Chapter 23
I have a nice lemon tart in the freezer that I baked a few days ago. I defrost it in the microwave, which is something I never, ever do, but I’m in a rush.
Twenty minutes later, I am standing outside Meredith’s house. Dolores opens the door.
“Oh! Jodie! Hello!”
I grab her hand. “Oh, Dolores! Can I tell you, that little cupcake from the other day…”
Her eyes sparkle. “Did you like it?”
“I loved it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.”
She blushes, wiping her hands on her apron. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not, truly. Can I get the recipe?”
She laughs, slightly embarrassed. “There’s no recipe. It’s just something I like to make for Mikey. It’s his favorite.”
I shake my head. “You should make batches of them and sell them. The world needs to taste those cupcakes.”
She laughs again. “Oh, now, stop it. Are you here for Mrs. Lyons?”
“Yes. Is she home?”
“Yes. Come on, come in. Can I take this for you?” She gestures to the pie.
“No, thank you, Dolores. I’ll take it.”
I wait in the hall. Dolores returns. “Mrs. Lyons will be with you shortly. This way, please.”
I follow her to the seating room. I sit on the peach-colored sofa with my pie on my lap.
“Dolores?” I ask.
“Yes?”
“You said you knew Deborah?”
“Only in passing, but yes.”
I shift in my seat and lower my voice. “Was there something wrong with her face?”
“With her face?” She shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Jodie! Hello! What a nice surprise,” Meredith coos. Dolores scuttles away. “And what is this?” She points to my hands.
“Lemon pie.”
“How yummy. I’ll have it later with Richard. He loves lemon pie. Dolores?” she sings out.
Dolores returns and Meredith hands her the lemon pie.
“Please, please. Sit,” Meredith says, waving at the chair.
“Thank you.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. We’ve been dying to know. What happened to you two last night? Roy looked livid.”
I give her a tight smile. “Nothing, why?”
She looks at me sideways. “He seemed very angry.” She leans forward. “Did you do something wrong?”
I smile and bite my tongue.
“You said something about Deborah the other day, and I’m curious about it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said to Barb, ‘You didn’t see her at the end.’ What did you mean by that?”
She blinks. “Did I say that?”
“Yes. What did you mean by it?”
She pats her hair. “I may have caught a glimpse of her.”
My heart skips a beat. “When?”
“I stopped by the house once, unannounced. I just wanted to see if Roy was all right. He’d been looking so down lately.”
“And?”
“There was no answer, so I went around the back. I thought I got a glimpse of her, through the window.”
“And?”
“Well. She was probably not wearing makeup. She looked really strange, her expression, everything really… She looked…older.”
“Older?”
“It was only a second. Then Roy opened the door, and he was very charming, very himself, and he said Deborah was resting upstairs. I thought I’d just seen her, that’s what I told him, I could tell from her hair, she had beautiful golden hair, you know. Masses of it.” She hesitates.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I know you think you’ve got him,” she says bitterly. “Because you ensnared him, somehow. But you know nothing about him. You have no idea what this man went through.”
I ignore the insult. “What did he go through?”
She leans forward, fire in her eyes.
“She was mad.”
“Who?”
“Deborah, of course. He told me. She was doing terrible things to herself and he was trying to help her. That man is a saint.”
“How long was that before she died?”
She shrugs. “A week, maybe.”
“And that’s it?” I say. “You never went back?”
“I didn’t want to intrude. And we had Roy over, of course. Many times. Richard and I kept a close eye on him. We wanted to make sure he was all right. It was all very hard on him. Poor man…being shackled with Deborah like that.”
I sit back. “You didn’t like her much, did you.”
“Deborah? I adored her! We all did!”
“If she was so unhappy and she was one of your very best friends, you would have tried again, wouldn’t you? You would have wanted to know what was wrong with her, how you could help her. But Roy says boo and that’s that. You didn’t even try.”
She touches her hair.
“Fine. You’re right. I didn’t like Deborah that much. There. I said it. I thought she was weak.”
“Weak?”
“She had the perfect marriage. Roy was the most wonderful husband. He had money, a great career, a beautiful home. What else do you want in a man? Have you ever been to one of his book launches? No. Of course not. He gets mauled, Jodie. He even had a stalker for a while, did he tell you? Some horrible woman wearing beanies and baggy clothes who was following him everywhere. That’s how famous he is.
He was the most sought-after bachelor in town, but it was Deborah he wanted.
He was wonderful to her. Absolutely wonderful.
Even when she got sick, he took such good care of her.
” She looks at me haughtily. “He loved her, Jodie. We all saw it, all the time. He would do anything for her. You could tell from the way he looked at her how consumed with love he was.”
She touches her hair again.
“One thing we’ve all noticed is that we’ve never seen him look at you that way.”