Chapter 2
Late next morning we find Alice laying facedown in the dress she wore last night with a wave of hair thrown over her eyes, lips slightly parted, snoring heavily. One foot hangs off the bed mattress. Her mother stands at the doorframe looking worried with Buck Macray standing next to her, all showered and dressed for the new day.
“I’ve never seen Alice this way before,” the mother speaks softly, picking at her nails.
Buck takes a deep breath. He doesn’t bother hiding his disappointment. Stepping forward, he moves directly towards the linen curtains and scrapes them apart to reveal the bright sunshine beaming through window glass.
“Come on, Alice,” Buck says, “Time to get up...” he strides over and sits on the bedspread next to his wife. He puts a hand on her back. She feels sweaty and the man knows where ever she went last night she drank too much.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Alice’s mother offers, turning around to leave the Macrays alone in their bedroom.
“Baby, wake up. We’re not doing this,” the man instructs, now grabbing hold of his woman and carefully flipping her over to lay up. Alice moans and hates the sound coming from the back of her throat. She squints her eyes open to find her husband looking down at her with a blank expression on his clean shaven face.
“Oh Buck,” she whispers, closing her eyes shut, feeling a hard blow through her head. All the muscles and joints in her body become stiff. She reeks of body odor and has the aftertaste of raspberry schnapps still lingering her throat. Hangovers were no joke. They were not your friend. They were against you, above you. They made her want to die.
“You overdid it again,” Buck tells her. “This time your mother saw you.”
Alice groans loudly, covering her face. She waits for Buck to kiss her, but her husband moves away and stands up from the bed. He tells her to ‘get ready’ before leaving her alone in the room.
“Pamela drove you home last night,” her mother says, her voice sounds too cheerful and high for Alice's eardrums. Alice slumps over the table with a steaming hot cup of tea wearing a bathrobe with her hair soaked and hanging, undone.
“I always liked her! She’s such a young girl with all those kids running around!”
Alice remains quiet and holds her head. She’s not thinking about Pamela, but Gloria. How foolish she become! She blew her moment with Steinem from her reckless drinking. The students at the party were probably laughing her at the door.
“Are you all right, dear? I hope you’re not coming down with something.”
“I’ll be fine, Mother,” Alice finally speaks, realizing her new crush on Gloria and how it’s made her lovesick.
It happened before with Phyllis and that almost destroyed her.
Now with Gloria.
Hopefully nothing bad stood between them.