I took another sip of wine as Marcy, I think realizing I didn’t want to talk about this anymore as best friends do, said, “Speaking of winning… forget about the divorce. Tell them about the hottie.”
I raised my eyebrows and glared at her.
Mary Ellen said,“The hottie?”
“Well…”
“Come on,” Megan said. “I need details. Juicy, juicy details.”
I smiled demurely, ignoring the flip-flop in my stomach when I thought of Andrew. It was ridiculous. He was a child, for heaven’s sake. “Juicy is a wonderful, wonderful way to describe him.”
“A rebound fling is exactly what you need,” Marcy said.
“Marcy, I’m having one drink with him. I thinkreboundis a bit of an overstatement.”
“Who is it?” Addie asked.
“No one,” I said. “Just don’t worry about it.” Their fallen faces made me realize I had taken the fun down a notch, so I added, “Let’s just say he’s like one of those Abercrombie models—the ones we used to have taped up in our bedrooms when we were teenagers—come to life.” None of us had known each other back then, but we had discussed the Abercrombie phenomenon at length.
“I just want you to win your divorce,” Megan said.
I rolled my eyes. “You can’twinyour divorce.”
“Oh, Greg is totally winning it right now.” Freaking Addie. “He’s prancing around town with the hot new fiancée.”
“No, no, no,” Mary Ellen said, “I totally disagree. I think Greg looks like an idiot and you look like you have some class.”
“Trust me,” Marcy said, “when word about Gray’s first date post-breakup gets out, she will officially be winning.”
Everyone laughed. I was eager to turn the conversation away from me, but Mary Ellen said, “By the way, Brad is furious about what Greg is trying to do to you with ClickMarket.”
Brad was Mary Ellen’s second ex-husband. Who’d left her. For Chad. “That’s nice,” I said.
“He and Chad want to help with the case in any way they can.”
Now,thatwas nice. Brad and Chad had started one of the most high-powered corporate law firms in the state. “I would love their advice,” I said. “I honestly don’t think he even wants the company. We all know he hates to work. So now I just have to figure out what he does want.”
Marcy stood up. “Just leave that part to me,” she said. “Figuring out what people want and how to fix it is what being a therapist is all about.”
“And I won’t have to pay you!” I said enthusiastically.
“Well…” she said.
I threw my pillow at her and we all laughed. Then I said, seriously, “I love you, Marce, but this is one time when you can’t really help me.”
But then I realized I was wrong. They had all helped me. Only a few hours ago, I’d felt like my life was spiraling, dark, and empty. All it took was a few drinks, a few whing-dings, and a few good friends to make me realize that, husband or no, ClickMarket or no, Diana was right: I still had everything I really needed.
diana: quick study
The dinner with Trey had been a godsend. Even if I ate something simple and precooked from the grocery store, it’d still cost me five bucks. He took me to a real fancy restaurant andordered all these appetizers and I ordered a salad and sandwich that I thought would keep okay, and I filled up on appetizers and saved most of my own food to store in the cooler in the back of the Impala. Food would be hard to come by over the weekend when I wasn’t working, and the leftovers wouldn’t be great, but they would keep on ice until Saturday at least.
After a few days, it gets pretty hard to hide stuff—like that you’re living in your car. Lucky for me, I’d made friends with Billy down at the marina, and he let me shower there for free and didn’t say anything. I didn’t like to flatter myself, but I thought he might’ve had a crush on me. But maybe it was more that Billy knew what it was like to be down-and-out.
Trey did not. Trey wanted to talk to me about Gray’s “brand” and how we were all a part of that. My brand was trailer trash, and I wasn’t changing for nobody. I planned on telling Trey that right off, but then he ordered shrimp cocktail and calamari, and the butter was so good on the bread, and, well, I’ve got standards and I’ve got pride, but I’ve also got a good, heaping helping of common sense. Common sense says that you do whatever you can to keep the job where you get to eat most meals for free and make double what you’d get anywhere else. Although common sense also told me that I’d crossed a line with my new boss earlier. But I call them like I see them. And that girl was mad. The longer it took her to recognize that, the worse it would be for her.
I pushed that aside. “Trey, the men I know don’t sip champagne and ask if the calamari can be breaded in rice flour,” I teased.
Trey laughed. “The members of Gray’s team that I know don’t wear oversize T-shirts every single day,” he retorted.
