The Glittering Life of Evie Mckenzie Page 16

  It took a few days to earn the trust of the doorman and the bartenders, but they seemed to be pleased to have Tug there once she’d proven that she was hardworking and dedicated. The club was new, but with Guinan’s name attached, people seemed to gravitate there automatically, and soon the Century Club was one of the most popular clubs in town. The opening date had been a wise one, with so many moneyed politicos in town for the convention. And since Al Smith, the city’s favored candidate, was a staunch anti-Prohibitionist, many of those who were in town were more than happy to sample the local clubs.

  Life changed rapidly for Tug in the first few weeks she worked at the Century Club. Guinan had demonstrated her trust in Tug, and that was no small thing. It did something to Tug’s confidence, and gave her the ability to step up to lead in a way that she hadn’t before. With Evie and Janie both gone, and Roger and Chuck out of her daily life, Tug found that she was free to rediscover herself. And for once, she was pleased with what she discovered. She didn’t find herself lacking all the things that others had. Instead, she felt that she had created something new, something just for her. She was a savvy businesswoman, and a loyal employee. She and Guinan developed a mutual respect and a friendship, and Tug began to see the world in a brighter light. She smiled more easily and the bitter edge of sarcasm that had infused her speech for as long as she could remember began to soften.

  *****

  Tug’s father noticed the change, even though he didn’t see her very often.

  ‘You seem different, Tug,’ he said one evening as he sat in his bathrobe at the table in the kitchen.

  Tug fried bacon and looked over her shoulder at her father. He seemed to be shrinking, fading into himself. ‘It’s the same me, Daddy.’

  ‘Well, something good has happened. You shine. You glow.’

  ‘Maybe I’m just happy for a change.’ Tug thought about it and found that she was happy. And that it was different. She smiled at her father.

  ‘It’s good to see. Is there a man involved in this happiness?’

  ‘Because there aren’t other reasons for a woman to be happy?’

  ‘Sorry, Tug. Of course there are.’ Her father looked like a rebuked child, and Tug felt guilty immediately.

  ‘It’s fine, Daddy. But no, there’s no man. I wish there was, but after what happened with Derek, maybe it’s better if I just avoid men. I don’t think I’m very good at picking ‘em.’ Tug pulled the bacon from the pan and carried it on a plate to the table. She sat across from her father and picked up a piece, chewing thoughtfully as they sat quietly for a minute. ‘There was a man,’ she said quietly. ‘But he didn’t feel about me the way I have always felt about him.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because he asked my best friend to marry him.’

  ‘Evie?’

  Tug nodded, and her father’s sympathetic eyes watched her. He looked thoughtful and sad.

  ‘And are they still planning to marry after everything?’

  ‘You’ve been reading the paper.’

  ‘I’m drunk, not dead.’

  Tug couldn’t hide her own surprise at her father’s statement. She’d never heard him acknowledge his situation before. She didn’t know how exactly to respond, so she kept to the topic at hand. ‘Well, I don’t know what their plans are. Roger has more troubles than Evie running away to Paris. Sounds like they’re going to trial.’

  ‘Ridiculous.’

  ‘I know.’

  They ate in silence for a moment, and then Tug’s father stood and stretched. ‘I guess I’d better get dressed.’

  ‘Big plans today?’ Tug watched her father with curiosity. He hadn’t dressed before noon since she’d been young. He’d once been a city clerk, wearing suits and rubbing elbows with the city’s politicians. But that had been almost five years ago, now. Before her mother had left.

  ‘If I’m going to go help get the man you might love off the hook, I can’t do it in my bathrobe, Liz.’

  Tug stared at her father. ‘What?’

  ‘I may be a drunk, but I do have a few friends at City Hall. I think I may be able to pull a couple strings I’ve still got left.’

