“Aubrey. And she won’t mind.” Mallory waved her hand. “Twenty percent raise?”
“Well.” Noreen’s head bobbed. “A girl would be daft to not accept that.”
Noreen returned to handing out AIM swag, and Ilena shookher head. Not a strand of her short cut moved. She was no longer the girl from freshman year with the long, thick hair that Mallory had envied. Her face had grown thinner, with less shine and more lines, yet she was just as gorgeous. More so.
“Shameless, Mal,” Ilena said.
“Aubrey won’t mind.” Mallory took another sip, eyeing Ilena, who hadn’t touched hers yet. “Are you...?”
Ilena stuck the straw between her lips.
Mallory nodded. “So that’s a no.”
“I want to try a different doctor,” Ilena said.
“The ‘I’ implies Jonah doesn’t.”
“Jonah’s... tired.”
“Maybe a pause would be good? Especially with things ramping up with AIM?” Which would only increase when they went public.
“Don’t give me the ‘it’ll happen when you stop trying to make it happen’ speech. Everyone knows someone who magically got pregnant when they stopped trying. But what about all the people who just stopped?”
There was a time when all of this would have been making Ilena do cartwheels, but now all she cared about was what those cartwheels would do to her ovaries.
Look at this, Mallory wanted to scream. Grab Ilena’s hands and dance her around this ridiculous pop-up that had a line halfway around the block for entry. They made this, together. What could be better than this? Continuing to do it together, that was what. She loved Aubrey, but Aubrey wasn’t in it like they were. Aubrey could never handle the pressure, and as well as Mallory was handling it, going public would take it to another level. She needed Ilena. Ilena was her person.
Mallory changed the subject. “Is Aubrey even coming?”
“Ethan had a thing.”
“Sure he did.”
“I think she really likes him, Mallory. We’re going to have to get used to him.”
“He hit on me, did I tell you that?”
Ilena drew back. “And you didn’t tell Aubrey?”
“I did. She said me and my long legs always think people are hitting on me.”
“She’s got a point.”
“And you really should try to de-stress. For the baby.”
“Touché.” Ilena played with her straw. “Do you really think he was?”
“I may be conceited, but it comes from experience. He was hitting on me.”
“Then we’ll keep an eye on him.”
They clinked glasses just as Grayson Fields appeared.
Ilena said, “There’s your DILF.”
“One, he’s not a father, and two, there is no way I’m ever sleeping with our main investor and head of our board. Give me a little credit.”
Ilena greeted Grayson, small talk lobbed back and forth, and all the while Mallory did her best not to stare at the tautness of his shirt.
