Chapter 33: In Which Katie Comes Out Of The Closet (then goes back in again, and then comes out a second time)

Just then the door swung open and Nora glared at them. “Hurry the hell up!” she hissed. She yanked Katie inside. “Don’t you know she’ll be here any second? She just texted that she’s on her way!” Nora shoved Katie and Eoin into a closet, and Katie wondered if she could start being a better person tomorrow.

The lights were off; it was pitch dark in the closet. There appeared to be some other bodies there, with them. Katie could feel Eoin in front of her but she was being pressed in on either side by taller, bulkier bodies. Someone shifted and squished her toe. “Ow!” she whisper-cried, and someone at the back said, “Quiet!”

Katie was suddenly seized with panic. She knew that voice.

It was Rebecca.

What was she doing here? This was insanity. Who had invited her? Katie bit her lip, hard. Who knew that one little impersonation, (followed by a second impersonation in which one pretends to be the first impersonation’s identical cousin), could end up like this? Hiding in a closet at a surprise party? Katie hoped that the lights would never come on, that they’d be stuck in this dark closet for the rest of their lives.

But no. The closet door would eventually have to open, the lights would come up, and the party would go on, regardless of Katie’s fervent hopes that they get to live with the winter coats for the rest of their lives.

There was a knock on the apartment door, and the people in the closet held a collective breath. The front door opened, and Nora said, “He-ey, Melissa!”

“Open the door!” Someone hissed from behind her. Katie pushed open the closet door, and the crowd of 5 or 6 people behind her fell out into the living room. “Surprise!’ they called, along with the 12 guests who’d jumped out from behind furniture, curtains, and popped in from the kitchen.

But the person at the door was not Melissa. Standing there was a man, mid-30s, with short black hair and a somewhat stocky build, holding a bouquet of flowers, his green eyes wide, an amused look on his face.

Katie stumbled a little, Eoin catching her elbow before she pitched forward on her entirely impractical heels. “Careful, Kate,” he said, just as Rebecca caught her other elbow and said, “Watch yourself, Violet!”

And Bobby, Katie’s ex, the man whose heart she’d broken into a million-trillion pieces and then left alone after crushing their seven-year romance, lowered the bouquet and said, “Still clumsy, eh, Katie?”

Her heart seized. She had imagined this day, this minute, the moment when he’d come and find her. She’d thought about it, agonized over it, worried and dreamed about it, especially during those Terrible Four Months following the breakup. She looked at his completely familiar face. Did he want her back? Was he angry? Were those flowers for her? Had he found another girlfriend? Was he here to murder her and Eoin? Katie cleared her throat, prepared to speak --

“Everyone back in their hiding places!” called Nora, oblivious to the intensely dramatic scene that was about to unfold in her living room between Katie, her old lover, her new lover, and the woman who thought she was someone else entirely. “She’ll be here any minute!”

The crowd dispersed, Bobby heading into the kitchen. “Who was that?” asked Eoin. “And who is Violet?” Adventure-seeking Eoin could sense a mystery, and he was intrigued.

Katie had no idea what to tell him. Well, she knew what she should tell him. He had a right to know all of it, but of course she didn’t know how to tell him all of it, especially not while crammed into a coat closet with a bunch of other people.

They settled into the closet. Nearly immediately, there was a knock. Again, the group held their collective breath, as they heard Nora swing open the front door, say, “Well, hello, Melissa!”, and once more Katie pushed open the closet door and out they all tumbled, into the light.

“Surprise!” they called, with perhaps less enthusiasm than they’d had the first time around.

“Oh my goodness! A surprise? I’m delighted!” Melissa clapped her hands and squealed with such delight that only Katie would have known that Melissa wasn’t surprised, or delighted, at all.  

“Was it a surprise?” Nora came forward, clapping her hands excitedly. “Did we get you?” She slid her arm through Melissa’s and led her off toward the kitchen.

