“Why don’t I?”
Riley’s face contorts like she’s not sure why not, and she answers with, “You’re too young.”
“Right.” Free goes back to her magazine, but she looks up again a moment later. “I understand he’s a dick who’s probably screwing some other girl right now. And that’s not enough to never speak to him again?”
Riley stands up, grabs the magazine out of Free’s hands, and marches off to the back office. A door slams.
“Maybe she’s just tired,” Trudy says. “Macey, I’ll do your makeup—I’m all done over here.”
Chapter Six
I’m late leaving my house for the theater, and Mama’s already called once when my phone rings again.
“Mace?”
“Hey, what’s up, Gin?”
“I still feel bad I got nowhere with Luke yesterday. He’s like a steel trap, that one.”
“I know. Don’t worry at all. If Logan has a secret, we’ll find out eventually.”
“I hope so.” She sniffles.
“Gin? Something wrong?”
She sighs. “Dave and I fought all day, and now he’s gone. I’m thinking of calling Nickel. The baby’s started kicking, and I’m feeling so lonely. I need you to stop me like maiden of honors are supposed to do.”
I turn my car around and head for her house six blocks away.
“I only have a sec, honey. With the play…”
“I have Nickel on speed dial.”
“I’m nearly there. Hold on.”
I peel into her driveway, barely stopping to turn off the car. I’m halfway up her front steps when my phone rings.
“Macey, I need you here ten minutes ago,” Mama barks at me. “That dress needs a final alteration and…”
“Be there in five.” I hang up and give Ginny a hug.
“Your play,” Ginny says. “I don’t want you to be late.”
“I have five minutes, so listen.” I sit down on her couch. “Come with me to the theater. I’ll fix you up in the front row. It’s really a quite interesting play, about Jane Austen and a leper…”
“Dave saw my electric guitar,” Ginny says. “He doesn’t understand why I want it. He thinks I’m trying to throw it in his face. You know how his mother made him take guitar as a kid and he got so traumatized. But I pushed back this time, because it’s not fair. I mean, Nickel and I talked the other night about what kind of music we like, and he invited me to come play with his band sometime. He even told me about a band he knows who are looking for a female guitarist—they do this gig every Wednesday in San Antonio, and they’re having auditions in the fall. I know I’ll be as big as a house by then, so the timing may be off, but the point is that there are bands I could join. I could even start my own!”
My phone rings again. I pick it up without saying hello.
“Mace, I’m not kidding around,” Mama warns me. “I want you here right now, do you hear me?”
“Two minutes.” I hang up, but as soon as I do, it rings again.
“Now it’s your mother,” I whisper to Ginny as I answer.
“The reception hall is trying to mess with me,” Mrs. Rattles coughs into the phone. “I told them I had been ill. I went down there today myself to prove it to them, and they…”
I hand Ginny some tissues out of my purse as I listen to her mother vent. As soon as there’s an opening, I tell her I’ll look into the hall and how it’s possibly trying to cheat her and hang up.
