Chapter Thirteen #3
“I guess me,” said a man’s voice somewhat shakily, and Carol saw it was “Steve.” He stepped forward, but his eyes kept darting from the grass to the crowd. He was wringing his hands. Despite his apparent unease, Carol gave him credit for being brave enough to speak before anyone else.
“Go on,” Chloe encouraged. “Please tell us your Faith memories.”
“Well, some I can’t share,” Steve said with a nervous laugh. “Because … when you say biggest fan, there was no one, not one single person on this earth, a bigger fan than me. You see, Faith was my girlfriend and we were in love. I’m heartbroken. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, ever.”
There was a gasp in the crowd and some murmuring.
Carol had a feeling a lot of people were thinking what she was thinking: This guy was Faith’s boyfriend?
He just didn’t look the part. He was out of shape, his hair was kind of greasy, he had bad teeth, and he was wearing cheap-looking and outdated clothing: a yellow T-shirt with the branding of a local pizza place, jean shorts that were too long, and white tennis shoes with white socks that came three-quarters of the way up his calves.
Perhaps Steve sensed disbelief in the crowd. He seemed to take a defensive tone.
“We were in love, madly, deeply in love. We were soulmates, we were going to get married. Here is the last picture we took together.”
He opened a string bag that was over his shoulder, took out an eight-by-ten piece of paper that looked like it came off a home color printer, and started passing it around.
Carol leaned in for a look, as did many others.
There was Steve and there, indeed, was Faith.
She had on a green bikini, while he was wearing Hawaiian swim trunks.
They were standing on a beach somewhere, arms around each other, smiling.
Carol noticed that the Steve in the picture seemed to have a better body than the Steve in real life.
The picture Steve’s stomach was flatter and his arms were more muscular.
It was not like he was a bodybuilder in the photo by any means, but he was definitely more fit.
His teeth looked better too, but the rest of the face was definitely him, and Faith was absolutely Faith, down to her perfect figure and ironing-board-flat stomach.
“We went to Florida on vacation just a few weeks ago,” Steve said. “Didn’t you hear her talk about it in one of her videos? About finding shells on the beach? That was our trip.”
Carol remembered the video he was talking about, but in her memory Faith had said something about a sister, not a fiancé or boyfriend. Heather, the woman who had held Carol’s hand, leaned over and whispered:
“I think he photoshopped that image or had AI make it, that’s not him. Look at the height.”
Indeed, the man in the photo looked taller than Steve now.
Even the way he was standing was different.
The man in the photo had better posture and held his feet differently, more straight to the camera.
Steve’s shoulders were rounded and he stood with his toes and knees splayed out nearly at right angles.
Others seemed to be reaching the same conclusion, and Carol could feel the energy shift to an “OK, we’re dealing with a slightly crazy person here, so let’s appease him” mode.
“That looks like an amazing trip, Steve,” Chloe said. “We’re all so sorry for your loss. Now, who’s next?”
“Wait! There’s something else. Faith was pregnant with my child!” Steve yelled, and another gasp ripped through the crowd.
“I call BS,” whispered Heather in Carol’s ear.
Chloe looked uncomfortable and was clearly fishing for something to say.
“Oh my, that’s just terrible, Steve. What a tragic, tragic twist. Thank you for sharing that very personal bit of information. We are pressed for time so let’s keep going. Anyone else?”
Others spoke about Faith. Carol listened until she felt the phone in her pocket buzz. It was Jim.
I’m in the parking lot.
Chloe was just ramping up a story of her own but Carol didn’t feel bad about leaving. Others had already done so, plus she was hungry for more than the protein bar in her bag or the Channel 9 cookie, if there were even any more left. She was turning to leave when a hand touched her forearm.
“Heading out already, Carol?”
It was Heather. She was smiling.
“Oh, yes, I have to get going,” said Carol.
“I’ll walk out with you. I have to go too.”
“OK, uh, sure.” Carol had barely talked to Heather and now she felt as if they were supposed to be bonded, but hey, a new friend who also loved Faith couldn’t be a bad thing, right?
“I was going to grab an umbrella,” Carol said, gesturing to the Channel 9 staffers in polos handing them out by the path to the parking lot.
“Me too! Let’s go together,” said Heather.
They started to walk, and Carol noticed that Heather had a slight limp as if her knee or hip were bothering her.
As they made their way across the grass, Heather said softly, “I hate to talk this way already but who do you think they’ll replace her with?
I’m hoping it’s Abby. Maybe she’ll start up the earring forecast again.
Matthew and Chuck are both just kind of average, in my mind. ”
“I hadn’t really thought ahead, but I guess they’ll have to hire someone,” replied Carol with a long sigh. “No one will measure up to Faith, though, no one. The shoes are too big.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Heather said.
They walked in silence for a minute, but then Carol thought of something to say.
“Do you know what’s crazy? My niece was interning at Channel 9, just started last week. She got to meet Faith and all of the others.”
Heather stopped and turned to Carol, her eyes big. She grabbed Carol’s forearm. Heather’s casual nature with touching a stranger was a little off-putting to Carol, and Carol reflexively took a step back.
“You’re kidding me!” said Heather with an especially nasal squeal. “That’s amazing. What did your niece think of Faith?”
“Oh, she said she was very nice and that she showed her the weather center.” Carol decided not to tell her that Olivia might have been the last person to see Faith alive. Why would a stranger need to know that?
“That’s incredible,” said Heather. They resumed walking toward the umbrella area. A young woman reached into a cardboard box and pulled out two.
“Here you go, thank you for coming and know that we’re grieving with you during this awful time,” she said.
