Ardmore

My sister probed my eyes for a moment. "Ah, I see it. What really concerns you is that she was here with another woman. That scares you. "

"Shouldn't it? I can't compete with another woman Julia. If she prefers women, we're done. Even if Jane were some sort of…of experiment, our marriage would be over. "

Julia moved to sit next to me. "Adrienne would not experiment like that. She is someone who commits to things, to ideas, to people. If she were in love with Jane, she would have told you, there would be no subterfuge, no deception. No, look for another answer because that one is not possible."

"But they talked so frequently," I countered, "I'm not naïve about lesbians. I know it's not so much about sex as it is about relationship, the preludes leading to a physical encounter. You forget I've been in the presence of women having sex. I've been there. "

"The club?" whispered my sister.

"Yes."

Julia's phone buzzed and she quickly took it from her purse and flipped it open. "My ride is waiting. I better get going," she said. "I'll see you in the morning. Regardless of your fears, just remember this is Adrienne we are talking about. She's not those other women."

With that, Julia kissed my cheek and was off. "Who was that that 'texted' her?" I wondered. It could not have been Howard. I quickly shook off that line of thought. I was becoming too suspicious. I questioned everything. My antenna had also gone up every time I spoke with Lt. Havlechek. Maybe it was nothing, but he seemed a bit too forthcoming with information, a little too accommodating.

Julia's call made me think of my own phone. I pulled it from my pocket remembering that it was off while we were in the hospital. Once on, I reviewed my messages. Most were from Allie during the afternoon.

There were also voicemails from several of my staff at school, some reporters, and a friend I had not spoken with in a couple of years. I deleted all but the last. Hers I replayed for I found comfort in her voice.

In her message she had well wishes for Adrienne and I, yet I detected an undertone of worry. I too had had uneasiness at the beginning of this nightmare thinking it could have been related to an incident in my past? My friend was exercising her prerogative to be paranoid. I now knew that it had no connection and made a note to call her in the morning to dispel her concerns.

The central problem remained Adrienne, her condition, and why she had risked our relationship to come to this place.