Page 57 of The Sound of Temptation

I have zero intention of telling Etta anything about us, but I’m certainly going to see what she can tell me about Beth and her engagement to Duke. I noticed she wasn’t wearing his ring tonight.

“My dad knew hers from way back. We met once. I was just saying hi. How do you know her?”

She scoffs, a hard, bitter sound. “Oh, she’s too good for the likes of me. Not that I want to know her. Her father is a monster, and she’s cut from the same cloth.

Her words are so reminiscent of my father’s, a chill runs over me. “Why do you say that?”

She laughs as if I’m an idiot for even asking. “When her parents got divorced, she stayed with him. Even though the only reason they got divorced is because he was having an affair.

“Maybe she just loves her dad,” I say, even though I know better.

“No one can possibly love that man. He’s living proof that beautiful shells can mask the ugliest hearts.” Her voice is almost reverent in its loathing, and her shudder is dramatic, but real.

“That’s harsh.”

She’s so engrossed in her tirade she doesn’t seem to hear me. “You know they used to call her fucking Clover? Like she was rare and good luck or some shit. Turns out, Clover is a regular old slut like the rest of us.”

“What do you mean she’s a slut?” I ask, taken aback by that characterization. The girl I met said she’d never been kissed before.

“I heard she uses an escort service ‘cause she won’t let anyone see her naked. Poor Duke… He’s gonna have to figure out how to make that ice queen melt,” she sneers.

I’m used to people making shit up about me and my family. But they’re gossip columnists, not my neighbors. The practiced dexterity with which Etta vaults her verbal missiles tells me she could give the most seasoned poison pen a run for their money.

It’s hard to sit and listen to her talk about Beth like this and say nothing in her defense. The Beth I spent the summer with isn’t any of the things Etta’s calling her. And that girl was the real her, not the villain my father and Etta paint her as.

I know that the way I know water is wet.

But to defend her would reveal the truth about us. And in Etta’s hands I know it would be refashioned into ammunition.

“You know they’re cursed, right?” Her voice has lost some of its edge, but it feels forced. Like she knows she might have gone too far and is trying to pretend she’s not dead serious.

“Who’s cursed?”

She shoots me a glance, and her annoyance is clear as day. “Her family. Like the Kennedy’s? She has a brother. But he disappeared. I heard Wolfe disowned him because he married a girl who didn’t go to their church.”

“Would he really have done that?” I shake my head.

“Oh yeah. I mean, it might be the 21st century in New York, but time in Winsome stopped when Ronald Regan died.”

I stare out at the night, my mind racing. I don’t know what’s fiction and what’s not. But it sounds like her life in this town has been hell.

“I heard she quit her job at Wolfe, you know?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, right after she and Duke got engaged. I think she went to rehab.”

“Rehab?”

“Oh yeah. All of those so-called community leaders are a bunch of coke heads. Duke told me.”

“You know Duke?”

“Of course I do. Beth’s sister was my friend. This rushed engagement isn’t fooling anyone.” She huffs in distaste.

My interest is officially peaked and as annoying as she is, I can’t pass up the chance to understand what Beth is doing with him. “What does that mean? They didn’t date long?”

She scoffs as if it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard. “He would never have dated her. She’s nothing close to his type. You didn’t hear it from me.” She raises her eyebrows and flashes a toothy conspiratorial grin. “He’s only doing it for the money. When they get married she’s gonna inherit a shit load of money. Like hundreds of millions. Or something.”

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