Good Christian Bitches (20 page)

“It’s a little unorthodox,” Amanda admitted, “but there’s something pleasing about the idea of not having this responsibility hanging over my head for the next eleven months.” She sighed. “Okay. As the Chair of the Longhorn Ball, I use the power vested in me to declare that the party to thank all the people who got screwed—sorry, Sarah—by the last Ball Chair will take place—are you kidding me? Okay. Four weeks away. All in favor?”

Tom, Elizabeth, and Sarah chorused, “Aye.”

“All opposed?” Amanda asked.

Silence.

“Then that’s it,” she said, banging her pen down on the desk like a mock gavel. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said sincerely to Tom. “I hope we all do.”

Her cell phone rang. She unfolded it, saw that the caller was “unknown,” and said to no one in particular, “I wonder who this could be.

“Hello?” She listened intently, a look of frozen horror appearing on her face.

“What happened?” Elizabeth asked.

“It’s Will,” Amanda said as she hung up, stricken. “He got into a fight at school, and he’s in the hospital. Come on, let’s go.”

The four of them, ashen, looked at one another and practically ran out of the office and jumped into Tom’s car.

“W
here’s my son?” Amanda demanded, trying to remain calm as she ran into the emergency room at Southern Methodist Hospital, two blocks from Hillside Park.

“Are you Ms. Vaughn?” the attendant asked.

“I am.”

The woman nodded reassuringly. “Your son’s gonna be fine. Just some lacerations. He looks worse than he is.”

Amanda felt her heart stop at the word
lacerations
, but she found herself relieved by the attendant’s sense of calm. “Where is he?”

“In back . . . down the hall on the right.”

Amanda turned to her mother, daughter, and Tom, and repeated what they had just heard the attendant say.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Amanda said, trying to convince herself but unable to believe it until she saw her son. The attendant showed them inside. They passed several other casualties, who looked as though they had had far worse experiences than just a few lacerations, before finally coming to Will’s room.

“Will?” Amanda asked. Her son’s head was covered in bandages, and an IV ran into his arm. A bank of monitors beeped arrhythmically in the background.

“Yeah, it’s me,” her son said. “I guess I forgot to duck.”

“What happened to you?” Amanda asked, sitting on his bed and gingerly touching his face. “You got in a fight?”

Will nodded, wincing from the effort. “I had these Texas kids all wrong,” he admitted, sounding groggy. “The guys here sure know how to fight.”

“Nothing’s broken on you?” Elizabeth asked.

Will shook his head, wincing again. “Nothing got hurt except my pride. They told you it looks worse than it is, right?”

Amanda nodded, slightly relieved. “How did this happen, Will?”

“It’s all about that stupid article in the newspaper,” he said disdainfully, as if the whole matter were not really worthy of any further discussion. “Some people were making some cracks about you—actually, about me, too. They wanted to know if I’d have you get them arrested if they didn’t give me their skateboards. I didn’t even want their lame skateboards. I like mine.”

Amanda glanced at Elizabeth and Tom. “It was because of the article?” she asked, her heart sinking.

“Sure. It’s actually the only reason I went to all of my classes today. It’s like you’re a celebrity.”

“A celebrity? What are you talking about?”

“Half the kids in school think it’s really cool that you get people arrested,” he explained. “The other half think you’re a raving bitch.” He added hastily, “That’s not my word. That’s theirs.”

Normally Amanda would have castigated Will for using such inappropriate language, especially about her. But her greater concern was the fact that the newspaper story had broadened the dispute, such as it was, between the good Christian bitches, as she had taken to calling them in her mind, and herself. It was one thing to talk about her. It was another thing entirely to have her children be part of it. And obviously, it wasn’t just girls Sarah’s age. From what Will was saying, the whole school was involved.

“Did they say how long you’re going to be in the hospital?” Amanda asked.

“Not for long,” Will replied. He jerked a thumb at Tom. “Who’s this guy?”

Amanda reddened. “Um, it’s our landlord.”

Will looked at his mother, entertained. “A landlord who makes house calls! Hey, Mom—you work fast. Who is he, really? Does he know you’re technically still married?”

“And I’m just recently divorced, myself,” Tom told Will, before Amanda could say anything. “It’s something we like about each other.”

“So some guy hit you in the head with a skateboard?” Amanda asked, taking the conversation back to a more comfortable topic. “At Hillside Park Middle School?”

Will rubbed his head. “It was either that or a two-by-four. I’m standing up for your honor, Mom. Which may be more than this guy is doing,” he added, glancing at Tom.

“Let’s just stay out of my business. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Me too. But I think I want to move back to California. It’s safer.”

Just then, a doctor entered Will’s curtained-off area. Embroidery on his long white coat identified him as Dr. Elliott.

“You’re the parents?” he asked, turning to Amanda and Tom.

“I’m the mother,” Amanda said quickly.

“Your son’s got a thick skull,” the doctor told her. “Lucky for all of us.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying for years,” Amanda replied. “Looks like it finally did him some good for a change.”

“That’s not saying very much,” Sarah cracked.

