Chapter Thirteen #3
“Or maybe during all those FaceTime dates we scheduled,” April said.
“Except, oh, wait, you canceled most of them. Or, I guess, I could’ve told you over text, but call me sensitive, I’m not a huge fan of telling my best friend about major life decisions only to have it remain unread for forty-eight hours, which is probably why I also haven’t told you that I have an opportunity to show my work in the Devon.
Because I just wasn’t sure if you had the time. ”
Her voice cracked a little on the last word, and she hated herself for it. Silence filtered between them while she looked out at the woods, swallowed around her thickening throat.
“April,” Ramona said softly.
But April didn’t want pity or excuses or even rational explanations.
Because her best friend was here. Ramona had come home for her, and April was infuriated that she couldn’t simply be happy about that.
That there was all this baggage between them now, when they’d never, ever had secrets or distance between them since the day they met in the fourth grade on the playground at Clover Lake Elementary School.
So April opened it all up. Every secret.
She told Ramona how it felt closing the shop, how she’d been in the red for nearly two years, and how her parents still didn’t know.
She told Ramona about meeting Daphne, and the canoe ride, and how Daphne had no idea Elena had cheated.
She told her about meeting Sasha and dyeing Daphne’s hair and how the curator from the Devon was an old client who had all but thrown April and Daphne into a competition for their very lives.
“And I have to win that spot,” April said, her chest tightening more and more with every word. “I’m thirty-three, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, and I’ll be damned if Daphne Love, no matter how innocently, is going to take something else from me. I can’t—”
“Okay, okay,” Ramona said, pulling April into her arms and holding her tight. “Just breathe.”
April did, resting her chin on Ramona’s shoulder and kind of collapsing, arms loose around Ramona’s waist. She felt suddenly exhausted, but also lighter. She tightened her embrace and exhaled heavily.
“Anything else?” Ramona asked, rubbing April’s back.
“I may have dirty danced with my ex’s ex,” April said nonchalantly.
Ramona pulled back, but just enough to look April in the eye. “I’m sorry, what now?”
April laughed, because god, it was funny, and explained about the dancing, followed by Daphne hurting her ankle and their trek back to the cabin in the rain.
“And then I wrapped her ankle, and we watched Maleficent,” April said, wiping at her smudged mascara.
Ramona’s brows could not possibly get any higher. “Are you telling me you engaged in lesbian wound tending?”
“Well, of the two of us, she’s the only lesbian, so—”
“Lesbian wound tending, Apes,” Ramona said.
April dropped her head into her hands. “God, okay, yes, I know.” She took a breath, remembering the feel of Daphne’s delicate skin under her fingers, the way she’d gasped a little when April had shifted her foot in a certain manner, the way—
Good goddess on earth, stop.
She lifted her head. “Look, someone had to take care of her. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Famous last words.”
April shook her head, because the entire thing was ridiculous. “Tell me about you. Quickly, before I say something else that lands me in an Iris Kelly rom-com.”
“Oh, have you read her latest? God, I love the enemies-to-lovers trope.”
“Mona.”
Ramona laughed, but then folded her arms, a sad expression settling on her face. “Your shop. Your house.”
April closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “Not right now. Please. We can dig deeper into every humiliating detail later, but please, please, tell me something about you. Anything.”
Ramona’s cheeks went a little pink and she looked down at her hands, tangling her fingers together. Her nails were painted a sparkly teal. A professional job, if April had to guess. Ramona could thread a needle in under two seconds, but she’d always been shit with nail polish.
“Well, actually, I wanted to come home for a lot of reasons,” Ramona said, lifting her gaze to April’s. “And one of them is that I wanted to…”
She searched April’s eyes for so long, April started to squirm. “You wanted to what?”
Ramona opened her mouth. Closed it again.
“Mona,” April said. “You’re scaring me. Is your dad okay? Olive?”
“No, no,” Ramona said, grabbing both of April’s hands. “They’re fine. Everyone’s fine. Olive’s coming home from Vanderbilt next week, in fact.”
April lit up. “So that’s why you’re home, then. I’m always playing second fiddle.” It was true, but it was a good truth—April adored Ramona’s little sister, Olive, and she couldn’t wait to see her.
Ramona laughed, but her eyes were still a bit hooded, a million thoughts behind them. “Olive is one reason, yes. But, honey, I—”
“Okay, well, that’s a great reason,” April said as her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She fished it out and glanced at Daphne’s text, asking where she was. “Shit, I’m going to be late.”
“Then let’s go,” Ramona said quickly, hooking her arm through April’s and heading back inside. “You’ve got to work, I know. I want to hear more about the Devon though. Do you have an idea yet?”
April swallowed, dread washing over her. “Not a one.”
Ramona smiled softly. “You’ll get there. You will. You’re extraordinary.”
April nodded, but honestly, she had her doubts, because Daphne’s work was truly extraordinary, and April hadn’t thought of herself in the same terms in a long time.
But Ramona did.
She looked at her best friend for a second, the most familiar face in her life. Despite her hurt feelings the last few months, despite the way she still felt tender, as though her heart was covered in a healing bruise, she’d missed Ramona so much. “I’m glad you’re here, Llama Face.”
Ramona smiled, but her eyes got a little shiny, which she covered quickly by pausing in the middle of the hallway and hugging April tight.
“I probably have time to deeply analyze your horoscope for the week,” April said.
Ramona laughed, then pushed April away. “Save it for a rainy day. We’re having dinner with my dad, but maybe we can meet up at Clover Moon later tonight?”
“You got it, Llama,” April said, grinning as they started walking again.
And for a second—if she ignored that royal we—it felt like old times.
For a brief, lovely moment, while April tried to slap Ramona’s butt and Ramona dodged her, laughing and squealing like they were teenagers again as they went into the art studio, it felt as if the last two years had never even happened.