Clara in America (Clara Andrews Series - Book 7) (14 page)

A forgetful mind is a dangerous thing…

‘Yes?’ She replies uncertainly, obviously not liking where this conversation is going.

‘I knew it was you! I would recognise that face anywhere!’ Throwing her old arms around Janie’s neck, Mary Beth lets out a scream and jumps up and down excitedly.

A startled look spreads across Janie’s face and I can tell that she is just as confused as I am. Her weight shifts from foot to foot as she looks over her shoulder at Oliver before returning her attention to Paulie and his mother.

‘Do I know you?’ She laughs nervously and fixes her beehive which Mary Beth’s hug has destroyed.

‘It’s me!’ Mary Beth squeals, clapping her hands together. ‘From the casino? Come on! You must remember me!’

A look of recognition runs over Janie’s face and she suddenly looks a little ill. ‘Mary Beth…’ She breathes. ‘Of course!’

Unaware as to what’s going on, I step off my lounger and eye up the situation. Do these two know each other or something? Paulie tugs off his bandana and looks between the two of them, the weirdness of the situation clearly disturbing him.

Slapping Paulie on the arm, Mary Beth stamps her feet and jumps around like a deranged monkey. ‘Son! You never told me that your lady friend was Jeanette Green!’

I look at Paulie, but it appears that even he didn’t know Janie’s surname.

Call me old fashioned, but I would have thought that discovering her son’s girlfriend is in fact older than she is would have come as more of a shock to Mary Beth.

‘You guys know each other?’ He asks, taking a seat on my lounger. ‘No way! That’s so cool!’

‘We met in Vegas.’ Janie confirms, seemingly a little unsteady on her skinny legs. ‘Oliver, you remember that casino I used to visit with Aunt Mindy?’ Oliver nods in response, not bothering to get up from the sand. ‘Well, Mary Beth over here worked on the slots.’

‘That was a
long
time ago.’ Mary Beth sighs and looks Janie up and down. ‘I’m guessing all that time on the Poker table paid off! Your life must be very different from back then, huh?’

‘Well… I dunno about that.’ Pointing over to the bar, Janie attempts to usher Mary Beth and Paulie down the sand.

‘Oh, come on! I remember the days where you used to
beg
the security guard for one more go on the roulette! I bet you don’t even recognise yourself these days, do you?’

Janie looks over at Oliver and I, not being able to disguise the panic that is written all over her face. ‘Let’s go get you guys a drink, shall we?’

‘As long as they’re on you! Let’s face it, you can more than afford it!’ Mary Beth sniggers and links her arm through Janie’s as they trudge along the sand.

Watching them walk away, I wait until they are safely out of ear shot before kicking Oliver on the arm. ‘How weird was that?’ I gasp, blowing my hair out of my mouth. ‘I mean, what are the chances?’

‘To be completely honest,
nothing
that happens now will shock me.’

‘But…’

‘Clara! It’s taking every ounce of my strength not to lose my shit. So if you don’t mind, I really don’t want to talk about it.’

Holding up my hands to surrender, I walk across the sand and watch them huddle around the beach bar. This trip just gets stranger and stranger. Armed with a bevy of drinks, they stop to do a shot before heading back in our direction. Not knowing what else to do, I pull over a couple more sun loungers and shuffle them around to make room. Oliver shoots me daggers and I return them with a set of my own. What the hell else am I supposed to do?

Offering Mary Beth a small smile as he plonks herself down on the lounger opposite, I take a sip of my drink and pull Noah onto my lap.

‘I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Clara and this is Noah, Janie’s first grandchild.’

Janie fires me a look that could kill and I immediately feel a little bad. That was probably a little below the belt, but I couldn’t resist getting a quick dig in there. I am about to introduce Oliver too when I notice that he isn’t even looking in our direction.

‘You’re British?’ Mary Beth asks, clearly picking up on my English accent.

‘I am. Oliver and I live in London.’

Kicking off her flip flops to reveal toenails painted an extraordinary green colour, she throws back her drink in one gulp.

