16. Triple Date
TRIPLE DATE
ROSALIND
“ M ore than likely, your crew has us beat tomorrow,” Mac said. “But we will try to come back. And as for the Rum Runner, we are completely fucked, I think. Keir’s boat will smoke us.”
“It’s not about winning,” I said. “Winning is fun, but only if you are having fun. We will have a wonderful time, brother. That is the point.”
“I’m so sick of sailboats. Awful,” Mary said.
I shot a sympathetic look at her. Part of me was sick of sailboats. The other wished I could drag Lars back to ours and get him to recreate what he did before. However, I badly wanted him to do much more this time.
“What was the impetus for this?” Mary asked, annoyed. “The two of you seem well-matched. But it’s not real?”
“No,” I answered. “It’s a bit of fun. Lars came to my rescue and somehow agreed to stick with me for a week.”
Lars stared off. He’d said little but wasn’t a man of many words most days. I didn’t expect him to carry the conversation, but he was more withdrawn than usual.
“I am trying to be dutiful,” Lars said.
A moment ago, he’d looked at me as if I was the only woman on the planet. Now, he was distracted. I traced his gaze to the girls. They chatted gleefully like grown-ups at their own table. Lars wasn’t upset. He was vigilant. I admired that.
“The girls are on a date,” I whispered excitedly. “We engineered this for them. Apologies that we took over yours.”
“It’s fine. We’re old and married,” Mac chuckled.
“They cannot possibly know that by now!” Mary rolled her eyes.
“Know what?” Lars asked.
“That they are gay,” Mary whispered as if it were shameful.
“I’m pretty sure I knew I liked boys by fourteen,” I admitted. “Well before.”
“Any straight man will tell you he noticed breasts well before that point, Mary,” Lars said, matter-of-fact. “I believe she knows.”
“She could like boys and girls,” Mac said. “We’re not here to assume, are we?”
“I don’t believe that’s what it is,” Mary protested.
“It’s a real thing,” I laughed. “And I don’t know. She didn’t want her parents involved. We’re the cool grownups who helped her get the courage to tell her crush it was ‘like’.”
Lars squeezed my knee under the table encouragingly.
“Bisexuals exist. Leah is?—“
“I just mean that Leah is an attention whore!” Mary said, glaring at Mac. If a tone could slay you, my brother would have been dead.
“Leah is a friend,” Mac insisted.
Leah Roughy was The Queen’s favourite niece and the closest thing she had to a daughter. She was also Mac’s oldest friend and a bonafide movie and stage star. She liked boys and girls and didn’t hold back. I found her altogether glamorous.
Lars said, “Leah is the oldest friend to all of us, I’d imagine. And I think her feelings for people are genuine. She’s a dreadful liar and cannot be tied down.”
Mac looked white as a sheet as Mary continued to glare. I made eye contact with Lars. He looked confused. I shot him a look, suggesting I’d explain more later. We’d walked into a social minefield of epic proportions. I couldn’t get into it yet. Then, as I looked briefly at the girls, I noticed Katie looking red and grabbing at her throat. Was she choking?
Without thinking, I ran across the patio to assist. Poor Jack was a mess. She panicked, unable to believe, but rifled through her purse.
“Did she choke on something?” I asked.
“She… I think there was shrimp somewhere. She’s allergic. I couldn’t understand it.”
I realised this was Katie’s purse as Jack pulled out an epi-pen. Katie was wheezing.
“I don’t know how to do this,” Jack sobbed.
I took the pen, knowing precisely what to do. I jabbed it quickly into the side of Katie’s thigh.
“Katie, you’re going to be okay. We think there was cross-contamination or something, darling,” I said.
Within a few moments, she started to breathe again. By now, Lars was there, confused as ever.
“Thank… you…” she choked out.
“Have them call 9-1-1,” I told him. We need to get her to hospital.”
Lars raced off.
“Katie, are you breathing better?” Jack asked. “I am so sorry.”
“Don’t apologise,” Katie said. “I am breathing thanks to your aunt. Thank you for telling her. It has happened before. Please don’t freak out.”
“My best mate had a peanut allergy growing up,” I said. “I’m adept. All you do is just stab her in the outside of the thigh, Jack. It will work. Not hard.”
Jacqueline nodded, deer-in-headlights.
Lars raced back. By now, the entire dining room stared at us. I looked up at my not-date. “We need to ring her parents.”
“Okay, Katie, do you have your parents’ number?”
“They’re out with friends,” Katie said.
“They won’t be able to treat you without insurance. America isn’t like Europe,” I said.
“I know,” Katie said. “I have my card in my purse. If you call them, it won’t matter.”
I disagreed, knowing if it were my child, I’d have raised hell over a lack of information.
“Can I just ring them?” I asked.
Katie nodded, handing me her phone as EMTs descended.
I dialled “Mom” and got her voicemail.
“Hello, this is Rose. I’m Jack’s… aunt.”
I couldn’t come up with anything less complicated.
“Katie was exposed to something in the dining room of the club. I gave her an epi-pen, and she is doing fine, but we’re taking her to…”
I covered the receiver. “Which hospital?”
“Mercy.”
“We are going to Mercy Hospital. I will have Katie’s phone. So you can ring—call—anytime.”
I hung up. Katie was on a gurney. Jack, a mess, left with Lars. I raced back to my brother and sister-in-law, now arguing about something. I grabbed my handbag.
“I gotta go. The kid ate something she was allergic to. I rang her parents. I will get back home with Lars at some point. Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Mac said. “I hope she’s okay.”
“They will give her more Epi, some antihistamines, and some steroids. She’ll be good as new.”
“Best of luck,” Mary said.