Page 84 of Devil in Disguise
“Well, not exactly,” Dyma said. “I mean, yeah, because she almost got trampled by a charging bison on her first day skiing, and Harlan knocked her down saving her, but after that, it was all pretty normal. We just skied together a little, that’s all.” When was the last time she’d combed her hair? This morning?
“Wow,” Caroline said. “Harlan saved your mother from a charging bison? What a hero story. And after that, you both flew to North Dakota with them for the Super Bowl?”
“Seriously,” Dyma said, “how is this exciting? Or newsworthy? So far, you’ve got a pretty boring story. Sure, if you’d been there when the bison was actuallycharging,but …”
Oh. This was about Harlan’s parents. That was old news, though. His father had been sentenced back in the summer. Why would anybody be doing a story about it now?
Caroline said, “Was that the weekend you fell in love with Owen Johnson, too?”
“Well, yeah,” Dyma said, more aware than ever of her holey sweater and Devils T-shirt. And no bra. And fuzzysocks.“But it wasn’t like he whisked me away to his private island or whatever. We just ate a few dinners in restaurants. Again—boring story much?”
“It must have been so exciting, though,” Caroline said, “for a high-school student from rural Idaho to be pursued by an older, famous NFL player. Did you and your mom double-date with Harlan and Owen from the start? Did you recognize them as soon as you saw them, or did it take a while?”
“Sorry,” Dyma said, “but I have to get ready for my shift.” Whatwasthis?
“That’s right,” Caroline said. “You work in the kitchen at the dining hall, don’t you? That seems unusual, when your mother’s marrying Harlan Kristiansen, and they have a baby together. It sounds a little unfair, in fact. Given how young your mother is, it wouldn’t be surprising if there was a little competition between the two of you. I understand she had you when she was very young. Fifteen, wasn’t it? Had you dated together before?”
“Sixteen. And what, we’re some kind of … I can’t even think what. Gold-digging tag team? Or just mother-daughter groupies? We knew Harlan and Owen were going to Yellowstone, or we saw them there and schemed to run into them? The bison was pretty convenient, then. And that’s sick. Where are you even getting that? Also, you don’t know my mom atall,or you’d never say that. She didn’t even know who Harlan was! She liked him. She feltsorryfor him, because he needed a friend that weekend! That’s why we went to North Dakota. And she was totally protective of me with Owen. You should haveheardher talking to him about me. Except that she didn’t even need to, because he told her he didn’t sleep with high-school girls, even though I was almost nineteen and there was nothing sleazy about it. And after that, she didn’t see Harlan for months, even though Owen was coming up and visiting me. All she was focused on was getting a job and—”
“Because she’d been fired by Blake Orbison,” Caroline said. “Your mom’s had a lot of tough breaks, hasn’t she?”
All right. Now she wasreallygetting mad. “And you’re trying to give her another one, is that it? What did she ever do to you? Her job with Blake ran out. She still works for him, did you notice that? She moved to Portland and got a new job with him!”
“I’m just trying to understand,” Caroline said. “How such an independent woman, single all her life, came to move in with Harlan after one weekend with him. Of course, she did get pregnant during that weekend, but we won’t talk about that if you’d rather not. What I’d really like to hear more about is you and Owen. He told your mother he didn’t get involved with high-school girls, but he must have changed his mind, because I understand he came to Idaho and took you to your senior prom. That must have felt like a Cinderella story. What did your mom think of that, since she was about to be a single mother again?”
“She loves Owen,” Dyma said. “Because he’s the most … I don’t know, the most ethical guy in the world? He’s arancher.Like, Code of the West? Never hurt a woman, always keep your word, work hard and don’t brag about it, take care of your horse before you take care of yourself? Nobody else believes all that. Nobody elsedoesall that, except guys like Owen. They do, and my mom knows it.”
“But given that he’s so much older than you and has already been married and divorced once,” Caroline said, “and that your own father was convicted of sexual assault and served time in prison after he impregnated your much younger mother when shewas barely into high school, that must have rung some alarm bells for her. Especially once he started buying you jewelry, because those diamond earrings you’re wearing are from Cartier, aren’t they? Is that why she was so protective? Did she think you were going too fast?”
