“Probably,” SondraBeth said. “I’m going to take a Jacuzzi.” She went into her room and closed the door.
Pandy shook her head and went into her own room.
She sat on the bed and picked up the remote. Apparently it was siesta time, but Pandy wasn’t tired. She got up, went out to the balcony, and looked at the ocean.
Suddenly bored, she marched across the living room and knocked on SondraBeth’s door. “Squeege? Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should call him. Just so we can make fun of the fact that he’s with Lala.”
SondraBeth yanked open the door and pulled Pandy into her room.
Frowning as if she were in some kind of agony, SondraBeth plopped down onto the bed. “I’ve been thinking, too. About this whole Doug Stone business. And I realized it’s not really about him, or you. Or even you and him. It’s about her, Lala Grinada. She’s trying to fuck with me. She’s trying to send me a message.”
“She is?” Pandy asked.
“Yes. Don’t you see it? She’s sending me a message through you. And Doug.”
“Hold on,” Pandy said with a laugh. “How did I get involved in this? I don’t know anything about a message.”
“She hates you because you put the kibosh on her playing Monica. And now, she intends to get even. With both of us.”
“By having sex with Doug?”
“She knows you and Doug were together. She knows you and I are best friends. And because of that, she knows that by hurting you, she’s hurting me, too.”
“I doubt she’s smart enough to figure that out.”
SondraBeth banged her hand on the pillow. “And by hurting us, she’s hurting Monica.”
“Oh, jeez.” Pandy sighed. “Is this what you were thinking about when you were going all stork out there? Getting even with Lala Grinada? If that’s the case, I’m definitely going to need that drink. Let’s go to the club.”
“Fine.” SondraBeth swung her feet off the bed and wrapped a sarong around her waist. “All I’m saying is that this isn’t personal. It’s business.”
“Business.” Pandy nodded dutifully.
SondraBeth lowered her gold Ray-Ban sunglasses, and giving Pandy her brilliant Monica smile, added, “Monica business.”
Arriving at the club, Pandy went directly to the bar, worried that the heat was somehow getting to SondraBeth. But as she took a seat and the bartender flipped a cocktail napkin in front of her, the world seemed to right itself on its axis.
“Hey,” said the bartender.
“Hey, yourself,” Pandy said.
“The usual? Rum punch?”
“Sure,” Pandy said with a smile. She raised her glass. “To drinking your cares away,” she added as the bartender replied with the island’s mantra:
“You got something better to do?”
“Nope,” Pandy said hopefully, glancing behind her for SondraBeth.
She saw several iguanas, but SondraBeth seemed to have disappeared. Perhaps she’d gone into the bathroom, Pandy thought with relief. “To the heat,” Pandy said, raising her glass with one hand and wiping the back of her sweaty neck with the other.
She looked out at the view. The milky watercolor sea ran right into the sky. The bartender turned to gaze at the ocean as well. “That’s what I call ‘the womb of the sea.’ It’s where the sharks and stingrays lay their eggs. I’ve seen hundreds of baby sharks out there the size of your little finger. And you want to know the weirdest part?”
“Sure,” Pandy said, sipping at the fruity cocktail.
“They’re born with all their teeth. Rows and rows of teeth the size of pinheads.”
“Incredible,” Pandy said.
She yawned and, picking up her glass, walked out to the pool. Dropping her stuff onto a chaise, she waded slowly into the water. She curved her hands like a spout and dove under the surface. She pretended she was a baby shark, swimming happily underwater. When her breath ran out, she popped up to find SondraBeth standing at the edge of the pool, looming over her.
“I just remembered why I hate Lala Grinada so much.”
“Really?” Pandy’s mood sank. She had been hoping that SondraBeth had forgotten about Lala by now.
“I used to see her at auditions. I didn’t remember it was the same girl until you said the thing about the three hairs. Her hair was dark back then, and she hadn’t had her nose done. And she was such a snob. She acted like she was better than everyone else because she was English.”
“So?” Pandy frowned, wondering why this particular fact would get SondraBeth so riled. She got out of the pool and dried herself off, following SondraBeth to an outside table at the restaurant.
“She was rich,” SondraBeth said, sitting down. “You should have seen the way she used to look at me at auditions. Like I was a piece of lowly shit.”
“Mm-hmm,” Pandy said noncommittally, knowing what was coming next.
“She’s just like those girls I went to high school with. The ones who called me a slut.” SondraBeth picked up her knife and began tapping it on the table. “Lala needs to learn her lesson. And you need to be the one to teach her.”
“Me?” Pandy squeaked so loudly, she flushed in embarrassment. She shook out her napkin and placed it on her lap. “Hey, kemosabe. I’m not part of this, remember?”
“Of course you’re a part of it. How can you not be?”
The waiter came over. Pandy tried to divert SondraBeth away from the topic of Lala by engaging in a detailed discussion of the specials. Unfortunately, this didn’t take long, as the “specials” were only two different types of fish.
When the waiter walked away, SondraBeth leaned across the table and banged her knife again. “Goddammit. Why can’t you be there when I need you? When Monica needs you!”
Pandy laughed. “What does Monica have to do with it?”
“She’s your child. And you’re abandoning her.”
“But—”
“If someone did something to my child, I would never let them get away with it. I would hunt them down to the ends of the earth. And then I would kill them.”
“Are you suggesting we put out a hit on Lala?” Pandy smirked. “I suppose you’re still in touch with those mob guys from Joules? Freddie the Rat? Maybe he could do it.”
SondraBeth glared at her with disdain. She picked up Pandy’s phone from the table and held it out to her. “I want you to call Doug Stone,” she commanded.
“And say what?” Pandy balled up a piece of bread and tossed it to an iguana.
“Invite him to the island.”
“No,” Pandy said stubbornly. She was reminded of the incident with the director. Like that scenario, this one was bound to go wrong. And she’d be left feeling like an idiot.
“Why not?” SondraBeth asked.
“Because I don’t want to look stupid.”
SondraBeth sighed. She gazed out at the water. “I always have your back. Why can’t you have mine?”
“I do,” Pandy insisted. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew there was no way out of the situation but to go along with it. “Fine.” She picked up her phone. “It won’t work, though. You said it yourself. I suck as an actress. I’ll never pull it off.”
SondraBeth raised one eyebrow. “You’re a better actress than you think. If you call him, he’ll come.”
Pandy rolled her eyes and decided she might as well get this over with. Doug probably wouldn’t answer anyway; if he did, she would pass the phone over to SondraBeth.