“Oh my fucking gaaaawwwd,” I enthuse. “You’re here, girl!”
“Couldn’t resist coming into town for the GP!” She points over her shoulder with a thumb, indicating a vagueelsewhere. “Me and Tau are living on his family’s ranch now,” she tells me. “It’s beautiful.” Her face looks positively dreamy, as if she’s reflecting on her gorgeous six-foot-four boyfriend, a hot Jason Momoa type with even more tats than me.
“Where’s your boy?” I glance around to find him.
“Tau’s off at the Cape Town Surf Pro competition; it’s just me this weekend. And…” She puts one hand up to slide a section of hair behind her ear, making a dramatic face to show that she’s displaying her left hand, where a honkin’ big diamond is perched.
“Oh, fuckme!” I cry, grabbing her fingers and inspecting the ring. “You’re engaged?”
“Married.Last month! A little spontaneous thing on the beach.”
I drag her into another quick hug. “I’m soooo stoked for you guys.”
Just then, Priya appears beside us.
I wave an arm toward Maya. “Hey, Pri, remember Maya?”
“Hi, yes! It’s been a few years though.” They do a warm handshake. Pri’s phone buzzes, and she holds up an apologetic finger. “Sorry—Julian again.” She backs away to open the call.
Maya looks after Priya, who’s talking in urgent tones to Jules.
“Julian your brother?” she asks lightly.
He and Maya dated briefly in their teens, so I hope she won’t feel weird toward Pri.
“Uh, yeah. They have a thing going.”
Maya’s smile is genuine, and I can’t help noticing she’s playing with her new wedding ring when she says, “Well, good for them. She’s always seemed really nice. I hope they’re happy. Julian’s a great guy.”
There’s a pause, and I’m a little uncomfortable, so I change the subject and ask, “Heyyyy… how’s ‘Karting Momzilla’ doing?” We both called Maya’s mom that back in the day, so I hope she still has a sense of humor about it.
“Oh, fine,” Maya says with an eye roll. “Our relationship is mostly phone based these days. Don’t know if you heard, but she’s shooting her shot with that gross TV chef Gavin Yates, hoping to become his Wife Number Six. Anything to keep the upward trajectory on the social ladder.”
“Ha! Well, if that’s her current fixation, babes, it’s at least keeping her off my jock. She hasn’t shit all over me on her blog lately. Hallelujah.”
Priya comes back and has thatI need to tell you somethinglook. Maya must see it, because she gives my arm a squeezeand says, “I won’t keep you. But Tau and I’ll be at Silverstone this year! We can all get together there.”
“For sure! Let’s totally hang out.”
After goodbye hugs and before I have to go do the rest of my fuckin’ job and be charming for reporters, I lean toward Priya and ask discreetly, “What the hell was the Jules thing about?”
She presses her lips together in her fretful way.
“What?” I urge.
“Don’t flip out or anything, because it’s taken care of, but… Julian isn’t at the treatment center yet.”
My jaw goes hard. “That fuckwit did a runner when he got off the plane in Switzerland?”
“He wasn’t ready. He got scared.”
I can feel that I’m doing a rage face, so I try to dial it back in case the journalists are taking pics. “I’ll scare him withmy entire foot up his assif he doesn’t get to that overpriced ‘happy haven’ five fucking minutes ago.”
“He’s going, he’s going!” Priya loud-whispers, glancing at the people nearest us to make sure we aren’t overheard. “I talked him off the ledge. And besides, it was for a good reason: He said he didn’t want to show up at the place high. He wanted it to wear off first.”
I give her a sardonic look. “Pri, I love you, but don’t be dense. Do you know what he actually meant?He didn’t want them to confiscate the rest of his pain pills when he checked in.He’s going on a bender so they don’t ‘go to waste.’ It’s junkie behavior—not something noble.”
Her big brown Disney princess eyes fill with tears. “Don’t you think I know that?”
