something
to do with Elvis. Her phone dinged again. Claire sat up and dug her phone out
of her purse.
It was a text from Scarlet: WTH?
Claire typed: WTH do you mean WTH?
Scarlet: You used my card to get a suite at Hard
Rock?
Claire: I’ll pay you back.
Scarlet: A suite?
Claire: That was all that was available.
Scarlet: Skype me.
Claire: I’m going to take a shower first.
Scarlet: NOW.
Clare sighed. She saw her luggage at the foot of her
bed and five minutes later had her computer up and running at the desk. She
opened Skype and dialed. Within seconds, Scarlet’s face appeared on the screen.
She was wearing the infamous “Scarlet Scowl.” That did not portend good things.
Scarlet didn’t even say hello before berating
Claire. “What are you doing in Tulsa? You were supposed to drive straight
through.”
“We were tired,” Claire said and yawned to prove her
point.
Scarlet squinted and leaned in closer to the
computer. “Have you been in bed?”
“Why?”
“You have bed head.”
“I took a nap.”
Scarlet smirked. “Uh huh. You’ve slept with her,
haven’t you?”
“No!”
“You have sex hair,” Scarlet accused.
“I most certainly do not.”
Suddenly, Scarlet gasped and pulled back. “Oh my
God!”
“What?” Claire asked.
“There’s a woman in your bed!” Scarlet’s long red
nail pointed to a place behind Claire.
Claire turned and looked at the bed behind her.
There was a woman in her bed! The woman was hidden under the covers but
those were definitely woman shaped lumps under the covers. Claire screamed. And
when she ran out of breath on that scream, she sucked in more air and screamed
again.
In a matter of seconds, her bedroom door flew open
and Ollie burst in. She was dripping wet and had only a towel wrapped around
her. “Claire! Are you all right?!”
Claire pointed at the bed with a shaky finger.
“There’s a… there’s a…”
Ollie looked at the bed. And then she laughed.
“That’s EZ. We had to stow her somewhere. G-Ray put her in your bed while you
were sleeping.” Ollie continued laughing and after a moment, Claire laughed,
too.
“Oh my God,” Claire said. “I saw Elvis and then
there was this woman-shaped lump and it was all just too weird and…”
“I know, right? This suite is crazy. Did you flush
your toilet yet?”
Claire shook her head. “Why? Is something wrong with
it?”
“When you flush, the song “Taking Care of Business”
plays. Scared the crap out of me. Literally.”
Claire laughed. Ollie sat on the edge of the bed.
Claire plopped down next to her and the more Ollie laughed, the more Claire
laughed and, God, it felt good to laugh off the tension. When their laughter
died down to sputters, Claire timidly touched Ollie’s bare knee and said, “I’m
sorry about earlier, Ollie. I really shouldn’t have thrown my purse at you.”
“It’s okay,” Ollie said. “If I were you and you were
me and I, as you, said that same stuff to you as me—”
“Wait. What? Who am I?”
“You’re me. You’re still you but you’re me.”
“And who are you?” Claire asked.
“I’m me, but as you.”
“I’m confused.”
“Let me start over,” Ollie said. “If I were you but
was still me and you were me but still essentially you…”
“Okay, got it, continue,” Claire said.
“And I were to have EZ and G-Ray —”
“Hold on, I’m lost again,” Claire said. “Who’s
G-Ray? Is he EZ?”
“No G-Ray is G-Ray and EZ is still herself, but…”
Ollie’s voice trailed off.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot what I was going to say,” Ollie said.
Claire laughed and Ollie laughed and they were both
themselves laughing and it felt pretty damn good to be laughing and not crying
and not fighting. Claire hiccupped and wiped the tears from her eyes for the
second time that day. Only this time it was happy tears.
“I’m really sorry about losing it earlier. I’ll try
to… from now on, I’ll try to…” Claire stumbled,
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