Paullina Simons - Tully

And then, of course, there was the small question of cash. Not much was cash – mostly it was VISA and personal checks. But on a good Sunday, there could also be five hundred to a thousand dollars in small bills. Okay, okay, no big deal, he was insured against theft, and in any case what was a grand to a company whose annual gross sales were nearly $2 million? But theft! And there were plenty of ways to steal from him. There were some expensive Ralph Lauren and Pierre Cardin shirts in his store. Some pricey ties and belts, some $200 Bally shoes. Robin’s floor guys could just walk off with three or four $75 shirts, and that wouldn’t make Robin happy at all. So he methodically made note of the merchandise on display, and the following day matched what was missing to the receipts in the register. It was neurotic, he knew, but he just hated the thought of being taken.

Robin put on Paco Rabanne and blow-dried his hair. After a few months of taking off Sundays, Robin locked the supply room, locked away the inventory sheets, and began to take off Wednesdays, too. A couple of times he brought Tully to Manhattan on Saturdays to watch him play soccer in the afternoons. Playing soccer on Saturday afternoons felt to Robin like cutting school – wrong and slightly delicious. Usually he went back to the store after a few hours, but not tonight.

‘… Because the night Belongs to lovers… ’

he sang, locking the house and starting up his car.

‘… Because the night Belongs to us… ’

Even though Robin was fretting about work, he was thinking of Tully most of all.

He was stroking her hair after they had just finished making love.

‘Tully,’ Robin whispered. ‘Tully.’

‘What, Robin, what?’

‘You do this with many guys?’

She laughed. ‘Well, never in a Holiday Inn.’ She looked around the room. ‘Nice. Great bed. I’ve never been on a bed like this before. This big.’

‘I’m serious.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure you are.’ She smiled and sighed. ‘Not so many.’

‘Do you remember your first?’

She stiffened, and her body became lifeless. ‘Who doesn’t?’ she said evenly. ‘Don’t you?’

‘Sure.’ He smiled. ‘It was with an older woman. Meg. She came into Dad’s store, you know, to buy something for her husband.’

‘But was looking for something for herself, too?’ offered Tully.

‘I guess,’ Robin said. ‘A little for herself.’

‘How much older?’ Tully wanted to know.

‘I was sixteen, she was twenty-five.’

‘Kind of like you and me, reversed,’ said Tully.

‘Kind of,’ said Robin. Except that for Meg he had felt nothing but gratitude. ‘Was your first older, too?’

‘Yeah,’ said Tully. ‘He was older.’

‘How old were you?’

‘I,’ said Tully, ‘was younger.’

‘Is this all you got?’ said Tully to Julie in early December. The girls were getting ready for their Senior Banquet. As always, Tully was borrowing a dress from Julie, who was about two sizes larger with bigger breasts. Tonight’s dress was flower print. ‘Got anything black?’

‘No, Tully, I don’t have anything black. Don’t be so picky.’

‘All right, all right,’ said Tully. ‘I’m a beggar, after all.’

‘You’re not a beggar, Tully. I just don’t have anything, all right?’

‘All right,’ Tully said, putting on the dress. ‘God, look at me,’ she said in front of the mirror. ‘I look like a bouquet. Hope nobody comes up and smells me or pins me to their chest like a corsage.’

Julie rolled her eyes, and Tully laughed.

‘Tully, how did you get your mom to let you stay out so late on a school night?’

‘Oh, you know. Jen this, Jen that. Of course I’m not going with a boy, Mom, to even think! This is not the prom, you know! This is a dinner for us seniors! So we can get to know each other better.’

‘And she bought it, huh?’

‘Yeah, well, she’s a little suspicious. She wants Jen to come in and say hi to her. At midnight! But that’s my mother. Suspicious for the right reasons but at the wrong time.’

‘How is Robin?’ asked Julie.

‘Fine,’ said Tully. ‘How is Tom?’

‘Fine.’ Julie cleared her throat. ‘Umm, speaking of Tom, will you ever tell me what you meant by your cute remarks back on Jen’s birthday?’

‘God, Jule, you got a long memory. Why haven’t you said anything before?’

‘I’ve been busy,’ Julie said. ‘I just thought of it.’

‘Don’t think so much about it,’ said Tully.

‘Well?’

‘Well, what? Julie, I got him mixed up with another guy.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ said Julie.

‘So what the hell are you asking me for?’

‘Please tell me, Tully. I won’t be upset. It really doesn’t matter.’

‘Well, if it really doesn’t matter,’ Tully mimicked Julie’s voice, ‘then what the hell are you asking me for?’

‘He was there, wasn’t he? In some club? And he made a pass at you, before he even knew who you were, and you must have turned him down, didn’t you? And this really riled him, really really did, because, you see, he was under the impression that you didn’t turn anybody down. That’s what happened, isn’t it?’

Tully bent her head for a few minutes, and when she looked up, she said, quieter, ‘Well, Julie. Since you think you know everything, what the hell are you asking me for?’

‘Do I? Do I know everything?’

‘Yes,’ said Tully, taking her friend by the shoulders and spinning her towards the door. ‘You know everything.’

‘Is that really what happened?’ Julie asked Tully when they were on their way to Topeka High in Jen’s Camaro.

‘Yes, uh-huh,’ said Tully. ‘Don’t think about it so much. Does it bother you?’

‘No, uh-uh. What Tom did before he met me is his own business. It amuses me, though.’ She turned around in the front seat to face Tully in the back and saw Tully’s slightly embarrassed face.

‘What?’ said Julie. ‘What kind of an expression is that –’ And then her eyes opened up and her mouth, too. ‘Ahhhh,’ she said. ‘Wait. I don’t know everything, do I? I thought of everything, except the when , didn’t I? Well, Tully, you did say it was over a year ago.’

‘I was using the term “year” loosely,’ said Tully. Jennifer stifled a laugh.

‘So exactly when was it, then?’ said Julie. ‘Try to be specific.’

‘August,’ said Tully.

‘What? This August? The one that just passed?’

‘Yes, uh-huh,’ said Tully, and her face became blank and inscrutable.

Julie faced the front again, mouth slightly ajar. ‘What do ya know,’ she said. ‘Well, I’ll be damned.’

‘Forget it, Julie,’ said Jennifer.

‘Yeah, Jule, it’s no big deal,’ echoed Tully.

‘Yeah,’ said Julie. ‘No big deal.’

When the three of them were walking toward Topeka High, Julie leaned over and asked Tully, ‘Listen, tell me, did you refuse him because you were my friend or because you just didn’t like him?’

Tully put her arm around Julie. ‘I refused,’ she said, ‘because I am your friend. But if I wasn’t your friend, I would have also refused, because I don’t like him.’

Makker, Mandolini, and Martinez – or the 3Ms – sat at the same table in the decorated cafeteria. The food was nondescript, to go with the nondescript music. But after dinner, everyone was able to walk around to the other tables. Tully saw Jennifer pass by Jack’s table. He waved to her, and she waved back but didn’t stop. Tully was amused but became less amused when afterwards Jennifer was mute for a half hour until Tully dragged her out to what was passing for a dance floor and the girls danced together, their flushed faces inches away from one another.