“Daisy?”
“What?”
“You were telling me you thought a baby would fix your marriage.”
Daisy rubs her brow, trying to focus. The cold wind blows even harder, whipping up the edge of the tablecloth, but she feels hot, sweaty. “I—Jon screwed up in Colorado. He did something stupid. I . . . I had to clean up after him both times.”
“What do you mean?”
“I—it’s nothing. The women—they accused him of stuff. Took it all out of proportion. They were seeking attention. I helped clean it up without his knowledge.”
Vanessa’s gaze turns intense. It makes Daisy feel scared. She’s crossed a line. She shouldn’t have said this.
“Are you able to share what happened?” Vanessa asks quietly.
“It’s like you said. Those A-type male personalities. He just made a mistake. Boys do what boys do—it’s so hard growing up male these days.”
“What kind of mistake?”
Daisy swallows, struggling to pull clarity back into her brain, but she feels as though she’s sliding deeper into some kind of trap of her own making, and she can’t back out now that she’s baited her friend’s curiosity. She attempts a dismissive wave of her hand and says, “Oh, the first incident was forever ago—he was basically a teenager. The other was in Colorado, and it was definitely a manufactured accusation and not Jon’s fault. These two women—for whatever their reasons—they tried to destroy his life.”
“What exactly did they accuse him of?”
Daisy is fully cornered. In desperation she glances at the Glass House. She will have to go through the house to get to her car. She must find a way to politely excuse herself. How did she even get started down this road? But part of Daisy knows the answer. She craves an ally, a real friend. She’s lonely. It’s human nature to share, unburden. But it was a mistake. Her brain is acting strange. She feels so tired. So confused . . . She needs to get home. She needs a nap.
“Daisy?”
She shakes herself, clears her throat. “They accused him of sexual assault.”
Vanessa stares at her, shocked.
“Of course he didn’t do it, Vanessa. It was all lies. All attention seeking. When you’re famous, the higher you go, the harder people try to tear you down. It’s human nature. They lied about the pregnancies, too. Totally lied.”
Vanessa’s face changes. Daisy is terrified now. She’s crossed a Rubicon, and this friend of hers is about to become an ex-friend.
“You have to understand, Vanessa, Jon was under a lot of pressure in the lead-up to the Olympics. He was young. He got very drunk at a party, had a one-night stand with a girl who was infatuated with him and also very drunk, and she threw herself at him. And the other guys egged him on and kind of got involved, too.”
Vanessa’s jaw drops.
Daisy cannot stop now. She has to normalize this. She must make Vanessa understand. She needs Vanessa to understand, to approve of her, to support her.
“The girl took it out of all proportion. She cried rape—gang rape—and then she started saying she was pregnant with Jon’s baby, but thank God no one would back her up. She went to the cops, and they felt obliged to open an investigation, but even the police couldn’t get any corroborating witnesses or find any evidence, because there was none, and so of course there were no charges.”
“So he claimed the sex was consensual?”
“It was.”
“And with the other guys as well?”
“Whatever happened, they were drunk teens having a bit of fun, including her. Jon screwed up by trying to deny the intercourse at first, because he was embarrassed. I mean, she was so not his type. She was this overweight, unattractive thing with bad skin and a bad reputation, and he was blind drunk. Plus he was going out with me. And then when she said she was pregnant with his baby, that’s when he confessed it was consensual, and that there were other guys involved. It could have been one of theirs.”
“Was a paternity test done?”
“The girl went away. I never heard anything more about any baby, so it was clearly a lie. That girl’s accusations could have cost Jon and half the ski team. It would have meant no gold medals for the country the following Olympics. She could have destroyed Jon’s future—”
“And yours.”
A bolt of irritation goes through Daisy. “Yes—yes, and mine. Jon and I had plans for the future.”
“But, Daisy, what if the girl was telling the truth?”
Daisy rubs her face. “Look, even if there was an element of truth, my mother gave the girl’s parents a fortune for her college fund provided she retracted everything and stopped making trouble. Her family would never have gotten that kind of money, Vanessa, not unless they won some lottery. They scored in the end. Her mother was a maid. She cleaned hotel rooms and houses. Her dad worked at the sewage plant. If you really think about it, they were lucky Jon never sued them for damages; plus they got a ton of money.”
“Hush money? Your mother paid her parents hush money?”
“I need to go home. I’m not myself today. I’m sorry I ever broached this. Can we just let it go, please?”
Vanessa stares at Daisy. Her gaze bores a tunnel right through Daisy’s head. She feels ill.
“Did you pay off the woman in Colorado as well?”
Daisy pushes herself up to her feet and wobbles slightly. “Thanks for lunch. I need to get home.”
Vanessa stands. She places her hand gently on Daisy’s arm. “I’m so sorry you went through all that, Daisy. Men suck. They can really suck.”
Tears fill Daisy’s eyes. She nods.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No. I—I’m fine. Honest.”
“What if he ever does something like this again?”
“Jon?”
“Yes, Jon. I mean, guys like him—they don’t change, Daisy, do they? They just learn. They evolve. Adapt. They figure out how to be more careful and how not to get caught next time around.”
She inhales a shaky breath. “If he does, I—I swear, next time I will cut him loose. I’ll sue him to high heaven. I’ll deny him access to our son. And I will win any suit because I—I have insurance. I would use that insurance. A woman always needs insurance when they’re married to men like my husband.”
Softly, Vanessa says, “Insurance?”
Daisy nods, emboldened by Vanessa’s concern, by her own desperate need for Vanessa’s continued approval, her love.
“Someone at the ski lodge party recorded parts of the ‘incident’ on their phone. I got the phone afterward. I copied the footage and made the owner of the phone delete it in front of me. I kept the copy. It’s stored on a flash drive in a safe at my house. I also have copies of the nondisclosure agreements signed by the stripper in Colorado. And I have a copy of the NDA signed by the mother of that girl from Whistler. It all proves Jon did those things. And—” Daisy realizes what she’s saying. She shuts her mouth.
Vanessa leans forward and hugs her tightly. “It’s going to be okay,” Vanessa whispers. “It’ll all be fine.” And Daisy cries.