Trust (11 page)

"Here they are!" Chuck said as Billy and Julie walked through the door. They joined them and Chuck waved down the bartender and asked him to bring two more martinis. Julie pulled a chair over and sat next to Lauren and Billy sat across the table between David and Chuck. Lauren glanced at Billy and tried to see the boy she'd known so many years ago. 

There were hints of him, but if not for his name, she realized she probably wouldn't have recognized him. Like many men his age, Billy's hair had thinned, receded, and had quite a bit of gray. He'd never been one of the more athletic guys, always had more of a slight, leaner frame. But now he had a generous round belly and a slight double chin.

It wasn't all that noticeable though, as the neatly trimmed mustache and goatee hid most of it and the dark brown, almost black hair gave his face a slightly dangerous quality.

Julie noticed her looking at Billy's face. "Can you believe he grew that thing again? I can't stand it. Told him it makes him look like Lucifer, evil and scary. Plus it scratches."

"I don't think it looks that bad," Lauren said politely. Billy overheard her and smiled.

"Thank you. See, Julie? Some people like it."

"They don't have to live with it," she said teasingly and Lauren saw that she obviously didn't mind that much.

"It's just for the winter," Billy explained. "As soon as spring comes, I shave it right off."

Their waitress came over at that point, said their table was ready and led them into the main dining room. Lauren had only been to Solstice once before. It was wonderful, but a bit pricey, and she mentally put it into the category of 'special occasion only' restaurant. Their table was a large round one, which would make for easy conversation and was right next to an enormous gas fireplace that was glowing cheerily.

They decided to order a few bottles of wine, an Italian Prosecco, to go with the seafood appetizers of Oysters Rockefeller, Shrimp Cocktail and tuna tartare and then a rich Cabernet Sauvignon with the entree, since most of them had decided on red meat.

Julie was sitting on Lauren's left and while they were sipping their glasses of bubbly Prosecco, they happened to both glance across the table at the same time and saw Katy shoot Chuck a look of fury.

"I can't believe you went ahead and booked that fishing trip for the same weekend my parents and sisters are coming to town. They'll be so insulted if you're not there. Can't you change it?"

"No, and we can talk about this at home. My trip has been set for months. Maybe your family should reschedule."

"They already bought their tickets." By now, they had everyone's attention.

"No one wants to hear this. Like I said, we can talk about this at home. Oh look, the appetizers are here." Their waitress set down platters of food and the topic of conversation immediately switched to the food in front of them. Lauren squeezed some lemon over her oysters Rockefeller and took a bite. This was a dish she'd always loved, a baked oyster topped with spinach and a creamy, cheesy sauce with a hint of Pernod. Their version was divine and she closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the flavor.

Julie brought her attention back to Chuck and Katy who were obviously still annoyed with each other. "They've been fighting like this more and more," she whispered. "Maybe there was a reason it took them so long to get married. Chuck's an odd duck though. I'm not sure who else would suit him as well as she does. She puts up with a lot."

"What do you mean?" Lauren really didn't know any of them well enough to know how things were with their marriages. She and David had always seen them in passing, the occasional short conversation at various parties; it wasn't as if they hung out at each other's houses or even really ran in the same circles. Not yet anyway.

David had mentioned that Julie and Katy were active in a local women's group, sort of like the Junior League, and that maybe Lauren might want to get involved. It was more like a social group from what Billy said and was by invitation only which meant it was so exclusive that being a part of this group was in big demand. Lauren thought it sounded a bit silly and a little cliquish, but agreed to keep an open mind.

"Well, he's always been a bit of a loner, does his own thing. He does this all the time and it drives Katy crazy. She swears he seems to do it on purpose, always out of town for events that she has scheduled. Billy says he's just absent-minded, head in the clouds."

