I try to block out her conversation because I don’t want to hear him tell her how much he loves her new hair, so I focus on dividing up our food.
That’s until I hear her say, “What? You don’t like it?”
That snaps me to attention. I forget all about the food and focus on her instead.
The confidence—which was propping her chest out only a few moments earlier—vanishes.
Her beautiful smile that had stretched from ear to ear falters.
And I can feel the pained disappointment in her voice as she lowers her voice to reply.
“I wanted a change,” she says. “Because I wasn’t feeling myself. Yes, I feel like myself now.” She pauses and then turns away from me. “Brian, can we talk about this later?” Another pause and then, “For how long? A week? I mean, it’s not like I can stop you, right? Business is business.” I crumple the paper bag in my hand as I continue to listen, my hatred for the man growing stronger. “Yes, but we’re supposed to get married shortly. It would be nice if you were here.” It would be great if he wasn’t. “Okay, fine. Yeah, talk to you later.” She hangs up and drops the phone to the side of her.
I wait a few moments, and when I notice she’s not going to move, I decide to move to her. I sit down next to her on the couch, lift her eyes so she’s looking at me, and that’s when I notice the tears.
I’m going to fucking kill him.
“I’m sure you got the gist of that conversation,” she says. “But he didn’t like my hair. Said it was a mistake.”
Yup, murder is in his future.
“He’s wrong,” I say as I cup her cheek and swipe the tears away. “He’s so fucking wrong because the moment I saw you, my heart skipped a beat, Lia. You look gorgeous. So fucking stunning that I had to remind myself that you’re my best friend.”
“You’re just saying that.” She shakes her head.
“I’m not,” I say as my eyes fall to her lips and then back to her eyes. “I’d never just say something to appease you. Brian is an idiot because the fact that he can’t see how you shine with this new hair, can’t see your confidence, is his loss.”
“He thinks his mom is going to be really mad.”Who the fuck cares? Is he still attached by his umbilical cord, or what?
“Good,” I say. “I hope she is mad. Gives us more fodder to fuck around with her.”
She lightly chuckles. “He’s also going to be gone for a week, maybe more. I guess what he’s dealing with in San Jose requires more attention than he initially thought, so that’s great. Not like we’re getting married or anything.” She sighs. “God, why did he have to be such an ass? Maybe he’s stressed.”
“Being stressed does not give anyone an excuse to be a dick. And he was a dick. Flat out. I need you to realize that. What he did was an inexcusable dick move. Do you hear me?”
She blinks and then nods. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, we’re going to forget that just happened because we have a fun night planned, and I’m not going to allow him to ruin that. Understood?”
“Yes,” she says again, and then she falls into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry it out for a few more minutes. All the while, I think about what I would have done if Brian dismissed her boldness in person.
* * *
“You’ve barely touched your naan,”I say. “That’s unacceptable.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, pushing it to the side. “I’m just . . . not in the mood.”
“Is that why we haven’t started playing Plunder?”
“Maybe I should go back to my place.”
“Yeah, okay, as if I would let you do that,” I say. “With that frown you can’t seem to shake, no way would I allow you to just sulk away. Nah, sorry, you’re here with me for the rest of the night.”
Her eyes well up again, her lips tremble, and I tug on her hand to sit on my lap right as she bursts into tears again.
* * *
“I’msorry about all of this,” she says quietly as we sit on my couch, watching old reruns ofFamily Feud.
