“No need. I’ll just throw a few things together and see if you like them. Your branding is on point. You probably just need a little more content so you have stories, right? A bit more of a consistent online presence?”
“That’s exactly what we need. Man, Nat, you are a force to be reckoned with.” She reached over my shoulder and swiped through several photos. “But we will pay you. That’s not up for debate.”
“Sure, sure.”
Hazel rolled her eyes at my blowoff. I had a feeling this wasn’t the end of it.
Once we were finished, I headed to the showers to wash off the day. Newly clean and ready for bed, I pulled on my pajamas and grabbed my skincare out of the mini fridge. It was the perfect size for all of my serums and lotions. Due to my travel, I usually lived spontaneously, which did not mean bringing appliances with me. But since my work at Camp Starlight was open-ended and I was actually standing still for a little bit, I’d bought the most self-indulgent skincare I could.
I got a call right as I sat down at my desk to apply everything. My stepsister, Mandy, was seven years younger than me and lived on the East Coast near my mom and stepfather, Dean.
My world fell apart after we lost my dad to a brain aneurysm when I was ten years old. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved me and always gave me affection. My mom remarried when I was twelve, and the best thing that came with Dean was Mandy, who I’d gotten to see grow up.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite genius.” I’d been calling her that ever since she won a spelling bee in grade school. She excelled at everything she did, and I was so proud of her.
“And if it isn’t the social media maven.”
I laughed a little too hard at that. Things were always changing in my field, and sometimes I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. But maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit.
“Last I checked, you’re over a million followers, Natty.” Her nickname for me stemmed from her inability to pronounce Natalie as a toddler, and it’d stuck. My mother hated it, which made me love it more.
“Yeah, well…” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. “How’s Shoshanna?”
She’d been in a relationship with Sho for two years. If they didn’t get married soon, I’d be surprised. My sister had it all figured out. The job at my mom’s holding company, which sether up for big things, the girlfriend who doted on her, and more friends than I’d know what to do with.
“Don’t think I didn’t catch that deflection, but she’s doing well. We just went to that cliffside resort you mentioned. It was amazing. They upgraded us just for mentioning you.” It was a surprise that Mandy had gotten away from work, considering the hours she put in. I was glad I got to add to the experience. “You make friends everywhere you go, don’t you?”
“It’s not hard. There are a lot of interesting people out there.”Friendswas a loose term. The friends I’d had over the years usually didn’t answer the phone much, let alone stick around. Most people I met weren’t looking for lasting relationships with the woman who rolled in and out of their lives in the span of a few days, unfortunately.
But it was a hazard of the job. I met people, had amazing moments with them, and then moved on. I could reach out and see if they wanted to see me again, sure, but I was always off to the next place and didn’t often revisit places.
That was why I loved my relationship with Hazel. We’d stayed friends after college. We may have drifted apart for a while, but we’d grown up a lot, and I knew we’d stick it out, no matter how far apart we were.
“Pretty sure that’s a you thing. Even my friends wanted to be your bestie.”
I chuckled. “That’s because I was the cool high schooler when y’all were just tweens.”
“No, Nat. It’s definitely a you thing,” my sister said firmly. She didn’t usually get like this. It was jarring. “Take the compliment.”
I twiddled with my eye repair serum. “Okay, I’m awesome, I guess.”
“That’s right. Now on to the reason I’m calling you.”
“You aren’t just calling to tell me how amazing I am?”
“No, I’m calling to ask you to visit us this summer.Allof us.”
Wow. She was really ripping the bandage off.
“I already have plans this summer.” It sounded final, but maybe because it was. “Why don’t you visit me in Oregon? I’m sure we can find a place nearby that isn’t sold out.”
“Nat, it’s been years. You’re going to have to see them eventually.”
“Why don’t you tell them that? Because I’m pretty sure I was the one who was cut out.”
It had been four long years since I was unceremoniously kicked out of my family. Mandy was incredibly naïve when it came to our parents and what they were capable of. I’d tried to explain it before, but she’d shut down. Someday she’d learn how much the truth hurt.
“I’m so sick of being in the middle of this.”
