“I’m so sorry,” Marcy said. “I tried—”
“Stop, Marcy,” Edie said sternly. “You have done your best. Franny might have forgotten that this is yourfirst time,” she said, glaring at Frances, “and this is hard. But the good news is, you’ve done the hard part. Everything is in place now.”
“About that,” Marcy said. She began to twirl a tress of her hair around her finger. “Can’t we just ask him to give me the money back? Wouldn’t that be better than trying to steal millions of dollars and risking everything?”
“This is what I’m saying,” Frances said, gesturing at Marcy. “You should have asked that question a long time ago.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Edie snapped.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Frances replied testily, although she did know. She suspected nerves, a healthy dose of steroids, and the end of her life were all mixing toxically. “Here we are in the eleventh hour, and now, suddenly, the princess has a problem.Wenever did. We committed and we didn’t complain.”
“Fran, honey, calm down,” Joan said. “Want a gummy?”
“I’m trying to be calm, and no, thank you.”
“She’s right,” Marcy said. “She’s right! I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. What if Rocco doesn’t wake up? What if I killed him? The only thing he wanted to do was show his mom that his grandpa was right to put his trust in him.”
“He was breathing,” Irene said. “Snoring. He’s fine.”
“But what if we get caught? What if they catch us? What if theyshootus?” Marcy continued in a panic.
“Jesus,” Frances said angrily.
Edie stood up and grabbed her granddaughter by the shoulders. “It’s normal to have butterflies. Fear is healthy in a situation like this. But we’re almost finished here, darling. After tomorrow night, we can go back to Hunterville and pick up where we left off and forget all about Rocco Vitali.”
“Fear is not the problem,” Frances said.
“God, Fran, will you shut up?” Edie said hotly.
Frances would not shut up. “What we’ve got here, ladies, is a case of fucking history fucking repeating itself.”
Again, everyone gaped at her. Joan leaned toward her, her eyes narrowed. “Are you okay, Frances?”
But Irene demanded, “What are youtalkingabout?”
“Isn’t it obvious? She’s fallen for this guy and she’s going to forget what he did to her and screw us in the end. History repeating itself, like grandma like granddaughter.”
Edie gasped. “Howdareyou?”
“How dareI? We planned the heist against Simon for a month, and then you blew it,” she said hotly.
“I didn’t blow it! He figured it out, I told you. Youknowthis.”
“Wait, what?” Marcy asked, looking at Edie.
“Stay out of it, Marcy,” Edie warned her.
“No, no, let’s clue Marcy in on how you screwed your best friends. How she can’t be honest about what was going on with her and apparently, neither can you. Frankly, none of you can!”Frances’s heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. Could steroids cause one’s heart to explode?
“How did we get dragged into this?” Irene exclaimed.
“You’ve been in love all these years and you never told us? Youhidit? You lied to us! Andyoulied, Edie. You’re still lying! You can blame Simon all you want, but I know you. I know you fell in love with him, and it was okay with you that he tried to turn us in, because you were going to get your fairy tale, and you didn’t give a fuck what happened to us.”
The color drained from Edie’s face. “That is not true,” she said, her voice shaking. “But so what if it was, Frances? I never had that. Ilovedhim. I still love him.”
“Yep. The bathroom phone call has been reported.”
“What call?” Joan demanded.