The party-goers began to drift. Someone had put on some music, and bottles were opening, drinks were flowing.

“I’m going to get us a beverage,” said Eoin, “and then you’re going to tell me who Violet is.” He ruffled her hair in a way that was surprisingly not infantalizing, headed to the bar, and Katie was alone.

Bobby was to her left. Rebecca was to her right. But the bathroom was just behind her. Katie turned on her heel and fled.

Well. So she was hiding in yet another bathroom. That made three times in as many months that she’d taken refuge in a powder room.

But seriously. Could you blame her? That was one crazy party out there. Katie sat down on the edge of the tub and wished that she’d brought a drink in here with her. There was a knock at the door.

“Just a minute!” Katie called. “I’ll be out in a sec.” She stood up and ran water into the sink, buying time. Her fingers began to prune, and she heard Bobby’s voice.

“Katie? It’s me.” He cleared his throat. “It’s Bobby.” And that made her feel so terrible. That he felt as though he had to remind her who he was. “Can I come in?”

Katie took a deep breath and opened the door. It was a moment she’d been trying to avoid for months, nearly a year. But here it was. She was doing it. She was going to face him. Finally.

But he wasn’t alone. Standing there, behind him, was Rebecca.

Shit.

“Violet!” She said. “How’s it going?”

“Um....It’s Katie, actually.”

“Really? You look so much like your cousin. How did that happen?” Rebecca twirled her long blond hair. She was already a bit sauced. Clearly they’d been drinking in that closet for quite some time.

“Cousin?” Bobby asked and Katie shot him a look. It was not the tender, “I’m sorry and I’ll always care for you” look she’d been planning on bestowing upon him when she saw him again, this was a look that said, “keep it zipped if you know what’s good for you.” Luckily, their telepathic skills, honed during their 7-year relationship, were as good as ever, and Bobby knew to keep his mouth shut.

“I guess the genes are strong?” Katie shrugged.

“I suppose they are. Look, I’d love to meet up with her soon, in the near future. Her long-standing relationship with the company is really inspiring.”

“Yes, she’s really devoted.”

“Listen, honey, are you going in there?” Rebecca nudged Bobby. “Because I’ve really, really got to pee.”

“Oh, go ahead. Sorry.” Bobby stepped aside and Rebecca tottered into the bathroom. “Thanks kid.” She chucked Katie under the chin. “Come to think of it, you are Katie. Your cousin has a much prettier mouth.”

“I’ll let her know you think so,” Katie said, as the door shut on Rebecca.

“So,” Bobby said. “You’ll have to fill me in on all of that.”

“Yeah,” Katie said. “It’s a complicated story.”

“I’m sure it it,” he said. “I would expect nothing less from you.”

They stood there in silence for awhile. The party was in full swing in the next room, but any minute now Nora would appear to whisk them off to the VIP lounge. Or Eoin would show up. And Katie hadn’t really told Eoin anything about Bobby, about the breakup, about any of it. And Rebecca was going to come out of the bathroom eventually.  Katie needed to take action, she needed to make a move. But she was frozen -- it was those Terrible Four Months all over again, when she was overcome with fear.

Luckily she didn’t have to say anything, because for once Bobby spoke first. “Listen, Katie, I didn’t come back for you.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. I’m actually here …”

You Decide!

Bobby is a lawyer, and he’s here to represent Jason in his divorce with Anne

or 

Bobby is an art collector for a major gallery in Vancouver and he’s come to check out a hot new artist’s work. “Perhaps you’ve heard of him? Eoin Verdon?”

Chapter 32: In which Katie and Eoin attend a party.

“I still have to get her a present. I’ve been such a terrible friend. I forgot her birthday!”

“You’ve had other things on your mind,” Eoin reassured her. “You’ve nothing to be worried about.”

“Yeah, well, from now until noon tomorrow, I’m all about Melissa.”

