Chapter 12
Lior
I woke to the sound of a crash and sprinted out of the guest room bed wearing nothing but a tank top and the underwear Addie had gotten me for Christmas with beavers all over them.
“Addie?” I shouted as I hurried down the hall, looking in doorways as I went, my bare feet slapping against the hardwoods.
“I’m fine!” she yelled.
I entered the kitchen to a cloud of flour and my best friend smiling with the one side of her face that wasn’t broken, stitched, and bruised.
“What happened?” I asked, standing just outside the doorway in hopes of avoiding looking like she did. “Are you trying to impersonate a powdered donut? Cuz you know I get all hot and bothered for a donut.”
“This is me surprising with you pancakes.” She reached her arms out to her sides and waved her hands, kicking up another cloud. “Surprise!”
“Fool. You can’t cook. You must’ve hit your head harder than we thought.”
She glanced down at the frying pan on the floor and the spilled bag of flour.
“Wanna go out to eat?” she asked.
“Like we’ve done every morning? Yes. Obviously.”
She opened the French doors to the back deck then and walked out to the yard, giving her hair a gentle shake and dusting off her t-shirt and shorts as best she could before coming back inside.
“Go shower,” I said, pointing in the direction of her room. “I’ll…” I looked around at the flour covered surfaces. “Figure this out.”
I was still wiping down appliances and countertops when she emerged twenty minutes later, her light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail that accentuated her long neck and bruised face – which was now an interesting rainbow of colors.
She was dressed in a pair of white jean shorts and a strappy black tank top that did little to conceal more bruised skin on her shoulder, clavicle, and arm.
“Lookin’ to turn heads today, eh?” I said.
“I have to find some way to get men to notice me over you.”
“Next time maybe opt for a boob job.”
“That still wouldn’t do it.”
“What if you got double Gs?”
“How would I tend to the animals though?” She mimed trying to reach around larger boobs.
“Fine. Get in car accidents. See if I care.”
“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I keep telling you!”
“Always trying to steal my limelight.”
“I just want a sliver of the lime,” she said. “Preferably with an ice-cold Corona.”
“Believe me,” I said. “You don’t.” I looked around the mostly clean kitchen. “Soooo… Alki Café for breakfast then?”
“Absofuckinglutely.”
I hurried to my own room to change and run a brush through my hair before twisting it into a long braid that hung down my back. After throwing on my favorite worn-in baseball cap and a pair of flip-flops, we were out the door.
We walked the few blocks to our favorite breakfast spot while chatting about her clinic. She was annoyed that her partner, a lovely woman called Alexandra, who was two decades older than us, had called on another local vet to help with Addie’s patients.
“I mean,” Addie said. “Obviously she had to call someone. She can’t handle my patients and hers all on her own, but why did she have to call him.”
The him in question was Addie’s sworn enemy. At least, that’s what she’d made him out to be, despite not having met him once. Her opinion was based solely off his fancy clinic, state of the art equipment, and good looks that were “too good to take seriously”.
“He’s a cad,” she said now.
“How do you know?”
“I just do. I’ve known men like him all my life. He’s good looking and he knows it and he uses it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You mean like me?”
She elbowed me. “You know what I mean.”
I did, but it didn’t mean I didn’t get to give her shit.
“Maybe he’s nice,” I said. “Animals wouldn’t like him if he wasn’t.”
“Animals can be dumb.”
“Addie!” I said, laughing.
She smirked.
“Don’t tell my clients I said that,” she said. “Except Wilbur the greyhound. He’s well aware of his mental shortcomings.”
We ordered a carafe of passionfruit mimosas as soon as we were seated and then perused the menu, landing as always on our favorites: French toast, a veggie omelet, roasted potatoes, and vegan sausage. Like we’d been doing since we were girls, we would share it all.
“So,” Addie said, sipping her mimosa. “Spill.”
“Spill what?” I said, eyes wide. But she wasn’t buying it.
“I know you’ve been avoiding telling me anything of importance.
And while I appreciate you not wanting to bother me with anything more serious than a bad date with a cute Brit while I’ve got all this going on…
” She waved a hand towards her body. “I’m bored of your bullshit.
You leave tomorrow. So spill it. What’s happening with that designer Daniela?
Is a photo shoot happening soon? Have you made any decisions about next career moves?
What about Avery’s offer to write for the Post? Have you given that any more thought?”
