Page 46 of The Women of Oak Ridge
While I attempted to sort through the information he’d shared, he glanced at his watch. “I have a meeting in ten minutes I can’t miss.” He put his hand on my shoulder. It felt clammy through my coveralls. “I’m worried about Sissy, Mae. I wish I’d known earlier that she didn’t make it back to the dorm. The only thing I can think of is she was too embarrassed to face everyone and took a bus home to Georgia.”
I watched him walk away, stunned by everything I’d just heard.
Clive and Sissy hadn’t eloped. They hadn’t even gone to Knoxville to see a movie and have dinner. They hadn’t left Oak Ridge, according to Clive. And contrary to what Sissy said before she left, he had not proposed but had instead broken off their relationship.
I don’t know how long I stood there, my mind reeling. I didn’t know who or what to believe. Had Sissy lied to me? Had she suspected Clive was going to break things off and told me a story to cover her embarrassment?
I thought back to our last conversation Saturday morning.Clive says there’s something important he wants to talk about. I think he might be planning to propose.
Had she made it all up?
Then I remembered her next words.A few weeks ago, I thought I was in love with Clive and wanted to marry him. Lately, though...She hadn’t finished her thought nor had she come right out andsaid she’d changed her mind, but that’s what I understood her to mean.
I went back to work, but all the while my mind labored to unravel the mystery of what happened between Sissy and Clive. What was true and what wasn’t. Who was lying and who’d told me the truth. By the time I met Garlyn at the portal, I was an emotional mess.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said after filling him in on my conversation with Clive.
He held my hand in his. “Maybe you didn’t know Sissy as well as you thought you did. You just met her in August, after all. She may have guessed Clive was about to break off with her and lied to cover it. It sounds like she didn’t want to face everyone and just went home.”
I heaved a sigh. “I suppose you could be right, but she’s never given me reason to doubt she was anything but an honest, unpretentious young woman. We’ve shared lots of things with each other, and she always seemed sincere.”
By the time we reached town, I wasn’t hungry. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow to a new day.
Garlyn walked me to the dorm and gave me a long hug. “Get some rest, Mae,” he said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Sissy is no doubt safe at home with her family, so you don’t need to worry anymore.”
I sniffled. “I hope you’re right. Maybe I should write a letter to her and send it in care of her parents’ address.”
“That’s a good idea. I bet she’ll write back with an apology.”
I bid Garlyn goodnight and headed for the stairs. However, Prudence Thorpe waylaid me as I passed through the lobby.
“Mae, you’re just the gal I’ve been lookin’ for,” she said, drawing out her words in an exaggerated manner. “Rumor has it Sissy didn’t come back from Knoxville. I declare, I would have neverguessed our sweet Sissy was the type of woman who would stay overnight with a man.” Her big blue eyes grew wide with feigned shock.
My blood boiled with her insinuation. As aggravated as I was with Sissy, I wouldn’t let her reputation be sullied by wild gossip, whether she returned to Oak Ridge or not. “You’re mistaken, Prudence. Sissy went home to Georgia. Her mother is ill,” I said, not flinching at the bold-faced lie.
Disappointment filled Prudence’s face. No doubt she’d relished spreading the juicy gossip about my roommate. “Well, we’ll miss her sunshiny personality,” she said, her sugary-sweet words as false as her smile.
Once in my room, I closed the door and leaned against it. Guilt washed over me. I’d lied to Prudence about Sissy going home. God and Mama didn’t approve of telling falsehoods, but I couldn’t stand by and let the meddlesome young woman badmouth my roommate. Besides, even Garlyn seemed to believe Sissy had gone back to Georgia. It hurt my feelings to think she left without saying goodbye. On the other hand, I was relieved my fears about Sissy eloping with Clive had been unfounded.
I changed into my nightgown, brushed my teeth in the bathroom, then fell into bed, exhausted from the upheaval of the past few days. My mind, however, raced with everything that had happened. From Sissy’s confession about her feelings for Clive on Saturday, to his shocked expression when I told him she hadn’t come home.
I tossed and turned until midnight before I finally sat up and clicked on the light.
The entire situation was driving me crazy. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I figured things out. One question seemed to hold the key.
Did Sissy know Clive intended to break up with her?
From everything she’d told me Saturday morning, she was convinced he planned to propose marriage, not break up. Yet if Clive were to be believed, he’d seen how incompatible they were and knew it wasn’t going to work out. If I were honest, I had to admit it was rather honorable of him to end their relationship. Sissy had taken it hard, according to Clive, which I found believable. At one time, she had wanted to marry the guy.
But hadn’t she also indicated her feelings had changed?
“Oh, Sissy,” I whispered, frustrated. “I wish you would’ve confided in me more.”
My gaze swept the room, searching for clues to the mystery. Some indication she’d had no intention of returning. Nothing in her closet or drawers held much value, so leaving them wouldn’t have been too difficult, especially if she was as upset as Clive claimed. The morning she walked out of our room, she took her purse, her new coat, and her security badge. Anything else she left behind was easily replaceable.
A sudden thought brought me up straight.
What about her diary? Had she taken it with her? She’d stopped leaving it in the bedside table drawer, but I had a suspicion about where she’d hidden it.