‘Cool. It must be nice to meet here and have a little family time then, huh?’

‘It is, but we video call and Janie comes over to London quite frequently, so it’s not like we don’t see one another.’

‘Ain’t that fantastic.’ Mary Beth smiles widely, showing me a set of heavily stained teeth. ‘I bet that little one doesn’t know how lucky he is, does he?’

Furrowing my brow, I look down at Noah and shrug my shoulders. She’s laying it on a little thick, isn’t she? I remember back when I met Oliver, Janie gave me the worst time ever until she was absolutely certain that I was the one for her son. Whereas this woman doesn’t seem at all bothered that Janie is three times over the approved age limit, still married and has a terrible drinking habit.

‘You are
all
incredible lucky.’ Mary Beth continues, noticing that her glass is empty and reaching over for Paulie’s. ‘What my own family would do to be whisked out to Florida for a vacation by a generous relative…’

I smile in response and look at Janie. That’s a weird thing to say. How does
she
know that Janie paid for this trip?

‘I’m sure we can arrange that. Right, Janie?’ Paulie wraps an arm around Janie’s shoulders and whispers into her ear.

Batting away his advances, Janie pushes her sunglasses up her nose and makes a poor attempt at changing the subject. ‘Who wants another drink?’

An annoyed frown appears on Mary Beth’s weather beaten face and she gives Paulie a not so discreet dig in the ribs. Glaring at Janie furiously, she hisses something to him and huffs loudly.

‘So, what do you say?’ He presses, rolling onto his side. ‘How about next time we bring my side of the family out here?’

Janie fidgets uncomfortably and I’m really not surprised. What is going on here? First the handful of cash and now he’s asking Janie to pay for his family to go on holiday? Don’t get me wrong, Janie isn’t exactly penniless, but she is most certainly not in a position to be paying for a near stranger’s family to top up their tans.

‘Oh, come on!’ Mary Beth yells. ‘You can easily afford to. What’s wrong with you?’ Janie opens her mouth to speak, but Mary Beth beats her to it. ‘Let’s face it, when you tie the knot, everything you have will be half Paulie’s anyway.’

‘What?’ I exclaim, tiring of this woman’s outrageous demands. ‘They are
not
getting married.’

‘Of course they are!’ Mary Beth snaps, giving me a look that could kill. ‘Tell them, Jeanette.’

Looking down at the sand, Janie keeps her lips firmly sealed as Oliver and I exchange worried glances. ‘Well, we haven’t set anything in stone…’

I let out a gasp as Oliver jumps to his feet angrily. ‘I’m not listening to this crap…’

‘What’s the matter, big man?’ A smirk plays on the corner of Paulie’s lips as he enjoys taunting Oliver. ‘Don’t want me to be your step daddy?’

Oliver hurls himself at Paulie and I pass Noah to Janie before jumping in the middle of them.

‘Enough!’ I yell, keeping the two of them apart. ‘This is getting totally out of control! What the hell is going on here?’

The two of them stare at each other, neither one wanting to be the first to break. If Oliver hits him then this situation is going to be made a million times worse. I can just picture it now. Hey, what did you bring back from Orlando? Oh, you know, a few souvenirs, a couple of extra pounds and an assault charge. No, I can’t let this happen.

‘We
have
to get married.’ Paulie turns his attention to Janie and rubs her shoulders encouragingly. ‘That was the deal, remember?’

‘What deal?’ Oliver spits, his roaring voice echoing down the beach. Janie purses her lips and looks out to sea. She’s attempting to keep her mask in place, but I can tell that she is on the edge of crumbling. ‘Does someone wanna tell me what’s going on here?’

‘They had to find              out sooner or later.’ Paulie laughs like a naughty adolescent and skims a pebble across the water. ‘You know that.’

I look at Janie, feeling completely lost for words. I don’t believe what I’m hearing here. What the hell has she gotten herself involved in?

Suddenly finding her voice, Janie takes a step towards Paulie. ‘I actually wanted to talk to you about the whole
marriage
thing.’ She smiles thinly and plays with a strand of over bleached hair. ‘I’ve been thinking that we should… wait.’

