Chapter 5
Shana finished off the last four pieces of chicken, one leg and three wings, both of the salads, the last three small spicy sausages on toothpicks and another diet pop.
Kate, Susan and Mattie picked at the food on their plates in strained silence until they were done.
She couldn’t think of anything to say that would relieve the tension. Her preoccupation with Madsen continuing to work two cases—one for the FBI—when he had no official status kept interfering with any other train of thought that started up.
Susan pulled out a garbage bag from the basket and started filling it up. Shana, in between plucking a few other tasty morsels before they were placed back into the basket, helped her.
Shana said to Mattie, “So, who is your special someone?”
Joan silently cursed her daughter’s bat-like hearing.
“Who is yours?”
Shana shook her head as she scooped up used napkins and shoved them into the garbage bag. “Don’t have one. Not anymore. His name was Ian, he was twenty, you see, far too old for me.” She sneered. “Isn’t that what you said when you told me we were moving here, mom?”
Kate, Susan and Mattie all looked at Joan.
“She’s kidding.”
Susan said, “Anyone who interested you?”
Joan asked, “Who are you asking?”
“Anyone with the courage to answer.”
Mattie said, “Anyone who gets you tingling?”
Of course, her face went red, right in front of Shana. Shana turned red, too. They’d have a talk later.
“So there was someone.”
“No, there wasn’t. Not after Michael. . . .”
Shana shot her that judgmental scowl she had perfected.
“Believe me, you’re not missing much.” Mattie slapped the table. “Sometimes, I think maybe it’s our own damn fault.”
“Our fault?” Kate folded up the tablecloth and stuffed it back into the basket.
“Sure. Let me ask you . . . all of you. What did you think of when you’d thought you’d found that special guy?”
No one answered.
“Did you imagine something fantastic? Did you fantasize some spectacular, sexy and romantic life together?” She didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “We have to stop letting our own subversive, guerilla philosophies on men and relationships bind us to unrealistic expectations.”
“Wow,” Joan said, “subversive, guerilla philosophies, huh? That’s good.”
Kate made a face. “Sounds like a pile of—”
“Don’t you believe in love?” Shana asked.
“Love is full of lies and deceit. Why would anyone in their right mind want that?”
“You don’t trust love, do you?”
“You want both love and trust in one package? See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Thinking like that is a subversive, guerilla philosophy. We damn ourselves to Titania’s fate; we wake up in love with an ass.”
Kate said, “Sounds like you haven’t had much luck with men.”
“I’m not divorced or miserable. How many women over thirty in a relationship with a man can say that?”
Shana said, “You make it sound like we’re all doomed.”
“Unless you’ve developed some asshole-recognition software I’m unaware of, yes, we are. Guys are full of shit and women are phony, manipulative bitches. How’s that a basis for a harmonious, lifelong relationship?”
“That’s a bit harsh, Mattie. Some make it work.”
“Some do, but most just settle in and endure. If you want both love and trust together, get a dog.”
Kate put the last of the condiments back into the basket and closed the lid. “Everyone needs love, even if it’s only spiritual sometimes.”
“Only if spiritual means finding Prada shoes and Gucci bags in your five-star hotel room on the Riviera; not the Mexican one, the real one. And he takes care of the bill.”
She’d stayed out of the discussion because Shana might take anything she said as a comment about her father if it was misconstrued, which seemed likely with the way this conversation was going and the fact that Shana knew about the affair.
Susan said, “That sounds like prostitution.”
“What’s wrong with being a sugar doll? If I can use them the way they use me without all the messy stuff that usually goes with it, why shouldn’t I?”
“Mattie, that’s enough,” she said. “Women shouldn’t be thinking or behaving like that.”
“I don’t think men got that memo, either, sweetie.”
Shana tied up the garbage bag. “Now I’m really depressed.”
Kate said, “You shouldn’t be.”
“You haven’t earned that yet,” Mattie added.
Kate looked to the front door. “Speak of being full of it.”
They all laughed as Mayor Leonard Jones came in through the open front door. They all stopped laughing as quickly as they’d started.
“I hope I haven’t spoiled anything.” He wiped his hand through his black hair, which he combed over from the left side to cover the growing bald spot on top.
Joan couldn’t discern if the spot was any larger than when they’d talked over a month ago. What she did discern was the sudden change in both Kate’s and Mattie’s behavior.
Susan said, “We were just discussing whether men are worth the effort.”
