“I’m sure it does,” Teddy retorted.
We waited while they took off in Jacinta’s little white convertible, and then Teddy looked at Jeff and me.
“Do I have a story for you two,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The ride to Baxley’s wasn’t long, but every second of it was infused with so much tension that it seemed much longer.
“I got in touch with my family’s P.I.,” Teddy began. Jeff, in the seat beside him, nodded.
“What’s a P.I.?” I asked, even though I really didn’t want to find out.
“Private investigator,” Teddy said.
“Your family has its own private investigator?” I asked. “Why?”
“People make threats against our family all the time,” he said, and I couldn’t tell if he was bragging or just stating the facts. “Extortion, kidnapping, you name it.”
“Kidnapping?”
“Yes. The countries in which we do business aren’t exactly the safest places for foreigners, at least in some cases. My father travels with an armed guard whenever he goes to the Middle East for Barrington Oil, for example—or hell, even when he goes to Mexico City. But there are problems at home as well.”
“Like what?”
Teddy glanced briefly into the rearview mirror, and his eyes met mine for a moment. “Let’s just say there are plenty of people who would do anything to get their hands on whatever money they think we’ve got at our disposal,” he said. “They’ll come up with every kind of accusation you can imagine. Our P.I. helps us to know if we can trust the people with whom we’ve come into close contact.”
“You ever investigate me?” Jeff joked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Unnecessary,” Teddy said seriously. “You and your family are a known entity with no motivation to harm my family.”
“So what’d you talk to your P.I. about?” Jeff asked, sounding confused.
“That dyke who’s obsessed with my girlfriend,” Teddy said. “That’s what I talked to him about.”
Now, there are a few ways you can say “dyke.” I’ll focus on two: the nice way and the not-nice way. Skags will sometimes refer to herself as a dyke, and she means it in a proud way. She says she’s reclaiming a word that has been used against her. Teddy was using it in the not-nice way. Something in the way he spat the word out seemed to imply that Jacinta was disgusting, unwomanly, and fundamentally unworthy of knowing Delilah. Or Teddy, I suppose.
As an ally member of our school’s LGTBQ group, I know it’s my job to stand up for gays and lesbians when they aren’t there to stand up for themselves. I know I’m supposed to be unafraid of criticism from someone so crappy.
But Teddy was driving, and Teddy was in charge, and Teddy was in a mood that kind of scared me. I figured it was better for me to keep my mouth shut than risk getting on his bad side. Who knows, maybe he would’ve booted me out of the car or something. I certainly knew he wasn’t afraid to hurt girls.
“She’s not who she says she is,” Teddy said. “Her name isn’t even Jacinta.”
“What do you mean, her name isn’t even Jacinta?” Jeff asked. “Is she one of those girls who goes by her middle name or something?”
Teddy laughed sardonically. “Not even, bro,” he said. “It goes way deeper than that.”
“For real?” Jeff’s eyes grew big. “C’mon, man, spill it.”
There was an uneasy silence.
“Uh, are you gonna tell us or what?” Jeff asked, sounding impatient.
Teddy smiled cunningly. “Soon enough,” he said. “Soon enough.”
I made a mental note to get Jacinta alone as soon as possible. Maybe I could do it sometime during dinner. I figured maybe, somehow, I could get her out of there and back to her house before Teddy flipped out on her.
When we got to Baxley’s, the girls were waiting in a booth and Misti was nowhere in sight. I saw Teddy’s eyes dart around the place, and an expression of consternation briefly passed over his face when he saw Giovanni walking up to take our order.
“You’re not a waiter,” Teddy blurted out before Giovanni could say anything.
Giovanni nodded. He looked pale beneath his tan, and his eyes were ringed with dark shadows, as if he hadn’t slept. Even his gait was different. He walked listlessly, with no spirit. I wondered if he was sick.
“We’re short one tonight,” he said. His voice was hollow.
“Where’s Misti?” Teddy asked. Delilah rolled her eyes and looked at Jacinta, who rubbed her back with one hand.
“She’s gone,” Giovanni said. His voice caught in his throat, and he coughed a little.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“I mean she’s gone, man. Fired. We’re heading back to Babylon tomorrow. Gonna work in our parents’ bakery for the rest of the summer.”
Teddy looked shocked. “Fired for what?”
Giovanni heaved a sigh and looked down at the floor. “Throwing a bottle at a coworker.”
You could see Teddy begin to panic. “Who?”
“Me.”
“Why?”
Giovanni looked grim. “I found out some stuff,” he said.
“What stuff?” Teddy demanded. “What kind of stuff?”
“She was messing around on me,” Giovanni said, avoiding Teddy’s gaze. “She was up to some stuff. I found out, and I told her, and she flipped. Threw a bottle of beer at me in front of the customers. Manager tossed her out right away. I said I’d take her shift tonight and that we’d both be gone tomorrow.”
“Do you know who the guy was?” Delilah asked in an innocent voice. It was a cruel question and we all knew it.
Giovanni looked directly at her.
“I don’t,” he said. “But if I ever found out, I’d take him apart.”
It was clear then to all of us that he was telling the truth. He really didn’t know who Misti’s other man was. Maybe he didn’t even suspect Teddy, poor guy. Teddy’s face was a churning mixture of misery, fear, sadness, and anger. Every few seconds, a new emotion seemed to flash across his face. In that moment, I actually felt a little sorry for him. But I felt more strongly than before that I needed to save Jacinta somehow, before. . . well, I didn’t know exactly what.
“Jacinta,” I asked abruptly. “Do you want to come to the bathroom with me?”
Delilah looked at me from beneath heavy eyelids. “It’s only a one-person bathroom,” she said. “You two aren’t that close, are you?” She laughed a little, and Jacinta smiled.
“Where’s your girl now, man?” Jeff asked Giovanni.
“Dunno,” Giovanni said, shrugging. “She took off on her bike. Hasn’t been answering my calls. We stay not too far from here, so maybe she’s packing. I’ll see her when I see her.”
“You’re going to stay together?” Delilah asked, raising an eyebrow. “If I found out someone were cheating on me, I just don’t know what I’d do.” Teddy looked at her sharply, but she ignored him.
“We just need some time,” Giovanni said, as if trying to convince himself. “It’s different here, away from our friends and our family. She gets caught up in stuff sometimes. It’ll be better when we get home.”
“Well, I hope things work out for you,” Delilah said. “She seems like a wonderful girl.”
“She is,” Giovanni said, smiling a little. “She really is. Anyway, what do you guys want to drink?” He looked around for a moment and lowered his voice. “Anything you want. It’s my last night here.”
Jeff grinned gleefully. “Then keep the bourbon coming, my good man,” he said.
“You care what kind?”
“Surprise me.” Jeff elbowed me and smiled. I looked at him like he had two heads. Delilah had morphed into some kind of evil ice princess, Jacinta looked terrified, and Teddy was falling apart before our very eyes. How could Jeff suddenly be Mister Chipper just because he was getting to drink bourbon in public?