Lex and Lu (24 page)

Lex went back to his post on the wall, waiting for these two new women in his life to emerge. Vaguely he wondered what would have happened if Lu had answered the phone earlier today. Would she have included him? He needed to ask her. Not to be a dickhead, although that did come quite naturally to him, but just to appease his curiosity. He assumed that she wouldn’t have, but he felt he at least needed to give her a chance to explain herself. Damn, this was going to be painful. He knew it was hard enough when the parents were together. How would they do this apart? And what happened if one of them met someone and there was a third or fourth person in the mix?

Hearing the clatter of feet coming down the hall, Lex pushed himself away from the wall once more. Let’s just get through this so I can get out of here, he thought. He needed to get away so he could think.

Nina sat back on the couch, and Lu took up the space next to her. Finding the chair again, Lex sat. Leaning forward, forearms on legs, he looked to Lu to start. Rolling her eyes, she began.

“Your father and I have discussed this and have come up with a reasonable punishment.”

Nina didn’t say anything, merely continued to look at her mother since she was talking.

“After you return the money to the students who you sold stuff to, you will take your iPad savings and donate it to an appropriate charity.”

“What?” Nina cried, tears immediately filling her eyes. “That’s not fair. I’ve been saving all my money this year.”

“Yes, you have. But since it’s not fair for either your father or me to give up our time with you, we felt this was more than fair.”

As the tears continued to flow down her cheeks, she wiped furiously at them. “It’s not fair.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you took my things and sold them,” Lex said. God, Lex thought, did I just channel my father? Is this what happens? You just throw out phrases that were spoken at you as a child.

“This is a stupid punishment,” Nina cried.

“Excuse me? What did you say?” Lu said calmly.

Nina, sheepishly shook her head.

“You know how I feel about that word,” Lu said, even though it didn’t need to be said.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Nina mumbled under her breath.

Lu jumped off of the couch and got right in Nina’s face. “You will go back into your room and you will not come out until I tell you to come out. When you do, you better have all of your money sorted. The money that needs to be paid back and the money that you are donating. If you even mumble, murmur, or look like you are mouthing that word, I’ll leave you here when I go home tomorrow.
Do you understand?
”

Nina couldn’t even look her mother in the eye. She merely nodded her head and slinked back to her room. Lu, who was now standing, kept her back to Lex as she propelled Nina toward her room with a look of absolute disappointment and anger. Lex watched it all, fascinated. He could tell that Lu was about to lose her shit, and although he wasn’t wringing his hands with glee, it helped him to see her flustered. No one spoke for a moment.

“Are you OK?” Lex asked her back, since she hadn’t turned around to look at him.

“Just go, Lex,” she said softly, reclaiming her sanity. “I’ll make sure she calls you while we’re gone.”

“Lu,” he said, as he stood up and walked toward her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “You OK?” he asked again.

She shrugged him off. “Please just leave. It’s been enough today.”

“Of course,” he said flippantly. “One question though.” When she didn’t interrupt him or balk, he said, “Would you have called me today if Mr. Seddon hadn’t contacted me?” The answer was important to him. He wasn’t sure why but he needed to know.

“I’d like to say yes, but the truth is, probably not.”

Without a backward glance, Lex made his way to the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Willa refilled the wine glasses and discarded the empty bottle.

“One down,” she informed them.

Lu swirled the wine in her glass. “Already?” she asked, looking around the table at both Sky and Willa.

“Yup. Don’t worry, we stocked up before you arrived,” Sky assured her.

“I’m definitely going to need it.”

“All right,” Willa said, “continue the story. You get the call from the headmaster and you show up to find Lex there already. You must have almost shit your pants.”

“That wasn’t what she was doing in her pants,” Sky said, winking at Willa.

“You are both disgusting. Do I really expose my nine-year-old daughter to you?” Lu said, with a slight smile on her face.

“Yes!” they both agreed.