“Mom! Make her stop!” Will exclaimed, pained. “I’m in a hospital, for Pete’s sake!”

“Okay, both of you, that’s enough,” Amanda said. “I’m just glad you’re okay, son. But I’m not okay with the women who were behind this whole hate campaign to do me in at all costs! Mom, why don’t you and Sarah stay here? I’ve got to talk to Tom for a minute. I’ve got to take care of something.”

Elizabeth studied her daughter. “Sounds like something’s up. I’ll stay with them.”

Dr. Elliott studied Will’s chart, leaned in, and examined the wounds under the bandages.

“The only guy I know with a thicker skull,” he said, “is the guy who runs this hospital. And look at you. You’ll be fine. See y’all.”

Dr. Elliott left, and Amanda and Tom headed out of the room after him.

“I just can’t stand this,” Amanda, infuriated, told him. “I know why they’re doing it. They’re obviously threatened, and they’re trying to ruin me. I just never imagined my own best friend from childhood would turn on me.”

“What do you want to do about it?”

An idea struck Amanda. It was brilliant. It was doable. And it just might work.

“What I’ve got in mind for them,” she said slowly, formulating her thoughts, “is the perfect brand of payback. I’m going to stop all this nonsense, and I’m going to do it by taking the higher road.” So far she’d proven to herself that you can take the high road and still wind up a grease spot on it. She smiled. It was almost too obvious, it made so much sense. “What time is it?”

“Quarter to one,” Tom said, glancing at his Cartier watch.

“Perfect,” Amanda said, starting down the hallway. “Oh, um . . . can I borrow your car?”

“What’s mine is yours,” he responded, intrigued. He tossed her the keys to his Bentley. “Just be careful.”

“Thanks,” Amanda said gratefully. “Hold down the fort at the hospital for a little while, would you?” She took a deep breath. “These good Christian bitches are gonna regret assuming my children were fair game.”

“Where are you going?” Tom asked, watching Amanda’s confident gait with wonder and admiration.

“Where am I going?” Amanda flashed Tom a perfect smile. “Why, I’m going to Bible study, of course.”

A
manda had smoked some in college, mostly when she drank, but had never considered herself a smoker. For some odd reason, throughout her life, whenever she found herself under immense pressure, she always reached for a cigarette. Just one, and she always immediately regretted it and wondered why she thought she had to have one in the first place. Today was no different. On her way to the church, she flew by the package store in Hillside Park Village and grabbed a pack of Marlboro Lights. She realized how horrified Tom would be about her smoking in his Bentley, so she rolled down the windows and turned off the air conditioner, trying to limit the odor.

She turned into the parking lot, a little faster than she should’ve been driving, and squealed to a stop. She didn’t see the minister at Hillside Park Presbyterian standing across the parking lot, hardly believing what he was seeing.

She took one last, long drag off the cigarette, then flicked it out the window and onto the concrete parking lot. Dr. Wilkes stood there with this mouth open and when she opened the door, all he saw was tanned, bare legs and red-bottomed stilettos.

Amanda suddenly noticed the reverend and quickly and sheepishly bent down and threw the extinguished cigarette butt in the trash, and smiled and waved as she scurried off. Dr. Wilkes had to laugh—he’d known Amanda her whole life and he’d always referred to her as “God’s wildest child.” That seemed to be even more true these days than when she was in high school. Where angels go . . . trouble follows, as they say.

Amanda hurried inside the building and headed for the Bible study classroom. When she entered, she was disappointed to see that neither Sharon nor Heather was there. She was hoping they’d be present. If Bible study class wouldn’t allow you to feel safe and provide a place where you could tell the truth and have people around you love you anyway, then where else could she possibly hope to confront these two? In a very loving and Christian way, of course. She also knew the value of being able to tell her story with them there, but then again, another one of Amanda’s all-time favorite books was
When God Winks.
It’s a book about coincidence, or really that coincidence is nothing less than God’s purposeful plan. She decided that she would speak no matter what.

They opened in prayer, went over a few items of business, and Amanda asked the lady who was leading that day if she might be allowed to address the group as a whole. She was happy to let Amanda have the floor.

Amanda took her time explaining all the drama, the nonsense, and the happenings of the days since she’d arrived back in Dallas, backing up a time or two to give more details about how she made her decision to leave her husband and come home. She shared more than she intended to, but their faces seemed interested and sympathetic, and she thought this would be the only time she’d have the floor on this topic, so she might as well make the most of it. She explained how difficult this had all been not only for her but also for her mother and especially for her children. She asked for prayers from all of them and then made an astonishing confession.

“I wanted to share with all of you some things I’ve learned these last few weeks as I’ve been fighting off all the accusations, gossip, the rumors—all the trouble I’ve had. I’ve really had to examine my own heart due to all of this and acknowledge how guilty
I’ve
been in the past of listening to rumors that people told me. I would have
no
idea where their information had come from and certainly had no way to gauge its accuracy, yet if they were a reliable enough source and sounded sure of themselves, I would believe them.

