The Girl Who Had Everything
She had the wedding, the lifestyle, the man… everything looked perfect from the outside. But behind the scenes, the money wasn’t hers, the story didn’t add up, and one friend knew far too much. When the mask starts to slip, the question isn’t if everything will unravel… it’s who will pull the thread. Because some friendships don’t end quietly… and some secrets come with receipts.
NICOLE JEFFORDS FICTION
Mimi Bing had run out of money. What to do? What to do? She racked her brains, trying to think of who might help her next. At this point, a lot of doors were closed to her, she’d tapped out so many of her friends and relatives. And always with a sweet smile on her face and a story that would fit the circumstances. Truly, she knew how to bend people’s opinions of her so that she always came out looking good.
She was one of those women who was almost, but not quite, beautiful. Face a tad too long, heavyish jaw. But her hair was thick and gorgeous, always perfectly streaked. It hung to her bra strap, just the right length to play with when she got nervous. But she wasn’t often nervous. She’d been spoiled all her life and thought very highly of herself.
Today she was having lunch with her friend Lea, a plumpish young woman Mimi had known since high school. They were seated on the outdoor terrace of a cute little bistro on Columbus Avenue. “Lea,” she said, leaning across the table so she could look closely into her friend’s eyes. “I’m …” She smiled brilliantly, all her very white veneered teeth showing, “Well, this is big, and I haven’t told many people about it, but I’m starting a new political movement called ‘For One and All.’ I’ve just begun building the website for it and I’m wondering if you would be a contributing member.”
Lea looked a little disconcerted. She was a dark-haired, olive-skinned person who, if it weren’t for her golden bracelets and designer jeans, could have passed for an immigrant from one of those “shit hole” countries the president was always talking about. (In fact, her father was a Sephardic Jew who owned parking garages all over the city and was extremely wealthy.) “How much money do you need?” she asked. She owed Mimi a favor since Mimi had once covered for her in a dispute over an apartment with a mutual friend.
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
Lea laughed despite herself. The request for money actually made her very angry. What was she, a lending institution? Plus she had contributed generously to Mimi’s wellbeing over the years – trips to Sedona so her friend could recharge, a week at a beauty spa, many (many!) late night talks about the troublesome men in Mimi’s life. “I don’t have that much cash available right now,” she said.
Mimi made a face. She didn’t believe her friend for a minute. “Well, how much could you loan me?”
“I just don’t have it right now,” Lea repeated..
“Okaay,” Mimi said, wondering if she could manufacture a tear to drip down her face. Maybe better to change the subject. “Let me show you a picture of my wedding dress,” she said.
For Mimi was getting married. Yes, it had finally happened! At the age of forty, Mimi was at last settling on a man, and a very nice man at that: a Wall Street guy who was reasonably good-looking and wanted to start a family, which was something Mimi had recently begun fretting about. In order to join the club of happily married, well-funded ladies of her station she would have to have a baby. The idea thoroughly revolted her because it meant her body would grow fat, and all the pounds she’d staved off through meticulous diet and exercise would accumulate on her bones and pudge her out. A fate worse than death. But of course there was always Ozempic … though Mimi shied away from the idea because she would have to take it for life, and who knew how that would affect her in the long run?
Best not to think about that. Mimi opened her phone and brought up a picture of her wedding dress, an affair of satin and pearls with a long train whose cost was so high – twenty thousand dollars – that her father had had to take money out of a retirement account to pay for it.
“Gorgeous!” exclaimed Lea. “I’m really happy for you.” She hesitated a moment, her smile growing a little thinner. Then she said: “But tell me, Meems, what do you really need the money for? I know you well enough to know it’s not a website.”
“Oh, but it is!”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t for a minute think you’d be starting an ambitious website while you’re putting all your energy into planning a wedding in Mexico.”
“Then think again.”
Lea shook her head. She’d had a bad day – one of her two-year-old twin boys she’d had through in vitro had come down with a stomach bug, which meant the other twin would get it, and then perhaps – in fact, most likely – she herself would get it and oh, how she hated vomiting! Her mind strayed for a moment to the fact that Mimi was used to vomiting quite regularly as it was one of her methods of staying thin. No one knew that except for Lea herself, and now suddenly the thought of it incensed her. Really made her see red. How much money had she loaned Mimi over the years? Easily fifty thousand and never once had Mimi even really offered to pay her back. She’d let Mimi get away with it because she could afford to and there’d been a number of times Mimi really had struggled with jobs. In fact, Lea had gotten Mimi her current job as a teacher of video and filmmaking at a local private girls’ school.
