They walked out to the pool area and Megan made sure to drag Mary all the way to the other side, where Kristie and Rachel were already waiting. No sign of Carol, but they were well away from all the other guests.
Brilliant,Mary’s mental voice commented.We’re being ambushed by the Pink Ladies.
‘Mary was just telling me what brought her to San Francisco,’ Megan announced, as she and Mary joined the other two women.
Mary’s eyes circled the group. ‘You girls aren’t planning on pushing me into the pool, are you?’ She calmly sipped her wine.
Kristie and Rachel chuckled at the same time.
‘Why would we do that?’ Megan replied, her gaze quickly pinging to her two friends. ‘We’re not ten years old, Mary.’
Could’ve fooled me,Mary thought.
‘So,’ Megan insisted, ‘why move all the way across the country like this? New York to San Francisco… east coast to west coast.’
‘I didn’t,’ Mary lied, taking two steps back from the pool, just in case.
All three of them looked back at her with question marks in their eyes.
‘Earlier I was asked where I was from “originally”,’ Mary explained. ‘And the answer to that question is New York City, but I haven’t lived in New York for years. Y’all just assumed that I’d been living in New York before I came to San Francisco.’
There was an odd, hesitant moment between Megan, Rachel and Kristie.
‘So, where were you living before San Fran?’ Megan again.
Mary had another sip of her wine. ‘OK, let’s do this.’
‘Do what?’ Megan countered.
Mary knew that she had to tread carefully. She really didn’t want to make enemies of these women.
‘I completely understand where y’all are coming from,’ Mary began. ‘You’ve all known Quaddra for years, maybe even decades. You guys are a very tight group of friends. You hang out together all the time… and you probably know everyone Quaddra knows.’ There was a quick, breathing pause. ‘Then, all of a sudden, here I am, seemingly out of nowhere, the new girl… a complete outsider, and I’m dating your friend.’
‘Dating?’ Megan chuckled. ‘It looks like you’ve practically moved in already.’
The comment got sneaky smiles from Rachel and Kristie.
‘Just a second ago,’ Mary continued, looking directly at Megan, ‘you told me that y’all weren’t ten years old, right? So how about we all act that way as well? Just ask me what you want to ask me. There’s no need to beat around the bush with these silly, tiptoeing questions.’
Megan straightened up, never shying away from Mary’s stare. ‘And what is it that you think we want to ask you?’
‘If I’m after Quaddra’s money. That’s what you’re all worried about, isn’t it? That I’m just an opportunist?’
All three women glanced at each other. It took only three seconds for Megan to give Mary a ‘fuck it’ shrug.
‘So… are you?’ she finally asked. ‘After his money?’
Mary could feel the wine starting to take effect, so she decided to hold back on another sip because she really didn’t want to mess things up.
‘I never knew who Quaddra was,’ she told them. ‘I’d never seen or heard of him before until I met him in that arts exhibition, months ago, and when we met, he gave me a false name. He told me his name was Thomas. That’s the man I was attracted to – Thomas, not Quaddra. Just a very interesting guy who happened to be at the same art exhibition that a friend of mine had invited me to.’
The three women standing before Mary exchanged another quick glance – one that Mary could easily read. They all knew that Mary was telling the truth because somehow, they all seemed to know that the false name tactic was something that Quaddra sometimes used. Mary wasn’t sure if that was something to worry about or not.
‘Look,’ she continued, ‘I understand that none of you have any reason to trust me. You have no reason to believe in anything I say either, but I’m sure that all of you trust Quaddra. And I’m also sure that all of you can understand that no one gets to where he is in life without being pretty savvy and a damn good judgeof character. And if you don’t know this already, believe me, he has a gift when it comes to reading people. Somehow, he can see right through you.’
The three women shuffled on their feet before Megan side-nodded at Mary. ‘He did the read between the lines thing with you too?’
Mary bit down on the smile that bubbled up to her lips. ‘Right on the first night out.’
