The Green Ticket (24 page)

“I know, I know. And I’m happy to watch over you.” Lila patted my hand. “Well, I have to run. Meeting Joel tonight for a late dinner.”

“You are?” I had barely heard Lila speak a word about Joel. We all knew that he was furious over her impending appointment with Mary.

“Yep. I could come home tonight a single lady,” she confessed.

“Seriously? You really think you might break up?” I was shocked, at least a little bit. The other girls and I had been anticipating that it would happen, but I really wasn’t sure Lila would ever pull the trigger.

“We’ll see. He’ll probably try to keep talking me out of going to meet with Mary and just piss me off. Whatever. I can’t deal with the drama. I have bigger things to focus on. Like my own life.”

“Good for you, Lila. We need more strong women like you in the world,” Allie chimed in, earning a strange look from Lila. Almost...tepid? What had happened during that facial?

“Thanks. Alex...I’ll just see you at home, okay?”Lila was giving me some sort of look with her eyes, but I didn’t know how to interpret it.

“Um, yeah. Okay. See you at home. Good luck with Joel.” And she was gone. This was turning into a strange evening.

“Hey, Allie, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, hon.” Allie was scrolling through tomorrow’s schedule on the second computer, taking a look at her clients.

“Do you remember doing a couple’s massage for a Marcus and Tamara on Saturday? In the afternoon, with Courtney? Both were pretty dressy. Girl had Dolly Parton boobs and no waist.”

“Yeah, I remember them. Nice couple. What about them?”

“Did they ever say what they were? Boyfriend/girlfriend? Friends? Mere acquaintances? “

Allie pursed her lips together, cocking her head to one side. “I think they were just dating. She was actually his secretary or something, I think. Yeah, that was it. He’s a lawyer at a firm downtown and that’s how they met. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Just curious.” Ah, the classic lawyer banging the secretary on the side. Scumbag, scumbag, douchebag. Poor Lisa. She gives birth to twins and her husband screws around on her.

“I’m going to go clean up my treatment room. Have you cut any of the stylists?”

“I let Katie go about an hour or so ago. Jewel and Carolyn are still on the floor. You can let one of them go if you want, as long as most of the cleaning is done.” It was nearing eight o’clock, closing time. Carolyn was finishing up a haircut so I couldn’t close down the register yet. I got out the cleaning supplies and set to work on dusting and polishing the desk, stopping only to check out the client. I quickly swept the floors, switched the Open sign to Closed, locked the front doors and counted out the drawer. I filed the receipts, checked the next day’s schedules, and closed down the computers. Walking back to the office with the cash and receipts, I waved goodnight to Carolyn as she headed out.

Allie was in the office putting her coat on when I came in. “Big plans for the rest of the night?” she asked me.

“Nope. Just some homework. I have to make sure I stay on top of my classes. I’ve let myself slip the last few weeks of the semester.”

“Well, do you think you could come out to lunch with me and Dani tomorrow? Sort of an informal meeting to talk about the Christmas schedule.”

“What time were you thinking?”

“Probably around twelve or twelve-thirty. What time is your last class out?”

“Not ‘till one. But I can just skip it. I have some ideas for the schedule that I wanted to discuss with Dani anyway.”

“Are you sure about skipping? Maybe we can push it back.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. One of my friends is in the class too, so I’ll just get her notes.”

“If you’re sure. Or else I can let Dani know what your ideas are?” I looked at Allie’s face, always so bright and open. She wouldn’t screw me over like Kamille had, would she? Any other day I would have answered an emphatic no. But after the weird moment with her and possibly Kevin in the treatment room, plus Lila’s behavior after the facial....my instincts were telling me to hold off.

“Um, that’s okay. I need to put them all together tonight anyway so they make sense.” There went my homework idea. “But I’ll be sure to be here tomorrow for the meeting. Should I just meet you both here?”

“Yep. See you tomorrow! Drive safe, hon.”

“Thanks.” My shoulders drooped and a walloping headache came at me full force. I just wanted to sleep.

$$$

Just as I was opening the front door to Wacker, my cell phone began to ring. It was my personal cell, and I reminded myself yet again to see about merging the two. I stopped inside the doorway and dug it out, eyes widening in surprise when I saw Henry’s name on the caller ID. “Hello?” I said, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“Alex? Hi, it’s Henry.”

