“Yes she has!” Delilah said, loudly and fiercely enough for neighboring tables of diners to look over curiously.
“Really,” he said. “Tell me all about Jacinta Trimalchio, then.”
“Please don’t,” Jacinta said faintly. “Please, just—please.”
“After the trouble with her father, her mother took her to Europe,” Delilah said staunchly. “That’s where she grew up. Swiss boarding school. She started blogging because she missed it here and she loves fashion. She’s always loved fashion. We used to dress up together when we were little.” She grabbed Jacinta’s hand and looked at Teddy defiantly.
“See,” she said. “I know everything. And I still love her. I love her more than I’ve ever loved you. She understands me.”
Teddy laughed scornfully. “You know nothing,” he said. “And you don’t love her. You don’t even know her. She’s been feeding you bullshit and you swallowed it whole. After her dad went to jail, she and her mother moved to a shitty little town in Florida to live with her grandparents. Her mother’s been a stripper for years. My P.I. saw her dance. She gave him a lap dance, in fact.”
Jacinta buried her head in her hands.
“Oh, don’t do that, Jacinta,” Teddy said with faux sympathy. “He said she’s quite good.”
“Th-that’s not true,” Delilah said. “You’re lying.”
“This guy has worked for my family since I was a kid,” Teddy said. “He doesn’t lie about lap dances.”
“You fucking asshole,” Delilah snapped. “You know that’s not what I mean. She grew up in Europe, not Florida. Didn’t you, Jacinta?”
Jacinta kept her head buried in her hands, not responding.
“Didn’t you?” There was a note of desperation in Delilah’s voice. Jacinta’s answer, when it came, was very small and quite muffled.
“No,” Jacinta said.
Delilah sat back in her chair, visibly shocked. I cast a quick, begging look at Jeff, who was watching the scene unfold with rapt attention. I wanted no part of any of this.
“No?” Delilah repeated.
“No,” Jacinta said, raising her head up. Her face was stained with tears and with the mascara that was running down her cheeks.
“He’s right,” Jacinta said. “I didn’t go to Swiss boarding school. I haven’t been to Europe since my father took us to visit his family in Italy when I was five.”
Delilah just looked at her, mouth slightly open.
“Our housekeepers used to bring us to school together. I didn’t recognize you at all,” Jeff said with fascinated awe.
“Well, the nose job probably threw you off,” Teddy said snidely. “That’s new. She got it when she got her trust fund. Eighteenth birthday.”
“Jesus!” Jacinta burst forth, her eyes fiery with anger. “What are you, some kind of stalker?”
“I think that’s your job description,” Teddy said. “Along with con artist. So you lied to everybody about your name and where you came from, and even when you told Delilah the ‘truth’ about where you’ve been for the past seven years, it was still a lie. What else did you make up?”
Jacinta looked at Delilah, who was now staring at her hands. Then she looked at Teddy.
“It’s over, Adriana,” Teddy said, his voice thick with satisfaction.
Jacinta turned back to Delilah in a panic.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about where I really grew up,” Jacinta said quickly. “I’m really sorry. It was just. . . it was such a bad time. It was so, so awful there. My stepfather. . . it was terrible. I wanted you to think I’d had a nice life. You don’t know what it’s been like the past seven years.. . .”
Delilah looked confused, which Teddy took as an invitation to speak again.
“We could sue you, you know,” he said to Jacinta, his voice rising with each word. “We could sue your ass off for fraud. It’s a family tradition, right?”
“Fuck you,” Jacinta said, loud enough to invite the attention of nearby diners. One couple scowled at her. Their blond twin little girls stared.
The manager hurried up again, this time accompanied by two valets.
“I think it’s time for all of you to go,” he said firmly. “I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it’s affecting the rest of the restaurant.”
“Don’t worry, man,” Teddy said, standing up and stretching lazily. “We’re going.”
The manager waited to lead us all out, with the valets bringing up the rear. Teddy followed the manager, walking with a jaunty bounce in his step, smiling and saying hi to acquaintances and family friends as if nothing were wrong. Jeff followed. Then came me, and then—whispering frantically back and forth the whole time—Delilah and Jacinta. I couldn’t catch what they were saying, and I couldn’t even really guess. I wanted to take them both aside and get the real story, but was there even a real story? Who exactly was conning who, anyway? My mind was whirling. I wanted to believe Jacinta wasn’t a total phony. She was still my friend, and she was obviously hurting.
We passed a dejected-looking Giovanni, who was wiping down the bar.
“Bad night for both of us, man,” Teddy said to Giovanni.
“I guess so,” he said in a dull voice.
By the time we got outside, other valets had already brought our cars around.
“You girls have a nice ride home,” Teddy said pleasantly, waving as they drove off with Jacinta in the driver’s seat. The manager stood outside uneasily for a moment before turning around and walking back into the restaurant.
“I’d say this calls for a cigar,” Teddy said, pulling two out of his back pocket.
“You had these the whole time, man?” Jeff asked, laughing. He took one from Teddy.
“I knew tonight was gonna be a celebration,” Teddy said, smiling. He looked at the valets. “It’s cool if we stay a little while, right? I just can’t smoke this in my car—my mom would freak out if she smelled smoke in it.”
“No problem, man,” said one of the valets. “Just, if my manager comes out, you’re probably gonna have to go.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna have a new manager on Monday,” Teddy said. “Trust me. I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make about tonight.”
“Fine with me, man,” another valet said. “That guy’s a dick, anyway.”
Teddy laughed and high-fived the valet, then turned to me.
“Sorry I don’t have an extra for you, Naomi,” he said.
“That’s fine,” I said, and wandered away while they puffed on their stogies. When would this nightmare of an evening end?
“Man,” I heard Jeff say to Teddy, “I knew Jacinta was weird, but I never would’ve predicted this. What are you gonna do?” Any sympathy he’d previously shown her seemed to have disappeared. Jeff’s alliance was clearly with Teddy.
“What am I gonna do?” Teddy repeated with a hard laugh. “Make sure everybody in this town knows exactly who she really is. You remember what it was like when we were kids. Her last name was like a curse word. All those stories in the papers, all those reporters outside Trumbo. . . she’ll be gone in no time. Back to the swamp she slithered out of.”
“Could you really sue her?” Jeff asked.
“You can sue anybody for anything,” Teddy said. “But she’s not worth it. As long as she gets out of here, everything’s fine.”
They went back and forth for a few more minutes about Jacinta the fraud, Jacinta the liar, Jacinta Jacinta Jacinta, as if I wasn’t even there. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel. Jacinta had lied to me and everybody else in town, but she wasn’t a monster.
Then the manager re-emerged from the restaurant, his face livid.
“I told you all to get out of here,” he said.