of months ago and now he’s living back at his parents’ house.”
Lainie finished arranging the hot dogs on a tray and filled some little dishes with ketchup and mustard. “Are you coming?” she asked.
“I’ll be right out,” Claire said. She poured herself a glass of water and drank it down all at once. So she was in the same position as Fran Angelo. She’d gone to a good college, and he’d gone to some random small state school. She’d moved to New York and gotten a good job, and then what did you know? None of it mattered. She and Fran Angelo were basically living parallel lives, tied in the exact same place in their lives. Well, wasn’t that just a pickle?
CLAIRE WASN’T AT ALL SURPRISED to learn that Fran Angelo still made her sweat. She walked outside and waved to him from across the lawn, and he smiled and waved back, so she walked over to him. They stood for a while, each of them holding a bottle of beer, and then they moved over to some lawn chairs that were a little bit out of the center of the party, and conveniently located next to the cooler. Claire watched as the table next to them filled up with their empty beer bottles, two at a time.
Maybe it was because she knew Fran’s situation, or maybe it was because she was getting drunk in the afternoon, but Claire felt free to share. It didn’t take long before she was telling Fran about Doug and the apartment and moving home. He’d nodded and then told his story. And before long, the two of them were deep in conversation, cutting each other off to tell the details of their own broken engagement.
“She kept the ring,” Fran told her. When he said this, it almost felt like he was sharing too much, but Claire didn’t care. She was fascinated.
“Did you ask for it back?” Claire asked.
“No,” Fran said. “That would’ve been a dick move. But she should have given it back anyway, you know?”
“I wonder why she wanted it.”
“Because she’s a bitch.” Fran was drunk now, and honest and angry, and Claire didn’t judge him one bit for it. They sat together and drank more beer, watching the party from the sidelines as it got dark outside, their own little angry team.
AFTER EVERYONE LEFT, CLAIRE SAT on the porch with Lainie and Brian, having a glass of wine and discussing Fran and the whole situation. Brian called Fran’s fiancée a bitch, and Lainie interrupted.
“You can’t just call her that because she broke up with him, like that’s the end of it. There’s a whole other huge part to the story.” Lainie’s teeth and lips were a little purple and she was speaking loudly.
“What am I leaving out?” Brian asked. He leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette.
“Well, first of all, you know I love Fran and I’m on his side, but it’s not like he was the best boyfriend. He went out all the time.”
“Going out isn’t a reason to break up with someone.”
“Brian, come on. She told me once that he sometimes didn’t come home, and yeah, maybe he just got drunk somewhere and passed out, but maybe not. Who knows where he was? I’m not so sure he didn’t cheat on her.”
“What makes you think that?” Brian asked.
“Are you serious? Remember last Fourth of July? We were at the parade and then we went out with them after, and he was with that random girl at the bar?”
“So? Sometimes guys talk to girls in a bar. It doesn’t mean they’re cheating.”
“He was sitting there with his hand on her thigh. I’m just saying, you don’t sit there and put your hand on some other girl’s thigh, do you?”
“No, Lainie. I don’t. And I wouldn’t. But he did, and we don’t know what else happened. Maybe nothing.”
“Claire, wouldn’t that piss you off?” Lainie asked. “Wouldn’t that be totally out of line if someone you were engaged to did that?”
“Yeah,” Claire said. “I mean, I guess so.”
Lainie nodded and sat back in her chair and took a sip of wine. She looked satisfied that she had finally convinced them of something.
THAT NIGHT, CLAIRE HAD TROUBLE sleeping. She was a little drunk, and had been out in the sun and eaten too many little hot dogs and received too much disturbing information. The hot dogs and stories were swimming around in her head and threatening to make her sick.