Chapter 26 The Book Club's Discussion
Upon hearing walnut pie, Amy's taste buds had been triggered. She felt awkward to jump into eating although she really wanted to have some. It had been days since she last had it. Stella saw her gaze linger on the pie that was on the table and she stood up.
She served Amy and herself a piece each before she went back to her seat. Amy gave her a grateful smile and the woman returned her with a gentle one. The other ladies helped themselves before a discussion bloomed.
"Before that, have you all heard about Mrs. Straub?" Anastasia started which piqued everyone's interest.
"Did her husband catch her cheating again?" a familiar voice responded followed by the sound of a door opening. All the women turned to find Adrianne walking in, also dressed to the nines.
Dorothy shook her head in disapproval, "When will you ever be on time?"
"I was pulled over and had to take care of my speeding ticket", Adrianne shrugged as she walked over.
"Poor Jared", Meredith commented. The rest of the women shook their heads knowing the woman probably flirted her way out of it. Amy stared on in amusement as she ate. Adrianne gave everyone a cheek-to-cheek kiss before settling down beside Amy.
"What's new about Mrs. Straub cheating? Who's the guy this time?" Adrianne asked as she served herself some cake and tea.
"Thats far from important. There's a twist! Apparently," Anastasia deliberately paused to arouse curiosity and surely, the women all stared at her in anticipation. Amy was wondering what possible twist there could be to a cheating scandal as she sipped on her tea; she was curious.
"He fucked the same man she cheated with and let her watch!"
Amy spat out the tea onto the table in her proximity. She didn't expect Anastasia to have a fowl mouth and definitely did not expect that outcome. The room fell in a defeaning silence as everyone was too stunned to speak. Amy reached for a tissue to wipe the table when:
Snort.
Amy paused in her movements and like everyone else, looked over to the source of the snort. Emma had long broken into a silent laugh which had now turned into a snort laugh. Her face was red while her eyes brimmed with tears of laughter.
"I'm",.... Snort... "I'm sor-"... Snort!
It was so loud it sounded like revving a motorbike engine! The books were quickly abandoned as the women fell into a fit of laughter.
"What do we even call this situation?" Meredith asked while wiping laughing tears.
"How angry do you have to be to resort to such measures?" Sylvia asked. Her face was red from all the laughing.
Dorothy sounded like she was crying as she tried to control her laughter while speaking, "I don't know... I don't know who should be more embarrassed..... in this situation!"
"And he refuses to divorce her!" Anastasia added.
"I would take anything but that! That was Savage!" Emma managed to speak before she gaffawed even more.
"But how could the other man let another man take him? Unless.....?" Dorothy mused out loud.
Stella caught on as she nodded at her friend, "I see where you're going with this!"
Amy wiped the table and discarded the tissue as she calmed down from her laugh. The book discussion was quickly put down by the Straub household scandal. The different theories and opinions on the matter threw the women into a fit of laughter. 'So this is how my 'story' spread?' Amy mused. But she was not offended because if anything, the ladies did her a favor.
Two hours later, the ladies finally left. Amy felt like her cheeks were numb from laughing too much. Emma's snort laugh just made things worse for her. Stella was right, it lightened up her mood. Although she was encouraged to read the book for next Friday's discussion, she doubted if there would be any like today.
Ian quickly went back to his station without saying a word to her. She didn't think much of it and settled in her seat. Out of habit, she looked at her phone and found a message that made her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. And it had been sent close to an hour ago.
Dylan: S.O.S!!!