Page 3 of A Secret Chance
“But, the second voice was quieter now, “Did anyone ever find out who knocked her up?”
The husky voice cackled, “I don’t think she even knows.”
“I would die of embarrassment. I mean, people talk.”
Lauren felt tears stinging her eyes but wiped them away before they could fall down her face. She couldn’t believe the nerve of these women, shit-talking about her in the bathroom of the party she was hosting.
“Well, they were a family of sluts,” the husky voice continued. “I don’t think that they were picky about dicks.”
The second voice laughed. “I wonder if the kid will follow in the family tradition.”
Lauren’s face was burning, she was holding her breath and could feel the rage building inside of her. The rumors from her teenage years hadn’t died, and as much as she knew she couldn’t stop, or change them, they couldn’t have been further from the truth. Yes, she had made a mistake. The first and only mistake in her life, but if she could do it all over again, she would. That mistake had given her the best thing in her life, her daughter. She could handle people talking about her, but there was no way she was going to let these small-town bitches get away with talking about Tabitha.
She turned and flushed the empty toilet, announcing her presence.
“Shit, there’s someone in here,” the husky voice whispered. Lauren could hear the zipping of purses and clattering of makeup as the two women tried to make a quick escape, but she wasn’t having it. She burst out of the bathroom stall; her hands balled into fists at her sides.
“Oh, no,” the second voice gasped. It belonged to Jennifer, the mother of one of the boys in Tabitha’s class. The husky voice, Lauren should’ve known, was Carrie’s. She was the mother of another boy in Tabitha’s class, and younger sister to Stacy, the woman who hated Charlotte and Lauren like it was a sport. Carrie folded her arms in front of her chest, her cheeks red.
“I’m sorry, Lauren. I-I didn’t know you were in here,” Jennifer stammered.
Lauren looked to Carrie, waiting for an apology. “Shouldn’t hide in the stalls.” Carrie narrowed her overlined lips, sticky with fresh gloss.
“You two.” Lauren stepped forward, her voice strained. She inhaled deeply and then stepped back. She resisted slapping Carrie across her smug leathery face because that’s the kind of drama she wanted. Lauren refused to lower herself to Carrie’s level.
“I may have grown up with nothing,” Lauren said through her teeth. “But at least I have something that you two will never, ever have.”
“And what’s that?” Carrie huffed. “A bastard child?”
“Class,” Lauren whispered. She held open the bathroom door. “I highly suggest that you collect your kids. Oh, and be sure to think of a good excuse to explain why you’re leaving the best birthday party of the year early.”
Jennifer’s face was beet red and Lauren could see the tears in her eyes. She was doing what most people in Chance Rapids did. Talk about their ‘friends’ behind their backs, and Lauren knew that she would probably go home and feel bad about the whole thing. Carrie, on the other hand, was a woman who came from a family of bad apples, and she would go home and feel good about herself, proud that she had brought down one of the Bunkman sisters.
Jennifer scuttled out of the bathroom, staring at the floor. As she left, she whispered, “Sorry.”
Carrie tilted her hip against the sink, her rhinestone belt jingling against the ceramic counter. “What if I don’t want to leave?”
“You’re not welcome here.” Lauren crossed her arms across her chest, holding the door open with her back.
Lauren wasn’t a confrontational person. The only time she’d ever been in a physical fight was with her sister, and it had been over something stupid, like clothes. She worked as a lawyer, but in the courtroom, she had time and experience on her side. She could make anyone crumble on the stand, but she never had to do it with the blood boiling in her veins.
Lauren’s heart was beating in her throat as she watched Carrie examine her long bubble-gum pink fingernails. She squeezed her eyes tight and imagined slapping the cheap lipstick right off of her face. Carrie bent down and picked up her purse from the bathroom floor and brushed by Lauren. “It was a shitty party anyway.”
After Lauren watched Carrie strut away in her pleather stiletto boots, she bent over the sink and rested her head in her hands.
“Lauren.” She snapped her head up to see her sister Charlotte in the doorway. “Are you okay?”
Lauren waved her away, but being Charlotte, she ignored the dismissal and stepped to her sister’s side.
“What happened?” Charlotte asked. “You’ve been gone forever. I’m glad I didn’t light those candles.”
Lauren groaned and shook her head. “A couple of the moms were in here and I overhead them talking about...” she hesitated. “Some stuff.”
“Who? And what ‘stuff’?” Charlotte used her fingers to make air quotes.
“Jennifer and Carrie.”
“Stacy’s sister Carrie?” Charlotte asked.
