Beware That Girl (14 page)

Kate cleared her throat. “So his dad’s dying. Keep that in mind for every single word. It’s what all the raging is about. About not going gently, about not giving up with just a pitiful sigh, right?”

“Right, got it. Go.”

“Okay, next line.” Kate inhaled dramatically and threw her fists in the air.

Old age should burn and rave…

“Get it? Rave! That’s the fight he’s demanding, see?” Kate looked over to Olivia expectantly. Bruce rolled on his back, offering up his tummy.

“I’m totally with Bruce,” Olivia said, nodding. “When you read it the way you read, it all becomes clear as glass from the first word on. Pray continue.”

Just as Kate launched into the next line, Bruce leapt off Olivia. The front door flew open and the little dog attacked the incoming intruder with vigorous tail-thumping.

“Dad! You’re early!” Olivia jumped from the sofa and ran to greet her father. “We weren’t expecting you until midnight! We were going to order takeout.”

Kate remained frozen on the coffee table, book in hand. “Hi, Mr. Sumner.”

Olivia kissed her father’s unshaven cheek. “Kate is reading Dylan Thomas, the one about his father dying. I really get it deep in my bones now. She should be onstage.”

Mr. Sumner picked up the squirming puppy and smiled at Kate. “Looks to me like she already is.”

“Sorry, Mr. Sumner, I shouldn’t have…” She stepped off the coffee table.

“Relax.” He raised his hand in a futile attempt to ward off an attack of face-licking. “If you’ve got Olivia digging deeper into poetry, you feel free to use any piece of furniture you see fit. This is the mutt I paid for?”

“Oh, Dad, come on. You love him already.”

“Under advisement.” He placed the squirming puppy on the floor and hugged his daughter. “I’m going to hit the shower, and then takeout sounds perfect. I’m beat.”

“Sure, Dad. Just a lazy night at home with our men—you, Bruce and Bob Dylan.”

“Dylan Thomas,” corrected Kate.

“Whatever. We’ll order from the best restaurant in the city. It’s a dive deep in Chinatown that Kate’s unearthed. We’ve got the takeout menu.”

Mr. Sumner picked up his suitcase. “Kate, there’s more to you than meets the eye. Speaking of which, you two look like sisters in those getups.”

“Closer than sisters.” Olivia stepped back and threw her arm around Kate.

Her father started for his suite, then stopped. “I’m assuming that Anka has already left for her weekend at her sister’s?”

“Yup, apparently this round of chemo has been really rough on her sister. Remember to express concern when you see her.”

“Right, thanks.” Mr. Sumner headed off with Bruce hot on his heels, clearly eager to check out what the new interloper had in his bag.

They both heard a “Damn it!” from her father’s room.

“He must’ve stepped on a chew toy.” Kate bit her lip.

Olivia hugged herself. Puppy paraphernalia aside, she had made her father happy. She could tell. He was tired, sure, but there was no concern etched on his face. She could tell as soon as he’d opened the door. It felt good.
Felt
good.

“Come on, let’s order a feast.” Olivia marched over to the charging counter where they kept their plug-in devices and a stash of take-out menus. Anka never ventured near that area, convinced that all those devices emitted something marginally nuclear.

“Let’s get a double of the spinach greens, that short rib thingy and…hey, Mark!”

“Redkin is not on the menu.” Kate stopped checking off items.

“No, I mean, my father’s going to be so pleased about the photo shoot and the latest Waverly Wonders news and how Kruger is going to use it on our applications, etc., etc., etc.” She smiled in anticipation of telling him all about Mark and how good he was for the school.
Mark…

“You okay?”

“Never better.” Olivia hadn’t taken her Lexapro today, and no Ativan for two days. She felt herself awakening bit by bit. Sure, it was a little scary. But
this
—this
feeling
—was worth a bit of fear.

Mark Redkin was worth a bit of fear.

They left at dawn. Last night, somewhere between the sweet-and-sour soup and the spring rolls, Mr. Sumner and Olivia got to talking about “the cabin” (which sounded more like a massive chalet) and how they hadn’t set foot in it for over a year. Olivia’s edges softened as her father reminisced about the place.

“Why don’t you go tomorrow?” I suggested. “You said it’s less than a couple of hours away.”

“Dad? Why not? Let’s go!”

Mr. Sumner shook his head but capitulated within seconds. They were adamant that I join them, and I was adamant that they go alone. Mr. Sumner’s next trip was going to take him away until Christmas, and it seemed to me that they needed some time together. Besides, it gave me monster brownie points by making me look so considerate. When you’re not paying rent, you have to think of a thousand different ways to “pay” your rent.

“Hey, I insist. You guys deserve some quality time. Bruce and I will guard the fort. Go!”

And go they did.

And I was home alone.
Home.
Whoa! I actually thought that. Dangerous.
Don’t get comfy, Katie girl. Stay alert.

I finished my physics lab work and the analysis of Dylan Thomas, and I even started making notes on my exit essay. It was going to focus on mental health issues, for sure. That way I had a bulletproof excuse to hover around Kruger’s office. I reorganized the items in Anka’s pantry according to size and expiration date. She wouldn’t be back until late tomorrow afternoon. They were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her sister in what seemed to be a hopeless situation. I called Anka with a cheery update and told her not to sweat it because the Sumners had gone up to the lake. She thanked me too much and cried. Slavs cry a lot. I walked Bruce four times, cleaned up my computer files…A day needs bones.

