Page 42 of Considering Us

“I always assumed Ashlyn was in charge or at least involved with the paper,” I said. I noticed Marnie in the far corner of the kitchen, clearly eavesdropping as she began to peel potatoes. “Hey, Marnie! There’s more heavy cream over here if you need it once you get to that point.”

“Sounds good,” she said in her typically flat tone.

I gave Adrienne a small smile, and her eyes lit up in recognition. I knew she thought Marnie was a bit strange; most people did. “Anyway, I’m trying not to let them get to me, but having your adult social life be the central feature of a student newspaper is weird. Given everything you know about me already, I’m sure it’s not improving your opinion of me,” I said quietly in hopes Marnie didn’t hear, but I had to say it. Part of me worried that Adrienne thought I was just an old tramp. I knew she was enjoying her kitchen internship with me, and I wasn’t sure why I cared so much about what she thought, but I did.

She sighed. “It’s fine. I honestly keep forgetting about you and my dad. Or maybe I just compartmentalize it. Does that make any sense to you?”

Despite some of her past decisions, Adrienne was very mature—perhaps more mature than most adults I knew. “It does. I’m glad you feel that way.”

Adrienne’s phone buzzed, and she paused to look at it. “My roommate. She said my mom’s outside by the sculpture screaming at Ward Connelly. A crowd is gathering.” She stuffed her phone in her pocket. “Why is my family such a sideshow?”she posed while slinging her backpack over her shoulder. “I gotta go.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said and ran after her. As much as I didn’t want to deal with Julianna, Adrienne shouldn’t have to face this situation—whatever it was—alone. It wasn’t until we were outside the dining hall that I realized we both still had our aprons on.

We heard Julianna Preston long before we saw her. Words like “charlatan,” “huckster,” “grifter,” “scammer,” “cheater,” and perhaps most damning, “terrible lover” were thrown around while Ward Connelly stood before her with his arms crossed, wearing a huge purple cape and an eye patch, his gray hair tied back into a low ponytail. It was early December and long past Halloween; this was just another day in Connelly’s clothing choices. Julianna looked like she had come straight from the Pilates studio, wearing probably at least five hundred dollars in high-end workout gear.What on earth is so urgent that it brought her an hour up to Rockwood in such a frenzied state?

“Are you done?” he asked in a gruff voice. “You’re making a fool out of yourself, Julianna. All these people. Your daughter now, too,” he said, gesturing toward Adrienne who was standing next to me, both of us spattered with flour from the roux we made.

“Mydaughter?” she demanded, throwing her hands into the air. “Take a little responsibility, Ward Connelly. Besides just throwing your money and influence around. Have you eventalkedto Adrienne?”

Adrienne looked mortified, her eyes growing bigger by the second. “Stop, Mom! This is ridiculous. Take your lovers’ spat off my campus.”

“Not anymore!” Julianna proclaimed, and the crowd that had gathered darted their eyes back and forth between her and Adrienne. “Now that he’s taken up withkitchen staff!”

Everyone immediately turned to me. “Not me!” I shouted. “Definitely not.”Yuck.

“Thank God,” muttered Adrienne. “Please, Mom, let me live my life. If you have problems with people, please don’t be so fucking public.”

“I’m leaving,” Julianna announced. “I’ll see you at Christmas, Adrienne.” Everyone watched in silence as she stormed off and got into her Mercedes.

Ward turned to the audience. “I trust you all will have a pleasant evening,” he announced to the small crowd that had gathered. He then climbed up a scaffold to a small landing, where he started adjusting what appeared to be a security camera on the trunk of a tree.

I patted Adrienne on the back a couple of times. “I’m really sorry that just happened.”

She shrugged. “The price I pay for a dysfunctional family. Thanks for being here. I’m going back to my dorm now. I want to change clothes before my delicious steak dinner tonight.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’m going to head back there and make some sautéed mushrooms. What do you think about those?”

“I like them with thyme,” she said, somewhat shyly.

“Thyme it is,” I said. “Excellent suggestion.”

As we were about to leave, a woman ran by us and started climbing up the scaffolding. When she got to the top, Ward turned and faced her, and they embraced and began passionately kissing. She had a wool cap on that covered her hair and a big winter coat, which disguised her appearance. Hanging out the bottom of her coat, however, was a white apron string.

Adrienne and I looked at each, wide-eyed, and both mouthed “no!” at the same time.

...

“Let me get this straight,” said Heath, sitting in the passenger seat of my Jeep. “Marnie works with you in the kitchen. She was the temporary head of dining until you got there.”

“Yes,” I answered as we drove up the Maine Turnpike. I had just told Heath the story of the scene that took place at The Stallion the previous afternoon, which would confuse the hell out of anyone who didn’t know these people. I knew all of them and was still perplexed by what I witnessed.

“And she’s a weirdo.”

“Definitely a strange person. Not much personality from what I’ve seen, and I’ve worked with her almost every day for over three months now. She also enjoys serving food in cardboard boxes, but that’s a whole different story.”

“And she’s also a bartender?”

“At The Barnacle, which is the secret campus bar under the dining hall kitchen. No one told me about it until I had been working above it for about a month. Did you know there was a speakeasy at Rockwood?”

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