Читать книгу The Pink House - Trish MacEnulty - Страница 19

Tuesday June 27

Jen smiled up at the black camera eye, and the man sitting at the desk clicked the button and said, “You’re done.”

Lolly stood over to the side with her arms crossed. They were in the uncomfortable position of needing each other more than ever. Jen pushed her hair behind her ears and went to retrieve her new driver’s license.

“Let’s see,” Lolly said.

“I look old,” Jen said.

“No, you’re beautiful. You always were and you always will be,” she said in a wistful tone as she gazed at the picture. Jen’s thick auburn hair fell around her face in the photo and even she could see that she looked like she should be saying, “Because I’m worth it.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Jen said and stuck the license in her wallet. All the good looks in the world still couldn’t make you happy.

“Just stating the facts.”

They walked outside into the sweltering Tallahassee air. Summer in Tallahassee made you want to walk naked everywhere. Good Lord, Jen thought, I feel like a fish.

Of course, there was a price to be paid for Lolly bringing her out to get her license. Neither of the sisters ever did anything for each other out of the goodness of their hearts. Jen would be expected to cart Lolly around to hospitals and doctor’s offices until this breast lump thing was figured out. Ever since Mom’s funeral they had managed to live in the same town and not see each other more than once a month, maybe less. Lolly came to Jen’s shows, of course, and sometimes they ran into each other at an art gallery or a restaurant. But now, suddenly, it was like they were old pals. Driving to the prison every Saturday to work with the drama group. And now this—Lolly’s lump.

“What ever happened to that guy you were seeing?” Lolly asked as they got into the car and drove away from the DMV office.

“What guy?”

“The tall one, what was his name?”

“Daniel. Daniel whose wife found my bra in the glove compartment of his Mercedes and called me up and said she would eviscerate me if I ever saw him again.”

“I didn’t know he was married,” Lolly said, her eyebrows furrowing. Sleeping with a married man was not the sort of thing Lolly would do, Jen thought. It wasn’t that she was too good to do it, she was too smart. “Did she really use the word eviscerate?”

“Yes, it made me admire her dreadfully. I hate those sweet, simpering types of women. The kind Lyle always liked. He liked women who drew hearts instead of dots on their ‘i’s. Like that bitch with the Farrah Fawcett hair that I caught him in bed with.”

“You’ve never gotten over him, have you?” Lolly asked.

Jen took a deep breath.

“Oh, I got over him all right. But this one was a little harder. I don’t even remember leaving my bra in the car. I must have been plastered.” She paused and then asked, “So, where do you have to go today?”

“To the hospital,” Lolly said in a quiet voice. “They’re going to take off one of my breasts. They did a biopsy last week. It’s malignant as hell.”

Jen sat in the passenger side of the little Civic. She felt as if the sun had suddenly eclipsed. Her hands shook. The air from the air conditioner was nowhere near cold as it blew pathetically against her skin.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I know how you don’t like things like this,” Lolly said.

“Jesus Christ, Lolly, I’m your sister. Why the hell didn’t you say anything?” Jen asked. “How could you . . .? My god. Not again.”

Lolly’s face was set like a plaster cast. Nothing, not even a tremor of sorrow, passed over those pinks cheeks.