Cheating at Solitaire(15)

She stood up, very carefully. She did not think she was going to throw up. She was past that. She was not sure she could stand for very long. She really did have a fever. Her whole face was hot. She’d probably come down with the flu and shut down the filming and make everybody mad at her again. She leaned against a small table. The woman who lived here had left a book and a mug on it. Arrow couldn’t read the title of the book, because her vision was blurred. It didn’t make sense, anyway. She wondered what time it was. It had been dark when they’d been driving around in the truck, but storm-dark, not night-dark, and as far as she knew it could still be the middle of the afternoon. That would be bad. She needed it to be night. The closer it was tonight, the better off she would be.

She got to the chaise longue and sat down on the edge of it. She couldn’t have stood up much longer. Marcey was covered with a blanket that was just like the blanket Arrow had had on her on the couch. The woman who lived here must buy matching blankets. Marcey seemed to be snoring. Arrow put out her hand and touched her on the shoulder.

“Marcey?” she said. “Marcey, you need to be awake.”

Marcey groaned a little, and turned, and looked up. Arrow bit her lip. They all got pretty drunk, partying. Arrow had been pretty drunk herself just a little while ago. Every once in a while, though, it was important to sober up, and then you—

And then what?

Arrow pressed down on Marcey’s shoulder and shook. “Marcey,” she said again. “You’ve got to wake up. It’s important.”

“Fuck that,” Marcey said.

She hadn’t opened her eyes. The longer Arrow stayed upright, the more she was sure there was something terribly wrong with her. She was so hot she was burning up, and she was dizzy. It wasn’t the kind of dizzy you got when you were drunk. It was the kind you got when you spun around and around and around without stopping, or went on one of those rides at the amusement park where it did that for you.She shook Marcey again, hard this time. There were all kinds of things she felt she had to say.

Marcey turned over, flat on her back, and opened her eyes. She turned her head from one side to the other, which couldn’t have helped much, because the chaise had arms on both sides. She sat up a little and looked around. Arrow held her breath.

“Where are we?” Marcey said.

“I’m not sure,” Arrow said. “It’s a house some woman owns, in town, I think. Nobody we know. I just—Mark and I had an accident in the truck, and it was cold, and I was walking, and this place was here. I think. I was sort of wasted. This woman made me lie down on the couch and put a blanket on me and tried to get me to drink tea, but I wouldn’t, and then Stewart Gordon brought you here.”

“Stewart Gordon brought me here?”

“Carried you in on his shoulders. With his coat wrapped around your middle. I saw it. I was pretending to be asleep. I didn’t want to talk to her, you know, the woman who lives here, and then Stewart Gordon was here and I didn’t want to talk to him. I don’t think it’s right that people like that can call you stupid. Do you know what I mean? I don’t think it’s right.”

Marcey was suddenly a lot more awake than Arrow was, and Arrow could see it. She was sitting bolt upright and her eyes were clear.

“I threw up,” Marcey said. “At that place, the bar place on Main Street. Not the inn, the other place. I threw up on the bartender because he had a bow tie. Crap, crap, crap. Where the hell is Stewart Gordon now?”

Arrow looked away. “They went out. Stewart Gordon and the woman who lives here.”

“Out? Isn’t there some big storm or the other? Why did they go out?”

“I don’t know.”

“And what about Mark? Where’s Mark?”

“I don’t know.”

“God, isn’t it just like the jerkballs you go out with, there’s an accident in the truck and then he just dumps you there to go walking around in the snow. Are they coming back?”

“I guess so,” Arrow said. “They’d have to, wouldn’t they? Or the woman would. It’s her house.”

“It’s a really dinky house,” Marcey said. “You ever noticed that about this place? Most of the houses are really dinky. Except Kendra’s, you know. That one’s good.”

Arrow took a deep breath and almost immediately started coughing. Her chest hurt. Her head was on fire. “Listen,” she said. “We have to find out what time it is. We have to get out of here.”

“We can get out of here no matter what time it is.”

“No, listen, Marcey, be serious. We have to get out of here and we have to go somewhere. Somewhere safe. We have to go to Kendra’s house.”