“If that’s not too much trouble for you,” she seethed and, turning on her heel, she stormed off.
“Sorry, folks,” he told the table. “This was fun, but her highness is ready to depart now.”
Maria and Antonia chuckled, but Carol was too shocked to say anything. Larry was pleasantly oblivious, tapping his foot to the music, albeit slightly offbeat. After he was gone, Maria turned to Antonia. “Think he’ll come back after he takes her home?”
“I hope so.” Antonia frowned. “He was having such a goodtime dancing.” She made what seemed like a forced smile. “At least she didn’t throw anything at you.”
Maria laughed loudly now. “Yes, and I was getting ready to go hide the kitchen knives.”
“Is she always like that?” Carol asked them.
“To be honest, I’ve never seen that side of her before,” Antonia confessed, grimly shaking her head. “It was, well, a bit startling.”
“I’ve heard she can get a bit upset when she doesn’t get her way,” Maria added.
Antonia turned to Maria. “She was obviously jealous of Carol.”
Maria sighed. “I suppose we should’ve anticipated that. Too bad.” Now the two of them began reminiscing about a similar incident many years ago with one of their female friends, and Carol noticed Larry was out of punch.
“More?” she asked, pointing to his cup.
“Yes.” He nodded eagerly.
Glad for an excuse to escape the increasingly uncomfortable conversation, she returned to the refreshment table. She was just filling the cups when she heard two women talking in hushed tones. She couldn’t be sure of what they were saying, but she recognized the voices from the bathroom and knew they were Victoria’s friends, so she strongly suspected they were discussing her.Well,let them, she thought. Not much she could do about it anyway.
She strolled back slowly, pausing to take in the people who truly seemed to be enjoying the dance. It was such a pretty scene with the soft lighting and decor that she’d painstakingly set up. And the music and food were hits too. Perfect potential for a completely lovely evening. At least for some of them. She hoped so, anyway.
Back at the table, the older women were still exchanging stories about old friends and love triangles, so Carol did herbest to engage with Larry. By now she knew to use only simple sentences with topics that didn’t require a thought-out response from him. And he seemed to appreciate it.
Meanwhile, in the back of her mind, she wondered if Victor would return to the dance. She really hoped so, and she knew from something Antonia had said that Victoria lived in town. So it shouldn’t take too long to drop her off and come back. But she also knew Victoria was adept at manipulation—and that she liked to get her way. It was possible she’d softened up by now, maybe even apologized ... perhaps even enticed Victor into her house with food and drink. She might be trying to patch things up with him right now. Carol could imagine Victor, back in gentleman mode, even taking some of the blame. After all, he probably shouldn’t have danced with Carol three times. What girl wouldn’t feel a bit upset about that?
Not only that, but Victoria’s pride was at stake here. Her girlfriends in the restroom already seemed to be planning the wedding—“third time’s the charm,” they’d said. “A diamond for Christmas.” Maybe the queen and king of the cotillion had simply experienced a lovers’ quarrel, a humorous story that the happy couple would laugh about in years to come, even regaling their tale to all their friends at their fiftieth anniversary.
Carol knew she was torturing herself with these thoughts, but she couldn’t seem to stop them. Besides, maybe they were therapeutic. A way to get that man out of her system for good. Like her college friend Holly who’d told her a childhood story about how she’d been caught sneaking handfuls of her mom’s Toll House cookies until her fed up mother told her to “have at it.” So Holly gorged herself until she got sick as a dog, and after that day, swore off chocolate chip cookies forever.
Still feeling sick over her imaginings of Victor and Victoria, Carol made up her mind. As soon as she got back to Maria’s, she would rebook her flight and go to the Bahamas after all. Sure, Maria would be disappointed, but really, she seemedgreatly improved, and Antonia was nearby and willing to help. Perhaps she’d even invite Maria to come stay with them until she healed completely. Because, whatever it took, Carol felt—for the sake of her own mental health—she needed to get out of this place. Before Christmas!
14
As Carol helped a very tired Maria into her pajamas, she realized she couldn’t hop on a plane and leave her like she’d imagined. Besides being selfish, it was cowardly and perhaps just plain stupid.
“Did you have a good evening?” Carol asked as she eased her into the bed.
“Yes. It was much better than I imagined possible.” Maria fumbled to tug the quilt with her good arm.
Carol reached down to help arrange the covers. “I hope it didn’t wear you out too much.”
“I expect I’ll sleep well.” She gazed up at Carol. “You know what I enjoyed the most tonight?”
“No.” Carol tucked the quilt under her aunt’s chin, then straightened.
“Seeing you and Victor dancing.” She smiled dreamily. “It was just beautiful.”
“Uh-huh.” Carol didn’t really want to dwell on Victor.
“And I was so glad when he took Victoria home.”
“Really?” Carol crossed her arms in front of her.
