When they were out of hearing range, she said, “What is up with guys today? They think they can just stroll over, flash a pretty smile, and we’ll melt in their hands? Uh-uh. No way. Not us. We’re wiser than that. They can take their romance scam somewhere else, thank you very much.”
I cleared my throat. “Wow.”
“Don’t wow me. I know you saw right through those guys too.”
I scratched my eyebrow. “Personally, I think they were just making conversation … but what do I know,” I quickly added when she cast a withering glare at me.
“When a guy shows up out of nowhere and instantly turns on the charm, it’s a front. There’s always a deeper motive. This much I know.”
I sucked on my straw. I wasn’t sure what else to say. I’d never be able to look Owen or Joey in the eye again, but maybe Vee was having a day. Maybe she was in a mood. When I watched Lifetime original movies, it took me a day or two to get over the idea that the cute boy next door is actually a serial killer. Maybe Vee was going through a similar fade-back-to-reality phase.
I was about to ask her directly, when my cell phone chirped.
“Let me guess,” Vee said. “That would be your mom checking up on you. I was surprised she let you out of the house. It’s no secret she doesn’t like me. For a while there, I think she even thought I was somehow mixed up in your disappearance.” She made a grunt of contempt.
“She likes you, she just doesn’t understand you,” I said, opening what appeared to be a text message from none other than Marcie Millar.
BTW, THE NECKLACE IS A MAN’S SILVER CHAIN. DID U FIND IT?
“Give it a rest,” I muttered out loud.
“Well?” Vee said. “What lame excuse did that woman give to drag you home?”
HOW DID U GET MY NUMBER? I texted Marcie.
OUR PARENTS SWAP MORE THAN SPIT, DUMB-A.
Right back at you, I thought.
I shut my phone and gave my attention back to Vee. “Can I ask a stupid question?”
“My favorite kind.”
“Did I go to a party at Marcie’s over the summer?”
I braced myself for a round of over-the-top laughter, but Vee simply chewed off a bite of doughnut and said, “Yeah, I remember that. You dragged me along too. You still owe me for that, by the way.”
Not the response I’d anticipated. “Weirder question. Was I”—here goes nothing—“friends with Marcie?”
Now came the reaction I’d been expecting. Vee nearly coughed her doughnut onto the table. “You and the ho, friends. Did I hear that right? I know you’ve got the whole temporary memory loss thing going on, but how could you forget eleven years’ worth of Little Miss Pain in the You Know What?”
Now we were getting somewhere. “What am I missing? If we weren’t friends, why did she invite me to her party?”
“She invited everybody. She was fund-raising for new cheerleading costumes. She wanted twenty bucks from us at the door,” Vee explained. “We almost left right then, but you just had to spy on—” She snapped her mouth shut.
“Spy on who?” I prodded.
“Marcie. We went to spy on Marcie. That’s how it was.” She was nodding a little too vigorously.
“And?”
“We wanted to nab her diary,” Vee said. “We were going to print all the juicy parts in the eZine. Pretty epic, right?”
I observed her, knowing something was wrong with this picture, but failing to figure out what. “You realize how made-up that sounds, right? We’d never get permission to publish her diary.”
“Never hurts to try.”
I pointed a finger at her. “I know you’re keeping something from me.”
“Who, me?”
“Spill it, Vee. You promised not to hold out on me again,” I reminded her.
Vee flapped her arms. “All right, all right. We went to spy on”—dramatic pause—“Anthony Amowitz.”
Anthony Amowitz and I had shared the same PE class last year. Average height, average looks. The personality of a pig. Not to mention Vee had already sworn there was nothing between them. “You lie.”
“I — had a crush on him.” She blushed furiously.
“You had a crush on Anthony Amowitz,” I repeated doubtfully.
“A lapse in judgment. Can we not talk about it, please?”
After eleven years, Vee could still surprise. “First, swear that you aren’t holding anything back. Because this whole story sounds shaky.”
“Girl Scout’s honor,” Vee said, eyes clear, expression determined. “We went to spy on Anthony, end of story. Just please keep the verbal abuse to a minimum. I’m humiliated enough as it is.”
Vee wouldn’t lie to me again, not after we’d just been over this, so despite a few rocky details that I chalked up to embarrassment, I was content with the knowledge I’d been given.
“Okay,” I relented, “back to Marcie, then. She cornered me at Coopersmith’s last night and told me her boyfriend, Patch, gave me a necklace that I was supposed to pass on to her.”
Vee choked on her drink. “She said Patch was her boyfriend?”
“I believe the exact term she used was ‘summer fling.’ She said Patch was friends with both of us.”
“Huh.”
I tapped my finger impatiently on the table. “Why do I feel like I’m in the dark all over again?”
“I don’t know any Patches,” Vee said. “Anyhow, isn’t that a dog’s name? Maybe she made him up. If Marcie is good at one thing, it’s messing with people’s minds. Best to forget all about Patch and Marcie. Boy, oh, boy, aren’t these doughnuts to die for?” She thrust one at my face.
I took the doughnut, set it aside. “Does the name Jev ring a bell?”
“Jev? Just Jev? Is that short for something?”
By the sound of it, Vee had never heard his name before.
“I ran into a guy,” I explained. “I think we knew each other, maybe from over the summer. His name is Jev.”
“Can’t help you, babe.”
“Maybe it is short for something. Jevin, Jevon, Jevro …”
“No, no, and nope.”
I opened my cell.
“What are you doing now?” Vee asked.
“Sending Marcie a text.”
“What are you going to ask her?” She scooted up taller. “Listen, Nora—”
I shook my head, guessing Vee’s thoughts. “This isn’t the start of a long-term thing, trust me. I believe you, not Marcie. This will be the last text I ever send to her. I’m going to tell her nice try on her big fat lies.”
Vee’s expression lost its tension. She nodded sagely. “You tell her, babe. Tell that cheat her lies are futile with me watching your back.”
I keyed in my text and hit send.
LOOKED EVERYWHERE. NO NECKLACE. BUMMER.
Less than a minute later, her response bounced back.
LOOK HARDER.
“Cheery as ever,” I muttered.
“Here’s what I think,” said Vee. “Your mom and Hanky Panky might not be such a bad thing. If it gives you a leg up on Marcie, I’d say promote the relationship full force.”
I gave her a sly look. “Of course you would.”
“Hey now, none of that. You know I don’t have one evil bone in my body.”
“Only two hundred and six of them?”
Vee grinned. “Have I mentioned how good it is to have you back?”
CHAPTER 14
AFTER LUNCH, I DROVE HOME. LESS THAN A MINUTE after I’d parked the Volkswagen on the cement slab beside the driveway, my mom bounced her Taurus into the drive. She’d been home when I left earlier, and I wondered if she’d slipped out for lunch with Hank. I hadn’t stopped smiling since leaving Enzo’s, but my mood cooled suddenly.