X (Kinsey Millhone 24)

I kept my mouth shut and let her run on. My job here was to supply the occasional prompt and otherwise keep out of the way.

“Anyway, Big Bobby got mad because she was spending so much time in rehearsals and I don’t know what. It was just one of those things. Big fight and he broke up with her. I’d see her in the hall sobbing her heart out with a cluster of girls around her patting her and being sweet. Suddenly Ned’s in the thick of it with his arm around her shoulder, making sure she’s okay. I remember thinking, ‘Where did he come from?’ Nothing wrong with him, except he was a dud and she was a star. It was just so wrong.”

“You had cliques?”

“Oh sure. Every high school has those. Certain types get all bonded and form these tight-knit groups; kids with the same social status or good looks or leadership abilities. Like as not, they went to junior high school together or all belonged to the same church youth group.”

“Where were you in all this?”

“On the sidelines. Way off. I wasn’t even in the running, and I knew that. Didn’t bother me. In fact, I enjoyed it. I felt like a spy, marveling at what went on. The thing about cliques is there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules about who belongs. You’re supposed to know your place. Somebody crosses the line, nobody’s going to say a word. At least not in our high school. Ned Lowe was nothing, and why Shirley Ann took up with him is anybody’s guess.”

“Maybe he was a relief after Big Bobby dumped her.”

“No question. That must have been the shock of her life. Nothing bad ever happened to her. Ned was smart enough to take advantage. He weaseled his way in and hung on for dear life.”

“Did that make him acceptable?”

“No. Here’s the thing, though: everybody liked her, and if she was dating him, who was going to object? All the guys wondered how the hell he rated, but there was no getting around it. For a while, at any rate.”

“Then what?”

“It was like everybody switched places. Big Bobby and Shirley Ann got back together and Ned couldn’t accept the fact he was out on his butt. He followed her around like a lovesick puppy dog, all sorry-eyed and pitiful. Long face like this.”

She paused to make a long face that was irritating even as an imitation.

She laughed at herself and went on. “She explained and explained she and Big Bobby were back together again, but he didn’t want to hear it. You know what her problem was? She tried to be nice, and her mother only made it worse. Norma encouraged her to ditch him, but she insisted she do it without hurting his feelings. He wasn’t the kind of guy you could reject at all, let alone with gentleness and tact. There was no getting rid of him. The more she pushed him away, the tighter his grip.”

“How did the situation get resolved?”

“It didn’t. That’s just it. Things got so bad, her mother pulled her out of school and sent her back east to live with her aunt. She finished high school back there.”

“I assume he recovered from his broken heart,” I said.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? High school isn’t the end of the world. Or maybe it is for some. The irony is when Shirley Ann came back to take care of her mom, Ned was on her like a shot—worse than in high school, and that was bad enough.”

“What happened to Norma?”

“Colon cancer they didn’t catch in time. Shirley Ann was here all that March and then stayed on to settle her mom’s estate. By then, her father was going downhill, and she ended up putting him in a home.”

“Sounds like a bad year all around.”

“I’ll say, and Ned didn’t help. In his mind, Shirley Ann was meant for him. His one true love. So there she was, right back in the same place. Trying to get rid of him, but too polite to tell him the truth.”

“Which was what, the guy’s a creep?”

“Exactly. There’s no way she’d ever take up with him again. She was embarrassed she’d ever dated him in the first place.”

“So this was before or after Lenore died?”

“Before, but just barely. Norma passed in late March, and Lenore, well, you know, she died sometime that spring.”

“Good Friday, March 31,” I supplied.

“Was it? I was thinking it was later, but you might be right. Anyway, Shirley Ann went back home and had the good sense to stay put.”

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“I’m friends with one of her best friends from back then, a girl named Jessica. I hardly spoke to Shirley Ann in high school. I was too intimidated. The summer she came back, I ran into Jess at church, and now it’s like the three of us are best friends.”