It didn’t pay well, not nearly enough for the elegant clothes Mimi liked to wear, the winter white coats and dresses and ankle boots that made her look like someone really special and important. Her father, an endocrinologist named Bruce Bing, had money but was sparing in the amount he would give Mimi. No matter. Her husband-to-be was a high-earner and from here on in her expenses would be covered.
For years Mimi had had fun going out with all sorts of guys, not wanting to settle down with any of them, not even sure she had it in her to sustain a lasting relationship. But now it was time to marry. She was almost middle-aged – how she cringed at the thought! If she didn’t act quickly her shelf life would expire and she’d turn into a spinster, which was something she couldn’t possibly allow to happen. She didn’t want to go online, but that’s how she found him, Freddy Hopkins, who had short brown hair and a prominent Adam's apple, which Mimi personally thought was kind of cute. He was a sweet man and he was in love with her, so he would do. Plus she enjoyed talking to him even though he’d grown up in the midwest and she secretly found him somewhat provincial. But the sex was okay and she knew in her heart that he was a good and caring man who would stick by her side in the face of whatever calamity.
But Mimi didn’t expect calamity; she expected a stable, if slightly boring life. The fact that Freddy worked on Wall Street gave him (and by association, Mimi herself) clout. She could say to her friends, “Yeah, my husband knows everything about the market,” and they would flock to her for advice, respecting her opinions and listening to her as if she were some sort of guru. That part alone would make the marriage worth it.
“Thirty thousand is a lot of money, Mimi. I thought your dad was helping you.”
“He’s paying for the wedding. I can’t ask him for more.”
“And why exactly are you asking me? I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. ”
Mimi gave an exasperated sigh. “Because you’re my best friend and you’ve helped me out before.”
“Well, I can’t this time. I’m just not that liquid right now.” After a pause, she added, “Sorry.”
The truth was that Mimi had dipped into wedding funds in order to buy things she needed: clothing, facials, hair extensions, nails, plane tickets for trips to Aspen and Miami, botox and fillers, even rent for her snazzy little one bedroom in Tribeca. And now she was broke, not a pot to pee in. The lunch ended with an unusual frostiness between the two women. Mimi was livid that her friend wouldn’t help her. She actually shook with a fury she could barely contain, and when they said goodbye it was with a perfunctory kiss kiss instead of their usual warm embrace. After that, they didn’t get together so much. Lea was supposed to be maid of honor, but any mention of that was dropped. She considered not going to the wedding at all, but then thought that was silly, even a little spiteful. She’d goddamn well go and have a good time.
The hotel in Cabo San Lucas, where all the wedding guests were staying, was sleek and modern, its buildings as blindingly white as Mimi’s veneered teeth. There was a large, beautiful pool where people lounged beneath umbrellas, sipping fruity drinks or nibbling on sandwiches from the bar. At the last minute, Lea’s husband had been called away on business, so Lea had had to attend the wedding alone. That didn’t bother her – she needed a break from her twins and her busy domestic life. The idea of lounging by the pool was heaven.
Although Lea and Mimi had been friends for years, Lea didn’t really know most of her other friends – an assortment of skinny, stylish-looking women and their manly, hairy-chested husbands all of whom looked so alike that it was impossible to tell them apart. How had Mimi even met these people? Out in the Hamptons? Or in L.A., a city where Mimi enjoyed spending time, dreaming perhaps that she herself would one day become a player? No matter. Lea badly needed the quiet and was happy to relax and not talk to anyone. She lay with her eyes closed, relishing the feel of the sun on her skin and the absence of having to deal with her children, the treasured silence of being on her own. Meanwhile, Mimi was seen flitting about, flashing a smile at this person and that, offering her cheek for a quick kiss kiss. Who would be her maid of honor? Probably one of the other teachers from her school, and Lea was right – it was the assistant principal, a bland and stuffy-looking young woman whose name Lea couldn’t remember. The wedding ceremony itself was picture perfect, the bride in her exquisite gown, the groom in his well-cut tux, his five-year-old niece walking ahead, strewing flower petals. Lea wanted to clap and yell: “Well done!” but restrained herself since no one else was clapping.
As for the groom, whom Lea had only met once before, he had a sweet, open face, and for a moment Lea pitied him, sensing he was no match for Mimi's high energy and strong will. Hopefully things would work out. Hopefully Mimi wouldn’t gobble Freddy up and spit him out, leaving him at the side of the highway like roadkill. The thought made Lea feel slightly guilty. But it was true. Lea knew that with Mimi it was her way and no one else’s.
