If only it had been for honeymoon reasons. Mind-blowing sex already felt like it had been a lifetime ago.
Gabby laughed like it wasn’t physically painful and said, “Nope, it’s door number three.” She gestured to Elena. “Jasmine, this is my mom, Elena. Mom, this is Jasmine.”
Elena’s jaw dropped. “My goodness. You are even more beautiful in person.”
Gabby should have known her mom would know everyone here. Elena was the queen of the gossip rags. TMZ was the only news she watched.
“It’s so nice that you’re here to support your daughter,” Jasmine said diplomatically. Truthfully, she looked skeptical about Elena.
Elena smiled. “She’s my only daughter.”
After meditation, Jasmine pulled Gabby aside. With a meaningful glance at Elena, who was across the room, she said, “Are you okay?”
Gabby shook her head. “Sort of. No, not really. It’s a lot.”
“My mom is a lot, too,” Jasmine said.
“To tell you the truth, I could have done without this particular surprise visit, even though it was sweet of them.”
“Sit down, Gia. Lotus pose, palms up.”
Gabby copied Jasmine, sitting cross-legged, albeit with her knees sticking a lot higher up in the air. Jasmine had clearly discovered stretching before the age of thirty-eight.
“Gia, I want you to repeat after me.”
Gabby shut her eyes and embraced the experience. She trustfalled into the Xanax, into Jasmine’s mantra. Jasmine seemed okay so far. Her only crime was marrying an absolute dick. A charming one. Gabby had also married a dick, one who wasn’tcharming, handsome, or nearly as rich as G, so she had no room to judge.
For a while, they hummed. It seemed silly, but Jasmine made her do it so long that she forgot herself.
“Now repeat after me: I am not alone.”
Okay, Mulder.
“Repeat after me, Gia.”
“Oh, oops. I am not alone.”
“Even though sometimes I might wish I was.”
Gabby giggled.
Together they repeated the saying, “I am not alone, even though sometimes I might wish I was.”
It didn’t offer any wisdom or fix, but there was solidarity in the mantra. Maybe she wasn’t alone. There were other people out there being tortured by their families too.
“Misery is best shared,” Jasmine said.
“Misery is best shared,” Gabby repeated with feeling.
“That’s not part of the mantra,” Jasmine said.
“It should be. That’s the truest thing you said,” another voice piped up, and Gabby opened her eyes to see Naomi.
The way Naomi and Jasmine smiled at each other made Gabby believe that they’d been through it together, or at least they thought they had. Could anything be that bad with millions of dollars?
“Where were you, skipping meditation?” Jasmine gave Naomi a look that communicated some subtext that Gabby didn’t understand.
“Sometimes I find weed to be more helpful than mantras,” Naomi said with a smile.
