I should be driving Mira to the park right now, or catching up on sleep since I watched the sunrise from the highway this morning as I made my way to the camera store. But thanks to Katherine butting in, I’m here, losing the headway I gained last night while Mira spends her afternoon with Grant and his lackeys.
“Are you two doing okay?” Meredith asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Who?”
“You and Katherine.”
“Oh yeah. We’re fine,” I reply half-heartedly.
“Does she know that?” she asks sweetly.
“Did she say something?”
“No,” Meredith says, shaking her head. “But she’s been moping around ever since you got here. I know weddings can be stressful, especially with Susan. I know she’s been putting stress on you topropose but I’d love it if you could try to put whatever’s going on between you two aside, just until tomorrow. I don’t want to have my best friend sulking on my wedding day.”
I give Meredith my best smile, trying to hide my annoyance. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Hudson,” she says, giving my arm a squeeze and venturing into the field.
I easily catch up with Katherine. She swats at a honeybee flying above her, and when it lands on her shoulder, I watch her pull out a travel-size can of bug spray from her fanny pack.
“Don’t,” I say, taking the can from her.
“Right, because the bees are your priority,” she says, picking up her bucket and moving towards the field.
“Considering a third of our crops rely on them, they should be everyone’s priority.”
“Meredith is deathly allergic so I’m just trying to be prepared,” she says, taking the can from me and putting it back in her pack before bending down and aggressively cutting a flower at its stem.
In front of us the field is covered in native flowers, the orange Indian blanket flowers, blue Rocky Mountain columbine, and purple daisies blending together harmoniously among the tall grass.
“Why did you volunteer me for this?” I ask, following behind her.
“I thought I was saving you,” Katherine argues. “You never want to spend time with Grant.”
“Maybe I’m trying to make an effort.”
“That’s funny,” she scoffs. “You never wanted to do anything with anyone when we were together and the second we break up you’ve become an extrovert, saying yes to hangs with the guys?”
“And I think it’s funny that for someone who wants to pretend we’re still together, you told Meredith that we’re fighting.”
“I needed some excuse to explain why you’ve been hanging out with everyone but me since you got here.”
“Some of these people are my friends too,” I argue back.
“Like the photographer?” Katherine shouts, then lowers her voice. “I swear every time I turn around you’re talking to her. You know how that looks, right?”
“Like I’m trying to be friendly to the person who’s staying in our room.”
Katherine huffs, her stare as sharp as the shears in her hand.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to do what you said and pretend that you still like me. I mean, fuck, Hudson, I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
“We live together, Katherine. You’ve seen me.”
“No. I haven’t. You took a second job just to get away from me. You sneak in when I’m asleep and sneak out before I wake up. It’s like you can’t even look at me anymore.”
