“Wow,” Elaine said. “What’s his problem? And who is he?”
“Roy Wyatt’s son.”
Elaine had to think where she’d heard that name. “Oh! Isn’t he the guy who’s always in trouble?”
Before Cheryl spoke, she looked outside to make sure Jack was gone. “Yes, he is. A couple of years ago, Jack’s parents had a vicious custody battle. His mother hired a lawyer to have her ex-husband declared unfit, but then there was an accident at work.” She motioned for Elaine to sit on a kitchen stool, and she put a towel about her shoulders.
“Was Roy hurt?”
“Heavens no!” Cheryl began slathering mayonnaise on Elaine’s hair. “But Jack’s stepfather was. He’s a building contractor and a new wall that had been nailed down fell on him. When it happened, Roy was surrounded by men in a bar, but everyone knew he’d done it. Jealousy. But Jack’s mother dropped her suit, so now the boy spends a lot of the summer with his father, stepmother and his little brother.”
“I didn’t hear any of this. Who told you?”
“I hear things,” Cheryl said quickly, then was silent.
Elaine could tell that she’d overstepped. Looked like Cheryl’s sources of gossip were off-limits. “Do you know the boy’s dad?”
“No.” She was massaging Elaine’s scalp. “I met Jack when I got tangled up in a clothesline and couldn’t get out. He was riding by on his bike and heard me call for help. He saved me.”
Elaine still wasn’t understanding the connection. “So why is the boy here now?”
“He brought the camera by. This summer his little brother is with his grandparents in Colorado, so Jack is going to film me doing some broadcasts.” Cheryl wrapped the towel around Elaine’s hair, then told her to stretch out on the kitchen table.
“Do what?”
“I want you to lie down with your head at this end. I’m going to try my best to get some moisturizer into your skin. What products do you usually use?”
“Soap and water?”
Cheryl groaned. “How do you expect to accomplish anything in life if you don’t take care of yourself first?”
Elaine was sitting on the old chrome-legged table but it wobbled. “Don’t worry. It’s safe. I give my mom facials every week.”
Elaine stretched out and Cheryl put a rolled-up towel under her neck. “What do you want to broadcast?”
“The news.”
“You mean like on Good Morning America?”
“Yes and no,” Cheryl said. “I just want to do the local news.” She was putting a nice-smelling lotion on Elaine’s face.
“But being a journalist could take you around the world.”
“I don’t want to go around the world.”
She said it so firmly that Elaine opened her eyes. She knew little about Cheryl.
Until two days ago she wasn’t sure of her name. “What do you want to do?”
“Get respect,” Cheryl said. “I want...normal, I guess. A nice husband, two children, a lovely house. I don’t want to get stuck with one of the Roy Wyatts of this world.”
Elaine was beginning to understand. She’d read somewhere, “Dress like what you mean to achieve.” “Is that why you wear what you do? So you don’t attract people like the Wyatts?”
“Yes!” She smeared a clay mask on Elaine’s face, then stepped back. “Clothes are powerful tools. They’re a key that unlocks doors. I want my children to go to great colleges. I want dinner parties. When people see me, I want them to feel a sense of respect.”
“A sort of Lady of the Manor.”
Something about that made Cheryl laugh.