Barclay, Linwood Novel 08 - Never saw it coming

magnifying glass you’d never be able to tell.”
    Of that, Allison was certain.
    “That must have cost you a
fortune
,” her mother said.
    “Yeah, well, it’s not like the waitstaff have a dental plan,” she said, and laughed. “But don’t worry about it, I’ll manage somehow. Courtney’ll understand, you know, if she has to wait a while for my share.”
    “Oh, honey, you can’t do that to your roommate. That’s just not fair. I’m getting out my checkbook right now.”
    She put a thousand dollars in the mail that day.
    When the check arrived Allison immediately deposited it in her checking, bringing the balance to $1,421.87. Not enough to pay Courtney back everything Allison owed her, but at least she could make a start at it. But the longer Allison looked at the balance on her ATM slip, the less certain she was that she wanted to give any of that money to Courtney.
    That “someone” she had mentioned to her mother was going to the Bahamas in two weeks, and had invited Allison to come along. Nothing had been said about paying her way, however, so Allison had said sorry, can’t afford it.
    All that had changed with the money to fix her chipped tooth.
    So she booked a week in the Bahamas.
    That’s when the shit really hit the fan.
    Courtney said, when she saw Allison packing her bags before grabbing a cab to JFK, “Are you kidding me? Tell me you’re fucking kidding me. You’re into me for more than two grand and somehow you’ve got enough for a vacation? You want to explain that to me?”
    “It’s not
my
money,” Allison said. “My mom gave me the money for it.”
    Courtney said, “Excuse me?”
    “I haven’t saved up enough money from my job to pay you back yet. That’s what I’m going to pay you with.
This
money, from my
mom
, for my
vacation
, is totally
separate
.” It made perfect sense to Allison. Courtney could be so thick sometimes. Hard to believe she worked in the financial industry. You’d think she could get her head around it.
    “I don’t believe you,” Courtney said. “I don’t fucking
believe
you.”
    “Look, I really
need
this trip,” Allison said. “How many places you been to in the last three years? Huh? Munich, for one. And then you went on that trip to Mexico. And what about London? You were there like five months ago. In all that time, where have I been?”
    “What do my trips have to do with anything?”
    “It’s not fair that you’re always getting to go someplace and I’m not. I can’t believe how mean you are sometimes. I’ve gotta go. My flight leaves in like three hours.”
    Courtney must have sent her at least a hundred texts and emails while she was in the Bahamas. Ranting about what a selfish, self-centered, self-consumed bitch Allison was. It nearly ruined her holiday, her phone chirping and dinging all the time.
    But it was still worth it.
    When Allison returned, Courtney said she was going to kick her out, but Allison said she’d have to think twice about that, because both their names were on the lease. Allison put on a huge song and dance that she really, really,
really
was going to pay her back, that she was going to ask her mother for some money, that she was sure she could come up with a pretty good story, one that would touch her mother’s heart, and there’d be a check in the mail within the week.
    That was a week ago. There isn’t likely to be a check in the mail today. She hasn’t called her mother yet and asked her for money. Allison thinks it’s too soon after the tooth story. She figures, if she can come up with an equally compelling tale, she’ll try it on her mother in another week or so.
    Maybe a bedbug story. Everyone’s shitting their pants about bedbugs. She’ll tell her mother she has them in her building, that she and Courtney must move to a hotel for a week while the pest control people come in and spray and kill the little bastards. And they’re telling Allison, you have to throw out all your clothes, the bugs may be hiding in them, go buy yourself some new duds.
    Allison’s mother has already been e-mailing her every news item she comes across about bedbugs. This story will play very nicely into her fears.
    Her mother will send money. Allison is sure of it. She just has to keep herself from spending it on something else before she gives it to Courtney.
    Allison’s cell, sitting on the coffee table, rings.
    She comes up from under the covers, guesses it will be Courtney, and damned if it isn’t. She