Page 74 of Whirlwind

“Then I heard her speak,” continued Mom. “And I recognized her voice right away. That elegant voice of hers.”

“Jesus, you know her? Who was it?” said Tania.

“Anna. Anna Jeffries.”

Ladd’s mother? An ice cold wave slapped through me. My mind stuttered.

“The millionaire mine widow?” Alicia asked.

“Holy crap,” Tania said. “Aren’t you all friends?”

“Yes. Before her husband passed away a few years ago, the four of us would go out for dinner, sit together at events, football games. Marshall and her husband, Trevor, would go fishing and hunting together. She and I never socialized on our own. Our circles, our interests, are very different.”

Meaning Anna liked to shop as a hobby, play tennis at the country club, and organize fundraisers with her besties. That wasn’t Mom.

“Isn’t she’s dating some super rich silver fox?” Tania sounded exasperated.

“Armand Castillo,” said Mom. “He owns a shopping mall corporation. Big, big money. That’s why I was so shocked when I recognized her voice, because there was something different in the way she and Marshall were talking. A spark of teasing, of something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It made my stomach clench tight, like I was intruding.

“At one point, Marshall put the blender on, that thing is so damned loud, then he stopped it. I heard her telling him she had his cufflink and how much she liked it. She wouldn’t give it back. He had to come get it.”

“And what did the asshole say?” asked Alicia. She was invested. Her dead husband, Wes’s dad, had been a regular cheater.

“Marshall only laughed. That suggestive sort of dark laugh of his, where you don’t now exactly what he means. Is he agreeing with you? Playing along? Or is he patronizing you for the moment?”

“Like when you attempt to disagree with him at a town meeting, and he gives you his “Thank you for your opinion” bullshit response in that I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-want-I’m-going-to-do-what-I-damn-well-please-anyway tone?” Alicia spat out. Alicia and her new man had opened a tattoo shop recently in Meager which Dad had tried to stop.

“That’s the one,” Mom said.

“Fucking Hildebrand,” said Tania. “Sorry, Erica.”

“I get it, Tania, trust me.” Mom let out a dry laugh.

Tania came from a long line of hard-working South Dakota farmers who’d clung to their land through thick and thin over the years, despite the nipping of the tax man’s teeth and wealthy property agents offering once-in-a-lifetime deals, most especially Hildebrand & Hildebrand.

“Then what happened?” said Alicia.

“As he’s laughing, he opens the lid on the blender, but the protein shake spills all over his hand, the counter, and on the stupid slow cooker. He cursed and turned and grabbed at the paper towels. That was when he saw me.

“With a bunch of paper towels in one hand, the sloppy blender in the other, he froze and stared at me. My heart stopped, and Anna kept on talking. Her voice filled my kitchen: ‘Fucking in the coatroom was such a turn on, Marshall. I liked hearing my skirt rip while we did it.’” Mom absently rubbed a hand at her chest, her gaze drifting to the sink. “She always wears those tight pencil skirts…”

My breath cut, burning in my chest. I slumped against the wall.

“Marshall Hildebrand, well, well, well,” Alicia murmured.

“She kept on talking, her voice got all low and breathy—‘So hot, Marshall, so hot.’ I wanted to throw up. That was when I turned around and ran out of the house, the sound of her throaty voice behind me. He yelled out my name, but I didn’t stop. I dove into my car, and got the hell out of there.

“Good for you,” Tania said.

“I couldn’t see the road. I don’t know what I was seeing, but I kept going, kept driving. Drove down Clay though town. All the way up to the One-Eyed Jacks property, then looped down through town again, then around once more. And again. And again. Faster, faster. Now, I’m here.”

Everyone was silent, spellbound by mom’s tale. The pounding in my ears grew stronger, and I ground my teeth against the red tide swelling inside me.

“Honey, I’m so sorry.” Tania murmured. “This is just nuts.”

“You’re right, Tania,” Mom said. “How did things get so nuts, and I didn’t see it? My husband is screwing a mutual friend right under my nose. To hell with everything in the pursuit of what you want right this minute. What happened to respect? Decency? What happened to a sense of shame or embarrassment over having gone way too fucking far?”

“I don’t know, honey,” Tania said.

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