For several moments, they sat there quietly. Then Eric asked, “Are you still doing the show? If you want to hurt her, quit. They’ll cast someone less fabulous and—”
“Are you serious? I love the show, the character, the book.” Addie glared at Eric. “I’m not going to quit just because the author left without a word and sends impersonal notes that my dentist could send me.”
“Ads…”
Addie stood up, hands on hips, glaring at her best friend. “Get dressed. I still deserve a celebration dinner with you. This is a great role, and I’m going to kill it.”
“You are, cuz. I know it, and she’ll see the light,” Eric said, sounding remarkably serious, and then he grinned. “How could anyone not love my cousin? We share a lot of DNA, andIam fabulous. Ergo, you arefantabulous.”
Chapter 21Toni
Toni was still feeling self-conscious when she got off the plane at Dulles. The signings went great. The show would be fabulous—especially with Addie in the lead. She should be happy.
“Are you sure you don’t mind a houseguest?” Emily asked. “I can grab a hotel.”
“I have an empty guest room because of you, Em.” Toni glared at her. “If not for whatever magic you pulled on the publisher, I’d still be thinking I ought to rent it out, so it’s pretty much yours any time you want to visit.”
“Does that mean you’ll do me a favor?” Emily cajoled.
Toni strode toward the baggage carousel. It seemed silly to check a tiny bag, but Emily had been on the road longer and had checked a bag, so Toni checked hers, too. “Will I hate it?”
“Probably,” Emily chirped in her usual cheery way.
“Fine.” She waited as they walked the rest of the way to the baggage. She waited as Emily hummed at her side. Finally Toni grumbled, “Are you going to tell me what fresh hell you have planned?”
“I want to go with you to see Lil,” Emily said, as if there was any joy in going to see Toni’s mercurial mother.
Toni gawped at her for a long moment, until Emily pointed and said, “That’s my bag. Would you grab it?”
Mutely, Toni moved through the crowd. Why in the name ofeverything remotely reasonable did people crowd up to the carousel like they were starving ducks hoping for a handout? She grabbed the glossy red bag, which weighed just this side of too much. Of course, Toni’s perfectly bland black carry-on sized bag was nowhere in sight, so she rolled Emily’s to her.
“Why?”
Emily shrugged. “I want to check on her. She’s the reason you even shared yourcareer-changingbook with me. If not for her, I’d still be looking for that book that would put me on the map… becausesomeonehadn’t even told me she wrote a book.”
Toni walked away to grab her bag.
When she came back to join Emily, who had dropped her own purse-like bag on top of the cherry red suitcase, Toni said, “I’ll need a drink after. I know I don’t usually drink more than one day in a week, but…”
“You are not an alcoholic if you have a drink twice in a week,” Emily said for what was easily the hundredth time in their friendship. She’d been there when Toni wrote out her list of rules way back in their teen years, so she was well aware of the motivations behind each and every one of them.
They were silent as they walked to the parking lot, where Toni had stashed her car for the weekend. She could have had car service, but sometimes Toni just wanted the solace of her own car, her own company, after a weekend of peopling.
“How far away did you park?” Emily grumbled, toting her bright red bag like it weighed more than it did.
“Seriously?” Toni took Emily’s bag and glanced at Emily’s feet. “If you had the sense to travel in reasonable shoes…”
“Tennis shoes and black skirts?” Emily made a pained expression. “Pass.”
“You could wear trousers. Jeans. Hell, you could wear leggings or joggers,” Toni continued, as if she wasn’t aware that Emily had a look that was akin to how she had looked the one time she’d stepped in something gross at the park.
“You are a monster,” Emily said with an exaggerated shudder. “These legs take too much work to look this good. I’m not going to cover them withjoggers.”
They looked at each other and laughed. Here with no witnesses, no work, no anything, they easily fell back into the silliness that got them through their teen years. The fact that Emily was in New York—a short train ride away—was part of why Toni had taken the job in the Washington, DC area instead of another more prestigious position. Emily was and would always be Toni’s family of the heart, and the Acela trip between Manhattan and the District was short enough that Vienna College won.
By the time they reached Toni’s car, Emily was a little wide-eyed. “Well,that’snot the car I was expecting.”
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” Toni shoved their bags in the back of her brand-new bright red Jeep Wrangler. “I havepayments.I was going to buy it outright, but… I financed it. I just couldn’t write a check that big.”
