She frowns. “Oh, really? But good enough to get into college, I’m guessing. Where did you go?” she asks.
Whaatttt? Where did that come from? A hot sweat breaks across my body. On that dreaded application form for Williams Security, I put City University on my resume because it’s in the city and a public university.
“CUNY,” I say.
She beams. “One of my best friends went there! James and I used to come up from Philly to visit her. That’s how James and I got to know New York and decided we wanted to move here.”
A horrible, weighted heartbeat starts in my chest. What are the chances? Well, probably pretty high. Philadelphia is only an hour and a half away from here, after all.Fuck.
She laughs. “We slept on the floor in her dorm! God, the dorms were terrible.”
Oh, crap!
“I lived at home.”Get her off this subject, Sadie!“What did you study?” I choke out.
“Finance. I work a few blocks away from here. James and I chose the apartment in Brooklyn because it was super cheap. We’ve been putting money aside for years so we can buy a place of our own.”
This conversation is like being stabbed with tiny knives. Why is she talking about their finances as if nothing’s changed? “But you broke up,” I blurt out stupidly before I can stop myself.
A frown mars her perfect features, and she gives me a tight smile. “Yes, but we’re best friends, and our savings are still together. This break we’re on doesn’t change that.”
This break we’re on …What is she talking about? She split up with James and now she says it’s abreak? James told me she was planning to move back to Philadelphia and live with Kevin. What is her game? Or is she just one of those people who tells everyone a slightly different story and then pretends that they’re the one who misunderstood?
She taps a pearly nail on the countertop, and I stare at it in fascination. “That’s why I don’t understand why he’s living here. He wants to save money, and this has to be far more expensive than our place in Brooklyn.” She glances around again. “I should have moved with him. The trip into the city from our apartment is awful.”
I stare at her, dumbfounded. I’m starting to see why James comes away from his meetings with her with whiplash.Talk about something neutral that she can’t twist, Sadie.
“I used to travel in from Queens when I started at Williams Security.”
“That’s a long commute. Where did you commute to before that?” she says.
“Before that?”
She frowns at me. “For classes?”
I gape at her as my face goes red. I know nothing about where computing science classes are based at CUNY.Stupid, Sadie.For about the hundredth time, I curse myself for putting that damn degree on my application. Next time I have a wild idea, it’s not going to involve lying to my employer.
An owl swoops down and lands on the girl’s shoulder, whispering all the things in her ear that she wishes she knew.
“Oh, I was all over,” I stutter out, not meeting her eyes.
I’m sure my face is flaming now, and she’s tilting her head at me with an odd expression on her face.
The key rattles in the door, and it swings open. I turn toward it, relief pouring through me. James appears with his cycling helmet in one hand, hair plastered to his head.
“Well,” he says, “that was certainly the most …” He trails off when he sees Jane standing on the other side of the kitchen island. “Jane! What are you doing here?”
She walks over to him and pulls him into a hug, and watching the way she presses into him is like nails scraping down a blackboard.
“Why wouldn’t I come and see my best buddy, hmm?” she says, leaning back to gaze up at him, eyes soft. “I wanted to talk to you about last night. Kevin had me on location and wanted to surprise me. I was trying to make the best of it, but I think you were all a bit taken aback and …”
“It’s fine. Really.” He steps away from her and puts a hand on her shoulder like he’s holding her at bay.
“I’ll just go and …” I start, waving vaguely toward my room, but James’s eyes go wide at me over her shoulder.
Goddammit, I promised to be his ride or die where Jane was concerned that night he was drunk. Why did I promise that?
The girl turns the wicked witch into a mouse, and the cat chases it under the floorboards.
