Chapter Nine #2
“And do you have the right kind of jewelry box for it? Because that’s why I thought of this. Precious jewels need a precious holder.”
Kelly opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a couple stopped right at their table, looking sheepish.
“Excuse me, we hate to bother you, but are you Faith Richards from Channel 9? We couldn’t help but notice you from across the room.”
Faith turned to them with a full-wattage smile.
“I am. Thank you so much for stopping to say hello. I love meeting viewers. This is my friend, Kelly.”
“Hello,” the woman said, but neither she nor the guy gave more than a micro-glance to Kelly. They were staring at Faith.
“We can’t believe it’s you,” said the man. “We watch you every night. You do such a great job, we’re just huuuuge fans.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me. I work really hard on my forecasts,” Faith said. “You can join the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club if you’re not already in it.”
“Oh, we’re in it. We love your videos,” said the man. “Sue here actually starts her day with them.”
“I have three pairs of your weather earrings, I just adore them! You are so fun, the best weather girl ever!” gushed the woman.
“Well, I love weather and I love earrings so it’s a match made in the cumulus clouds,” Faith said with a smile, and the couple roared with laughter and told her how funny she was on top of everything else.
“Thank you for stopping by,” Faith said. Kelly could sense that she was trying to shake them. The couple seemed to sense it too.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt but we just had to say hello. Wait until we tell all of our friends and the whole neighborhood about this! They’ll just die!” The woman giggled. “Can we get a picture with you before we leave?”
They asked Kelly to take the picture, the couple maneuvering Faith to go in the middle as they each looped their arms around her as if they were old buddies. They all had huge smiles.
“Can you take at least five or six so we have options?” the woman asked. “Zoom in on some or turn the camera the other way.”
“Sure,” Kelly said, feeling like a hired hand as she did what was asked of her.
When they finally left, Faith whispered, “Sorry about that. I should have worn a hat and my glasses. It happens way too often.”
“No worries, I sometimes forget how famous you are,” replied Kelly.
The tension between them had somewhat dissipated thanks to the couple.
If there had been a red power showdown it seemed to have been a draw, but Kelly was still anxious to wrap lunch and be on her way.
The meeting had accomplished what it was supposed to.
Faith had apologized, and given her the item she made, and that was that.
What else needed to happen? The waiter returned with the check.
“I’ll take it,” Faith said, holding out her hand. Kelly smiled and started to gather her coat and purse.
“Thanks for lunch, Faith, and for the jewelry box. It’s really … one-of-a-kind.”
“You’re welcome, I had fun making it. I hope you might use it for that family jewelry.”
Kelly knew she wouldn’t but nodded and said, “Yes, I might, thanks.”
“As for lunch,” said Faith. “It’s eighty-two dollars and forty-eight cents. Even though yours was a little more expensive than mine, I’m willing to go halfsies.” Faith smiled as if she were doing Kelly a huge favor.
Kelly’s eyes narrowed. She had to pay for her portion of lunch?
Hadn’t Faith invited her in order to make amends?
Didn’t that mean she would pick up the tab at this ridiculous place?
Kelly didn’t have forty-one dollars she could easily drop on lunch.
That kind of money could have meant street tacos, a beer, and a movie in an actual theater.
Her heart sank. What a fool she had been coming here.
Faith was still Faith, cheap as hell but always trying to live above her means.
But what could Kelly do? She had to pay.
“Oh, um … I guess if that’s how you want to do it,” she said, giving Faith one more opening to take the entire bill.
“Fifty-fifty works for me, I’ll even get the tip,” Faith said, with a “look how wonderful I am” grin.
“Yeah, OK, thanks,” Kelly mumbled. Any good vibes she had felt just a few minutes prior were rapidly receding. There was no doubt in her mind now that she was giving the insane jewelry box away or selling it. She couldn’t wait to get away from Faith.
Opening her wallet, Kelly took out two twenties and a five-dollar bill and pushed them roughly across the table.
“Here you go, you can add the change to the tip,” she said icily. “I have to run and meet Joel for something.”
It wasn’t true, of course, but she wanted an excuse to get going.