‘No! No! No!’ Shaking his head angrily, Paulie kicks a pile of sand and lets out an annoyed roar. ‘You said this week. You
promised
, Janie!’

Trying to calm him down, Janie passes me Noah and stumbles towards him, leaving Oliver and I staring at the pair of them in complete shock.

‘It’s just… it’s just that I need to wait a little while.’ Her voice wobbles as she holds onto Paulie’s arm like a scared puppy. ‘There’s just some legal stuff I need to sort first.’

‘Legal stuff?’ I hiss, not being able to contain myself. ‘By
legal stuff
do you mean that you have to divorce Randy first?’

A sharp intake of breath from Mary Beth catches the attention of the coast guard and I wave at him to indicate that we are OK.

‘You’re still
married?
’ Mary Beth screeches, clutching her head in her hands like it’s the end of the world.

‘She’s lying, right?’ Paulie holds his breath and waits for her respond. ‘Janie, tell me she’s lying!’

Unfortunately for him, her silence speaks volumes. Letting out an almighty scream, he grabs a bottle of water and throws it on the sand. ‘I don’t believe this!’

‘It’s OK, we can still get married.’ Janie stammers, her bottom lip starting to waver. ‘I just need a few weeks.’

‘Wait a minute!’ Mary Beth yells above the chaos. ‘Just wait a minute! Paulie, think about this. If she is already married, that means that her current husband will take
half
of everything she owns.’

‘This cannot be happening!’ Paulie whispers, mortification setting in on his pimply face. ‘So does that mean the mansion will have to be sold?’ He looks at Janie furiously. ‘Oh, man! What about The Lambo? The villa in the Caribbean?’

Lambo? As in
Lamborghini?
My head starts to throb and I suddenly feel really sick.

‘Janie? What is he talking about? You don’t have anything of those things!’ I look over at Oliver who confirms this.

Perching on the edge of a sun lounger, Janie crosses her legs and looks down at the ground. ‘I… I… well…’

‘You have got to be kidding me! Paulie shouts. ‘So, not only are you already married, you don’t have
any
money?’

‘It’s complicated!’ Janie wails.

‘What’s complicated about it? You lied to me! Now this whole relationship has been for nothing!’

‘Please don’t say that!’ Janie sounds devastated and I can’t help but feel a little sorry for her. ‘It wasn’t just about the money!’

‘Is that a joke?’ He laughs sarcastically and claps his hands together. ‘Of course it was about the money! Why else would I be with you? Look at you!’ Janie’s face falls and a single tear slips down her cheek. ‘You’re old, wrinkly and let’s be honest, a
bad
alcoholic!’

Woah! That had to hurt! I am about to jump in and console her when Mary Beth grabs her handbag and takes Paulie by the arm.

‘This has all been a complete waste of my time. Come on, son. Let’s get out of here.’ With a final filthy look in our direction, the pair of them spin around and stomp across the sand, neither of them bothering to look back.

Glancing over at Oliver, I wait for him to say something, but he is just staring at his mother blankly, not breathing a word. If I couldn’t feel Noah biting my arm, I would swear that I was having the world’s weirdest nightmare. Sitting Noah in the sand with his dinosaur, I gingerly tiptoe over and put an arm on her bony shoulder. My mind is racing with a million questions, but I can’t bring myself to ask a single one. My brain refuses to focus as I try to piece together what has just happened.

Not knowing what else to do, I push her hair out of her face and wipe away her tears. ‘Janie, you need to start talking because this whole thing is making my head hurt… a lot.’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Oliver laughs angrily, shaking his head in disgust. ‘She lied to him.’

‘Oliver…’ I hold my hand up and send him a mental signal to stop kicking her when she’s already down.

‘It’s true.’ Janie manages between sobs. ‘I did. I lied to him.’

‘But, why?’ I ask, already feeling pretty confident that I know the answer.

‘Why do you think?’ She cries loudly. ‘A man like Paulie wouldn’t want someone like me! I had to or he wouldn’t have been interested.’