Even though it was becoming clear Nadine thought this about most men in New York, Emma had to agree in this case. “Totally gorgeous,” Emma said, glancing back to where Mateo had disappeared down the hall.
“You think so too?”
Emma turned back to her friend, noting her eager expression.Oh no. She would have to soften her words so they wouldn’t crush Nadine’s hopes too much. “And gay.”
Her friend’s smile fell. “Oh.”
Emma thought that fact was clear—what with the perfectly groomed eyebrows and playful winks—but apparently not. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from prodding. “Besides, you have Marty, right?”
“Right,” Nadine said, nodding, but she looked unsure.
“And you’re… happy?” Emma tried to mask her cynicism but failed miserably.
Nadine’s expression blanched. For a moment, Emma thought that she was going to break down in tears.
“Oh God, I don’t know! You know?” Nadine exclaimed so loudly that the woman in foils two seats down jumped. “We’ve been together so long that I don’t know what it’s even supposed to feel like. And now I’m here and Nana made me promise to start living my life instead of the life everyone else expects from me, but then I still have this old life that’s pulling me back and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Like I’m trying to be two different people but I’m only one person? So which person should I be, you know?”
Emma didn’t know. “A happy one, I think.”
Nadine sighed, leaning back in the chair.
Emma waited a moment. “Does Marty make you happy?”
“I think so. I mean, he used to. Now we mostly fight about when I’m coming home next.”
Hmmm.
“That must be hard,” Emma ventured, offering her best sympathetic frown. “But you need to do what’s best for you.”
“That’s what I told him!”
“And what did he say?”
“That I was being selfish.”
Emma grimaced.
Nadine’s eyes widened. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
“I would never just insert myself in your relationship,” Emma replied solemnly. “But I will say this: you’re in New York City, Nadine. The best place in the entire world to be single. You worked so hard to get here, you deserve to experience it without anything holding you back.”
“So… you think I should break up with him?” she whispered.
“Oh, I would never tell you what to do.”
“But if it were you?”
Emma’s lips pursed. This was going to have to be delicate. Very delicate. “Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t tolerate a boyfriend who was more worried about his own feelings than mine. You deserve happiness on your own terms, no one else’s.”
Nadine swallowed.
“But that’s just me,” Emma continued. “Ilikebeing single.”
Nadine’s worry seemed to dissolve for a moment, replaced with confusion. “You’re single?”
Emma nodded as she caught her own reflection in the huge salon mirror and turned to the side, adjusting her skirt a bit.
“But what about George?”
