Her mom would say that. She is one spicy lady when it comes to disrespect and Shawnee is the queen of sass.
“Whatever, you guys are lucky. Lil, you’re getting off scot-free. You get to spend the ten days off wrapped in Sam’s sexy arms while I entertain not only my kids but our parents who have been quarantining so they can spend Christmas with the kids.” Liz grimaces. “I’ll trade ya.”
“I’m good with my sexy doctor and cuddly cat Christmas, thanks!”
“And what about the house? Did you decide if you want to put an offer in yet?” Shawnee asks.
“No.” I sit back and relax in the chair. “I want to. But I’m trying to figure out how to purchase without using any of the equity we had from our old house. None of the money from our marriage can pay for the house. I could get Dad to give me the money and pay him back after the divorce is finalized. But I think it would make him nervous to pull that much from investments,” I say with a sigh. “Or I could stretch my possession date to after the divorce. James says the owners aren’t in a hurry.”
“This old house reno, you have wanted to do this forever. Remember that piece of shit you almost bought in Dartmouth but Rod convinced you to buy the big house instead?” Liz laughs. “God, that house was gross.”
“Yeah.” I shake my head. “I am glad now that I think about it; I can’t imagine a reno with Rod.”
“Speaking of Rod, I have some tea,” Shawnee says. “I guess Anthony goes to the gym for three months in the winter normally. He trains with some Arthur guy.”
“Right, Arthur,” Liz and I say at the same time.
“So we were talking about this gym and he was telling me about how they had this yoga teacher who used to do classes there, and I guess she slept with a lot of the clients.”
“Yoga? No!” I gasp.
Liz nods with an evil grinchy look on her face.
“I guess Elaine is known for her shenanigans in the gym-rat circles. And she hooked up with Arthur a while back, and he didn’t know she was married. When he discovered it, he broke things off and she hasn’t been back to teach the classes. Anthony was telling me this story and I almost had a heart attack when I realized who he meant.” Shawnee is way too excited about this.
“You got an STD test, right?” Liz asks, wrinkling her nose.
“They call it an STI test now and yes, last January right before Mexico. He and I didn’t have sex, ever.” The thought of it makes me shiver.
“So here’s Rod, marrying this complete train wreck of a girl. She’s pregnant. And it might not even be his baby?” Liz has connected the dots faster than I have.
“Oh God.” Shawnee groans. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Yikes,” I say, taking another drink of wine.
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” Liz says and lifts her glass of sparkling water. She has six more months before she can have wine. The countdown is on.
My apartment door opens and Sam walks in, smiling wide as he pockets the key I gave him the other day. Romeo jumps down and hurries to him.
“I better go, girls. Sam just got here. I’ll chat with ya tomorrow.”
“Love you,” they shout and I log off.
“You didn’t have to get off for me,” he says as he scoops up the cat and kisses his nose. Romeo leans into it.
“That’s okay. You didn’t want to hear that conversation.”
“Now I do.” He laughs and takes off his shoes and mask and sanitizes.
“I guess Elaine, the girl Rod’s marrying, is known around your gym for being—frisky. She used to teach yoga there—”
“Oh, not that Elaine.” He stops. “Elaine the yoga instructor. Tiny little thing?” He pales.
“Oh God, you didn’t sleep with her?” I cover my mouth with my hand. Why does God hate me?
“Hell no. She and Arthur had a thing until he found out she was married. She’s a bit—”
“Emotionally unstable?” I ask, wanting to smile but I don’t. It’s not cool to mock someone’s mental health. Even Elaine’s.
“I was going to say manipulative.”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t agree more.
“Anyway, I’m glad you have all this teleconferencing figured out. I was hoping to do a Zoom with my friends over Christmas.”
“You have friends?” I’m only half kidding. He rarely speaks about much beyond work.
“I do.” He narrows his gaze. “And they want to meet you.”
“On Zoom?” My tone suggests I’m not into this. Which is because I’m not into this.
“Yeah, is that all right?” he asks as he walks closer, wrapping himself around me.
“It’s awesome.” I force a smile.
“You are the worst liar.” He kisses me softly. “But on to the important things, it’s my turn to make dinner. Any requests?”
A sly smile flashes across my lips.
“You want to skip dinner again?” he asks, visibly amused.
I take his hand in mine and walk him to my bedroom.
Chapter 46
December 24
Unknown location
Lights flash behind my eyes.
I don’t know where I am.
This is new.
“Lil,” voices call me from the darkness.
“Lil, wake up, please.”
“We love you. Please don’t leave us.”
“Lil, I’ve always loved you. Please come back to me.”
But I can’t open my eyes.
I’m still underwater.
Something touches my hand. I squeeze.
“Oh my God, they’re wrong. She’s going to live. She’s waking up! She moved,” my sister shouts.
“Lilly, can you hear us?” Dad asks. It must be bad, he never says my name.
I cling to whatever is touching my hand. Desperate to wake up. To find the light. I think I’ve been here for a long time, too long. My body feels like it doesn’t know me anymore. And it’s tired. It wants to go back to the water.
But I don’t give in. I explore every bit of the dark until I find my eyes. It takes several attempts before I come close to batting my lashes.
When I do, I surface and the light of the room comes in choppy like a kaleidoscope.
Is this the waiting room again?
“Hey,” my sister says softly. She squeezes my hand, making me realize it was her I was touching. I blink. My lashes are stuck together and my eyes are weak.
I want to talk but I can’t. My mouth has something in it. I move my tongue and realize that’s what it is. My tongue feels funny, thick and lazy.
Dry.
It’s dry and I’m parched.
Everything burns.
Where’s the water?
I blink again and my eyes try to focus.
“Stay with me, Lil,” Liz says. “I’m here.”
I can’t remember anything.
How did I get here?
Desperate to wake and get answers, I blink again, struggling hard and separating my lashes.
She’s there.
Here.
Maybe she’s underwater with me.
Liz is a shape. A shadow.