Adeline said nothing. I said nothing. We stared at Suzanne and waited.
Vince surveyed the situation, then cleared his throat. He’d seen behavior like this before.
“Listen,” he started.
“No,” Suzanne said, and raised a hand. “This doesn’t concern you.” She looked at Adeline, who wore a nervous smile, then back at me.
“Actually,” Suzanne said, “perhaps it does.”
Vince cleared his throat to speak again, but before he could, she started yelling.
Bastard. Son of a bitch. Go to hell. All the classics, all out of virtually nowhere, all very loud. She yelled something at Adeline, too, but I couldn’t understand what it was. Something about a bitch. Her lovably eccentric demeanor was gone, and she just yelled, like a normal person. The fact that we were in a private room didn’t matter much; I could tell without looking the other patrons could hear it.
“Suzanne,” I said, trying to calm her, “you’re acting crazy.”
“Am I?” she shrieked. “Am I?”
“What are you even talking about?” I asked.
“Suzanne, honey,” Adeline said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s no need to make a scene like this.”
“Oh fuck you,” she said, finally lowering her voice.
In the corner of her eye, I saw the beginning of a tear.
“Fuck both of you,” she continued. “Fuck all three of you.”
“Just what in the hell has gotten into you?” Vince asked in a hushed voice from across the table. He was becoming aggravated. His face reddened and he clenched his teeth. “You need to calm down.” He put extra emphasis on the last words, enunciating them slowly.
At that moment, three waiters entered the room with our entrees. The conversation ceased. Suzanne held her tongue, but tipped back her martini and gulped the rest of it.
“I’ll have another,” she said. “Ketel One, dirty.”
A waiter acknowledged her and they served our plates. In front of me was a twelve-ounce filet and asparagus. It looked impressive and smelled delicious. I wouldn’t be able to appreciate it.
“We’ll all have another round, actually,” Vince said, and the servers left to fetch the drinks.
As soon as they left, she started again.
Asshole. Whore. The words flew around the room and crashed into each other.
“Did you know about this?” she asked in Vince’s direction.
“Jesus, Suzanne. About what?”
“Of course you don’t,” she said. “Why would you? You’ve never seen what’s beneath the surface. You never have.”
She kept going, plowing straight ahead, spewing out half-sentences and disconnected thoughts that made little sense. It scared me, both the way she was acting and the fact that she knew the truth. She could ruin me. She could take me down right there. She was trying.
I looked across the table at Adeline. She wore a blank expression, neither engaging nor concerned. Simply watching the train wreck. A spectator. When I caught her eye, she turned her head and, ever so slightly, winked at me. The woman actually winked at me. That was when I knew she was insane.
The drinks arrived and the conversation again ceased. Uncomfortable silence hung in the air as the waiter placed martini glasses in front of each of us—mine next to my last drink, still half full.
“You’re seriously that stupid?” Suzanne continued once they left. “These two…”—she pointed to Adeline and I—“…have been together. Intimately. They have us fooled.”
Vince looked at her, then the two of us. His eyes narrowed, and for a moment he studied my face, and then hers. His eyes moved back and forth between us, like watching a tennis match. I should have said something, but all I could do was shake my head. My mouth was dry.
He looked at us, back at Suzanne, and after far too long of silence, he tipped his head back and laughed. A deep, belly laugh, reserved for only the most humorous situations. He laughed for thirty seconds, and the rest of us watched. There was a nervous energy. The laughing was misplaced.
“Oh Suzanne,” he said when it died down. “Oh Suzanne.”
Vince rocked forward in his chair and leaned across the table, putting his face in hers. His face straightened.
“Listen,” he said, “you need to calm the fuck down.” His teeth were gritted and his words measured. “I don’t know if you’re going through something, or you keep having episodes, or you’re just not right in the head. But you need to get your shit sorted out. This has gone on long enough, and I will not tolerate it any longer.”
She looked down at the table, like a scolded child. She avoided eye contact and didn’t say a word.
“Now,” Vince said, leaning back in his chair, “are we ready to eat dinner?”
Adeline and I nodded. Suzanne still stared at the table. We all began to eat.
The steak was probably delicious. I cut off the first bite and put it in my mouth, melting on my tongue, tasting like nothing. I sipped the martini. To my left, Suzanne gulped half of hers down. I touched her leg, trying to console her or calm her down or something, and she jerked away.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
“Sorry.”
“No,” she said. “You know what?” she pointed at Vince. “I’m sick of your shit. I’m sick of you treating me like your unstable daughter.”
“Be careful,” he said.
“No. Fuck that. I’m sick of being treated like I’m crazy. I’m not crazy.”
This was between the two of them now. He said nothing.
“Say it,” she said.
He said nothing.
“Say I’m not crazy.”
“I never said you were crazy, Suzanne.”
“You didn’t have to. But now I want you to say I’m not.”
“Take it easy,” he said.
“Say it.”
He turned his attention back to his steak.
“Fuck this,” she said, and flung her cloth napkin on the table. She slid her chair back and stood up. “You can go to hell,” she told Vince, before looking at Adeline and I. “And you can go to hell, and you can go to hell.” She lifted her martini glass, tipped back the rest of it, and threw it across the room. It shattered against the wall.
Suzanne stormed out of the room, through the front door, and into the mountain night.
The three of us watched her leave, slamming the door behind her, then turned our attention back to each other.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Vince shook his head. “I can explain some,” he said, “but I’m afraid not all of it.”
“I should follow her,” I said, getting up from my chair.
“No,” Vince said. “It’s best not to.”
“It’s best not to,” Adeline agreed.
I looked at the door. “She doesn’t have a ride. She’s probably just waiting out there.”
“She’s not waiting,” Vince interjected. “She’s gone.”
“She’s gone,” Adeline said.
I looked at them. “How can you know that?”
“I know her quite well,” Vince said.
I expected more of an explanation.
“So,” I said, raising my palms in the air, “where did she go?”
“She belongs to the mountains now,” he said.
I shook my head and raised my voice. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“Please,” Vince said, “sit down. Let’s eat. Let’s have dinner, like we were supposed to. And I’ll explain as much as I can.”
I looked at him suspiciously. Then at Adeline. Then back at him. When would the explaining be over?
“Trust, remember?” he said, and held out a hand suggestively.
I sat down.
The steak did not regain its taste, and I kept glancing back at the door, expecting her to walk back in, teary-eyed and ashamed. But she didn’t.
Vince explained. And for once, something made sense, if only a little.