“Oh yeah, okay. Definitely a family thing.”
“Makes me worry about Palila,” Liz said, slipping her phone back in her purse. “At this rate, she’ll be pushing seven feet before she hits middle school.”
“She’s a cute kid.”
“Thank you. Okay, let’s shop. What do you want?”
“Good question. I’m guessing this is all happening at the farm?”
“I suggested we just do it at our house. We’re right on the property and we just finished the downstairs remodel. We have a huge porch and you can look out over the apple orchards. All very Instagrammable if you want us to take pictures.”
“Shit yeah, I want pictures. I told Mason, if we have to do this, we’re doing it right. There will definitely be digital documentation.”
“Are you doing okay though? Like, with all of this? Mason was pretty jumpy when he told us the news.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s kind of excited, I think? He really needs this money.”
“Listen. Student loans are a bitch. There’s just way more shit on my end, but if this whole circus can help clean up his student loan debt, I can be a temporary wife for that,” Xeni said. She glanced over at Liz and caught the way her smile faded. “Is it not student loans?”
“No, it is. In a way. I think if you ask Mason, he’ll tell you.”
“But it’s nothing, like bad, is it?”
Liz looked up at the ceiling. “Umm, bad in the it's-shitty-he’s-going-through-this-crap kind of way, but no, he didn’t do anything bad. He doesn’t owe the mob or anything.”
“Okay, good.”
“It’s just a situation. I’m sure he’ll tell you. Just ask.”
“I will.” Sure, she and Mason had just met and she believed Liz that he wasn’t in any kind of trouble that would land him in cement shoes, but she still wanted to know. She wanted to enjoy their sham wedding and, for now, she was fucking done with secrets.
“Oh, how about this?” Xeni stood back and looked at the dress Liz had pulled off the rack.
“Okay, yeah. That’s perfect.”
* * *
After she’d purchased all her last-minute wedding necessities, Xeni and Liz had plopped down at the Starbucks kiosk and continued to get to know each other. Xeni liked Liz a lot. They were getting along so well, they lost track of time and they both had to rush back into town, Liz to pick up her daughter and Xeni to get their marriage license. The town clerk’s office was oddly busy when she arrived. She took a seat and waited for her turn to see Deborah.
While she waited, she pulled up her group chat with the girls again. Damn this time difference. They were all still at work. At least her afternoon with Liz had shaken her out of her funk. Oh, she was still plenty pissed at her mom and she couldn’t get a handle on what she was feeling toward her aunt at the moment, but she wasn’t feeling so cold and closed off. She wanted to tell her friends what was going on, she just didn’t know how.
Missing you hos.
No one responded right away, but then a text alert from Sloan popped up. Xeni had hard and fast rules about not befriending the parents of students that attended Whippoorwill, but she was so glad she’d opened herself to hanging with Sloan when she’d moved to L.A.. Sloan was busy with her family and her career in medicine, but she always made time for Xeni. She was a good friend.
Hey foxy lady!
How are you doing?
Everything okay?
Yeah, I’m doing okay.
A little hectic around here,
but I’ll get through it.