"That would be annoying." Lauren was grateful that David was even more organized and on top of things than she was. He blamed it on having OCD and needing things to be orderly. Lauren assured him that it wasn't a bad thing and actually, since they'd been almost living together, his OCD had rubbed off on her in a good way as she had a tendency to be a bit of a pack rat. Staying with David now helped her make sure she threw things out before they turned into clutter.

"So, did David mention that we want you to join the Group?" Julie asked.

"He did. I don't know much about it though."

"Oh, it's great. You'll love it. It's a fantastic group of women. We do some really important things, fund-raising events for local charities, such as the October Masquerade gala at the Sycamore mansion; you know, that glorious museum on the waterfront?" Lauren nodded and Julie continued, "We had over four hundred people attend last year at over one hundred and fifty dollars a ticket! With proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction, we raised an enormous amount of money for the local food pantries."

"That's wonderful." Lauren was impressed. She'd done some volunteering at the food pantry at her church in California and knew how important every extra dollar was to make sure enough food got to the people who needed it.

"Of course, we are mostly a social club," Julie admitted. "We meet once a month at a different member's house. Some people bring appetizers or wine, and we talk business for a few minutes, then drink wine, enjoy the food and have a good time."

"That sounds fun. I'd love to join you." Lauren liked the idea of getting to know more people in town. Although she was friendly with many of the parents of her children and had plenty of casual acquaintances, Amy was really her only close friend. In California, she'd been part of a neighborhood women's book group and loved it. That had been more of a social group as well. There was always a book to be read, but the discussion never lasted more than a few minutes. The rest of the time was spent catching up with each other over cocktails and munchies. It would be nice to be a part of something like that again.

"Great, I'll bring it up at our next meeting and will get an email off to you after that with details on where we'll be meeting next."

Across the table, Billy was in the middle of a story about one of his clients. His face was flushed and his arms were gesturing animatedly as he talked.

"My husband never shuts up," Julie said with amusement. "He's always been like this—non-stop chatter. He told me when we were dating that his Dad once tried to bribe him to be quiet; said he'd give him ten dollars if he didn't say a word for ten minutes. He couldn't do it."

"David's very much the opposite," Lauren said. "He's more of an observer, taking it all in."

"Probably why they get along so well. They complement each other. David is Billy's straight man. Not that Billy's all that funny really, but you know what I mean."

Lauren nodded and then asked, "How did you and Billy meet?" She knew they'd been married for years.

"We were college sweethearts. I was dating one of Billy's fraternity brothers the first half of freshman year, and Billy and I got to be close friends. When Jason and I broke up, I just started hanging out even more with Billy. Next thing we knew we were dating and here we are."

"You seem like such a great couple, like you have the whole marriage thing figured out." Lauren hoped that she and David would still be as close after they'd been married as long as Julie and Billy had. She felt pretty sure that they would.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Julie said with the slightest edge to her voice and Lauren immediately turned her attention back to what she was saying.

"Really?" Lauren was surprised to hear that. The two of them seemed almost too perfect.

They paused for a moment as the appetizers were cleared, the entrees arrived and the wine, a luscious Groth Cabernet, was poured. Julie took a sip of wine and checked to make sure Billy was still deep in conversation before continuing.

"He has a bit of a dark side," she admitted. "This is happy Billy, all outgoing and a little manic even. What most people never see is the other Billy, the one that is really down and almost depressed. That Billy mopes around the house and goes off for hours by himself, and when he's in one of those moods, I've learned to just stay out of his way."

"Does he take medicine for it?" Lauren asked. What Julie was describing sounded like manic-depressive behavior, maybe even bi-polar. Over the years, she'd seen it in some of her students and the ones who were diagnosed and treated with meds generally did very well.

"No, but he should. I've been trying to talk him into seeing someone for years. He doesn't think there's anything wrong."

Lauren glanced over at Billy and found it hard to picture him any other way than how she'd always seen him, like this—animated, upbeat and always the life of the party.