  ‘You’re kidding.’ Tug stared open-mouthed at her father. ‘Daddy, you don’t have to do this.’ She imagined him stumbling up the steps at City Hall, embarrassing himself. Her father had long since become incapable in Tug’s eyes. She hated the image she had of him, but after five years of watching him dissolve, it was hard to shake. Still, there was something in her that wanted to believe her father could still help her, could still rescue his little girl.

  ‘Give me a chance, Tug. Those boys don’t deserve what’s happening to them.’ He disappeared up to his room. When he came back down a half hour later, Tug was cleaning up.

  ‘What do you think?’

  Tug barely recognized the man before her. He was freshly shaven and his hair had been waxed back. He wore a suit that was only slightly out of style, and his shoes shined. He looked like a man who belonged out in the world. He’d transformed from the shrunken shut-in she had come to know. A lump formed in Tug’s throat as memories came rushing back to her – memories of her father, dressed like this, heading off to work each morning after kissing her mother and her goodbye. This man before her now? This was her daddy. This was the man who had been a hero to a little girl who thought the world of him. ‘Daddy,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’ll be back,’ he said. ‘Goodbye, dear.’ He kissed her forehead and then turned and went out the front door, leaving Tug standing at the sink, wondering what had just happened.

  *****

  Tug’s father had still not come home when she left for work that evening. She made her way to the Century Club with a knot in her stomach. Had he stopped to find a speak on his way and ended up drunk in the street somewhere? Had he been arrested? Tug hated the doubt that welled up in her when she thought about her father’s efforts at City Hall. But he’d been a drunk for five years. You didn’t just turn that off with the flick of a switch.

  As the club came to life around her, Tug found that she was able to lose herself in her work as she always had. The noise and life around her swept her up and carried her to another world. That had always been the appeal of the clubs for Tug. She became something else amid the gaiety and noise. Just as a good club transported guests to another world full of music and fun, it also took Tug out of the day-to-day realities she faced and allowed her to be a grander version of herself. Tug laughed and talked all evening, running to and fro in the service of her guests and her boss. And when the last guest left in the early morning hours, Tug felt as though she were returning to herself. The fading noise of the club slowly returned her to the life she led during daylight. She locked up and returned home, herself once again. And worry overtook her.

  Quietly, she climbed the stairs to her father’s room. She pushed open the door, carrying a candle to light the space around her. But she needn’t have worried. As soon as the door was open, she could hear the heavy breathing of her father as he slept. His suit hung on the stand in the corner near the door, still looking neat and clean.

  She closed his door and went to her own room, relief clearing her mind and allowing her exhaustion to flood in. Her father was home safe. She wondered what in the world he’d done all day.

  She got her answer soon enough, when a knock came at the door the next day just after noon. Tug had just dressed, and pressed a hand to her unruly hair as she looked through the glass. Chuck stood on the stoop before her, smiling.

  ‘Chuck!’ she laughed as she pulled the door open. She hadn’t seen him since they’d had tea weeks ago, and she was surprised at how happy she felt to have him before her. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I came to thank your father,’ he said. ‘And to see you, of course.’

  ‘My father?’ Tug had no doubt that her surprise showed on her face. But within her, that surprise was mixing with another feeling – pride. Her father had succeeded! Whatever he had do
ne the day before, whoever he had spoken to, it had worked!

  ‘He’s got some pull, I guess. He got the judge to throw out the case.’

  ‘It’s over? You’re off?’

  ‘Just like that,’ Chuck said, his face shining.

  Tug threw her arms around her old friend, and his went immediately around her. Her heart flooded with warmth, and she let her head rest against Chuck’s shoulder for longer than she might have, were it not so comforting and warm – so familiar. There had been so many warring emotions within her over the last few weeks, Tug was happy to forget them all and just take comfort from the presence and affection of a dear friend. She pulled her head back to look up at him.

  As their eyes met, something in the air between them changed. The joy they shared took on a vibration of something different, and Tug found that she couldn’t look away from the face she’d come to know so well. Nor did she want to. Chuck’s brown eyes darkened and he leaned forward slightly, his arms tightening around her.