“Apparently, Nina had been,” Lu paused, trying to get ahold of herself. “I’m just a little embarrassed for her,” she said, giggling. Sky and Willa exchanged glances. “She had stolen some of Lex’s stuff and sold it to her schoolmates,” Lu said in a rush. That part she actually found to be funny. The reason why sort of broke her heart. “She said they didn’t believe that she was Lex Pellitteri’s daughter, so she brought stuff in to prove it.”

Willa and Sky had identical reactions. They both sat back in their chairs, obviously touched. Then, Willa being Willa, she said, “That’s fucking brilliant. She could be the perfect criminal.”

Although Sky had thought the exact same thing, she could tell that it was really bothering Lu, so she chose the high road. This time. Reaching out, she grabbed Lu’s hand. “That must have been tough.”

Willa’s eyes widened. When Lu looked into the swirls of wine in her glass, Willa met Sky’s eyes and gave her a questioning look. Sky merely shrugged.

“How did Lex take it?” Willa asked.

“Actually, he did pretty well.” She met Willa’s gaze. “I don’t want you to think I’m being soft on him, OK?” she asked. At Willa’s nod, she continued. “He came over and admitted that he was having a hard time finding his way with Nina. I think it’s the first time Lex has had to work at a relationship with anyone. He doesn’t know how to be her father. And he feels bad trying to when they barely know each other.”

“Well, perhaps he should have thought of all of this before he forced you to move over there.” Willa’s anger over all things Pellitteri wrapped itself around her like a cloak.

“We both should have.” Stopping to fortify herself with a sip of wine before bringing this up with Willa, she finally bit the bullet. “I can see now why you wanted me to fight.”

Willa, not used to anyone conceding anything to her when it wasn’t in a court of law, didn’t quite know what to do. Her opinions were often so resolute that people couldn’t even share the tones of gray in her black-and-white world.

“Look, I should have stood up for Nina and I. I should have fought him. Maybe if I had fought him she wouldn’t be peddling his memorabilia for cash.”

“Is he worth that much?” Sky asked, doubtful.

“Over there he is. It’s like a different planet.”

“You did what you thought was right,” Sky said, supporting Lu again tonight with her sister.

“You should have fought him,” Willa concurred, “but it’s too late now. At this point, you have to find a way to make it work. Over there.”

“Yeah. I’m kind of locked in right now. Tentatively, if things don’t improve or she fails to thrive, we’ll move back here for the start of middle school. That will be two years which I think is an honest attempt.”

“Have you discussed that with Lex?” Sky asked.

“Well, are you Miss Sympathetic tonight,” Willa said snidely.

Sky merely smiled at her and rubbed Lu’s arm, sarcastically bestowing her support.

“No. Our one and only conversation with each other happened on Thursday, during the Nina brouhaha.”

“That must have been fun.”

“Oh my Jesus,” Willa erupted. “Will you can it?”

Lu laughed, Sky feigned innocence, and Willa continued to stew.

“You really need to get laid,” Sky said to Willa. “You are severely uptight.”

“Good segue. What are you going to do when Pete arrives this weekend?” Lu asked sweetly.

“Ignore him like the plague,” Willa said.

Lu, who thought she had gotten through to Willa during Thanksgiving, felt her face fall. “Really?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Lu. I’m going to keep an open mind.”

“Really?” Lu said again, happy that Willa might let Pete make headway with her.

“I’m not promising anything, but I heard you last time we talked. I’m mulling it all over.” Annoyed that she felt she needed to let Lu know that she wasn’t completely anti-Pete, she stood up to get another bottle of wine.

“Drink up, ladies. We have some celebrating to do.”

They should have stayed home. There was little doubt, as they paid the cab fare and made their way into the bar, that they were doing the big-girl responsible thing. But their voice of reason, Lu, had pulled on her big-girl panties this evening and allowed the three drunken girls to make their way to the strip. In Lu’s mind—her drunken haze, really—Pete and Willa loomed large. If she could just get them together, drunk or sober, she felt certain that they could find their way to each other. Making their way into the bar, Lu spotted Pete waiting for them.

