Page 32 of Bad Summer People
He’d been surprised to hear that Sam thought Jen was cheating on him. Jen seemed so nice. Not that being nice meant you couldn’t also be having an affair. Look at what Robert was up to. Lying and stealing and sleeping with someone else’s wife.
Robert passed the tennis courts, empty, tidy from his early-evening brushing, ready for tomorrow’s play. He was starting to loathe the sight of them.
“Robert! Robert!”
He heard a hoarse whisper from behind him and turned to see Rachel Woolf approaching, hurrying toward him, her too-tight dress making a swishing noise as she ran. He’d left them all at the picnic about ten minutes ago, catching Lauren alone before he did and telling her, quietly, to try to come over after her kids were asleep. Jason had already left to go change his clothes, never to return. Sam and Jen had also gone home soon after “the incident,” as the town was already referring to it, hand in hand, Sam still soaking wet. Rachel had been chatting with Emily and Lisa and their husbands when he’d said goodbye, always the odd woman out.
He stopped and waited, even though he really had no interest in speaking to her. She was out of breath and seemed a little drunk. She was still clutching a red plastic Solo cup, half filled with a margarita. They were nearly in front of her house when she got to him.
“Robert, can I speak with you? Can you come to my place? It’ll only take a second.”
“Okay, sure,” he said warily, following her onto her screened-in porch.
She turned on the lights and offered him a seat on her white couch, plopping down beside him. He shifted so he was farther away from her. She noticed and gave him an annoyed look.
“I’m not going to try anything, don’t worry,” she said. “Can I get you a drink?”
“No, no, I’m good,” said Robert. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. “What’s up?”
“How wild was that picnic?” she said. She was taking small sips of her margarita. The lighting emphasized her wrinkles, and she looked oldto him, her makeup caked in the creases. “I couldn’t believe that Sam jumped in the bay. He’s clearly going through something,” she said.
“Yeah, seems that way.” Robert didn’t know where she was heading.
“And that stuff about Jen having an affair…”
He could tell she was looking to gauge his reaction. He willed his face to remain still. “Sounds messy,” he said. “But I suppose marriages go through ups and downs. Not that I would know. You’ve never been married, right?”
She shook her head, then finished her drink in one swig. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said.
Robert could hear the crickets outside. He suddenly felt very hot.
“You know Susan Steinhagen, right? Of course you do.”
Robert nodded. Had Susan somehow found out that he was stealing? How could she have? Robert felt the blood pulsing through his wrists.
“I know she’s a busybody, so take this with a grain of salt. She mentioned to me that she’d seen you, um, getting cozy with Lauren Parker. And, well, Lauren is my friend, and I like you a lot. And I just don’t want people to start talking about you guys. You know this town by now—they willdefinitelystart talking.”
Robert took a deep breath. Thank fucking God it was only about Lauren and not about the money. He could handle this. No one had any proof.
“Oh, man, thanks for telling me. That’s good for me to hear—I love this job and don’t want to risk anything happening to it. For the record, there’s absolutely nothing going on with me and Lauren. She’s a valued client—like you!—but no more. If I’m giving off the wrong impression, that’s on me, and I’ll fix it.” He said it as earnestly as possible, staring straight into Rachel’s googly eyes. He shifted closer to her. She was such an easy mark. “You believe me, right?”
“I believe you!” she said. “I notice everything around here, and I never thought you two were sneaking around. I can’t say the same for everyone else, however.”
Oh, here she goes,thought Robert. Now was his chance to put her off the trail. “Oh yeah? Like who?” he asked.
Rachel’s eyes glittered drunkenly. “YouheardSam speaking about Jen, right? Well, I know who she’s having an affair with, and you’ll never guess who it is.”
Robert played along. “Hmmm,” he said. “Paul Grobel?”
“Ha!” said Rachel. “Jen wouldn’t even look at Paul.”
“Okay, okay,” said Robert. “Ummm. Theo Burch?” He was just grasping for names. How would he know who Jen Weinstein was fucking?
“No, no,” said Rachel. “It’s way more scandalous than that. And I’m only telling you because I know you’ll keep it a secret, and I justhaveto share it with someone. I’ll give you a hint. If Sam ever finds out, he might never recover.”
Shit,thought Robert.It’s Jason.
Lauren would die if this ever got out. Her husband sleeping with his best friend’s wife? He’d known there was something rotten about Jason.