  The realization that Chuck was about to kiss her came to Tug only seconds before he actually pressed his warm soft lips to hers. But the discovery that she wanted him to was even more surprising. Tug’s mind seemed to slip as her body responded to Chuck’s warm mouth on hers. His lips moved slightly and Tug found herself opening her mouth in response, her tongue darting out to trace the line of his upper lip.

  Chuck responded by deepening the kiss, pulling Tug tighter still, and Tug found that in that moment there was nothing else in the world that she wanted. Every muscle and cell within her responded to Chuck’s mouth on hers, his strong body pressed against her. She moved against him, unable to stop her own responses, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  After what seemed like an hour standing still in time, Chuck stepped back, releasing Tug. Her world spun slightly and then righted itself as she gazed up at him. ‘What just happened?’ she whispered, asking them both.

  Chuck gave her a sheepish smile and said nothing.

  Tug stared at him a moment longer. ‘I’ll go get Daddy,’ she said in a low voice, and then squeezed Chuck’s hand before turning to go. ‘Make yourself at home.’

  *****

  ‘Roger had to go straight back to school to see if he can salvage the year,’ Chuck told Tug’s father as they sat in the dusty front room. No one had visited in so long that Tug had given up on cleaning the room where her mother had once received guests. She looked around as her father and Chuck spoke, embarrassed at how she’d let it go.

  Her father looked more himself than he ever had. He wore his suit again, and Tug wondered what exactly had happened at City Hall the day before. She saw him in a completely different light than she had just days before, and the transformation was hard to accept. She wondered how long it might stick.

  And Chuck suddenly seemed wildly different to her, too. They exchanged quick secret smiles while he and her father talked, and Tug realized that Evie had been right about his feelings for her. She was more surprised to find that she might have feelings for him, too. She had no idea how they might navigate the differences between them, the things that no amount of desire would push away. But for now, she decided to just enjoy the feeling of intrigue that made her skin warm and her muscles clench.

  They talked for an hour or so, Chuck talking about the work he was beginning at the investment firm his father ran. He looked momentarily sad when he mentioned this next step, this passing of his former life, but his smile came back soon enough. Chuck rose to go, thanking Tug’s father profusely. As they approached the front door, he stopped and looked uncertain for a moment, glancing at Tug and then returning his gaze to her father.

  ‘Sir, I wondered if I might ask for one more favor.’

  ‘I think I used up all my favors yesterday, Chuck, but go ahead and ask.’ Tug’s father smiled.

  ‘I wondered if you might allow me to see your daughter now and then.’ Chuck looked embarrassed, but kept his chin high.

  ‘Tug?’ her father said, looking down at her. ‘Is that something you’d like?’

  She nodded and smiled, surprised at her own shyness.

  ‘Then you have my permission,’ her father said, his voice proud. ‘Thank you for coming by, Chuck. I hope to see you again soon.’ He disappeared into the house, leaving Tug and Chuck alone.

  Tug laced her fingers through Chuck’s as he turned to face her. ‘What just happened?’

  He smiled. ‘Something I’ve been waiting years for,’ he said. He kissed her once more, softly, and then placed another kiss on the palm of her hand. ‘Will you go out with me, Tug?’

  ‘Don’t be formal.’ Tug considered her next words. ‘Chuck, what would your family think?’

  ‘They’ll think you’re wonderful, just as I do.’ Chuck looked confused by her question.

  ‘But we come from different worlds …’

  ‘No we don’t.’

  ‘You know what I mean. I’m not exactly the kind of girl that guys like you want to bring home.’

  ‘I’d sure like to bring you home. If you’ll go out with me, that is.’ Chuck looked uncertain, and the bashfulness of his expression made Tug realize that she still hadn’t accepted his offer.

  ‘Of course I will,’ she said. ‘When?’

  ‘When can you get out of work?’

  ‘Oh.’ Tug had forgotten that she’d essentially signed every evening of her life away to the Century Club. She didn’t dare take time off now, when things were just getting started. ‘Sunday afternoon?’