“If buying your girlfriend jewelry is a crime,” Dyma said, “Owen’s definitely guilty. He bought me a ring, too, see? Here’s a shocker. It cost even more than the earrings. And yet my mom somehow thinks that’s because he loves me, and also that I can handle my own life.”
“They’re both very lucky to have such a loyal person as you in their lives, clearly,” Caroline said. “How about Harlan? His father killed his mother when Harlan was just a teenager. Both his father and your father went to prison for their crimes. Has all that trauma made him more protective of you, do you think?” When Dyma didn’t answer, she said, “I’m just trying to understand. It’s a beautiful story, really. I’d like to do it justice, and I need your help to do that.”
Dyma said, “Why don’t you ask them, then? Because they won’t talk to you, that’s why, and because Harlan’s got too much security. So you thought you’d come find me instead. Seriously? This is your scoop? That my mom was a single mother? That my sperm donor was an asshole? That Harlan’s father was abusive? How much of the population does that describe? Also, Owen’s parents were loving and normal. He still lives in a whole compound with them, and his brother andhisfamily, too! He bought a ranch for them all to do it! I had a grandmother I loved a whole lot, and I still have a great-grandfatheranda mom who are loving and normal. So why isn’t your story about, ‘Loving and normal families turn out to raise people who love each other and are nice to each other?’ I guess that doesn’t sell ads or whatever, but I don’t care, becausethat’sOwen’s and my story, not all the horrible stuff. Just because bad things happen, that doesn’t mean they have to destroy your life! My mom’s strong, and Harlan’s strong. They have a baby that they love just like my mom loves me, just like Harlan loves his little sister Annabelle. To the moon and back, that’s what my mom says, and shemeansit. When they’ve had to make a choice between hate and love, they’ve focused on love. Why don’t you do a story about that?”
There was a whole group around them now, listening like crazy. It didn’t feel one bit good, not like when Owen had come to the rescue on that night in the dining hall. It felt exposed, and nasty, and … dirty.
“But you see,” Caroline said, “that’s exactly the story I’m trying to tell. It’s a wonderful feel-good story, too, triumphing over the odds. Even so, I can’t imagine that all this hasn’t brought up tensions between Harlan and Owen. Knowing your mom’s history, and Harlan’s own, now that he’s a father figure to you. His fiancée’s daughter, her little girl, conceived in rape when her mother was only fifteen, becoming intimately entangled with his closest friend, an older, divorced man, while she’s still in high school? That can’t have been easy for him to watch. Has that made life awkward at home? Is that why you’re going to college in Seattle?”
Dyma said, “I’m out,” and turned for the stairwell again. She had to step around curious onlookers to do it.
Caroline called after her, “Do you hope to marry him?”
Dyma turned, one hand on the doorknob, and said, “No. I plan to use him for sex and then throw him away. Don’t tell him, though.”
36
Wholesome
Dyma had always longedto be famous. Notbigfamous.Limitedfamous. Famous fordoingsomething. Working on a manned Mars lander, maybe, or being the lead designer on a new kind of satellite. Famous to a very small group of people who’d know that she’d done something important.
In other words, not filling food bins as people talked once again about her sordid background. This time with juicy added detail! She’d thought that once she left Wild Horse, she’d escape the whole rapist’s-daughter thing, but here it was again. And what was worse, she couldn’t just go over and beat people up. She’d be kicked out of school, and besides, she’d lived long enough now to know that suppressing a secret that anybody already knew was like putting toothpaste back in the tube. Nothing to do but gut it out.
She hadn’t even had a chance to explain to Pavani, because all thathadmade her late for work, which meant that when she went back upstairs at eight, her roommate was sitting on her bed looking concerned and saying, “What happened? I’ve heard all these crazy stories. Those were reporters?”
“Yeah,” Dyma said. She smelled like onions and tomato sauce and grease, her body felt like it weighed two hundred pounds, and she wasn’t nearly ready for her Thermodynamics final. Which was two hours long,and would cover everything from the start of the quarter, including when she hadn’t been paying enough attention.And she needed an A! She said, “I need to take a shower, and then I … You can listen while I call my mom, I guess. I can’t … I can’t spend time on it now. I have to compartmentalize here, or I’m going to …” She didn’t say, “Get another C minus,” but she sure did think it.
Her brain was a tiny bit more settled after her shower, or maybe it was just that she didn’t smell like onions anymore. She pulled on her robe, sat on her bed, and called her mom.
