The Plan (15 page)

“I can get up myself,” Claire said, startling both her friends with her sudden, decisive words.

“Great,” Gia said. “I wasn't looking forward to carrying you.”

“Do you want to take the blanket with you in the car, since you're still pretty wet?” Valerie asked.

“No,” Claire said, so emphatically both Valerie and Gia exchanged a look. “I don't want to have to come back here to return it.”

“Got it,” Gia said, removing the blanket from Claire's shoulders and handing it to Valerie. “No blanket.” She could imagine how wet the seat of her car was going to get.

“Bye, Claire. It was good to see you. We'll have to get together another time…” Her voice trailed off into the night. Claire ignored Valerie and opened the passenger door to Gia's car.

When she was safely inside, Gia closed the door and turned back to Valerie.

“What happened?”

“I don't know. Honestly, I don't really know. She showed up at the barbecue, which really surprised me.”

“You and me, both.” To Gia's knowledge, Claire hadn't seen any of these friends since the funeral. She hadn't even mentioned them.

“When Loni said she'd run into Claire and invited her, well…none of us thought she'd actually
come
. I mean, we all hoped she would. We've missed her and everyone feels so awful about what happened.”

Gia nodded. When she'd gotten the call from Valerie, she'd almost been tempted to ask if they were talking about the same Claire. The
Claire she knew didn't venture out to get a haircut, let alone attend a large social gathering at the town's largest mansion.

Valerie continued. “She walked in and she looked great. I mean,
great.
A little too thin and rather pale, but just so pretty and the fact that's she's lost a little weight and was wearing such little makeup, she actually looked ten years younger. I would've thought the tragedy would have aged her twenty years, but…she looked really well and it was nice to have her here.”

“And then she got wasted?” Gia asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “You know, I've never even seen her take more than a few sips.”

“Well, Loni handed her a glass of wine and at first, Claire declined, but then everyone reminded her if anyone deserved to drink, it was her. She began to sip away at it.”

“And, apparently, kept sipping.”

“Yeah, I guess. I wasn't really paying attention. She seemed to be having a great time. We were reminiscing and laughing so much. Everything seemed great, until it wasn't anymore.”

“Okay. Thanks again for calling me. I'll see to it she gets home safe and sound.”

“I took Claire's car keys out of her purse, but I left her house key in the inside pocket. Joe and I will return the car on our way home and put her keys under her mat. I'm sure she won't want to come back here to get the car in the morning.”

“Thanks. Since I'd be the one to drive her back, you're saving me the trip, too.”

Gia turned back to the car. Claire had her head resting against the passenger window. Gia wondered if she was sleeping and hoped she hadn't passed out. It would be so difficult to get her out of the car and into the house if she had.

“Listen, Gia,” Valerie said, her voice sincere with worry and sadness. “I'm really sorry we had to call you. This can't be easy for you, either.
I should've been around more to help you out. To help Claire. I guess I didn't know what to do or say after…well, after everything. I'm kind of ashamed to have been such a bad friend. I hope Karma finds you and rewards you with wonderful things for all you've done.”

Gia smiled at Valerie. “Thanks, Valerie. That means a lot.”

“Please call me and let me know how she's doing in the next day or so. I'll try to stop by to check on her. It's not fair this weight has fallen so much on you.”

Gia gave Valerie a spontaneous hug. She really didn't know Claire's friend very well, but her words were touching and very much appreciated.

“I will. I'll call you.”

With a final wave, Gia went around the car to the driver's side and got in.

When she started the car, Bon Jovi blared out of the speakers. Gia reached over and turned it off. The car filled with silence as she put the car in drive and headed down the long, circular driveway.

When they reached the road, Claire broke the silence.

“I'm sorry.”

“Uh-huh.” Gia turned on her blinker and carefully made a left turn, against traffic.

“No, really. I'm sorry.” Claire lifted her head and surveyed Gia's attire. Her friend was wearing a short skirt and a blue ruffled top. Claire glanced down and saw Gia's shoes were strappy heels, not her usual barefoot sandals.

“I interrupted a date, didn't I?”

Gia drove in silence for a beat. “Yep.”

“Was it a good one?”

“Best one I've had in years.”

“Oh, Gia. I'm so sorry.”

Gia said nothing.

“I'll make it up to you. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to come all the way out here to get me.”

“Who did you think was going to come get you when you got wasted and decided to take a swim in the deep end of their pool in your clothes?” Gia snapped. She cringed at the harshness in her own voice. It wasn't that she wasn't concerned, but her patience was running thin with Claire these days. In the past year and a half, Gia couldn't even begin to count the number of times she'd had to change plans because of Claire.

Claire's head hit the headrest as if she'd been literally slapped. She'd never seen Gia so mad.

“I made a poor choice.”

“Ya think?”

“You have every right to be mad at me.”

“I know.” Gia pushed her foot down on the gas as she merged onto the highway.

“Just drop me off at home. Don't come in. Is it too late to finish your date?”

“Of course, it's too late. I was almost an hour away when Valerie called me. The poor guy had to drive me home so I could get my car. He'd splurged on a beautiful, expensive meal on the coast. I'm sure he wasn't thrilled when we had to ask for it to go.”

“Oh, Gia. I'm so sorry.”

“So you've said.”

Claire thought it best not to say more. It seemed the more she apologized, the more agitated Gia became. This was so unlike Gia. The two of them had never really argued. She couldn't remember them ever having any sort of fight. But Claire knew she'd pushed Gia to her limit and she hated herself for it. It was just one more thing that made Claire want to cry.

Ten minutes later, Gia pulled up in front of Claire's house. She put the car in park but remained silent.

“I guess you don't want to come in.”