“I’ve realized there have been many times in my life when someone else was under attack and I’d be so grateful it was her and not me that I’d be happy to go along with the lynch mob, in hopes I’d be spared at a later date. I realized how often I’ve given someone that sideways glance when I knew
she
was the topic of the moment, but what she really needed was for someone to stop and ask her how she was or at least smile and say hello, but I wouldn’t dare because someone might see me speaking to the current persona non grata, and then what? I know how guilty I’ve been of treating other people the same way I have so vehemently objected to being treated myself.

“I ask you to please pray that God will continue to open my eyes and my heart—to help me make better decisions when I find myself involved in, but not the focal point of, such hurtful behavior in the future. I’m so grateful for your prayers for my children and hope you’ll continue to pray for them as I plan to join you each week now that I’m so glad to be home.

“As far as Heather and Sharon are concerned, I’d really love for you to ask God to put it in their hearts that I’m here to renew old friendships, not create new enemies. I’m really looking forward to being an integral part of this Bible study and having the opportunity to give back to all of you as much as I’ve already gotten from being involved in this group in such a short time.”

The women responded with shouts of affirmation and support for everything she’d said. Amanda smiled, thanked them all, then hurried back to the hospital. As she left, she noticed the whispering had already begun. Her confession would be all over town by that evening, she was sure.

By the time she got back to the hospital, Will, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Tom were all engrossed in a game of Texasopoly, the University of Texas version of Monopoly. Sarah was winning, as always. She had all the real estate and all the money. She had everyone on the verge of ruin, even Tom.

“Well, what have we here?” Amanda asked as she came back into Will’s room.

“What we have here is a genuine ass-kicking, ma’am,” Tom admitted with a laugh. “I’d like for Sarah to come to work for me immediately, if you don’t think they’d mind her leaving school at such a young age.” Tom winked at Amanda, and she was so genuinely proud of her daughter.

Will had to interrupt, of course. “Hey, that’s not really fair! You know, I have a head injury.”

A few minutes later, the nurse came in and announced that Will had been released by Dr. Elliott and could go home and spend the night in his own bed.

Elizabeth wasn’t so sure. “Are you sure he’s okay and they don’t need to keep him overnight for observation?”

Amanda wasn’t exactly looking forward to spending the night in the hospital, so she quickly jumped in. “No, Mom. If they say he’s released, that means he’s done really well since they’ve been observing him. We can continue to observe him from the comfort of our own home.”

“Well, I’d feel better if you’d let me come spend the night. I’ll sleep in Will’s room. With all these people suffering what seem to be minor head injuries that end up—”

“Mom, I completely understand what you’re saying and I’d really appreciate it if you’d come and spend the night with us tonight, okay? Wouldn’t we love that, kids?”

Will and Sarah both immediately responded with, “Yes, Gigi, please come home with us.”

Tom jokingly said, “Why, thanks, I’d love to come, too, I just love slumber parties, but oh, wait—I don’t have a bag. I’d better not. How about I come get everybody in the morning for breakfast at Buzzbrew’s, though.”

“Sure!” the kids chorused.

“But what’s a Buzzbrew?” Sarah asked.

“I’m not exactly sure,” Tom answered, “but we’ll ask them when we go tomorrow. How’s that?”

“Great!” they all agreed, and the nurse put Will in his wheelchair for the trip down to the car.

Everyone was exhausted, so they were pretty quiet on the way home. Amanda quietly said to Tom, thinking both children were sleeping, “You know you don’t have to take us to breakfast in the morning. I know you lost half a day today being at the hospital with us, so please don’t feel—” when all of a sudden, she was interrupted by the two children she was certain were sound asleep.

“No, Mom!” and “Speak for yourself, Mom. We want to go to breakfast! On a school day, at that, so we’ll probably need to at least miss first period.”

“Well, wait a minute,” Tom said. “I was planning to be back here at six thirty so I could have you to school on time—I didn’t invite you to brunch. Unless you’d rather wait till the weekend and we can go to brunch, if you’d rather.”

“Yeah, okay, let’s have brunch this weekend instead. Who wants to wake up at six thirty?” Will said.

“And what are your plans for tomorrow?” Tom asked Amanda.

“I’ll be at the Longhorn Ball office all day tomorrow and would love for you to come by and keep me company at some point, if you’re in the neighborhood.” Amanda exaggerated batting her eyelashes at him, since thanks to Latisse, they were quite extraordinary.

“I fully expect to find myself in the neighborhood, so I’ll call on my way to see if you need anything.” As he spoke, they pulled into her driveway.

Amanda helped Sarah get into bed and Elizabeth, who had driven back with Tom’s driver, Guy, headed upstairs with Will. Amanda loved putting her children to bed at night. You could always really get them to talk to you at bedtime. They might ignore you or give you one-word answers all day long, but when it came to bedtime, they were full of all kinds of information.

Sarah was really exhausted tonight and asked to say the “short version” of prayers. As she walked down the hall, Amanda heard Will and her mother both snoring already. It had been a really long, challenging day but wound up being a really good day, after all.