"Don't you remember?"
"Only vaguely. I remember waking up on thecouch under that great heavy fuzzy blanket with Harold on top ofme."
Jack pursed his lips together. "Do you rememberhow you ended up there?"
Bits and pieces were flashing back as she triedto remember. She could feel the weight of the glass in her hand.Like a ghost, she stood up and walked out to the living room. Shelooked around. The comfortable worn brown leather couch. Thefireplace was now dark and cold, unused in the hot summer months.Flashes of conversation were coming back to her. She had cried.Jack had held her until finally the tears stopped. Standing, theworld tilting. Being caught. His hand, brushing her hair out of herface. Her arm, clutching at his firm back. His bright blue eyes,crinkling at the corners when he laughed at something she said.Crying. Laughing. Hugging. Kissing.
Elizabeth's head snapped up and looked aroundin panic. "What exactly happened between us?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: August 26,2012
"Oh my God, did we have sex? What did we do? Ohmy God, I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I don'tremember. Don't you think I should remember doing something likethat?"
"Liza, calm down, you're rambling."
Just then, the doorbell rang, startlingElizabeth so that she almost dropped her bottle. Jack steadied itquickly, as he started heading towards the door. "Um, this, um,shit. This isn't going to be good. Sit down."
"What do you mean, this isn’t going to begood?" She asked as she sank onto the far end of thecouch.
Jack reached the door, but before opening it,he turned so that he was facing into the kitchen. He was looking atthe screen door off the side of the house. "John, time to come in.Your mom's here." Then, he met Elizabeth's eyes, mouthing the word'sorry' as he pulled open the door.
Nancy breezed in like she owned the place."Jeez, took you long enou—"She froze, looking at Elizabeth. The look was unmistakable. It wasone of pure hatred. "I guess it shouldn't surprise me thatyou're here," she said. "I thoughtthe van looked familiar."
"Why would that be Nancy?" Jack cut her off. "Iwas surprised that she was here. This is only the third time I'veseen Liza in the past seventeen or so years, so I was prettyshocked when she pulled into the driveway."
"So you admit, that she's Liza," said Nancy ina triumphant manner.
"It was never any big secret. If she hadactually ever read the book, Elizabeth would have known it from the get go."Jack was trying to keep the situation light. Perhaps he was afraidthat there would be a physical confrontation between Elizabeth andNancy.
"Nancy, I, ahh, let me explain." Elizabethcould no longer just sit there quietly.
"This ought to be rich." As Nancy sat down onthe arm of the chair, John came running in. His hair was the exactcolor that his father's had been in high school. Elizabeth knew shehad missed the resemblance, but only because she wasn't looking forit.
"John, I need to talk to Dad and Mrs. Zurlo fora moment. Can you go back outside until it's time for us toleave?"
"Sure, Mom. C'mon Harold." And with that, thereprieve was gone, and it was up to Elizabeth to speakagain.
Before she could say anything, Jack cut heroff. "Liza, you don't owe Nancy any kind ofexplanation."
"Yes, Jack, I do."
"I love this whole Liza and Jack thing." Nancy said acerbically."It's like you have your own exclusive club. Of course, people intowhat you're into usually aren’t too exclusive. We knowLiza isn’t."
"That's it, Nancy. Time to go." Jack startedtowards Nancy, leaving his relaxed position leaning in the doorwayto the living room.
"No, wait!"
Both Nancy and Jack turned to look atElizabeth. It was apparent that neither one had expected her tospeak up in her own defense.
"Liza, you don't have to do this." Jack gaveElizabeth a pleading look.
"Yes, I do. Nancy is ... was, my friend. Shedeserves an answer. I was not the only one who felt deceived byyour book."
"I didn't deceive anyone, let aloneNancy."
Before Nancy could speak, Elizabeth jumped in."Yes, you did. You used her for information. You led her to believethat the book was going to be about her."
"I don't need you to defend me," Nancy cutin.
"Okay, Nancy, maybe you don't want me to defendyou, but you will hear me out." Elizabeth's assertiveness surprisedeven her. "You don't need to like me, but you need to listen tome."
"Fine. I'm listening."
Jack was listening as well. He sat down on thecouch, as far away from Elizabeth as he could get. But he nevertook his eyes off of her.
"Nancy, first of all, let me say that I don'towe you an explanation, but I want to give you one in the interestof what I thought was our new friendship. Secondly, I had no ideathat Jack was your ex-husband. I obviously had no idea that he wasJ.P. Devaney, either. I wish I had, because it could have—wellthat's neither here nor there. I knew Jack in high school. I hadn'tseen him since my freshman year in college until two Octobers ago.I had car trouble, and his was the nearest house that I was able toget to."
"So the story is true then, isn'tit?"
"No, of course not! How could you thinkthat?"
Nancy just shrugged, looking a little bored.She flicked her nails in irritation.
"I was having some marital problems and waspretty unhappy. Because of the storm, I had to stay here. Jack andI talked, kind of rehashing old times and such. That's all." Shehoped her eyes didn't look guilty. She hoped that was all. Shereally needed to remember what exactly had happened betweenthem.
Elizabeth continued. "The next time I saw Jackwas at your party in June, when I literally ran into him coming outof the bathroom. I thought he was there as one of Archie's businesspeople. We got to talking again, catching up on the past eighteenmonths, and then I realized that my ride had left. Jack offered todrop me off at home. It wasn't until three days later, when I sawhim on TV, that I realized he had written the book. I still hadn'tread past the first few pages. Once I saw the cover, and read somemore, I realized how bad