He caught them glancing his way and smiled. "What are you two up to? You look like you're plotting something serious. Is there a big sale coming up at Beaulah's that you don't want us to know about?" Beaulah's was the most expensive boutique in town. Lauren only shopped there when they were having a sale and even then, it was an indulgence she couldn't really afford.

"No, honey. We were just talking recipes, about what appetizer Lauren might want to bring to her first meeting for the Waverly Women's Group."

"That's great, Lauren you'll love it. Julie's really involved in that group. They throw great parties." His eyes held a hint of mischief at that before he turned his attention back to David and Chuck and an upcoming Patriot’s football game.

"Beaulah's has great shoes," Katy commented. Now that they were done with their meals, she made Chuck switch seats so she could better talk to the girls.

"Billy knows Beulah's is one of my weaknesses. I have a little room in the basement that Billy thinks is just storage, and that's where I hide new purchases if I splurge a little too much. Then I introduce one item at a time and he never notices like he would if I suddenly had a bunch of new stuff in the closet."

"Doesn't he know from the bank account statements?" Katy asked.

"Well, that's what tipped him off initially and why he still teases me about it. I have a separate account now, so when I have an 'accident' as I call it, and go a little overboard with the shopping, he'll never know and if he's in one of his black moods, I won't have to worry about dealing with it."

"That's a smart move," Katy said with admiration. Lauren wasn't so sure though. Is that what happened in a marriage—you had to hide things from each other? She hoped it would never come to that with David and her.

They arrived home a little before midnight. Billy had insisted on after dinner drinks so they'd moved back to the bar for another round. David only had one glass of port though, and he sipped it slowly while the others kept going. Lauren was still working on her second glass of Cabernet from dinner. Once her food arrived, she tended to slow down her drinking and had barely touched her first glass of wine, delicious as it was, by the time everyone was done with theirs.

Billy had noticed and insisted that she polish off what was left in the bottle, and topped off her glass. She had no idea how many drinks Billy had. He seemed the same as when the night started, maybe a little more boisterous, but not at all drunk, which was incredible given how quickly he was downing his drinks. He was on his third snifter of Grand Marnier when she and David decided to call it a night.

"Well, that was fun," she said as they walked into the condo. "We should do it again sometime."

"Katy mentioned having us over for dinner sometime in the next few weeks. Chuck didn't look overly thrilled at the idea though."

"He seems like a nice guy, but a little on the quiet side."

"Yeah, he's no social butterfly like Billy, that's for sure. Good thing he's so great with numbers and stock analysis because he's not a natural schmoozer. His clients love him though. He gets loads of referrals."

"I suppose if you're really good at what you do, that's what matters most," Lauren said.

"You're probably right on that," he agreed and started up the stairs. "I'm beat. Are you coming to bed?" Lauren could tell that he was likely to be asleep moments after his head hit the pillow. She wasn't that tired, not yet.

"I'm going to stay up for a little bit, see what's on TV."

"Okay, see you in the morning."

Lauren remembered she had a load of laundry in the dryer and went down to the basement to bring it up. She plopped the armful of clean clothes on the end of the sofa and flipped on the TV. She fished through the pile, found her favorite soft pajamas first and slipped out of her dress and into her jammies. Much more comfortable. An old Jimmy Stewart movie, “The Shop Around the Corner”, had just started on one of the cable stations and she settled herself on the sofa to watch while she folded the rest of the laundry.

Her mind kept drifting as she gazed at the TV and mechanically folded everything into neat piles. She'd thought the evening had gone well enough. Julie and Katy seemed nice and she was looking forward to joining them soon at one of their group meetings. She kept thinking about their marriages and how what you saw wasn't always a true reflection on how things actually were.

She never would have guessed that Billy wasn't always the outgoing, upbeat person she knew or that Chuck was a bit of a loner. Still, in spite of it, they both seemed happy enough and secure and she knew from her own experience with her parents divorcing that there really was no such thing as an idyllic perfect marriage. There were always things bubbling under the surface that threatened to erupt from time to time, bumps in the road that needed smoothing out.