“Hey, Henry. What’s up?” I struggled to keep my voice casual as I started climbing the stairs.

“Not much. Just hanging out at home. What are you doing?”

“Just getting home from work. Literally. I’m just walking in the door.” Lila was on the couch with a textbook on her lap and a glass of wine in one hand. I waved and mouthed ‘Henry’ at her, pointing to the phone. She placed her wine glass on the floor and clapped her hands together quietly.

“How was work tonight?”

“It was fine. Lila came in and got her first facial.” I debated about telling the story about Marcus Baylor and his two-timing ways, but I was more curious as to why Henry was calling. I hadn’t heard from him since he left me on his couch Saturday night. Alone.

“Did she like it?”

“I think so. How was your night?”

“Good. A lot of studying. I have two big tests before Thanksgiving break. Then two more before Christmas break.”

“Ah, gotcha.” An awkward pause descended over our conversation.
The point, Henry, the point!
I wanted to scream.

“So. I just wanted to ask if you had plans for the weekend. Peter and Hannah are going mini-golfing at that indoor place downtown, and I thought you might like it too.”

A double date? He was asking me on another date, right? “Sure! I mean, yeah, that could be a good time. Though I can’t really see Hannah mini-golfing,” I said honestly. Lila gave me a quizzical look from her perch on the couch.

“Truthfully, I don’t see Peter that much into putt-putt either. Maybe we can be on teams. I have a feeling we would dominate.”

I laughed, feeling all the emotional stress and wondering about Henry fade away. He did still like me. We were going on a third date. “I bet we will. We’ll have to think of a good bet to place.”

We chatted for a while longer, while I tried to get out of my work clothes and into some sweats. Henry told me he would finalize the plans with Peter and make sure to work around my Blissful schedule, then we hung up. I finished pulling the T-shirt over my head and ran back into the living room.

“We’re going on a date. We’re going on a date! A third date, Lil. Third!” I squealed, hopping on the couch and jumping up and down like a kid when they find out school was canceled.

“Yay! I’m so happy for you. But what was with the three-day silent treatment? Did he mention anything about your last date?” she asked, bringing me down from the clouds.

I took a seat next to her, then hopped right back up. I was too excited to sit still. “No, not really. I’ll ask him when we’re on our date though. Maybe Hannah will even have some info on him. Maybe Peter discussed it with her. But, hello. What are you doing here? I thought you were meeting Joel for dinner? Unless...?” I trailed off, wondering if they had broken up that quickly.

“I canceled on him. I just didn’t feel like going through with it tonight. Maybe I should just wait until after my meeting. I mean, what if Mary hates me and I decide just to stay in Des Moines and become a housewife? Why risk breaking up with Joel over nothing?”

I sat again, this time with more resolution. “Lila. You can’t stay with Joel out of convenience. What you just said made it sound like you were settling. Joel’s good enough for right here, right now. But I think you know that’s not what you really want.”

Lila was quiet for a moment, reaching over to pick up her wine glass and taking a gulp. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. I don’t want to make any hasty decisions without being sure. I just need some more time to think.”

I sat in silence with her for a few minutes, trying to show my support. I guessed that she did know what she wanted, she just couldn’t admit it to herself yet. I think all the girls knew it, really. But we would wait, let her come to the conclusion herself.

“Another reason though–– I canceled because I wanted to talk to you,” she continued, glancing up at me.

“Okay. What’s up?” I asked, leaning back into the cushions and closing my eyes. Ah, relaxation.

“How do you feel about Allie?”

My eyes snapped open. “What? Allie? Why?”

Lila shrugged. “I’m just curious. I know you’ve said you really like her and you think she’s a great friend and all, but....I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what? Did she say something about me?” I couldn’t believe that Allie was talking behind my back, especially to my best friend. That just didn’t add up.

“No, no. She didn’t say anything about you. Bad, anyway. She did say that she thought you were a great manager and all those other glowing things, but….I don’t know.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that. Clearly something is on your mind. Spill. What the hell happened?” I was on the brink, ready to explode if Lila didn’t tell me what was going on. Maybe my weird feeling about Allie was about to be proven correct.

