“Well, let me tell you something.” Marino looked as if he hated me.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to say I’m into anything. In the first place, you don’t know shit. And in the second, at least I’m not screwing anybody who’s married. ”
“Pete, that’s enough,” Wesley snapped.
“You’re damn right it is.” Marino stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard I was certain it could be heard throughout the entire motel.
“Dear God,” I said.
“This is just awful.”
“Kay, you spurned him, and that’s why he’s out of his mind.”
“I did not spurn him.” Wesley was walking around, agitated.
“I knew he was attached to you. All these years I’ve known he really cares about you. I just had no idea it went this deep. I had absolutely no idea. ”
I did not know what to say.
“The guy’s not stupid. I suppose it was just a matter of time before he figured some things out. But I had no way of knowing it would affect him this way.”
“I’m going to bed,” I said again.
I slept for a while, and then I was wide awake. I stared into the dark, thinking about Marino and what I was doing. I was having an affair and did not feel concerned about it, and I did not understand that. Marino knew I was having an affair, and he was jealous beyond reason. I could never be romantically interested in him. I would have to tell him, but I could not imagine the occasion when such a conversation might occur.
I got up at four and sat out on the porch in the cold, looking at the stars. The Big Dipper was almost directly overhead, and I remembered Lucy as a toddler worrying that it would pour water on her if she stood under it very long. I remembered her perfect bones and skin, and incredible green eyes. I remembered the way she had looked at Carrie Grethen and believed that was part of what went wrong.
14
Lucy was not in a private room, and I walked right past her at first because she did not look like anyone I knew. Her hair, stiff with blood, was dark red and standing up, her eyes black-and-blue. She was propped up in bed in a drug-induced stage that was neither here nor there. I got close to her and took her hand.
“Lucy?” She barely opened her eyes.
“Hi,” she said groggily.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad. I’m sorry. Aunt Kay. How did you get here?”
“I rented a car.”
“What kind?”
“A Lincoln.”
“Bet you got one with air bags on both sides.” She smiled wanly.
“Lucy, what happened?”
“All I remember is going to the restaurant. Then someone was sewing up my head in the emergency room.”
“You have a concussion.”
“They think I hit the top of my head on the roof when the car was flipping.
I feel so bad about your car.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t worry about the car. That’s not important. Do you remember anything at all about the accident?” She shook her head and reached for a tissue.
“Do you remember anything about dinner at the Outback or your visit to Green Top?”
“How did you know? Oh, well.” She drifted for a moment, eyelids heavy.
“I went to the restaurant about four.”
“Who did you meet?”
“Just a friend. I left at seven to come back here.”
“You had a lot to drink,” I said.
“I didn’t think I had that much. I don’t know why I ran off the road, but I think something happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember, but it seems like something happened.”
“What about the gun store? Do you remember stopping there?”
“I don’t remember leaving.”
“You bought a .380 semiautomatic pistol, Lucy. Do you remember that?”
“I know that’s why I went there.”
“So you go to a gun shop when you’ve been drinking. Can you tell me what was in your mind?”
“I didn’t want to be staying at your house without protection. Pete recommended the gun.”
“Marino did?” I asked, shocked.