Page 64 of The Bad Husband

This will be another long night.

They’ve all been like that since she moved here.

11

LILA

Earlier

“Look at you,” I exclaim as Keira walks out of my bathroom, wearing makeup. “It looks great on you.”

She smiles.

“My dress? The makeup?”

“Both.”

“Hopefully my face won’t melt off,” she says, sliding her lipstick into her bag.

“We’ll be fine. See, it wasn’t that bad,” I add, picking up my purse from a chair. “Actually,” I say. “We can leave these here. We won’t need them.”

“What about our phones? My dress doesn’t have a pocket.”

“Mine doesn’t have one either, but there’s no one to call me, so I’ll leave mine here.”

“I’ll take it with me. You never know when I get an important call.”

I laugh.

“Sure. Whatever. Who’d call you so late on a Saturday evening?”

She checks the time on her phone.

“For your information is not that late. And one of your future boyfriends might call me.”

I huff, dismissing her with a clipped gesture.

“Please.”

Her focus sharpens as she looks at me.

“We’re still doing this, right?”

“What?” I ask, a bit distracted.

“Finding someone to get laid this summer. Who knows? We might be both married next year and full of regrets that we haven’t used this time for ourselves.”

She shakes her head as she speaks with humor, making me laugh.

“We’ll both be married with children,’ I sneer. “Let’s get going. I can’t wait to taste the delicious food. No one will pay attention to us.”

I don’t know what I have in mind as I’m saying that.

I hope it’s true, though.

We both exit my room and walk down the corridor.

Keira’s quiet exclamations keep us company.