“Noon tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Sometimes these parties can get a bit wild.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“So, you want to come?” Katie asked. “Nora needs a firm number. It’s cool if you don’t want to. I mean, a lot of these people are even my friends, really. And maybe you have other plans?” She tried to be cool, she tried to be casual. After all, she and Eoin weren't, like, boyfriend-girlfriend or anything. Maybe he didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of strangers at some cheesy VIP lounge? He shouldn't have to. And she'd be totally fine if he said no. She would definitely not read anything into it if he said no. Katie bit her thumbnail. Nope. She would be totally fine if he chose not to come with her.

"Umm." Eoin frowned a little in a way that Katie couldn't interpret. (But it doesn't matter! It doesn't matter! She reminded herself, frantically.) "Who'll be there?"

"I'm not totally sure. Me, of course, and Melissa, and her friend Nora,” (Katie tried not to roll her eyes), “and then I think a bunch of people I used to hang out with." Katie realized that she'd be seeing a lot of her old, former friends and she knew, right then, that she really wanted Eoin to be with her. Could she tell him that? Were they ready for that? Or would she appear needy? Dating was horrible. "And Melissa's ex, David. Actually, probably some of the people who were at that wedding I met you at. Maybe we actually know some people in common?" She hoped this might tempt him into coming along.

"I was only there as my friend April's date; she's the groom's cousin. So I doubt I'd know people."

Katie felt her heart contract. It wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t a yes, either. He wouldn't come. And she would have to face them all alone.

But she would be fine. She had to be. She was a grown up, after all, and grown ups had to do stuff like this on their own. After all, isn’t that why she broke up with Bobby? So she didn’t have to be one-half of a couple that lived and breathed as one? She was an independent person who didn’t need her non-boyfriend. There. That settled it. 

But then Eoin said, "But I'll know you, Katie, and I'm sure I'll make friends with the others right away. After all, everyone loves an Irishman," he said, his brogue thick and lilting.

Well. So much for her I am Woman, hear me roar-as-I-navigate-the-world-as-an-independent-being self-talk. “Are you sure?” Now she was kind of thinking she should go on her own and prove that she was wasn't dependent on a man.

“Well, if you don’t want me there....” Eoin said, but she did. She did want him there. As a friend, as support, and as someone who she could have a great time with. Katie leaned across the seat of the truck cab and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Eoin. It'll be a much nicer party if you're there." They drove the rest of the way home holding hands on top of the stick shift.

In the end, Katie didn't get a present for Melissa. There was only time for a shower, a change of clothes, (for Katie, at least -- they weren’t nearly at a place in their budding relationship where they were leaving stuff at one anothers’ apartments), and to cram in some sandwiches while google-mapping Nora’s condo. By the time they did all that (plus some heavy petting on the couch, truth be told), they only had to race out the door.

“That’s the problem with a surprise party,” Katie panted as they raced toward the streetcar stop. “You can’t really be late. Because then you’re just the loser who couldn’t be bothered to get there and yell surprise. As though arriving without a present isn’t tacky enough.”

“When are we supposed to get there?” Eoin glanced at his wrist (it was bare -- he didn’t own a watch), and then down the streetcar tracks. There was one on its way, the lights shining in the distance.

“We’ve got 30 minutes,” said Katie. “I think we’ll make it.”

“Doesn’t Melissa already know about the surprise?”

“Yes. But we’re trying to keep the surprise intact for Nora’s sake.”

“The drama never ends with women, does it?”

“Don’t be sexist,” Katie scolded.

“Fine. The drama never ends with you Canadians, then.”

Katie shook her head. “Actually, we’re much better known for our comedy.”

27 minutes later they were racing up the stairs of Nora’s building, where they were meeting first before heading out to the Rococco Room.
 
They slid into the elevator and pressed Nora’s floor when a voice called out, “Hold the elevator!” Eoin stuck out a hand and stopped the door from closing just as Katie realized, “Hey! It’s Melissa!”

