The problem with that life plan is that you end up all alone.
I don’t want that anymore.
“I really messed everything up,” I say through the tears that won’t stop. “I ruined my friendship with Holly. Pushed away Eli.”
Carola holds the sides of my face, wiping away the tears with her thumbs.
“Do you love him?” she asks knowingly.
I nod, relieved to be telling someone how I feel.
“And you miss them both?”
“You have no idea,” I acknowledge.
“Then go tell them,” she urges. “Admit you were wrong and get them back.”
CHAPTER 36Holly
It’s Aunt Edna’s week to choose the game, and Twister has long been her favorite, so I should have seen this coming. Still, though, it’s hard to anticipate straddling one’s new boyfriend (can I call him that?) while my own son snakes his hand past my armpit.
Aunt Edna—always the referee these days, since she claims to be too old for such elaborate maneuvers—spins.
“Right foot, red!” she calls out with sadistic glee.
Why couldn’t it have been Peter’s turn to choose the game? We’d all be gathered around the breakfast table, sipping on good bourbon, and crafting esoteric Scrabble words. Sure, I’d almost definitely lose. But a loss at Scrabble is infinitely less humiliating than these acrobatics.
Joel and Hugh, partners competing against Aidan and me, easily shift into place, which elicits an exuberant cheer from Aunt Edna and Peter, this round’s observers.
Aidan and I, in something of a pickle, crane our necks to look at each other, dismayed. Sure, Aidan’s a long, bendy nineteen-year-old, but still, the only red dot available to him seems an impossible reach.
“Let’s just go for it,” I sigh, signaling for him to make his move.
Peter and Aunt Edna watch, with matching evil grins, as we simultaneously lift our right feet. I lose my balance, causing all four players to tumble into a tangle of arms and legs.
“Sweet victory!” Joel exclaims, while Hugh laughs warmly, then gently extracts his elbow from my cleavage.
That’s when the doorbell rings insistently, not once, but sixtimes. My first reaction is profound relief that attention has been drawn away from my cheeks, bright red with embarrassment. My second is a slightly irrational fear that the gig is finally up, and the cops are coming to arrest me for pawning a stolen sapphire bracelet.
Joel throws open the door to reveal Byron, Justine, and Irma bearing a couple dozen balloons and what appears to be a cake box.
“Whose birthday is it?” Hugh asks, bewildered, just as my three co-workers call out a simultaneous “Congratulations!”
They tumble inside and, just as I get to my feet, crush me into a group hug.
“She got the GM job,” Justine exclaims, squeezing me tight.
I wonder for the briefest of moments how they found out so quickly. I haven’t even had the chance to tell Aidan about Griggs’s pending meeting with the dean. He came straight here from an all-day jam session with his friends Jay and Nikki, and I couldn’t figure out a way for the two of us to talk alone. It felt somehow wrong to burst into game night with exciting news when I know that—despite the promotion—there’s little to celebrate. So, this afternoon, I made a plan: Try to enjoy game night, then talk with Aidan, and tomorrow somehow figure out a way to let everyone know about the promotion. Okay, yes, a loose plan, but still. I thought it would work.
I wish I could talk to Luisa and Eli—they’re the only people who would understand the untenable situation I find myself in. But Luisa’s still ignoring me, and Eli—thank God!—got released from jail this morning. He texted to let me know the charges are being dropped, and he’s on his way back to Westlake, where he plans to spend a quiet evening with his sister. Not a word about Luisa, which makes me very nervous. I hope she didn’t torpedo the whole thing with Eli, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she did. I’ll get the story from Eli tomorrow. I don’t want to interrupt his time with Pearl.
“I knew good fortune was coming your way,” Irma pulls back from the group hug to tell me. “Jupiter just entered your eleventh house.”
How can I possibly begin to explain that none of this feels exactly like good fortune—though, admittedly, the raise will help,for as long as I’m able to stay in the job. I’ll just have to figure out how to keep avoiding Griggs. Or, who knows? Maybe once the truth about Aidan’s crime is revealed, I’ll find the courage to go ahead and sue Griggs’s ass for harassment. In which case, I’ll definitely lose my job. Strangely, the prospect is both terrifying and exhilarating. Could I be ready for something new? Maybe start my own business, as Luisa suggested?
Byron brushes Irma off with a wave. “Don’t you dare go giving credit to some distant planet,” he chastises. “Holly earned this one all on her own.” Dear Byron always seems to know the right thing to say. I did earn it—this much is true.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell us?” Joel says, trying to act stern, but instead sounding utterly delighted. “We should have been the very first to know!”
