Page 7 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

“Oh, they’ve been saying that for months,” Mary Alice said. “Ever since she moved in with Rob. But I’ll bet she’s knocked up before Amber manages to move back to the city.”

“I’ll take that bet,” her sister said.

“Hey, I’m not sure I appreciate the doubt in your tone in regards to my ability to leave this place,” Amber interjected, taking the largest slice of pie for herself.

“I noticed your car was packed, and yet you are still here,” Mary Alice pointed out.

“I still plan to go. Just maybe not immediately.” Her rent was paid up at the moment and she’d have to see if she had enough for first and last month’s rent on a place in the city before she hightailed it out of here, anyway.

“You know, Jen looked a bit green around the gills the other morning when I stopped by the store to get a football for my nephew,” Mary Alice said thoughtfully.

Liz waggled a finger at her sister. “I’m going to win this one. You wait and see. Now, Nicola. She’s lost a lot of weight.” She spoke of their niece who had put on the Valentine’s Day extravaganza and was a Blueberry Springs newcomer.

“She’s working hard,” Amber said between mouthfuls of pie. “The new subdivision’s community development plans are keeping her busy.”

“Do you think Jen will invite her family if she gets married?” Liz asked, backtracking the conversation to Jen’s broken family. Her parents had split and used teenage Jen as leverage and, in the end, sent her to live with her boyfriend as she finished high school. The latest Amber had heard, the family was finally talking but she still didn’t expect Mr. Kulak to walk Jen down an aisle any time soon.

Kind of like how Amber didn’t expect her own father, Philip Powers, to walk her down the aisle. Wherever he was. She’d never met him, and by the sounds of it, never would. In any case, her mother had done a fine job of raising her on her own. Even if Amber were to meet him she wasn’t sure what she’d say, but she knew it wouldn’t be “Can you walk me down the aisle after leaving my mother high and dry, with no support whatsoever? What didn’t you like about us anyway, you selfish jerk?”

So, she supposed shedidknow what she’d say to him, after all.

“Divorces can be so tricky when it comes to weddings,” Mary Alice said.

“I don’t blame her if she doesn’t ask him,” Amber replied. “I won’t be inviting my dad tomywedding.”

Amber licked chocolate off the back of her fork and wondered if it would be rude to help herself to a second slice of pie before the others had finished their first. “Philip will just miss out on the fatherly privilege of walking me down the aisle,” she added.

“Philip?” Mary Alice asked, scraping the last of the mousse off her plate. She shared a confused glance with her sister.

“You know, the man who knocked up my mom, then ran off before I was even born?”

“Oh, would you look at the time,” Liz said, standing up. “We need to get ready for the community watch meeting.”

“Oh!” Mary Alice sat straighter. “How did I forget? I hope you’re feeling better, Amber. I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat more. You should consider helping us with the bake sale--we’re raising funds for a new bus for the seniors’ home.”

“Wait,” Amber said, holding up her hands as though trying to stop traffic. The women ignored her, quickly tidying up their plates and forks. “What happened to my dad?” The sisters said nothing, simply moved faster.

Mary Alice patted Amber’s arm. “I just hadn’t heard his name in so long. If you want to talk about Russell give me a call. I’ll put on tea.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Amber said, clicking into her rehearsed speech. “The book isn’t about me. I was just helping him out when he wrote it. It’s no big deal.”

The sisters turned at the door, giving her a look that told her she was failing to move them off their predetermined gossip path. They knew the truth about her and Russell as inherently as if it had happened to them.

The sisters left and Amber wondered what that shared glance had been about. Her asking about Philip Powers had definitely scared them off. If there really had been a community watch meeting they would have tried to convince her to join, as usual.

They hadn’t said a thing, but Amber could have sworn they didn’t think Philip was her father. But how could that be? Knowing who your dad was wasn’t something a person normally got wrong.

She flicked through her mind’s rolodex of memories. Her mother had never once corrected her the few times Amber had referred to Philip as her father, while dancing around the taboo subject of her parentage. Then again, she couldn’t recall her mom ever out-and-out stating that he was.

What did it mean?

If he wasn’t her father, was everyone she knew keeping secrets from her? Did everyone believe she was the most naïve and gullible person in the world?

Because when it came right down to it, if the town’s biggest gossips believed Philip wasn’t her dad… he wasn’t.

* * *

A vehicle pulledup Amber’s driveway and, assuming it was another gawker coming to check out the scene of the trailer’s death, she kept working at the kitchen table, head down, trying not to think about the layers of deception she’d been living under for months and possibly even years.

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