Melissa, with her head down, stepped into the elevator with them. “Thanks for holding it,” she said. She was rummaging around in her purse and didn’t seem to notice Katie. “Could you please press 24?” Melissa found her phone, punched in a number, while Eoin silently pressed the “door closed” button.
 
Katie’s phone began to ring. Staring at the back of Melissa’s head, she answered it. “Hello?”

“Katie?”

“Yes?” Katie started to giggle.

Melissa spun around. Katie waved at her. “Hi!”

The elevator doors slid open. “Surprise!” said Katie. “We’re a little late.”

Melissa and Katie hugged, and the door slid shut again. “Do you guys want to ride down?” Eoin’s long fingers hovered over the button pad. “Or should we take this party up to the penthouse?”

“I guess we should go to Nora's,” said Melissa. “I’m not really dressed for an elevator.” She was wearing slim black jeans and a great silver-sequined jacket over a white tank top.

“Me neither,” said Katie, who was wearing a French Connection top (which she’d inherited from Melissa) as a tunic. “This is far too cute to share with only the two of you.”

“Agreed. Tell you what. I’ll ride the elevator up and down a couple of times, and you two head into the party before me. That way, we keep up the illusion of the surprise party, and we don’t disappoint Nora,” said Melissa. She waved as the doors slid shut.

“God forbid we upset Nora,” Katie muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Eoin asked, so pleasantly.

“Nothing,” she smiled brightly, making up for the sourness in her stomach she always felt around Nora. She didn’t want him to know the mean, childish parts of her. Not yet, anyway. She didn’t want him to know that sometimes she was not a nice person. She vowed then and there that she would become a better person immediately.

Just then the door swung open and Nora glared at them. “Hurry the hell up!” she hissed. She yanked Katie inside. “Don’t you know she’ll be here any second? She just texted that she’s on her way!” Nora shoved Katie and Eoin into a closet, and Katie wondered if she could start being a better person tomorrow.

The lights were off; it was pitch dark in the closet. There appeared to be some other bodies there, with them. Katie could feel Eoin in front of her but she was being pressed in on either side by taller, bulkier bodies. Someone shifted and squished her toe. “Ow!” she whisper-cried, and someone at the back said, “Quiet!”

Katie was suddenly seized with panic. She knew that voice. 



You Decide!

Who does the voice belong to?

1. Melissa’s ex-fiance Dave (who Katie humilated at a wedding a few weeks ago)
2. Mr Ambrose, Katie and Melissa’s boss
3. Rebecca, the business woman who thinks Katie is also “Violet Marsh”.
4. Katie's mother

Chapter 31: In which Eoin and Katie ALMOST find Anne. And Katie feels awkward about the homeless.

She knocked. No one came. Katie pushed on the front door, and it creaked open.

"Hello?" Katie called, stepping inside. The house was cold, dark. "Anne?"

Somewhere from the back of the house, there was movement. A door opened, shut. There were footsteps moving toward them. Katie and Eoin held their breath.

“Hello?” A woman called out. Was it Anne? It didn’t sound like Anne. But maybe it was Anne!?

“Hi!” Katie chirped. The steps came closer, and a woman appeared in the doorway.

She was young, she was pretty, but she wasn’t Anne.

And she was carrying a baseball bat.

“Who the fuck are you?” Her voice was angry, gruff. She held the bat over her head. Eoin raised his hands, palms out.

“Sorry. Sorry. We did knock. We know this is your home, and we don’t mean to intrude. It’s just that we’re looking for someone.” He jerked a thumb towards Katie. “Her sister. We heard she was living around here.”

“And my grandmother loved African violets,” stammered Katie.  

“What?” The young woman still had the bat over her head, but it sagged a bit. “African violets?”

“They’re in your window. And so we thought maybe Anne was here.”

“Anne Christensen?” the woman asked. “Because she does live here. Sometimes.”