Lila’s blue eyes met mine. “I just got a weird feeling about her. Something didn’t add up.”

“By that you mean...?” I prompted. Could Lila get the feeling about her and Kevin? I always knew she had some heightened intuition, but this could be huge. I would never doubt her again.

“I just didn’t think she was being entirely truthful. She asked me if I had a boyfriend and I started to tell her a little bit about Joel. Then she talked about her fiancé and how they’re getting married next year. And I got the feeling that she isn’t excited about it. I don’t think she loves this guy.”

I frowned, thinking about what she said. “I don’t know. We’ve talked about it before too, and she said that she is marrying for love and that he would make a great father and all this stuff. She sounded pretty happy to me.” My thoughts flashed back on possibly hearing Kevin and Allie in her treatment room. I hadn’t proved it was Allie, but something was telling me it was her. I knew her laugh, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.

“I just think that something else is going on in that relationship. My guess is that there is someone else, either on her side or his. Maybe he is cheating and she knows about it but doesn’t know what to do? I don’t know, just something was off.”

“Lila, I’m going to tell you something, but please keep it to yourself. Don’t tell the other girls. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t know what to think. And it might not even be true. So just keep quiet about it, okay?”

Lila’s eyes were wide as she looked back at me. “Promise,” she said, voice solemn.

“Okay. It happened last week when I was leaving the salon. The day I got called in.” I launched into my story about possibly hearing Kevin and Allie in the treatment room together. I explained the sounds, how I thought I heard Allie’s laugh and Kevin’s voice and the door closing. When I finished, Lila’s eyes were even bigger than when I started. I felt relieved to get that story off my chest. I didn’t realize how much it was killing me to keep it inside.

“So you think that possibly Kevin and Allie are hooking up? That is just fucked up,” Lila bluntly stated.

“I know, right? And the sickest part–– Dani was in the salon at the time. She was right at the front desk! If something weird is going on, it’s so shitty that they’re doing it with Dani just a few feet from them. Can you imagine?” I cringed, not understanding how people could be so horrible and shady. And poor Dani! Not only her husband, but her employee and friend? I was devastated for her.

“Wow. That’s just awful. I can’t believe––”

“There’s more.”

Lila looked at me, incredulous. “More? What the hell do you mean more? What kind of more?”

I reached into my purse for my cell phone, scrolling to the pictures of Kevin and Kamille kissing. I handed Lila my phone.

“This is Kamille, right? Bitchy front desk girl?”

I nodded. “I caught them in the back alley the same day I heard Kevin and Allie in the treatment room.”

Lila studied the pictures some more. “Well, this is solid proof, Al. Show these to Kevin. Or Kamille. They can’t keep doing this to Dani.”

“But–– what if I get fired? It sounds terrible, but besides all this crap, I really love my job. And I’m good at it. And it’s giving me the knowledge and possibly future references to go on to bigger and better things. I don’t want to go back to being a Tastie’s girl–– no offense.”

“None taken. But, okay. So you stay quiet for now. What happens when Dani catches them? Or another staff member or a client? Or–– what if Kevin starts making moves on you?”

I stayed silent for a minute. “I don’t know,” I answered quietly. “Honestly. I don’t know. I’m so confused. And I’m sad. I really thought Allie was a good person. And even though I may have had doubts about Kevin and Kamille, I never wanted it to turn out this way.”

Lila and I talked for another hour about Blissful and the closed-door happenings. We didn’t get much farther, only to discuss how disgusted we were with cheating men and women who agree to be “the other woman.”  I still didn’t know how to handle my newfound knowledge about my boss and employees. Stay quiet and keep at my job? Spill what I knew and possibly lose it?

I went to bed that night uneasy about my professional situation. Could I really keep working for philandering Kevin? Would I crack and spill the secrets to Dani? Dani was my friend. She didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark. Lila agreed that if I knew Joel was cheating on her she would want to know. I said the same thing. It would be humiliating for everyone to know your boyfriend or husband had a wandering eye. Kamille seemed like she could be a bitch, but what about Allie? My thoughts about her were completely screwed up. How could I look her in the eye tomorrow and watch her smile and chat with Dani like she wasn’t screwing her husband on the side? What had I gotten myself into?