With a jolt, she was up out of her chair shoving it backward and pointing at him. "Who are you?"
People around them stopped talking and looked over. She gave an uneasy glance around and sat back down. He stared at her unsure of what to say. She leaned toward him and in a hushed tone asked, "Is this some sick joke? You think I was...raped?" Her face was now red.
"It gets worse, if that's possible. Loraine left you and went after Sonny Barner. Found him and shot him. You might be telling yourself it was excusable date rape, however now he's dead, and she killed him because of you."
"Barner? Barner?" She wadded her napkin and threw it on the table. "Why are you talking crazy to me?" She brought her hands to her face.
"I'm just telling you what Loraine told me."
"Then she lied to you. None of it's true. What do you have to do with it anyway? Get this, I didn't send you any text, nobody raped me, I have nothing to do with Loraine, and she has nothing to do with me. She's definitely not a friend. We like it that way. Furthermore, I think you're sick. Go. Leave. Now."
This can't be true. Loraine told him she saw Tammy suffering and said Norma Martin was there too. Someone's lying. He had to press it. "Take off your sunglasses."
"You're weird and I'm out of here." She shoved her teacup aside and stood.
He also stood. "Not yet, please humor me. Just take off your sunglasses. Then I'll go."
She shrugged and propped her sunglasses up on her hair, put her hands on her hips and leaned forward challenging him with mock wide eyes. What he saw was an unblemished face with perfect skin and warm blue eyes, which at that moment were dilated with anger.
All at once, the situation became clear to him. He nearly collapsed into his chair. Loraine had lied. That whole routine in the motel room meant-what? There was no rape. She must have had some other reason for shooting Barner. "Oh, God I'm so sorry. Please sit back down. What have I done?"
He was there embarrassing this poor woman for no reason at all. He had no defense, no excuse. In a low voice, "I believe you and I apologize. Will you help me? Do you even know this Barner? Have you ever dated him?"
She sat down still agitated. "Do you know what fat chance means? He's the town bug man, not that there's anything wrong with that. The man might be okay but definitely not socializing material. How did he get into this anyway? You say he's dead? Anything else? How about those space ships you've seen? And those CIA agents who are gathering in town ready to launch their sinister plot? May I leave and go back to the real world now?"