  Chuck smiled. ‘I’ll pick you up,’ he said.

  Tug saw him out the door. When he’d gone, she felt as if her whole world had changed. It would take some time before her mind caught up to it all.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Evie

  Evie’s mother bought her a ticket on a liner making a swift passage to Europe, and sent Buck along with her, to ensure her delivery to Madame Arnaud, Janie’s aunt in Paris. The voyage took only seven days, but to Evie it felt like years. She was sick and miserable, as a storm had passed just ahead of the ship, leaving the Atlantic angry and full of chop. She spent most of the voyage below decks, with Buck stopping by several times a day to try to convince her to eat. She drank clear soups and water, but ate little during the entire trip. By the time they landed, she was weak and Buck had practically worried himself to death.

  At the train station in Paris, Madame Arnaud was easy enough to spot since Janie jumped up and down excitedly at her side. When she spotted Evie and Buck, she screamed out Evie’s name and bolted to her side.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re here! Oh, you look terrible! Buck, what’s become of my friend?’ Janie babbled excitedly at both of them, taking Evie’s hand and pulling her through the crowd. ‘This is my aunt, Agnes Arnaud.’

  The older woman smiled at Evie and Buck. ‘Welcome to Paris.’ Her accent was thick and Evie thought it was very sophisticated. The woman wore a charcoal skirt suit with a slim-fitting skirt and high black pumps. Her eyeliner was thick and gave her a wide-eyed look that set off her dark red lips.

  Janie looked more worldly, too – a product of her aunt’s attentions, no doubt. She was slimmer, and her hair had been bobbed close to her chin. ‘Let’s get you home,’ she said, her own lips a dark color that enhanced her bright eyes.

  Evie barely spoke, but tried to smile. There were throngs of people everywhere. She’d thought New York was crowded, but Paris in the midst of the summer Olympics was a spectacle. As they made their way to the curb to find a cab, Buck lugging Evie’s heavy suitcases through the crowded station, they saw people of every nationality arriving, departing, or just standing around. It was astonishing.

  Madame Arnaud had a small house in the 18th Arondissement, near Montmartre. Evie would find in the weeks that followed that she remembered very little of her first trip through Paris, though she watched through the window as the unfamiliar city passed. She had seen pictures of Paris, both in her French classes in school and also through news coverag
e of the Olympics. But she would need several days to begin to feel at home.

  Buck stared wide-eyed as the city passed, offering smiles to Janie and Madame Arnaud as he cast worried glances at Evie, who could barely hold her head up.

  Janie chattered endlessly, and finally seemed to notice her friend’s lack of enthusiasm. ‘Evie, are you all right?’

  ‘She’s been sick since we left New York,’ Buck said.

  ‘A few days to rest,’ Madame Arnaud said, her voice low and elegant.

  Buck regarded her like some kind of new species, as if he wasn’t sure he could trust the refined woman with the heavy accent.

  Through her exhaustion, Evie watched Buck as he tried not to stare at Madame Arnaud, who was now patting her hand and feeling her forehead with long slim fingers. He appeared to be fascinated and Evie was suddenly struck with the thought that Buck might have a crush on Janie’s aunt. She’d never seen him with a woman, and had all but forgotten that he was a man, who certainly became lonely in his endless trials as her chaperone. She wondered if Buck ever dated. He must have a private life she knew nothing about.

  The house was adorable, seated along the Rue des Trois-Frères. It had three bedrooms, one of which Evie was shown to immediately. She fell gratefully onto the small narrow bed, pulling a blanket around her shoulders.

  ‘I’m sorry, Janie,’ she told her friend, who fussed over her worriedly. ‘I promise I’ll be better tomorrow.’ Evie no longer felt sick, but she was exhausted, and almost immediately fell asleep, her dreams weaving dark confusing pictures of Paris and New York together, interlaced with Jack and Roger, and her mother and father.