“Nope.” Gia stared straight ahead into the stream of light the headlights made on the street.

“Claire,” Gia said, finally turning toward her friend. “You need to get it together. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you do. I don't know how you're going to do it, but it's time you began to figure it out. You and I both have lives we need to get back to. We've been stuck on this Ferris wheel long enough. We're just going round and round. Jack would be horrified and you know it.”

Claire nodded. She felt terrible she'd caused Gia to be so angry with her. But she knew Gia had every right to be. Every person's patience has its breaking point and it was perfectly clear to Claire that Gia had reached hers tonight.

“Thanks again for coming to get me.”

“I'll call you tomorrow to see how your hangover is. I guess you're about to experience your first one.”

Claire smiled, grateful for the kind words, even though she knew Gia wasn't feeling them.

“Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow.”

She opened the door and eased her way out of the car, closing the door gently. Gia didn't even wait to make sure Claire made it inside. She was down the street and around the corner before Claire had reached her front door.

Claire found her house key inside her purse and let herself in. The house seemed so quiet and empty. And cold. She'd left the air on too high and, in her wet clothes, Claire was now freezing. She debated making herself another cup of hot coffee, but then decided her bladder couldn't take any more and, instead, headed straight upstairs. Stripping her clothes off and letting them drop onto the bedroom floor,
she went to the shower and turned it to as hot as she could tolerate.

Standing under the scorching heat, she thought about what Gia had said in the car.

Jack would be horrified.

He
would
be horrified. Not upset. Not hurt. Not annoyed.
Horrified.

Had she ever, in their entire marriage, done anything to horrify her husband? She didn't think so.

But now, maybe now, she had.

She turned off the water and dried herself with a fluffy blue towel.

Claire tousle-dried her hair and wrapped the soft terrycloth around her. Walking into the bedroom, she momentarily debated putting some pajamas on, but decided she was too exhausted and instead, laid her body on the bed, her skin still damp.

She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow and, for once, dreamt of nothing.

•  •  •

Claire wasn't sure she'd ever felt such a pain in her life. She was pretty sure a wrecking ball had smashed in the side of her head, and then, just for kicks, kept smashing.

She stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Last she remembered, there was some Tylenol in one of the cabinets. She began to open them, finding she had too little energy to close them behind her. She was rewarded when, in the fifth cabinet, she located the bottle.

Struggling to get it open, and cursing the whole time, Claire finally dropped two, then three, and finally four tablets in her hand. Popping them into her mouth, she swallowed the pills without water and then regretted it as she felt them lodge in her throat. She scrambled to the sink and grabbed the nearest dirty glass, quickly filling it with water and downing it. She bent over and rested her head on the counter, wondering how long it would take for the tablets to begin the repair inside her head.

How did people do this every Friday night? How did they function the next day? She couldn't imagine ever doing this again. Gia had been right. She'd had her first hangover and Claire was certain it would be her last.

The phone rang, but she ignored it. At least, she tried to ignore it. The ringing was a discotheque pulsing through her brain. Whoever it was would have to go away—and quickly. A moment after the ringing stopped, she took the phone off the hook. She couldn't risk its resounding clangs again.

Claire staggered to the couch and eased her body down. Plopping would have hurt too much. She needed to move slowly.
Very, very slowly.
One wrong move and her head might fall off her body and shatter into a million pieces on the floor.

The thought almost made her smile. If it shattered, would it stop throbbing?

She placed her head on one of the decorative pillows and closed her eyes. She was determined not to move until the pain ceased.

•  •  •

Claire wasn't sure how long she slept. When she opened her eyes, the room was dim. Had the sun already shifted to the west? She couldn't have possibly been here that long.

But, when she rolled over to peek at the clock, she saw it was close to four in the afternoon. Today had definitely not been a productive day. She hadn't gotten out of her bed until nearly noon and then she'd done nothing by lie on this couch ever since.

She thought she should feel guilty but realized it had been a long time since she'd had
any
sort of productive day. Today was no different, other than she was paying the price for getting plastered last night.

Claire sat up and was pleased to realize she felt much better. Not great. Not a hundred percent. But the excruciating pain was gone. It'd
been replaced with a dull ache. Her head felt tender, but not unbearable.

She wandered into the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered there were Chinese leftovers that sounded appealing. Opening the fridge, she removed the container and scooped its contents onto a plate. While it was heating in the microwave, she scanned the kitchen counter. It was amazing how clean the kitchen stayed now that she was the only one living here. The microwave beeped its announcement that the food was done. She carefully removed the hot plate, grabbed a fork and headed to the table. Taking her first bite, and then spitting it back on her plate because it was too hot, her eyes fell on the event ticket she'd left on the table the day before. The one Irma had given her at McGord's. She'd forgotten all about it.

The paper said the event started at six o'clock. She glanced at the clock again. It was ten past four. The auditorium was nearly an hour away. She could make it if she really hustled, though her brain still begged her to move slowly.

Maybe she should skip it. She'd be very content turning on a chick flick tonight and crawling back into bed.

But she'd spent way too many days in her pajamas in the past year and a half. And she'd already seen nearly every chick flick on Netflix. Gia's words from last night rang in her ears.

You need to get it together.

Jack would be horrified.

She was right. Jack
would
be horrified. He, like she, had enjoyed the occasional day in bed, a bowl of popcorn in between them and an old black-and-white movie on the TV. But one day of that was all he could take. Even if Claire begged him to do it again the next day, he'd inform her he could only be lazy for so long.

Claire hadn't exactly been lazy for the past eighteen months. She'd
had a reason to stay in bed. But perhaps it was time to get out of bed. At least for tonight.

And last night, too. Though, she wasn't going to think about that. She was never, ever going to think about that again, if she could help it.