Katie’s knees buckled. “Are you serious?” Katie began to sink to the floor. “I need to sit,” she said, and the woman, dropping the baseball bat (violet-loving fainters probably didn’t pose much risk), rushed forward and led Katie towards a rather worse-for-wear sofa. Eoin sat next to her, while the woman pulled up a straight-backed wooden chair. Katie put her head between her knees. She wanted to faint, or cry, or something. Anne lives here. Sometimes.

“So you’re saying her sister lives here?” Eoin asked as he held the hair out of Katie’s face.

“Yeah, on and off for about four months now. We moved in at the same time -- I met her at a … a thing.”

Katie raised her head. “A thing?" Katie wondered what that meant. An orgy? A break-and-enter? A kegger?

“Yeah, just a thing. You know. I can’t really talk about it.”

“You mean AA.” Katie said, quietly, and the woman frowned a bit.

“We can’t talk about it, you know. Anonymous. I shouldn’t have said anything,” she looked worried, anxious, all of a sudden. She was so young, not even a woman, more of a girl, really. She pulled her hands into her oversized hooded sweatshirt.

“It’s okay,” said Eoin. “We won’t tell anyone,” he promised, though Katie knew she would have to tell Aunt Angela. (And maybe her parents. And probably Melissa. And Jason, though she doubted he’d care.)

“What’s your name?” Katie asked. The girl had such a delicate face, all pale with nearly see-though skin. Her blond hair was cut so short, she looked newly shorn.

“I”m Becky,” she said. “Do you want some water? Our taps don’t work but we get it bottled.”

Katie was going to say okay, but she wondered how hard it was for them to get clean water. She didn’t want to drain them of their meager supply. “Thanks, but I’m alright.” Then she worried that might have offended Becky. She didn’t really know what was proper etiquette when visiting a homeless person's squat.

“So listen, will Anne be back soon?” Eoin asked.

“I don’t know,” Becky shrugged. “To be honest, she was doing really well, she even had a job and everything. She was working as a dog walker.” Which Katie actually laughed at, a little. Anne hated dogs.  At least, she used to. She called them overfed flea magnets. Oh, well. Katie supposed that dog walking was better than selling meth. Or her body. Or fake Prada purses out of the back of a station wagon. Anne must have come to this same conclusion.

“And we were going to meetings,” Becky continued, “but then she, well, a few weeks ago she just snapped. Something must have happened, or maybe nothing, it doesn’t take much, you know, to get you drinking again. And she kind of disappeared. She’s been back, of course, but there’s no, like, schedule.”

“But she’s okay. She’s alive,” Katie affirmed. “And she’s been trying to get her life back on track,” she said, choosing to remember that part of what Becky had been saying.

“Yeah, yeah, she’s definitely okay,” said Becky. “Misses her little boy, though. And you. She talks about you all the time.”

“She does?”

“Yeah, she says that you’re an artist. She says you’ll be famous one day.”

Katie sighed, breathing out, and then in, and then out again. Deep, cool breaths. She’d been holding her breath for hours, for days. “Thanks, Becky.”

“Do you want to see her room?”

Becky led them up creaky stairs into a dark, musty hallway. At the end was a room, the door off its hinges, with patchy wallpaper and a cracked, stained ceiling. The room itself was pretty clean, there was not yet an accumulation of dust or dirt. Her sister had always been a OCD about cleanliness; Katie was relieved to see that though her sister may have dropped out of life, she was still cleaning.

There was a pile of blankets in a corner, with a plastic shopping bag filled with what looked like some clothes, folded up neatly. A pair of cracked Doc Martens that Katie was pretty sure her sister had worn, like, 20 years ago were there, as well. “No one takes her stuff?”

The minute Katie said it, she felt like a jerk. “I don’t mean -- it’s not that I think you guys, I mean, people who.... I mean... I didn’t mean to insinuate that you’re thieves.” Katie’s face was growing red. She wished she’d taken that bottle of water, now. “ It’s just...If she’s not around a lot....”

