Don't Tell

“Nora, Sondra is dead,” Nick said quietly.

The doorbell rang.

“Who’s next?” Nora asked.

“That’s Lauren’s date,” Holly replied sharply. “Now, keep quiet! Try to act normal and not embarass us all.”

Nora bit her lip and turned to Nick. He laid his hand on her shoulder. “Everything’s all right.” The expression on his face, the sound of his voice, was heartbreakingly gentle.

But it was my heart that had been broken the night my mother died, not Nora’s, and everything wasn’t all right.

nine

The doorbell rang for the third time.

“What do you think,” Frank asked, “should we let in Lauren’s date before he tries another house?”

Nora sprang up and ran upstairs. Holly answered the door.

“This is Jason Deere,” she announced.

My tall, dark-haired date was extremely good-looking and knew how to make an entrance, stopping a few feet inside the room, smiling at me.

“Okay, let’s not make like a deer caught in headlights,” Frank said. “Line up next to this pretty girl so I can snap a picture and we all can move on.”

Jason liked to have his picture taken. He also liked to look at my chest. I wished he’d stop.

“How come you’re not covering up for him?” Nick whispered as we left the house.

“Excuse me?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

I folded my arms over my chest, but had to unfold them again to walk — it was too difficult to balance with the slim dress and spike heels.

Nick threw back his head and laughed. Both Holly and I glared at him. Jason looked a little mystified but had too much self-confidence to worry about what was going on. He took my hand and drew it lightly through his arm, escorting me to his car.

We arrived at the Queen Victoria just as Jason’s exgirlfriend and her date entered the hotel. Though it was about to pour, we had to wait in the car several minutes to make sure they were settled inside and could watch us arrive. When we finally got to the famous arch of roses, guys gave me the once-over. Girls whispered. Jason’s ex checked me out and looked annoyed. Jason was very pleased with this and told me so. I should have realized then what kind of night it was going to be.

Wherever she was, we were, on the carved wood staircase, by the punch-and-cookie tables, near a screen of potted palms. Jason gazed deep in my eyes as if we were madly in love and told boring basketball stories. For the first hour my only real entertainment was watching two girls dump glasses of punch on Nick.

Karen, my guide from earlier in the day, was standing nearby and explained what I had already figured out. “Nick said yes to both of them when they asked him to the prom.”

A half hour later he had danced with both of them, and a lot of other girls as well, while Holly directed Steve in his picture taking.

Occasionally Jason would wander off with one of his basketball buddies. Nick had at least two chances to ask me to dance, but didn’t.

My feelings aren’t hurt, I told myself. But they were.

I tried mixing in with the other kids, asking about their plans for the summer and college, but it was only natural at this last school-sponsored event that they would want to talk about their memories, rather than get to know an outsider.

At a band break, while Jason and his buddies recalled another story in the series of their team’s greatest moments, I slipped away. I found a velvet love seat, conveniently secluded by palms that separated it from the other chairs. I sank down on it, glad to give my feet and party face a rest.

The fan of palms split. Nick’s smile appeared. “Having a good time?” he asked.

“Terrific,” I lied.

“How do you like Jason?”

“He’s a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, I can tell. He’s over there, you’re here.”

“My feet are tired,” I explained.

Nick leaned forward, so his face came around the side of the big plant. “That’s one of those things I’ve never understood, girls and shoes. Why are you wearing those instruments of torture?”

I shrugged. “They’re Aunt Jule’s. They match the dress.”

“You could drive their heels through the heart of a vampire.”

I laughed and he laughed with me, but his eyes were watchful.

“Sometimes you look so serious,” he said.

I glanced away. “Some things in life are serious.”

“Ignore them,” Nick told me. “I always do.”

I met his gaze. “You’ve been lucky in your life. So far you haven’t confronted anything that you can’t ignore.”

His face grew thoughtful, his eyes a different shade of green. I knew I was looking at him too long. I wished he would take my hand and be as gentle with me as he had been with Nora.

“Jason’s looking for you.” Holly’s voice cut between us.

I straightened up as if our school’s headmistress had just walked in.

“For me?” Nick asked mischievously.

“For Lauren.”

“Right,” I said, standing up.

Holly’s voice became warmer. “He’s thrilled with you, Lauren. He says he’s got the hottest girl at the prom.”

“Great.” I headed toward Jason without glancing back at her and Nick.

Jason lifted his arm and put it around me as if we had been a couple forever, then went right on talking. I noticed a man wearing rose-tinted glasses standing at the rim of the group of athletes, smiling and nodding. He looked like one of those teachers who wanted to be in with the kids, the kind who went by his first name and didn’t realize he was hopelessly uncool.

But I had no one else to talk to. When he followed the cheese tray around the circle to me, I smiled at him.

“I’m Dr. Parker,” he said, holding out his hand. “Call me Jim.”

“Lauren Brandt,” I replied, shaking his hand.

He repeated my name slowly. “Now, how would I know you?”

Judging by his wide, flowered tie, sandals and socks, and the ecology button pinned cockeyed on his shirt, he wasn’t a supporter of my father. “I’m staying with my godmother, Jule Ingram, and her daughters, Holly and Nora.”

“Oh, yes. Holly and Nora. Two very different girls.”

“Have you taught Nora?” I asked eagerly. A teacher’s view of her might be helpful.

“No. I’m the school guidance counselor. “

“So you have a background in psychology,” I said.

“That’s right.”

I steered him away from the group. “I have some questions.”

“But I have no answers,” he replied, smiling.

“My questions are about Nora, not myself,” I explained, when we were a distance from the others. “I’ve known her all my life and I’m really worried. Do you have any idea what’s wrong with her?”

Dr. Parker leaned back against a dark wood pillar, crossing one foot over the other, tilting his head at me. I had a feeling he had seen that pose in a movie. “Are you asking for a diagnosis?”

“Well, yes.”