Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton Read Free Book Online

think,” Eadie said, and rolling out of bed, she went to get ready for her lunch appointment with Lavonne Zibolsky.

CHAPTER
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    THREE
    L AVONNE’S MEETING WITH Nita was scheduled for noon, so she arrived at the Pink House Restaurant at eleven forty-five. Lavonne prided herself on her ability to be early for any appointment. It was one of those things she did really well. Now that her daughters were nearly grown and no longer needed her, now that Leonard was well-established in his Big Important Career, the things that Lavonne did really well had been whittled down some, but she clung to them stubbornly. She was punctual. She was precise. She could add columns of numbers in her head. It was a small list, but for the time being, it would have to do.
    She had lain awake most of the night worrying about the party. Lavonne didn’t like to fail at anything, even something she didn’t really want to do, and somewhere between the panic attack that set in when she imagined telling Leonard and Charles Broadwell that she hadn’t found a caterer, and the pleasant time she spent imagining herself running away to the beach, she had decided she would no longer worry about the party. She would do the best she could, and if the dinner turned out to be a disaster, well, too bad. If Leonard and Charles wanted to get mad at someone they should get mad at Charles’s reptilian mother, Virginia, who had decided at the last minute to bail and dump the party on the wives.
    This early morning revelation had been noble and courageous, but the reality, of course, was that in the cold hard light of day, Lavonne was still worried. She hoped that the meeting with Nita would be productive. She hoped that this feeling of heaviness in her chest, this shortness of breath, would go away once she and Nita had had a chance to discuss what they must do. But when she saw Nita pull to the curb outside the restaurant and climb wearily out of her car, Lavonne’s hopes plummeted like a spent rocket and she realized Nita would be no help whatsoever. Nita’s face, in the bright slash of winter sunlight, was pale and haggard. There were dark circles beneath her eyes.
    Anyone who had known the lovely, luminous girl Nita had once been would not have recognized the woman now climbing out of her car. She had been a secretary at Boone & Broadwell when Leonard first joined the firm, and had been secretly dating Charles Broadwell for three years. In those days there had been a radiance about Nita, a good-hearted optimism that affected all who knew her. But sixteen years of marriage to Charles Broadwell had tarnished that brightness. Nita was still an extraordinarily pretty woman, with her slender figure and large gray eyes, but there was a faded quality to her now, like old cloth, as if she might be slowly wearing away.
    She came into the restaurant looking forlorn and bent forward at the waist as if she dragged something heavy behind her. Looking at her, Lavonne had a sudden memory of her mother struggling to carry a basket of wet clothes to the clothesline on a wintry day.
    “Sorry I’m late,” Nita said, sliding into a chair.
    “You’re never late,” Lavonne said. The memory of her mother gradually faded. She raised her hand to get the waiter’s attention, and as he began to make his way across the crowded room she leaned forward and said to Nita, “I can see you didn’t sleep last night worrying about this damn party. I’m telling you, though, I have it all under control. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”
    Nita smiled but she didn’t say anything. It was true that she hadn’t slept much last night, but it had nothing to do with the firm party. She had dreamed she was being chased by little blue fish. She’d spent all night swimming in slow motion, trying to escape the shiny blue piranhas before they ate her alive. The dream had left her tired and depressed. “Is Eadie coming?” Nita asked, slipping her purse beneath the table.
    “I don’t