Lauren Takes Leave by Gerstenblatt, Julie (ebooks children's books free txt) 📕

really so much worse than anything I could haveimagined. Her eyes are rimmed in purplish green and the whole top half of herface is puffy. “Did I…did I also break your nose?” I whisper-ask.

She merely nods.

Then she reaches up and removes the gauze from her check,displaying a gnarly, jagged line of stitches caked over in dried blood.

“Yikes,” Jodi says.

That’s when I notice the bandages on Leslie’s hands. “Whathappened there?” I ask, gesturing to the Band-Aids covering both palms.

“When you knocked me to the living room floor, I broke mynose against the coffee table and then cut my hands on some shards of glassfrom a broken, priceless Baccarat vase that you will have to pay for.”

I try to remember that scene from Wednesday night, andshake my head. “I’m really sorry about hurting you with the heel of my shoe,Leslie. Really, I regret it more than words can say, and I’m hoping I can find someway to make it up to you. But the rest I didn’t do. The coffee table had beenmoved out of the way, to make room for the pole dancing.”

“According to who?” she asks, moving in so close that Ican smell the kosher hors d’oeuvres on her warm breath. “It’s your word againstmine, Worthing, isn’t it? Everyone at my party saw you gash my face.Everyone saw you and Kat run for the door, and everyone—”

“That’s because you were calling me a—” I cut in, in mydefense.

“I was a wonderful hostess through and through, andyou shat on me!” She steps away from me and toward the sink, where she calmlydispenses soap into her hands and begins to scrub between the bandages. Shelooks at us reflected behind her in the mirrored wall. “Who do you think a jurywould believe?”

Jodi and I stand there, mouths open, trying to take in thefact that I’m being fucked sideways.

Yes, who would a jury believe?

“But—” I begin. “But—you said you had the whole thingcaught on tape! From a nanny cam!” Not that this would help my case exactly,but at this point I think it must be better to have proof of the terrible actsI really did do, rather than being framed for the awful things I didn’t.

Leslie smiles with half her mouth, like that characterfrom The Dark Knight after his face melts and he turns all evil. “MaybeI have it, and maybe I lost it.”

“’Shat’ is such a weird word, isn’t it?” Kat says. “Inever like how it sounds.” We all turn toward her voice.

“I slipped in unnoticed at some point during her tirade,”she explains. Turning to Leslie, she adds, “Quite a performance. I only hopeyou can be as convincing out there in the ballroom tonight.”

Leslie stays cool. “Well, if it isn’t Lauren’s littlegarden gnome.”

“A short joke! How original,” Kat says. “Jodi, don’t youhave to get out there now? I think you’re on first.” Jodi and I move toward thedoor like lost sheep finally collected by our loving shepherd.

We are out in the hallway when we hear Leslie’s partingwords. “Oh, Kat? Make sure to slip Jodi some tongue when you kiss her good lucktonight. I know how much you like the pretty ones!”

Which can only mean one thing: she’s seen the videos.

“Wow, she’s got a dark side I never saw at SharingShabbat,” Jodi says, shuddering. “Not to mention, she did that Keratintreatment on her hair this week, and now she looks like a drowned rat.”

“That’s what you noticed about her appearance, Jo?” I ask.“Her newly straightened, processed hair?” Then I turn my attention toKat. “You okay?”

She reaches for her phone and begins tap-tapping in a waythat’s reminiscent of the gestures that preceded our trip to South Beach. “Oh,I’m just awesome,” she says. “Fan-fucking-tastic.” She turns away from us, herphone glowing ominously.

“No more trips, Kat!” I joke, but she waves me away,half-listening.

Then I turn my attention to Jodi. “You going to beokay?” I ask, worried that Jodi might have lost her focus before her Big Night.The three of us walk toward the ballroom together as crowds of people are beingushered to their seats.

“I’m fine,” she says, taking a deep breath. “My wholefamily is here to support me, and you guys are here, and I’ve been practicingthis for months, and now I get to do it in my grandmother’s honor.” She pauses,tears in her eyes. “It’s going to be a beautiful evening. Nothing can spoil itfor me.”

“Amen to that, ladies,” MC Lenny says, swooping down overour little huddle and making me jump.

“Lenny!” Jodi smiles, embracing him. “I was gettingworried!”

“Because…he’s supposed to be here?” Kat asks,putting her phone into her bag.

“That’s what I was wondering.” I quickly scan the hallwayfor signs of Doug. This is very wrong. I feel faint. I glare menacingly atJodi, who seems oblivious to my pain, her arm tucked neatly into the crook ofLenny’s elbow.

By making her plans for tonight, whatever they are, Jodihas unwittingly fucked with the space-time continuum of my universe.

“See, Lauren?” Lenny says, turning toward me. “I told youat the airport yesterday that I had a feeling I’d be seeing you again soon.”

“Oh yes, I see!” I smile painfully and take two baby stepsaway from him. “So very soon!”

“And why is that again?” Kat asks.

Lenny smiles. “Ah, Kat. How I’ve missed you.”

“Don’t tell them, Len. I want it to be a surprise untilthe very last moment!” Jodi says, jumping up and down like a cheerleader. “Leeand the kids don’t know, my parents don’t know, only the rabbi does…it will beamazing.” Motioning to Kat and me, Jodi says, “Now, you guys go in andlet me work with Lenny, here.”

Great. My husband and my crush at the same temple eventwith a woman who wants to kill me. I’m not a very religious person, but I’vegot to believe that Someone is seriously testing me.

Chapter 31

I’m not sure what I expected, but the temple’s ballroomis underwhelming. Try as they might, there is little a decorations committeecan do to hide the fact that the place was constructed in the late 1960s, withparquet wood floors, low-grade ceiling tiles, and few windows. Fifteen or