By three p.m. I found myself in Olivia’s room. I had to smile at her wonky little altar setup. She’d told me that she hadn’t prayed in months, but she couldn’t get herself to trash the Holy Roller paraphernalia either. I made her bed on the second visit and had determined that there was nothing useful in there by the third. Except…I went back to her bathroom and opened her medicine chest. I knew Olivia always carried something with her, but the other bottles lived here. I took out the Lexapro, dumped out the pills and counted back to the issuing date.
Hmm.
A new bottle of Ativan, issued eight days ago, was almost as full as the Lexapro. There was no doubt about it. The girl was cutting down on the anxiety meds. It explained things. Olivia was
more
lately. I wasn’t sure more what, just
more.

Good to know.

It was probably a decent call. Her shrink, Tamblyn, was a meds slut. Most of them were. I never thought the combo she was on was doing her any favors, but then I didn’t know quite what was up with her either. I’d have to get on that pronto. I should have gone through her files by now.
Chop, chop, Katie.

Bruce and I started padding out of the bedroom, but I picked up a photo before I left. It looked out of place, since it was such a fussy pink and bejeweled thing. A frame picked out by a little girl. It wasn’t the best shot, a little out of focus, but you sure got the sense of it. It was a picture of Mr. Sumner, a three- or four-year-old Olivia and a beautiful woman wearing a head scarf. They were outdoors somewhere, bathed in sunlight. At the cabin? The adults had their arms wrapped around the child, and the three of them were smiling into the sun.

A day needs bones.

Mother, father, daughter. I pressed the frame to me. I didn’t have a single picture of us, not one.

I slid onto the floor leaning against the mattress. Bruce waddled up and settled into my lap. He wasn’t interested in the photo.

Mother, father, daughter…

I knew it was a mistake. Even at eleven, I knew. But what could you do at eleven? Dick all, baby, that’s what. Everyone else has the power. No one listens to a kid.

I’d thrown up three times already and there were almost two more days to go. It wasn’t just the bus and the fumes—it was where we were going. I knew it would be bad. Why didn’t my mother see? She was weak. He made her weak.

I hated that she was weak. But I still loved her. Didn’t I?

“It’ll be completely different this time,” she said over and over again. “Daddy’s got a good job, a great job with the oil rig. It’s a big company. He’s a supervisor, Katie! I’ll only have to work part-time at the site’s dental office. This is it. We’ll finally be a real family—mother, father, daughter.”

I had to leave Mary-Catherine, the only friend I’d ever had. And Sister Rose.

“He hasn’t touched a drop since…since he surprised us in the spring.”

I loved Sister Rose.

“He’s a clever man, your dad—brilliant when he’s off the drink. None smarter. He should have had his chance at university, that’s all his problem is. Your father’s just too smart for his own good, and the world is difficult for a man like that.”

And Mary-Catherine’s dad. He would miss me too. I was sure of it. They would all miss me. Yessiree, Katie’s absence would be noted and mourned. I stared out the window while she talked. Dusk kissed the endless flat plains. I was trapped, pure and simple. Mile after mile of wheat and grasses and a sky that was way too big for its own good. There was way too much of whatever that was out there.

“And you’ve got no cause to fear on the schooling front. I have seen to all that. I know what you’ve got, Katie, and so did Sister Rose and the Mother Superior. Only the best private schools for you from now on. It’s a gift, baby—a gift! It’s your new life. My gift. You can always be the scholarship kid, no matter what. That’s how good you are, and don’t you ever forget that. You’ve got his brains. School, baby. It’s your ticket. There’s a prize at the end of it. We’ve talked about it. You keep your eye on the prize, because nothing else matters. Promise?”

The bus rolled on and night fell. Literally, just like that, it landed on the plains, sucking up the endless sight line, leaving nothing in its wake.

“Katie, do you promise?”

“Yeah, I promise, Mom. Really.” What did it matter?

She smiled and sank back into her seat. “It’ll be different, you’ll see. Your father loves you so much. It’ll be completely different.”

No buildings, no lights, just all that darkness.

—

Bruce was licking the tears off my face. We both got up slowly. I replaced the photo: mother, father, daughter.
You’re on your own, Katie.

A day needs bones, is all.

Olivia had been looking forward to the photo shoot for days. She wasn’t the only one. They all fluttered around Mark like butterflies to milkweed. That included Halston, the A-list photographer he’d drummed up. Ms. Draper was more restrained, but why was she even there? Supposedly she wanted to see how it was all put together so she “could speak to it” at the board.

Lame.

The Wonders were marched to the physics lab, the media room, the renovated drama center, the library and Mr. Cormier’s classroom. Just when Olivia thought she’d drop, they were told to get into their gym gear and head for the Upper School gymnasium. The logistics were complex, especially with everyone keeping an eye on everyone else.

In each room, Mark took great care with the group and individual shots. Olivia could tell that each girl was on high alert. Each was tracking Mark tightly. Did his eyes linger for a beat longer on Serena or Morgan than they did on her? No. Did he touch Olivia more than he did Claire? More than the others? Yes. Not appreciably, but Olivia certainly noticed and maybe Draper did too. She couldn’t be sure. It was harder than usual to read that woman’s expressions because she didn’t have any. Olivia’s money was on Botox, and probably a little filler too. How pathetic.

Olivia was relieved when they got to the big open space of the gym. She could finally breathe. The girls seemed to have doused themselves in their “signature” scents. Even Draper was dripping in Jo Malone. Olivia had been combatting a headache since the end of the first location.