Page 87 of Suddenly Dating
“Are you talking about your accounting?” Harry asked, sounding confused.
“Yes.That.”
“That makes no sense,” Lola said, annoyed. “Every time I’m there, it’s full of people. You have so many customers!”
“You’re not understanding,” Mallory said gravely, and latched on to Lola’s shoulder, gripping it. “The salesaregood. But I’m going to tell you a secret.”
“Please don’t,” Lola moaned.
“No, wait. It’s not a secret,” Mallory said, frowning. “It’s not a secret because I am thirty years old and I live with my parents, so how can it be a secret?” She whipped her head to Harry. “Did you hear that, Harry? I’mthirtyand I live with myparents.”
“That’s your big secret?” Lola asked, increasingly annoyed.
“No! The secret is that I can’t do anything on my own because I have brain damage,” she said, and tapped her head with her fist.
“Mallory, for God’s sake,” Lola said. “You may forget a few things, but you’re really smart and funny—”
“I am severely...severelydyslexic,” she said, grabbing Lola’s shoulder again. “Why do you think Albert set me up in a candy shop? I can’t keep a job!” she cried with such verve that she toppled into the back seat again. “Albert is going to close the shop down! He doesn’t get dyslexia. He thinks it is something I can shake off. Now I don’t know what to do—I love the candy shop, and I love all the kids who come in. But I’m really disorganized, and numbers turn upside down. And I am somadthat you are going to help Birta,” she said, casting her arm presumably in the direction of Birta but hitting the window with her hand. “And notme.”
“Jesus,” Harry muttered.
“Mallory, I’ll help you,” Lola said. “Of course I’ll help you.”
“I don’t want you to help me!” Mallory shouted. “I can’t pay you!”
“Who said anything about money? I’ll help you because you are my friend.”
“No you won’t,” Mallory said, and dissolved into a fit of hiccups and tears as she sank onto her side across the back seat.
“How much did shedrink?” Harry asked softly.
“Buckets?” Lola whispered back.
By the time they reached the lake house, Mallory had drifted off into la-la land, and it took Lola and Harry’s combined strength to maneuver her out of the car and into the house. At the door, Harry grew impatient with Mallory’s wobbly legs. He scooped her up in his arms. “Where do I put her?”
“My bed,” Lola said, and hurried behind him as he carried a giggling Mallory down the hall into the master suite. He deposited her on the bed, on top of the dresses she’d brought from New York, and shook his head. “She’s going to regret this in the morning if she remembers.”
They left Mallory on the bed and walked out into the living area, the two of them standing awkwardly at the end of the kitchen bar. Harry seemed to be thinking. Probably how to deliver the bad news.
“Well... thanks again,” Lola said, folding her arms across her. “For going with me tonight. And for helping me with Mallory.”
“I’m glad I was there. I don’t think you could have managed her on your own.”
Lola nodded. “You keep helping me, Harry. But you don’t have to, you know. Seriously, I think I can handle it from here.”
Harry gave her a look of bafflement. “Handle what?”
The way he had looked at Melissa kept flashing in her mind’s eye; she felt a burn in her belly and glanced down, unwilling to look at him just now.
“Lola?” He touched her face.
Lola held her breath. Maybe now he would say it had been great, but...Melissa. She almost wanted him to say those things so they could stop pretending that there was really something between them and go back to being temporary roommates.
“We should talk about Lissa.”
And now her heart was falling, sinking. She drew a deep breath.
“I know tonight was something of a surprise,” he said. “I know that must have come as a big shock to you.”
