I lead her to where the girls are.
When Nisha sees her, she jumps up for a hug. Evie plops the box down on my kitchen counter to reciprocate.
Evie looks at Bailey, stunned for a moment before smoothing out her features.
“Evie, this is Bailey. Micah’s sister,” I introduce the two. There’s no reason to hide their relation. Their parents literally hit copy and paste when they had them.
She tips her head back. “Ahh, that makes so much sense. I kept thinking I knew you from somewhere. And then I was like, is this my gay awakening? What’s happening?”
Nisha and I cackle while Bailey flashes a bright smile and dips into a curtsy. “Oh my gosh, I love you already,” she says to Evie.
They gush over each other for another minute before Evie finally makes her way over to this mysterious box. “Okay, okay. So, I have a sample of the invites for Tanya’s gala and I had to show you.”
A sample invite? In that huge box? “That whole box is the invite?”
She beams. “Yep! You said make it extravagant, sooo …”
Instead of finishing her sentence, she unties the ribbon and presses one of the sides. The box opens outward until it lies flat and as it does a group of beautiful paper butterflies flutter into the air. When the last butterfly is out, our attention is drawn to what’s in the center: a smaller, flatter box with a tent card on top.
I flip it open. It reads: “Please make art with me one last time.”
When I lift up the lid of the second box, there is a blank card, a paintbrush, and a strip of watercolor paints inside.
My curiosity too great to wait, I grab the items and spread them out on my counter. The girls gather around closely as I run the brush under my kitchen sink and dip it into blue paint, spreading it across the card with reckless abandon.
The words come to life on the page under each stroke of the brush. Details for the gala typed in an elegant font. Bailey gasps.
I turn to Evie with watery eyes. “Evie, this is beautiful. It’s … it’s genius.”
She takes a little bow with a proud smile. “Thank you. You said Tanya had a flair for the dramatics, so I figured she’d like this.”
She’d absolutely love it. She’d probably have Evie make a dozen extra just so she could open them all and pretend to be shocked every time.
We look over the invitation to make sure all the details are correct before working out the logistics of sending them out. Evie volunteers to handle delivery as part of her contribution, and Nisha emails her the guest list.
“Okay, I gotta go. I will call you later,” Evie says, blowing me a kiss and saying her goodbyes to Nisha and Bailey.
“Okay, love you. Tell Jalen I said hi.”
“Love you too, I will,” she responds before realizing what she’s said. She stops in her tracks and turns back to me. “Oh, fuck you.”
The sound of my howling laughter follows her out the door.
Once she’s gone, Nisha goes back to typing on her laptop. “We got a few more auction item submissions today, so I’m organizing those into categories. Is Micah coming? I got a question about one of the paintings he’s auctioning.”
Bailey’s tone is forceful and shadowed by betrayal. “Who cares?”
“Oop. Okay, I’m guessing you two haven’t made up yet.” Nisha whistles.
My heart pangs. I know it’s killing Micah that Bailey won’t speak to him. I’m not sure if they’ve ever gone this long without talking. He doesn’t even know I’m meeting with her today, because I couldn’t bear to see the hurt in his eyes.
“Nope.” She pops her lips around thep.
“What will it take for you to forgive him?” I ask.
She looks me up and down. “Are you gonna run and tell him if I tell you?”
“If you’re asking me not to, then I won’t.” As much as I want them to make up, I won’t betray Bailey’s trust. Besides, Micah knows he was wrong and he’s working hard to make it right. He doesn’t need my interference.