“I keep an eye on her stuff.” Becky said, levelly. “We’re pretty respectful in this house. We’ve all been through a lot.”

“So it’s like an unofficial group home,” said Katie, and worried that sounded jerky, too. Maybe she should just keep her mouth shut.

But Becky just smiled and said, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

Then Katie noticed some pictures tacked to the wall by Anne’s stuff. She went towards them. There was a photo of Anne’s son Jonah, when he was a baby, and there was a photo of Anne and Katie, from Christmas a few years ago. And there, tacked up next to them, was one of Katie’s caesar drawings. “Oh, Eoin....” She ran her hands over the picture, feeling her knees buckling again. This was it. This was her. They’d found Anne. Kind of. Almost. Mostly. They had never been this close.

They hung around for about half an hour, but Anne didn’t come home. In the end, Katie and Eoin left behind a couple of the postcards, Katie’s contact information, and a note that said Anne was to call her sister or her aunt urgently. She didn’t actually come out and write, “Your husband is divorcing you and claiming full rights to your child so you’d better get your shit together and come claim your son”, because she wasn’t sure how that would read in a note. She just hoped the “please call” would be enough.

Becky walked them to the door, Eoin reaching awkwardly into his pocket. He pulled out his wallet. “Listen, Becky,” his voice was rough, nervous. “I’ve got ... Can I leave you some money? For whatever. You can share it with others, or use it for yourself. Is that okay? Is that terribly inappropriate?”

Becky shook her head, but when she reached out to take the money her smile was kind of forced and sad. “Thanks. I’ll share it with Anne, when she gets back.”

“That’d be nice,” Katie said. “Maybe you could go to Little India, for a meal? Anne loves butter chicken.”

“I didn’t know that.” Becky folded the money into her pocket.

They all sort of stood there, staring at one another, until Eoin finally said, “Okay, well, we’ll get out of your hair. Thanks for the info.”

“And thanks for looking out for my sister,” said Katie. “I really appreciate it.”  

Katie waited until the door was shut behind them and they were halfway down the block before saying, “Well, that was freaking crazy.”

She felt exhausted. She hauled herself into Eoin’s truck and slumped against him. “Can we just go home? I kind of want to go to sleep.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Sleep, eh? Is that what you’re calling it now?” Man he was sexy, even if Katie didn’t particularly want him to be at this particular moment.

“I mean it, just sleep. It’s not that I don’t want to...”

Eoin cut her off with a gentle kiss. “It’s okay, Kate.” (There it was again. “Kate”. So thrilling!) “I’m only kidding. Home for an early night it is.” He started the engine.

Just the Katie’s phone beeped; she had a text message.

Shit.

Hey, girl, just wondering if you’re bringing Eoin tonight? We’ve got the VIP room booked but they want a firm number.  I guess they’re providing champagne??? C U soon! <<Nora>>

Shit. Shit. Shit. “Shit!”

“What? Bad news? Not Anne.” Eoin’s eyes darted from the road towards her.

“No, it’s that party. It’s tonight.” Katie checked the time on her phone. “Damn. In, like, three hours.”

“That’s plenty of time,” Eoin reassured her. "Even time for a nap.” He raised his eyebrows again, and grinned.

Katie swatted his arm, playfully. “I still have to get her a present. I’ve been such a terrible friend. I forgot her birthday!”

“You’ve had other things on your mind,” Eoin reassured her. “You’ve nothing to be worried about.”

“Yeah, well, from now until noon tomorrow, I’m all about Melissa.”

“Noon tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Sometimes these parties can get a bit wild.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“So, you want to come?” Katie asked. “Nora needs a firm number. It’s cool if you don’t want to. I mean, a lot of these people are even my friends, really. And maybe you have other plans?”

You Decide!

Does he come to the party or not?

1. He says yes, he’d love to be her date to Melissa’s party.
or
2. He has plans with a group of his own friends so he can’t come with her.