They nodded. A few steps beyond, a reporter stood with a cameraman.
“Hi, I’m interviewing people about Faith for a story for the news tonight, would you like to say a few words?” she asked.
“No thank you,” said Heather with a tight smile.
Carol said the same. She knew her eye makeup had smeared from the heat and crying and she also knew she’d likely freeze up on camera with fright.
They both walked past the reporter, who was already asking the next people walking out the exact same thing, word for word.
“Hey, I came alone, do you need a ride?” Heather asked.
“No, no thank you, my husband is picking me up,” Carol said.
“Do you live far? Honestly, I could save him the trouble,” said Heather.
“Uh—no, not really far, one of the suburbs,” Carol said.
Why was Heather pushing this? Carol did not want to reciprocate and ask where Heather lived, because suddenly Carol’s antennae were going up.
Sometimes when a woman level-jumped in a friendship in this manner Carol couldn’t help but wonder if the person might actually be hitting on her.
Could Heather be attracted to her? Why was she asking how far away Carol lived?
Carol would never tell Heather her address, that was for sure. She valued her privacy.
“Well, listen, Heather, it’s been nice meeting you. I need to go meet my husband now. I hope you have a nice rest of your day.”
Carol was grateful that she got to use the word husband again to show Heather clearly that she was heterosexual and in a relationship.
“You too,” said Heather. “Maybe I’ll see you around. Once a fair-weather friend, always one, right? Do you like my earrings? I don’t have an official pair but I enjoy doing arts and crafts so I made these.”
She flicked one of the earrings around with her fingers. They were long, bold, and odd, and they didn’t look like any weather earrings Carol had ever seen. They had colored beads and buttons in all colors and a little mirror in the middle.
“Oh, um, beautiful,” said Carol, and between the earrings and the emotional-support teddy bear she was starting to wonder if Heather was also a crazy person she needed to appease, like Steve.
“I know the earrings probably don’t make much sense,” said Heather. “But to me they represent all of the colors Faith wore and the light and brightness she brought into all of our lives. Really I feel like I’ve had a death in the family.”
“Me too,” said Carol, and she moved Heather back into the “most likely sane but I’m still done with you” category. Glancing around the emptying parking lot, she was relieved to see their car, Jim in the driver’s seat.
“Oh, there’s my hubby. Goodbye now,” she said.
“Bye,” Heather responded, lifting the bear’s paw and waving it. Carol thought it was ridiculously silly but felt compelled to wave back at Heather and the bear.
As Carol walked to the car she felt as if Heather’s eyes were watching her. When she got there, Jim hopped out to put the camping chair in the trunk, and they climbed back in, the air-conditioning feeling fantastic as Carol turned it up a notch.
“How was it?” Jim asked. “I saw you talking to someone else in yellow so you must have met some fellow fans. Was that woman holding a teddy bear?”
“Yeah, she was nice but maybe a bit odd,” said Carol. She glanced out the window but Heather was no longer standing in the spot where they had said goodbye. Carol was relieved even though she truly had no solid reason to distrust this woman.
On the way home she told Jim every detail of the vigil and the gathering afterward of the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club, including Steve, who had said he was Faith’s boyfriend.
“I bet all TV people have a few crackpots in their lives. Overall it sounds like a nice vigil,” summed up Jim. “Any word from Olivia yet?”
Carol pulled out her phone.
“Nothing,” she said. “I managed to get one photo of doves being released for her, but I was so broken up for most of the vigil that I forgot to take others.”
When they arrived home, Carol was tired.
She made a quick lunch and took a nap. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that she thought to look on the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club page to see if anyone had posted pictures of the event.
There were a decent amount, and Carol was actually in some of them.
She was squinting through her reading glasses looking at the photos when she got a Facebook Messenger ping.
No one really wrote to her on Facebook, so curiosity caused her to open it right away.
Hi Carol, it’s Heather. We met at the vigil today. I wondered if you’d like to have coffee sometime to talk more about ways we can honor Faith? I’d like to maybe start a scholarship in her name or something like that. I’m looking for someone to brainstorm with.
What the heck? Carol didn’t know how to react. This woman just kept on level-jumping. Carol had to put a stop to it. Heather could collaborate with Chloe. Quickly, Carol fired off a reply:
Thank you. I am actually too busy for a coffee but you and others can keep me posted if the group does something.
She actually wasn’t too busy at all, but she needed the white lie, and she thought that by saying “and others” and “the group” she would show that she wasn’t interested in anything one-on-one.
Heather replied that she would keep Carol posted, and Carol sighed. Hopefully that put an end to that. Just as she was closing the laptop, her cell phone rang. Olivia. Finally!
“Liv, where have you been? I have so much to tell you.”
“Sorry, Aunt C. I was just having a hard time with all of this. I went into a little bit of a funk and needed some alone time honestly just to process what happened.”
“I understand, honey. Grief takes time, you know. I was at the vigil this morning. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I did get one and there are lots on the Fair-Weather Friends Facebook page if you want to see more.”
“I saw your text that you were going. I just couldn’t.
I mean, I saw Faith Friday night. What if I truly was the last person to see her alive other than the killer?
I just … I just can’t wrap my head around that.
And then there’s the note she asked me to give to Tom.
That was honestly kind of the other thing I was busy processing. ”
“What do you mean? Why is that bugging you?”
Olivia let out a long sigh.
“How about I come over for the tea and cookies you mentioned? I have something to tell you.”
“Something to tell me? Is everything all right, Liv?”
“Yes, I think so, I mean maybe…”
“Honey, your voice sounds weird. Come over right now. I’ll start the kettle. It sounds like we definitely need to chat.”