Killing time with more small talk while waiting for the waiter, Faith sending her credit card back with him, waiting to sign, and then walking to the door and having a big goodbye hug all seemed too much.
She pushed her chair back and stood up. Faith stood up too.
“OK then, go and be with your guy. Thanks again for coming out to meet me. Friends?”
“Uh, sure … yeah, friends,” Kelly said, but she hoped never to see Faith again. She had done her duty.
They shared one more awkward half embrace and Kelly took the white box under her arm and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she hit the sidewalk.
She texted Joel that it was over and she had, indeed, survived.
He sent her back a video of Tiger Woods pumping his fist on the eighteenth hole in some tournament, wearing a red polo.
At least she wasn’t as hungry as she feared she might have been. The roll and bisque had done the trick, even though the salad was nothing but arugula and bits of candied walnuts.
When she got home and recounted the entire lunch date for Joel, he rolled his eyes at various parts but didn’t come down on her for frivolously spending over forty dollars of their hard-earned money, and she loved him for it. She felt bad enough for being duped.
“Well, you never have to see her again,” he summed up. “Can I check out the jewelry box?”
“Sure.” She pushed the white box toward him. Opening the lid, he laughed.
“It looks like a twelve-year-old girl made this.” Lifting it out, he turned it over in his hands to view all sides.
He stopped when he had it upside down, and peered closely at something.
“There’s a signature on this button, did you see that? It says Emilio Gonzalez.”
“What? Let me see.” Kelly grabbed the box and squinted at the tiny signature. “You’re right. She told me she made this but did she? Or I guess that could just be on a leftover button she got at the make-your-own place?”
Joel was already reaching for his phone.
“Hold on, let me google that name and jewelry boxes…”
Several seconds passed.
“Kell, check it out. This dude has an Etsy site. Look…”
Kelly saw a page filled with jewelry boxes and earrings.
One-of-a-kind, handmade items. Crafted by Emilio, an aspiring jewelry, clothing, and interior designer. Help him get to college by supporting this site.
“It’s not a twelve-year-old girl but a seventeen-year-old boy who made this!” Kelly said. “She lied to me. She bought it on Etsy. And she made me pay for lunch. What the hell was that all about then? She’s as full of shit as ever.”
“Does it surprise you that she lied to you?” Joel said. “Can we agree that the witch has used up her last chip? Never ever go near her again, no matter what line of BS she throws at you.”
“Oh I won’t, I am so done with her,” Kelly replied. “I truly can’t believe she lied about this one, why lie about a jewelry box?”
“You said yourself she isn’t crafty, but she probably wanted you to think she had worked so hard to make something with her own hands, as if it had more meaning that way, so she bought something but I guess didn’t notice the button with the signature.”
“Well I’m not keeping this thing. No way. I do hate to throw away someone’s hard work, though. What should we do with it?”
“I was planning to go to Goodwill with some old clothes soon. Let’s just throw it in that pile. Someone will like it, maybe a twelve-year-old girl.” Joel laughed. “Come here, let me give you a hug. Trust is so important and you can’t trust her but we trust each other, don’t we?”
Kelly let herself fall into Joel’s arms and inhaled his earthy scent deeply. Then she let out a long, slow exhale. The lunch date she had dreaded was over. Faith was a confirmed liar and cheapskate but Kelly would never again have to deal with her.
She pushed it out of her mind for the rest of the day as she and Joel took a bike ride, made dinner, and went to the corner bar to meet up for a beer and darts with friends.
But that night lying in bed the lunch date came back to her.
She couldn’t help but replay the whole conversation in her mind.
Was there something she missed? Some ulterior motive Faith had in the meeting?
Now that she was back to not trusting Faith, she was wary of everything.
Had Faith really wanted to apologize and to give her a fake homemade jewelry box?
Was that what this was all about? Because if she lied about the box, she could be lying about her apology too.
It seemed insincere now. Kelly’s antennae were up.
A liar is a liar to their core, she told herself.
Yet, Kelly had her purse with her the whole time, so Faith could not possibly have swindled anything out of her—except the forty-one dollars for lunch—and nothing else weird had happened. Still, Kelly had a gut feeling something was not quite adding up and she had better be wary moving forward.