Laura:Don’t mean to start anything.
Laura:But I saw Kathy and Fitz at Vellum restaurant.
Laura:They look awfully snuggly.
Laura:Does Winnie know?
“There’s a picture.” Carolina is scandalized.
I hate myself, so I look. Fitz and Kathy look even more cozy and in love inside the restaurant. Laura’s taken the photo from inside, and she and Fitz are laughing at something.
Carolina makes a face. “Part of me really was trying to give Fitz the benefit of the doubt, but this is pretty incriminating.”
“I never stood a chance,” I sniffle sadly. “Never.”
The soundof someone being brutally murdered downstairs wakes me up from a fever dream. I blink up blearily at the ceiling as my dad lets out another rib-shattering sneeze.
“Man, that was a big one.”
Creedence Clearwater blares over the Alexa as he and Fidget sing along loudly and off-key and off-beat.
“Kill me,” I mumble and pull a pillow over my head to block the morning—well, afternoon, really—sun. I’m hungover and heartbroken, and there’s pepperoni and cheese glued to my face.
I can’t believe I was so stupid.
I’m too dehydrated and ate too much salt too late at night to even cry.
I’m just deeply sad. And embarrassed. And humiliated.
What was I thinking? That I was someone else, someone who a guy like Fitz would want to be with? I’m delusional. Forget the fact that he’s one of the richest men on the West Coast, but he’s also hot. And really cool. He owns sports teams and restaurants and shit. Like, he’s the ultimate cool guy. They want women who make them look good. They want fun girls, chill girls.
“Maybe I should have been nicer, shouldn’t have been so critical. Maybe my mom is right and I am too bossy.”
Please, let’s be honest though. Even if I was sweet as pie, I’d be no match for Kathy.
There are excited screams from downstairs. I know my family is doing something that I’m not going to like, and I need to go down there and nip it in the bud before it turns into a disaster.
But I don’t have the energy.
“You’re awake, Winnie.” My mom pokes her head in. “Oh, you need to go take a shower.”
“Why are you making all this noise?” I groan. “I need coffee.”
“Your hair, Winnie.”
“Might want to wash her sheets too. She didn’t shower after her sexcapade. That’s not cheese in her hair,” Gran adds. “I know old semen when I see it.”
“Winnie!” Mom grabs my pillow and swats me with it. “What’s gotten into you? It’s lunchtime, for God’s sake.”
“Is there more pizza left?”
“Maybe you could eat a salad.”
“There were onions and green peppers on the pizza.” I stumble downstairs.
“Winnie!” Kathy is bouncing in her shoes. She’s so excited.
I can barely look at her.
