I bolt back up. “Believe me. I walked into a booby trap on that one. My husband doesn’t even know about it.Yet.”
“Uh-oh.”
“‘Uh-oh’ is putting it mildly.”
“I also heard Lilith sent Annie Laurie to a ten-thousand-dollar intensive Rush workshop in New York City.” She puts an uppity aristocratic tone in her voice. “To learn the art of Rush conversation, and how to dress properly and accessorize for all the parties.” She sits on the edge of my bed, leans in toward me. “Did Ellie go with her?”
“I know you think I’m crazy, but I can assure you I’m not that crazy.” I sigh, loudly. “I’m living a nightmare. And there’s no end in sight.”
“Looks like it’ll get worse before it gets better. For you, anyway.” Sallie laughs again. And this time, I laugh along with her. What else can I do?
THIRTY-SEVEN
WILDA
I smell the coffee when my alarm goes off at six fifteen. Half of me is seriously considering opening the window, sliding down the gutter, and making a run for it. I think of calling Haynes for comfort, but I remember what he said when I left home: “I have officially removed the words Lilith and Gage Whitmore from my vocabulary.”
So I move on past the window and head into the Jack and Jill bathroom I’m sharing with Sallie. Her door is open and she’s already awake, her laptop resting on her thighs. I notice she’s taken the liberty of wrapping herself in one of the luxurious spa robes that’s been hanging on the back of our bathroom door all week. When she hears me she waves.
I walk over to the bed and slide in next to her, propping her other pillow behind me. “Coffee smells good. Want me to get you a cup?”
“Nah. I’ll go down with you. I’m just looking over our list again.” Most of the sororities on campus have hired an online company to compile a final tally of all the active members’ votes. Sisterhood Select is ours.
“Ellie’s on it, right?” I ask timidly.
Sallie points to the screen. “Right here. But no Annie Laurie Whitmore.” Then she groans loudly, looks up at the ceiling. “If anyone had told me I’d bestaying in the home of a woman, wait…the House Corp President,whose trashy daughter would be cut from Alpha Delt after Sisterhood, I’d have resigned a loooong time ago.”
“I’m still wondering if Lilith has a revolver.” I flop back on the pillow.
She laughs, keeps her eyes on her laptop.
“Clearly God’s trying to punish me,” I say. “It’s His payback for when I froze Celia Opp’s bra at Becky Goodwin’s slumber party.”Or more recently—my big whopper to Haynes.
Sallie lays her head back and chuckles. “That’s nothing. I did waaay worse.”
“Really? Lay it on me. You’re making me feel better.”
She sits up straight, propping herself with her hands. Then she peers at me over her readers. “I made fun of a boy in my Sunday School class with a lisp.To. His. Face.I can still see him. I leaned over two people and said, ‘Hi Bwad, when did you get your bwaces off?’ He almost cried.” She flops back down, stares at the ceiling. “As we all know, karma can be a real bitch when she wants to.”
“Speaking of karma, did you hang out with Lilith in college?”
“No. But, to be fair, she wouldn’t have wanted to hang with me, either. We were different then and we are total opposites today.” She blesses me with her laugh again.
“She hung out with the other officers, if I remember. Right?”
“Yep. Don’t you remember her mother?”
With a slight nod, I wrinkle my nose. “Maybe.”
“I’ll never forget her. She was some sort of an advisor. Always at the Alpha Delt House. She’d drop an N-bomb like she was part of the Klan.”
“Ew.”
Sallie shudders and makes a scary face. “That was Mrs. Turner.”
We lie there wallowing in our misery a little longer before the coffee aroma stirs me to action. “Let’s go get coffee,” I say, scooting off the bed. “It’ll give us a lift.” Then I look back at her. “It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had.”
“It oughta be.” Sallie stands up, takes a big stretch. “They have it flown in from Brazil.”
