Listen for the Lie(50)

Ben:???????????????Can you elaborate on that?

Beverly:?????????Some men, they’ve got to put on a show when they’re around women. It’s like they don’t actually know how to talk to us, so they choose over-the-top chivalry. “If I pull out her chair and make a big show of talking about how moms are heroes and women are actually the strong ones, they won’t notice that I don’t have any interest in listening to a single word that comes out of their mouths.”

Matt was like that.

Ben:???????????????Did you tell Lucy your concerns?

Beverly:?????????Not at that time, no. She was twenty years old. No one wants their grandma weighing in on their boyfriend at that age. At any age, honestly. So, I kept my mouth shut until they got engaged.

Ben:???????????????You said something then?

Beverly:?????????I did. Lucy called me all excited, telling me Matt proposed, and I said, “Honey, why don’t you wait a bit? You’re so young. Go to Europe. Buy an old van and travel the country. Don’t get married. You have your whole life to be married.”

She didn’t like that, of course. And when she asked if I didn’t like Matt, I told her, no, I didn’t. I said that I got a bad feeling from him, and that if he really loved her, he would understand that she wanted to wait a few years to get married. What kind of twenty-two-year-old boy wants to get married these days anyway? We’re not Mormons, for Christ’s sake.

Ben:???????????????What was her response?

Beverly:?????????She was polite, but it was obvious that she wasn’t going to take my advice. I can’t blame her. I was the same way when I was her age. Stars in my eyes. Thinking about my pretty white dress and the chubby little babies who would look up at me adoringly.

In the end, life is just sweatpants and children who resent you and all your choices. But no one wants to hear that.

Ben:???????????????What about after they got married? Did you warm to Matt?

Beverly:?????????Goodness no. I hated him even more, and I don’t care who knows it.

The act started to fade a bit, and I’d catch him sniping at Lucy. I’d see him roll his eyes at something she said. And he started to slip, say things that he really meant after I’d known him a few years. Men can only hide it for so long, you know?

Ben:???????????????Hide what?

Beverly:?????????Who they really are. Matt’s real, horrible self was shining through after a few years.

Ben:???????????????What kinds of things did he say?

Beverly:?????????Well, let me tell you the one that really matters. I may be old, but I remember this word for word. We were out to eat at the restaurant where Savvy worked. We saw her over at the bar as we walked in, and Don leaned over and said something to Matt. I don’t know what. But Matt goes, “That little slut hates me.”

Ben:??????????????? … He said “little slut” in front of you?

Beverly:?????????He sure did. He muttered it under his breath, and he looked a little embarrassed after, like he hadn’t meant to say it. Don just laughed a little, like he was embarrassed too, and I don’t think either of them realized I’d heard.

Ben:???????????????Did you tell Lucy?

Beverly:?????????No. I considered it, but I didn’t know what purpose it would serve. But I really started to worry at that point. If that was something he’d say to his wife’s father, what sorts of things must he be thinking? Or saying to Lucy?





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


LUCY




“Mom, you should have at least talked to me first.” Mom greets Grandma at the door this way. From my spot leaning against the kitchen counter, I can see Grandma pull off her sunglasses to reveal an unamused expression. I pop another donut hole in my mouth.

Grandma steps into the house, waving off her daughter. “I don’t need your permission to tell people my opinions.”

“Ben isn’t people, he’s—” She stops with the front door half-closed, using the end of her crutch to prop it open. “Whose truck is that?”

“A friend’s.” Grandma plops down at the kitchen table.

“Which friend?” Mom closes the door and hobbles over.

“Just a friend.”

“How many friends do you have these days?”

“I don’t know, Kathleen, a few,” Grandma says, exasperated. “I’m a likable person.”

“Wouldn’t know what that’s like,” I quip.

She puts a soft hand over mine. “Better to be interesting than likable, in my opinion.”

Mom wrinkles her nose like she disagrees.

“Do you want some coffee?” I ask Grandma. “I just made a fresh pot.”

“Yes, hon. Thank you.”

I pour her a cup and drop the box of donut holes in the middle of the table. Grandma fishes out a powdered-sugar-covered one.

“Ben is not people!” Mom says, picking up her earlier complaint. “He broadcasted that interview to millions.”

“I think it’s thousands of people,” I say. “Let’s not pump up Ben’s ego any more.”

“Can you be serious for a minute, Lucy? Your grandmother could get sued.”

“For what? Saying Matt’s an asshole? He is. You can’t sue people for telling the truth.” I don’t actually think that’s true, but it sounds good.