“I’m going to talk to her,” says Paige, going to shoulder her way past Noah.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” says Jack, grabbing hold of her arm. “There’s all sorts of things going on that you don’t know about. For Will’s sake, I suggest we all just get through the rest of the evening, as best we know how, making as little fuss as possible.”
Paige laughs acerbically. “What? And let her get away with telling my best friend that I’m having an affair with her husband?” She’s still tugging at Jack to release his grip on her.
“For the moment, yes,” says Jack authoritatively.
“But you are going to deal with this?” says Paige. It’s a rhetorical question.
“And you are going to tell Will what’s been going on?” adds Rachel, piling the pressure on him.
Noah snorts. “Isn’t it a bit late for that?”
“I’ll deal with Will,” says Jack. “But not now.”
“Isn’t this just wonderful?” says Ali’s mum, as she approaches them, misreading the mood completely.
They all fix false smiles on their faces, with the men already beginning to edge discreetly away so they don’t get caught up in whatever else she’s about to say.
“I mean it’s just breathtaking,” she goes on, looking out across the fuchsia cliffs as they descend into a sea of the same color. A full moon has now replaced the sun, but it’s the neon pink of lasers that’s reflected in the inky black water.
“It is,” agrees Rachel, at a loss for anything else to say.
“She so deserves this,” says Maria, as if to herself.
“I’m going to get another drink,” says Paige, curtly, obviously unable to listen to anyone singing Ali’s praises. Rachel’s going to find it hard to stomach as well if Maria intends to go down that line.
As Paige moves away, Maria turns to face Rachel and looks at her so intently that it makes Rachel shift her stance in an effort to snap her out of it.
“Please don’t hate her,” says Maria.
“Ex-cuse me?” says Rachel, unable to believe that Ali’s mother is in on this ridiculous charade as well. “Do you have any idea what she’s been doing?”
Maria nods. “She’s told me what’s going on and I’m sorry, I truly am, because you seem like such a nice person.”
“Mrs.…” starts Rachel.
“Please, call me Maria,” she says, putting her hand on Rachel’s arm. “It might not seem like it right now, but she’s only trying to do the right thing by you.”
Rachel looks at her through narrowed eyes, trying to put herself in her position as a mother. Without knowing what part of Ali’s catalog of deception Maria is alluding to, it’s hard to judge whether she’d try and make the same excuses for Josh if she had to. Does she know, for example, that her daughter has been essentially blackmailing her former boss? Trying to force him into a predicament that he doesn’t want to be in, or else she’ll tell his wife that it’s happening anyway? Does she know that now that Ali’s on the ropes, she’s accused another woman of having an affair with him? An allegation so potentially damaging that it could have a devastating effect on two families.
“No disrespect, but I don’t think you have any idea what your daughter is capable of.”
“You know,” says Maria, leaning in. “When I had my accident, if Alison hadn’t been there for me, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Rachel looks around, hoping for an escape opportunity to present itself. This woman is clearly as deluded as her daughter.
“When they got me into the hospital, I had a twenty percent chance of survival,” she goes on. “Unbeknownst to me, Alison had already been told that I had a hundred percent chance of losing my leg.”
The admission takes Rachel so by surprise that she can’t help but look at the two shins and sandalled feet that appear from below Maria’s long floral skirt.
“False,” she says, tapping on the prosthetic.
“I’m sorry,” says Rachel. “I didn’t realize.”
“As I say, if Alison hadn’t made the sacrifice that she did, I honestly wouldn’t be here now, so just know that whatever she does, it’s always from a good place.”
“Sacrifice?” asks Rachel, unable to help herself. “If she hadn’t been driving, you wouldn’t be in a wheelchair.”