She consulted the chart for her seat. She had expected to be placed with Mimi’s family on the patio where all the action was, but instead she was seated in the outfield many tables away from the speakers and music. In fact, it was quite gloomy and dark where she was placed. Just to get to the ladies room would take a lot of walking over uneven ground. She didn’t know who her neighbors were on either side, but across from her, to her chagrin, was a cousin of Mimi’s whom everyone avoided because he had such a difficult personality. His name was Robert and he was a blowhard, unable to talk about anything but himself. On top of that he was … well, a little unsightly, the top of his head shiny and bald while long, stringy, graying hair hung from the sides. He’d had all his teeth pulled due to infection and now wore a denture because he couldn’t afford implants. But tonight he didn’t seem to have his denture in. Lea peered across at him: yes he was toothless, using his gums to chomp on vegetables and tiny, cut up pieces of chicken. He grinned at her and told her how glad he was to have a chance to talk to her, embarking on a story about how he’d once been shadowed by the FBI due to his participation in a rally when George W. Bush was president. Lea smiled at him and rose to her feet, saying she had to go to the ladies room. On tiny kitten heels, she minced her way across the lawn, taking out her cell to call an Uber when she arrived at the main entrance to the property. How she wanted to get out of here! It felt like hours before the Uber arrived and then hours more to get to the hotel. She couldn’t believe Mimi had been such a bitch! It was shocking, stultifying! Back in her hotel room, she considered changing her flight to New York so she could leave immediately. But then she thought what the hell? It would be nice to spend another day relaxing in the sun. She didn’t get a chance to talk to Mimi the rest of her time in Cabo.
Back in her sumptuous New York apartment, Lea brooded over the whole episode. Mimi had turned her into an outcast because she’d refused to give her money. What kind of a friend was that? An untrue one, Lea thought sadly. From now on there would be a yawning distance between them, no calls, no lunch dates. Lea wasn’t usually vengeful, but she itched to teach Mimi a lesson. She didn’t even have to rack her brains to come up with an idea. One thing about Mimi that no one else knew was that for years she’d carried on with a grounds keeper on her father’s thirty acre estate in upstate New York. A torrid affair. The guy was sexy! He wore white T-shirts that showed off his musculature and broad shoulders. His hair was a tousled brown and he had greenish eyes that carried an eerie wisdom in them despite his lack of a formal education. Mimi was crazy about him in a way she would never be about her new husband. In particular, she loved the forbiddenness of the liaison, the incredible attraction that made it hard not to keep their hands off each other. They would retreat to a tool shed that smelled of oil and sawdust and machinery where he (his name was Thomas) would claw down her panties and throw her against a wall and thrust himself inside her till she squealed with delight. Not for a minute did Mimi want to give that up. He had a power over her that was primal and intoxicating – so intoxicating that he, Thomas, apparently never stopped to think that he could blackmail her over the relationship. But Lea did, and if she ever wanted, she had photos to prove it.
She liked to document the world around her. She used her phone and would click away – taking dozens of photos of her children, her family, the city and its many odd characters. One time, a few months before the wedding when Lea and Mimi were still on speaking terms, Lea visited Mimi on her father’s upstate property. She slept late that morning. A maid brought a cup of coffee to her room and she got out of bed and wandered over to the window with her phone as she sipped at it.
And what did she see, staring at the apple orchards below, but Mimi in the arms of the groundskeeper, Thomas, kissing him avidly. Without even thinking about it, Lea zoomed in on them and clicked on her phone, taking a photo, which she immediately enlarged. Yes, their lips were glued together and their eyes were closed as if they were sharing a moment of ecstasy almost too big for both of them. That moment lasted a long time and Lea kept clicking, taking photo after photo. When the couple finally pulled apart, Lea sat down heavily in a nearby chair. Her whole body was shaking. What was she supposed to do now? For a few seconds, her mind was totally blank. All she felt was horror. Mimi had been dating Freddy for over a year and was already engaged and planning their wedding. And yet here she was in the throes of passion with another guy. Lea decided this was none of her business and to let the matter go. But she held onto the photos, as well as to a feeling of deep disgust.
That feeling clung to her. She wanted to get back at Mimi, to crush her. At first she thought of sending the photo to Freddy. But that was too drastic. It was Mimi she was after, and her wish was to make her former friend squirm and forever have to watch her step. So she sent Mimi a time-stamped copy of the photo of herself in Thomas’s arms along with a message that read: “My eyes are always on you. One mistake and this photo goes public. Better be careful, or you and your ass are going down for good.”
That, she thought, would perpetually put Mimi on notice. It was damning and creepy in just the right way. And it was true. Her eyes would always be on Mimi and she’d be able to pounce whenever necessary. The idea gave her immense pleasure. She didn’t expect an answer and she never got one. But Mimi would never lead a life free of the feeling that someone was looking over her shoulder.