Flinging herself into his arms, she hugged him hard. “It’s so good to see you,” she said. “Did Lex tell you what Nina did? She’s on her way to being a criminal mastermind.” She rambled all of this into his ear as he hugged her back.

Laughing, Pete said, “It’s good to see you too. How drunk are you?”

“I’ve got the big-girl panties on tonight, Petey. We’re celebrating.”

Meeting Sky’s gaze over Lu’s head, she shrugged. Willa wasn’t ready to make eye contact yet, so she sat at the table and asked, “What are we drinking?”

Pete, who had been hanging out with a friend of his, stole a chair from another table to accommodate the new arrivals. After he introduced everyone to Andy, he left to get a pitcher of beer. Lu watched him go and noted Willa’s eyes following him across the bar. All inhibitions drowned at this point, Lu kicked her under the table. When Willa looked up, Lu said, “He’s by himself.”

Willa wanted to roll her eyes at Lu’s antics, but she was just drunk enough that the edge on her mad was dull. Standing up from the table, Willa made her way to Pete.

Lu, smiling stupidly, pumped her fist. Shit, she thought, I’m drunk.

Sky took the empty seat next to her and said, “Don’t think we’ll see much of Pete and Willa tonight.”

“Hopefully not,” Lu said. Feeling bad for excluding Andy, she leaned toward him and asked him how he knew Pete. Engaging him in conversation, Lu lost track of Pete and Willa, which, she decided, was probably best. Andy and Sky started talking business and Lu, suddenly bored, took out her phone. Without thinking about it, she pulled up Lex’s contact.

We have to stop fighting
. She’d texted because she knew it was safe. He’d be sleeping; he’d see it tomorrow and by that time, this impulse would be gone.

So when her phone buzzed, she pulled it down, under the table so Sky couldn’t see it.

Is that what we’re doing?

Puzzled, Lu thought, Of course it is. Knowing drinking and texting was surely not a good thing, she responded.

Of course it is. What would you call it?

She was smiling. She could feel it on her face. She and Lex were talking and it made her happy. Looking at the beer in front of her, she took another sip.

Are you drunk?

She laughed. Didn’t take him long to figure that out.

Maybe.

No maybe about it. Ur drunk.

Smiling again, Lu felt his pull. She saw him leaning against the wall in her apartment. At the time, she was pissed. He’d looked like he was posing for some
Vanity Fair
cover. Long lean lines, relaxed pose, scruffy appearance. Enough to make any woman want him. Even her. Again.

You never answered my question.

Which one??
Lex responded quickly, as if there weren’t an ocean between them.

What would you call it, AJ?

There she was pulling out all the stops. Wanting him to remember who they were to each other.

Foreplay. Lol!

She laughed, sidesplitting laughter. She couldn’t believe he remembered. He’d made fun of her all the time. Lu wasn’t frivolous or girlie or into girlie stuff. But her favorite movie had been
The Cutting Edge
growing up and he’d always ribbed her about it. Saying that the dialogue wasn’t smart enough for her big brain. And that she didn’t even know what that meant. And then he showed her what it meant. That he’d remembered, made everything inside her turn to mush.

That time, she caused Sky to stop talking to Andy.

“Whatcha doing over there?” Sky asked.

“Nothing,” Lu responded, reaching again for her beer.

“I don’t believe you. Who are you texting?”

“No one.”

“Louisa May, are you lying to me?” Sky said, as she made a grab for Lu’s phone.

Lu tried to hold on to it but her reflexes were slow. Sky grabbed on and looked at the text conversation.

Smiling a smile full of I-told-you-so’s, Sky handed the phone back to her. “Oh, Lu,” she singsonged, “you are going to regret that in the morning.”