CHAPTER NINETEEN
Fee
Friday–Saturday
After the movie, Fee and Cass went back to Cass’s house for a sleepover. As usual, they hung out in the basement, where a pool table and game systems provided entertainment as well as an excuse to seclude themselves. Despite good intentions and poured-concrete soundproofing, Fee still couldn’t bring herself to confess her LeBron-on-steroids-size tale. When Cass suggested chocolate-chip cookies, Fee eagerly consented, not realizing it would entail a postmidnight bake fest. Cass’s house was small. Granted, her parents were in bed, but Fee had no idea how much noise carried to the first-floor master. And Fee’s confession required the kind of privacy only a separate, preferably subterranean, level could provide.
Shortly before one, as they sat at the island debating if the cookies tasted better dunked in root beer or Gatorade, Cass cleared her throat. “I want you to know something,” she said.
“What?”
“There’s a rumor going around about your aunt Jocelyn.”
“What kind of rumor?”
Cass strummed her fingernails on the island top, making a tip-tap, tip-tap sound. “About Jocelyn and that Keith guy.”
“What did you hear?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Just tell me.” Fee shouldn’t have had that big scoop of cookie dough. The raw egg wasn’t settling well.
“I guess it’s what Marjory was hinting at before. My sister heard from one of her teammates that Keith used to go with both your mom and Jocelyn.”
“I already knew that.”
“And that he dumped Jocelyn, dumped your mom, and left town because he didn’t want to be a dad.” Cass dipped her head nervously. “But the weird thing is they’re saying it was Jocelyn he left pregnant.”
Fee forgot to breathe. Her trapped swell of air came out as a huff. This was what the two women at the dead-lady party were talking about: why they used the term mystery child. And how exactly had she asked her mom? How had her mom phrased her denial? Was her mom’s dismissal of Keith only correct on a technicality—a loophole. One where Keith hadn’t left her pregnant? Cass was looking at Fee with big, bugged-out eyes. Now what? Fee thought. Her goal for the night, to deny the drug-smuggling Turk, would give credibility to this new version of events. Fee’s mind was bucking that notion with a fury that left her hurt and angrier than she’d been in a long time.
“That’s nuts,” Fee snapped. “I hope you stuck up for me. I hope you told Mel to tell whoever is spreading that shit to shut up.”
“I did,” Cass said. “Except I couldn’t very well tell Mel the truth.”
The truth. What the hell was it? Fee hurt in a place she couldn’t name, couldn’t find on an anatomy chart, couldn’t even point to. And it was too crazy to think about. No way Aunt Jocelyn would leave her baby. And why would one sister raise the other’s child?
“I don’t feel so good,” Fee said. “I ate too much batter. I need to crash.”
For the rest of the night, Fee lay on the old sofa in the basement listening to Cass’s nearby purr of blocked nasals and convinced herself that rumors were usually just that.