Avery was an old classmate from high school and then college, until both Addie and I left.
After graduating from the University of Washington with a writing degree, she’d left the country in search of adventure and newsworthy stories, which gained her a slew of injuries acquired while reporting on events all over the map, the last of which – a conflict – was serious enough to send her back stateside to reconsider her life’s choices.
She returned to Seattle at twenty eight and found herself taking a lead desk job at the Seattle Post. I’d run into her during one of my visits to see Addie last year and she said she’d been meaning to call me about an idea she’d had which would involve me writing for the paper.
“Fine,” I said to Addie, making a face and stabbing a slice of strawberry. “Yes, to the photo shoot. No, to making any career decisions. Yes, I’ve thought a lot about her offer.”
“And?”
“And…” I shrugged. “It’s enticing for sure. To maybe move back here and be near you. To be doing something I’ve always loved and wanted to pursue. I just…”
“You just what?”
“It would be a big change. I’m scared. And what if it doesn’t pan out?”
“One, it’s not like you have to completely give up modeling.
You could still book jobs, and even incorporate them into your new job if it’s an interesting angle, shoot, or location.
And two, if it doesn’t pan out how you and Avery envisage, you just look for something else to do.
Or maybe take a break. It’s not like you can’t afford to take a minute to figure out something else. ”
“I suppose,” I said. “And what about the scared part?”
“Fuck scared. I got mowed down by a Lexus and am lucky to be sitting here. Life’s short, baby. Grab your opportunities by the balls. And if the balls shrivel up, let go and find a new pair.”
I pursed my lips as the man at the table next to us turned bright red and choked on his bite of pancake.
Addie grinned. “That’s what he gets for eavesdropping.”
When we got back to Addie’s house, she called her clinic to check in while I took another turn in the kitchen, marveling at the number of crevices there were for flour to settle into.
“Stop cleaning,” Addie said from the doorway, a large floppy hat on her head and hands on hips. “Let’s go to the beach.”
I took a last swipe at the handle of the refrigerator and tossed the sponge in the sink.
“Deal.”
After a quick stop for iced coffees, we flip-flopped our way across the street to the beach, dodging a rollerblader, a foursome on a surrey, and a small group of preschoolers being led and followed by their smiling and singing teachers.
Making ourselves a little nest of sunbathing bliss, a rarity for late spring in Seattle, we stripped off our shorts and tanks and slathered on the SPF before trying to get comfortable on the queen size sheet Addie had brought.
“What else?” Addie said from beneath the brim of her large sunhat.
“What else what?” I murmured, breathing in the warm air and luxuriating over being back in one of my favorite places on Earth, beside my absolute favorite person on Earth.
“Tell me more,” she said. “My life has been doctors’ appointments and binge watching every show available to man. Tell me something real. How’s Katya? I saw her on a billboard for the new Calvin Klein perfume a few weeks ago. She looked amazing. Is she dating anyone?”
“Kat’s good. Same old Kat. I think she’s in Milan right now doing a shoot for Elle magazine. No men, or women for that matter, for her these days. She said she’s had it with the dating scene. Of course, she says that and the next thing I’ll hear is that she’s in love.”
She always loved hearing about Katya’s many exploits. The two women had met a handful of times and each thought the other was hilarious. Plus, they had one major thing in common – they both loved to tease me.
“Anything newsworthy about your mother and Cal?” Addie continued. “Do they know you’re in town again? Have any men who aren’t assholes or idiots or narcissists made it onto your radar?”
“Damn,” I said. “You’re on a roll today.
No, I didn’t tell my mother I’m here because they’re in Paris.
Nothing noteworthy in their lives that I’ve heard about.
And no. No men to speak of.” An image of Graham flashed in my mind.
“I did have an unpleasant run-in the morning of your accident that will make you laugh though.”
“Ooh.” She lifted the brim of her hat. “Tell me.”
“I was out for my morning walk when your mom called, which of course sent me into a total state of panic, I’ll have you know.
Next thing I knew I’d stepped in dog poo and totally went off on the dog’s owner, who couldn’t have looked more bewildered.
I’m sure I looked like an absolute lunatic but I—”
“Oh my god,” Addie said, sitting up and almost losing the bikini top she’d untied, her eyes wide, her open mouth turning into an almost evil grin. “You’re the Meet-Poop Girl!”
I felt my face turn red and covered it with my hands.
“You read it?” I asked, my voice muffled and full of agony and regrets.