“Are you not feeling well? Uterus being a monster?” I ask.
“Yes, but I’ll survive thanks to your completely unnecessary gift.” She holds up the empty candy wrapper. “How was your day?”
Deflecting once again. Her way of asking for a distraction. “Worst. Monday. Ever.”
“Oh no. Why?”
“Company-wide layoffs started. We had to let a bunch of people go today. I feel dirty.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry, babe.”
It’s not my insides trying to kill me like hers are, but it hurts. Cutting my department because it was the “charity” department—protecting the planet isn’t a priority at all—pushing us to the same department as Dickerson, and removing all catering except breakfast. Listing all that reminds me I should be thankful for the privilegedposition I’m in, even if it eats at my soul.
“You gonna be okay?” Bri asks. “Mentally and otherwise.”
Talking to her has already made my blood pressure go down. I live for our evening phone calls. I wish I could come home to her for these chats rather than having them through the phone, but until she can find her footing or accept my help in getting her there, I’ll have to wait. I hate waiting.
“Our proposal goes in next week. Sai told us to take some time off while we can. I know it hasn’t been that long, but would it be cool if I came down there to visit you?”Visit you, please you, anything you want.
“You miss me so bad,” she teases.
“I do.” There’s no point in lying.
“I wish I had a place for you to stay.”
“I’ll get a hotel. Or a rental with a kitchen. And you can stay with me, maybe?”
“Maybe.” She smirks, her pain seeming to have eased over the span of our conversation. “Wait. Shit.”
“What?”
“I’ll have to work. I have two events back-to-back next weekend.”
“So, I shouldn’t come?”
“No, you should come. Please come.”
The weight of the day lifts off my back. “You made my week so much better. Thank you.”
“Anytime, Hoodie. Love you.”
Suddenly, the world is bright again. Two words from her erase my gloom. “Love you too.”
Thirty
Bri
“You arenotfriends,” Keisha says.
I’m sitting on the floor, assembling the fancy crib she and Kellen just bought while she judges me from the rocking chair in the corner. “What? Liem’s an amazing person.”
“Yes, which is why you’re in love with him.”
“I’m not in love with him.”
“And the sky is green, babe.”
She can be so annoying. Meddlesome.Nosy. “You can’t seriously think that. He lives in a different state. He’s successful, and I’m still sleeping in my friend’s guest bedroom.”
