was coming from the large dressing room many of the soloists shared, Nora Hart included. And it was her voice that stood out over the others.
“Cara thinks she’s so great,” I heard her saying. “She’s always been that way. You should have seen her in college. My God. The way she pranced around campus you’d think she was a head dancer at Julliard or some shit like that.”
Hurt washed over me like an ocean wave—the kind that came from out of nowhere and knocked you down. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from making a sound. How dare she! If one of us had been like that, it was her. Not me.
“I don’t know, Nora.” A woman spoke up. “Cara’s been nothing but sweet as pie to me. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about her except for you.”
There were several murmurs of agreement.
“Whatever,” Nora said, miffed. “Y’all just don’t know her the way I do. That girl’s a straight bitch. She will step all over you if she thinks it’ll get her somewhere.”
There was silence for a minute as I fought back tears of anger and astonishment. The tone of Nora’s voice was… awful. It was full of jealousy and hate. I couldn’t believe this was the woman I’d counted as a friend all these years.
“Well,” Nora continued when no one else joined her diatribe, “she’ll get what’s coming to her soon enough.”
I gasped and clapped my hand over my mouth.
What the hell did that mean? There were low murmurs, but I couldn’t tell what anyone was saying in response.
I leaned in to hear more but heard footsteps instead.
Quickly, I turned and ran to my dressing room, thankful my ballet slippers barely made a sound.
I would’ve given anything to hear what else was said, but I wasn’t going to risk getting caught.
Instead, I got dressed and practiced breathing exercises until it was time to go through warm-ups. Then I headed to the stage.
As soon as I was on stage and stretching, Nora came over to talk.
I did my best to act normally, but I couldn’t stand to be around her.
I wanted to fight back but didn’t want to reveal that I’d heard the hurtful things she’d said about me.
It felt especially bad since I’d let my guard down a bit over the past few days.
Not anymore. Now there was no more guessing. I knew how she felt about me.
I thought back over the way I’d been wary of her lately.
The strain in our relationship had begun to show, and she must have noticed.
That’s why she’d tried so hard to worm her way back into my good graces this past week.
She had been trying to lure me back into a friendship that was nothing more than a facade.
I saw a few of the other dancers watching the two of us. That was nothing new. Over the past weeks, I’d seen the curious looks on their faces as I did my best to avoid Nora. A few of them had even asked me about it, but I put them off. I’d pretended as if I didn’t know what they were talking about.
After what I’d heard today? All bets were off. It was clear the tension between us was no longer a secret. Everyone knew Nora hated me. In fact, it seemed I was the last to know.
I studied her as she chatted happily with another girl. She was acting so normal, so like her usual self. It was shocking that she could be hiding that much… animosity.
She turned and caught me staring. For just a moment I saw it—the hatred in those dark, dark eyes. And then she smiled, and it was almost as if I’d imagined it.
But I knew I hadn’t.
And I had trouble concentrating during the show that night. I knew I wasn’t performing my best. But I kept hearing her say, ‘she’ll get what’s coming to her’ in my mind, over and over.
Was it just a general statement? Like when people say karma will come back to get you one day?
Or was it a threat?