Isabella shook the water off the peas as Mikey answered, “Yep, sophomore and junior year.”
“Not your last year?” Prentice sounded surprised and she knew why.
Because he remembered.
And suddenly Isabella found it most irritating that Prentice had a good memory.
She knew that he knew, because she told him, that she shared an apartment with Annie and Mikey and that they’d be going back to it their senior year.
Except they didn’t.
Well, Mikey did, but Annie and Isabella didn’t.
Annie was in hospital then in rehab. Isabella was on house arrest after her father found out about her “tryst” with Prentice.
However, she was allowed to go to class and also to help Annie.
“Nope,” Mikey answered.
“Why not?” Prentice queried.
Isabella turned from draining the peas, placed a tea towel under them and walked back to Sally, sending Mikey a pleading look.
Mikey ignored her altogether and kept right on talking.
“Because Bella was closer to Annie at home.” He waved his whisky glass around and went on, “Would take forever for her to drive from Northwestern to Clarissa’s every day.” Mikey looked at Jason and announced, “Florence Nightingale is making you tuna casserole, bucko. Count yourself lucky.”
“Who’s Florence Nightingale?” Sally asked.
“She’s an angel from heaven,” Mikey answered.
“Really?” Sally breathed.
Isabella disregarded this, poured the peas into the bowl Sally was mixing and, attempting to shift the conversation, advised, “Be careful now, stir it gently. You don’t want to smush up the peas too much.”
Prentice decided against going with Isabella’s lame attempt at changing the topic of conversation.
“Florence Nightingale wasn’t an angel from heaven, Sally. She was a nurse,” Prentice informed his daughter.
“As was Bella when Annie was sick,” Mikey put in.
“You’re a nurse?” Jason asked Isabella.
“No,” Isabella answered, having put the colander in the sink, she was opening the bag of pasta.
“I don’t get it,” Jason muttered.
“Neither do I,” Prentice added.
“Jason,” Mikey started and Isabella turned to him and shook her head but he took no notice of her, “a long time ago, Annie was in a terrible car crash. Did you know that?”
Sally had stopped smushing and Isabella couldn’t see her face but she could see Jason’s.
“Mikey,” Isabella said softly.
“Well, she’s all right now. Everyone can see that,” Mikey defended.
Isabella tightened her fists and let her glance slide to Prentice who was silently watching Mikey, obviously not going to intervene.
She turned to the boiling water on the stove and poured in the noodles.
“I know about it. Mum told me that’s why she limps sometimes and has that scar on her face,” Jason said quietly.
“Yes, well, back then,” Mikey continued, “she was really sick. And she was really sad. And she didn’t want to get better.”
“Why wouldn’t she want to get better?” Jason asked.
“Because she was sad and being sad makes you do silly things,” Mikey answered. “She wouldn’t listen to anyone. Wouldn’t go to the hospital so they could make her better. So, Bella made her go to the hospital. Three times a week she showed up at Annie’s house and took her there herself. Every other day, she went to Annie’s house and made her do her exercises so she could get strong and fit. Annie was sad and upset and she didn’t like this and she could be mean to Bella. But Bella didn’t care. She took every mean thing Annie had to dish out, and there was a lot, bucko, let me tell you. But it didn’t penetrate our girl here. She took every mean thing Annie threw at her and she helped her friend get better. Like a nurse. Like an angel from heaven.”
When Mikey got close to the end of his story, he was whispering. When he stopped talking, the room was silent. Isabella ignored it, her back to the room and she stirred the noodles.
After several long moments, Mikey called, “Bella?”
“Can we stop talking about Annie’s accident?” Isabella softly asked the noodles.
More silence.
Then, also speaking softly, Prentice ordered, “Jason, set the table, mate.”
“Okay, Dad,” Jason replied quickly.
Isabella would have given Prentice a grateful look if he existed in her world at that moment.
Since he didn’t and only the noodles did, she continued to stir them.
“Are we having pudding?” Sally asked her back.
Isabella took in a deep breath, turned down the noodles, allowed the family home in the wilds of Scotland and its inhabitants to penetrate her mental health fortress and turned to smile at the girl.
“Apple crumble and custard,” she answered.
“Hurrah!” Sally cheered.
Carefully avoiding Prentice’s eyes, she set about getting the ingredients for the topping so that Sally could make the crunchy part.
And she silently prayed the night wouldn’t get any worse.
She should have prayed harder.
Dinner wasn’t that bad.
Though it wasn’t good either.
Actually, Isabella could just say it didn’t kill her.
Though it left her wanting to kill someone, namely Mikey.
The best part of the evening was that Prentice unearthed a bottle of wine.
The rest didn’t go so well.
The peas in the tuna casserole were smushed to mush but it didn’t taste bad mainly because Isabella added tons of cheese and cheese makes anything taste better, not to mention Sally’s crunchy bit concoction for the topping (with Isabella’s helping hand) was first-rate.
Mikey had decided the sad story part of the evening was over and regaled them with tales of Annie, Isabella and himself doing crazy things while at college.
Neither of these were the reasons why the dinner was murder plot worthy.
It went bad when Prentice queried, “When did you three find time to study?”
“We two got by on a wing and a prayer,” Mikey returned. “Bella burned the candle at both ends and graduated summa cum laude. She even made deals with her professors when she had to miss classes to be with Annie.”
Prentice’s eyes cut to her and Isabella’s eyes cut to her empty plate.
“That’s impressive,” Prentice said it like he meant it.
“That’s Bella,” Mikey remarked and then finished in a tone filled with acid, “No way she was going to take home anything but top marks to that father of hers.”
At that, Isabella’s head shot up and she actually felt her face grow pale. Then, quick as a flash, she threw her napkin on the table and stood up.
“Seconds for anyone?” she asked the table at large.
Jason and Sally both looked startled. As did Mikey.
Prentice’s eyes were locked on her and his brows had knitted.
“My first portion was fit for an elephant, so, no, I don’t want seconds,” Mikey replied.
“I want pudding!” Sally cried.
“I could take seconds,” Jason answered and Isabella could have kissed him.
“I’ll get the casserole,” she declared, bent to Sally and whispered, “Pudding in a second, sweetheart.” Then she walked as calmly as she could to the kitchen.
“You know her father, of course,” Prentice said as she moved away and his voice had a tinge of acid as well.
Isabella’s fingers curled into her palms tightly and briefly, the flash of pain not near enough to get her through this.
“The Wicked Warlock of Chicago?” Mikey drawled. “Wish I didn’t but I do.”
Bella wished at that moment for the first time in her life that she didn’t know Mikey.