And I do not burst into tears all over again because I have friends. That would be weird and excessive on my part.
“Oh, good lord.” Sabrina hugs me. “Deep breaths. Don’t worry. We will get the fucker where it hurts.”
Rose nods. “Damn right we will. It’s been ages since I’ve slashed anyone’s tires.”
“What happened?” asks Isa, taking a seat on the sofa.
I wipe my face with my hands and get myself under control. Sort of. “The record company asshole came to town last night and offered me a bunch of money to get Nash to sign with them again, and I didn’t want it to ruin his night so I was going to tell him today, but someoneelsetold him first and now he thinks I betrayed him and was going to take their money.”
There are a whole lot of wide eyes in the room.
“That’s everything,” I say.
“Was it a lot of money?” asks Rose.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I wasn’t going to do it though.”
“Of course not,” says Isa.
Which is when Father Frank walks into the house in full regalia. The long white robe with a green and gold stole. This sure is a day for surprises. Some bad and some just plain strange. “I had a baptism to finish, but I’m here now. Who needs praying over?”
“Nash thinks June sold him out, the big idiot.” Sabrina continues rubbing my back. It really is quite soothing.
“Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate you all being here,” I say. “But why do you believe me about this when we lied to you all before?”
“You were wrong to do it,” announces Father Frank. “However, there were solid reasons for trying to hide him so he could attempt to live a more normal life. We’re not unreasonable people.”
Grandma comes in the front door and dusts off her hands. “I think that’s all of it.”
“I’m sorry about Charlie,” I say.
“He made his choices. Give him a day or so to think it over and he’ll be back apologizing if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Should you be throwing his clothes out front then?” I ask.
“Always set firm boundaries, my dear. His job is to have my back.” Grandma crosses her arms. “And yours by extension.”
I nod. “Are there any photographers out there?”
“One or two,” says Grandma. “Let them guess at what’s going on. It might keep them busy for a while.”
“Such a sad and sorry mess,” says Father Frank.
Rose shakes her head. “Your poor heart.”
“I have to get back to work, but I’ll bring by a batch of cookies later.” Isa rises and walks over to me. “Keep your chin up, okay?”
I smile. “Thank you.”
“What we need here is some proper girl time,” says Father Frank. “How about we put onPride and Prejudiceand make popcorn?”
“One of the movies or the series?” asks Sabrina.
“We did a movie last time.” Rose makes herself at home on the couch. “Let’s binge the series this time around.”
Sabrina turns to me. “What do you say?”
“I would honestly love that,” I say. “Thank you.”
