“He totally likes me,” she says, that child-like smile never faltering.
“So, what did he say?” I ask.
“Here,” she says, pulling her phone from her leather black cross-body, “let me show you.” She pulls up the text thread and hands her phone over to me. When I see what Lydia changed Callum’s name to in her phone, I giggle. He’s going tolovethat.
Sunshine:What?
Lydia:Oh, come on. I know you’re capable of producing a more comprehensive vocabulary than that.
Sunshine:I’m sorry, love. I’m trying to wrap my head around this dumpster fire of a text, is all.
Lydia:Hmmm, thatisbetter, but I still think that you have more in you. Come on, sunshine, show me who you are.
Sunshine:Ah, I don’t think you’re ready for that.
Lydia:Don’t underestimate me, Callum. I’ll be the judge of what I’m ready for. And right now, I’m ready for a date. What do ya say?
Sunshine:One date, that’s all. Then will you stop this nonsense?
Lydia:I’ll stop when you stop.
Sunshine:She’s childish, too. Great. I’ll pick you up on Saturday, 7 pm sharp. Where something nice. See ya.
Lydia:Bye, sunshine! You won’t regret this, I promise. (:
I look up at Lydia, horrified or … amused. I honestly don’t know right now.
“Lydia,” I say, pausing to gather my thoughts, “you have some balls. I have to hand it to you.”
“Yeah, well, someone needs to wear the pants in this relationship,” she says, sitting back and making a show of tossing her hair with her hand. I roll my eyes.
“Sunshine?” I ask.
“What? It’sfunny. Is it not?” She laughs.
“I somehow don’t think that Callum will think so.” I laugh with her because I can imagine Callum’s face when she calls him that. All broad and broody, mouth in a hard-pressed line and a scowl to go along with it. I even imagine a twitch of his lips to indicate that he mightsort offind it as amusing as we do.
“So, what do you think? He texted back. I mean, he could have ghosted me,” she says, taking a sip from her coffee. “Plus, I’m irresistible. I can win him over.”
“Humble, too,” I joke.
My laughter ceases as I remember all of the things I came here to tell her,needto tell her.
“Oh, no,” Lydia starts. “I don’t like that look, Lo. Did you and Professor McHottie break up already?”
I let out a nervous laugh. “No, nothing like that.”
“Then what is going on?” she asks.
“Okay, but before I start, please remain calm, okay?” I say, looking around to find that the coffee shop is mostly empty right now. Lydia looks worried, but nods in agreement.
I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut and blurting out the words before I lose the nerve.
“Callum isn’t a security system salesman. He’s … a member of Reverb. He’s their drummer, Graf.” I brace myself for her reaction as my eyes open and land on her wide ones.
“Holy …” She pauses, throwing her hand over her mouth and looking around before dropping her voice a few octaves. “Holy shit, Lo. How could you keep this from me? You know, Reverb is like … my one true love.” She pauses, shifting the conversation. “Wow, so he’s the big guy then, the one that I was standing next to for the meet and greet?” Her eyes widen at the realization of it. “That makesso muchsense. I … wow, I don’t even know what to say.”
After Lydia was finally able to process the information about Callum, I told her everything else. I told her all about Riven. I told her what he’d done and who he truly was. I told her about my father. The only thing that I kept from her was the murdersthat Riven committed before meeting me. That’s not my story to tell.