“I can resolve that this very moment. We are absolutely not worth it. We don’t deserve any of you. But as you well know, we’re always getting more than we deserve.”
“Amen to that,” Kate said. “I suppose there’s nothing pressing to do at city hall on a sunny Friday afternoon. Did you tell everyone else they could take the time off as well?”
“I just thought I’d drop by to see how our new sheriff was settling in.” He indicated them all. “She is clearly in very good hands.”
Shana muttered, “Or claws.”
Mattie went to the picnic basket and opened it. “I’m sure there’s still something in here should you want to join us.”
“There’s not much left,” Kate said.
“He’d be used to that from you.”
Shana shot her mother an OMG look followed by a quizzical expression and crossed eyes. She then stepped closer and whispered to her, “My money’s on Kate. She’s meaner.”
She elbowed her daughter before shaking Jones’ hand. “Thank you for coming to welcome us.”
Mattie brought out a diet Coke. “At least have a drink.” She brought over the pop, opened the can and handed it to him.
“Thank you, Mattie.” He sipped the pop as he looked around. “This place is going to keep you busy. If there is anything I can do, just ask.”
“Like standing around bossing people about.” Kate closed the lids on the basket again. “But you don’t do that at all, do you, Leo?”
Shana whispered, “I’d take Kate over him, too.”
Jones said to Joan, “There’s a different mood at city hall after three terms with the same mayor. I’m afraid my predecessor feels I am not the taskmaster she was.”
“Everyone is relieved about that,” Mattie said.
Her first day back in Dominion, she wasn’t even on the job yet and she might just have to break up a brawl. This was much better than a quiet landing in her old haunts.
Shana was enjoying herself.
“But,” Jones said, “I assure you that while I am still relatively new to the job, in time, I will become somewhat more willful.”
“Spoken like a true invertebrate, Leo. You have to have it in you in the first place before you can stiffen it.”
Shana had put her ear buds back in place and was leaning against the hallway wall bobbing her head to some slow song.
Susan, smiling widely, was admiring her sangfroid. “Mom, we have to get back to the Nite-Lite.”
Kate said, “I’ll leave the basket. There are a few things left if you get the urge to nibble.” She scooped up Susan on her way o
ut. “Remember, Joan, if there is anything I can do for you as a private businesswoman in Dominion, someone unfettered by the protocols of public office, just let me know.”
“Quite true, Kate,” Jones said. “On that point, I envy you; however, don’t forget that you are still bound by the oaths you swore upon taking public office.”
“Get stuffed, Leo.” She and Susan didn’t look back.
Mattie took hold of Leo’s arm. “She’s just a sore loser.” She said to Joan, “Sorry about that. I didn’t know she was coming. I don’t think she’s gotten over that Dominion was not actually hers to rule forever.”
“I take it you’re not on the best of terms.”
Jones explained, “Let’s just say her last term and the election that removed her from office did not end well for her. There might still be some hard feelings, but she did do a lot of good for Dominion, saw it through some of its toughest times, and she behaves professionally when you call on her. Your job interview is a perfect example of that.”
“Is that what you call it?” Mattie patted his hand. “He’s too generous. What that faint praise really means is that Kate can’t get over that she can’t boss everyone around anymore. She’s no longer Queen of Dominion and she’s having trouble adjusting to a commoner’s life again.”
Shana now had her eyes closed, sealed shut against the ridiculous and boring adults. It was hard to disagree with her.
“Enough with telling tales out of school, I have to get back to city hall. Welcome to Dominion, Joan and Shana.”
Mattie tiptoed after him. She glanced back at the door. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll check with you tomorrow.”
Joan went to the front door to watch them leave. At the gate, Leo took Mattie’s hand after she said something to him, patted it and said something back that made Mattie laugh. They then went their separate ways.
Mattie’s obsequious behavior around Jones was inconsistent with her previously vehement expression of enmity toward men. Was there some zoning or licencing issue concerning her new business that made her suck up to Jones? Having to deal with a little, comb-over despot trying to command more power than he really had could understandably color her view of men.
If Jones tried pushing his weight around with the new sheriff, Shana would probably bet on her mother, and rightly so.
Shana came up behind her. “That was awkward and, like, totally creepy.”
“Totally.”
“You’re going to have to control them or Dominion is going to end up on that horror movie channel.”
“Or the comedy network. Where were we?”
“Upstairs. Race ya.” Shana bolted for the stairs.