Chapter 20 #2
We finish up for the day around six and meet at Red Feather Lounge—Emma’s suggestion, based on its locally sourced ingredients and energy efficiency.
I got an earful about their environmental sustainability approach on the elevator ride to the lobby.
With the glass bottles in her office mini fridge and her lack of paper towel use, I should have guessed eco-friendly practices are a passion of hers.
A black-clad hostess leads us through an ambient-lit cellar to where Julia’s already seated, perusing a menu. The deep crease wedged between her eyebrows is shadowed by a flickering tea light in the middle of the table.
“Your waitress will be right with you,” the hostess says.
Julia snaps her menu shut and scoots out of the booth. “You’re here!” She hugs me.
“You’re early.”
“Well, what’s new?” She leans past me, holding out her hand. “I’m Julia. You must be Emma.”
“Yes. Hi!” Emma returns her handshake.
“I love your outfit. I’ve always wanted a reason to own a business suit, but a nursing student wasn’t exactly the gig for it.”
“I miss jeans,” Emma confesses. Our combined laugh draws a glare from the couple seated across from us.
I slide in the same side of the booth as Julia. “At least you two know the appropriate attire for a situation. I wore a little black dress to have macaroni and cheese with Quinn last night.”
Julia jerks her head in my direction. “I thought you were going on a date with veterinarian Joe?”
I don’t know why I look at Emma when she says that—the woman who’s more focused on shrugging off her dress coat and draping it on the open seat next to her than judging me.
I haven’t had a chance to fill Julia in on all that transpired since I left the house yesterday. Might as well skip to the big part.
“Everett asked me to move in with him.”
All eyes remained trained on me despite the interruption of a waitress with the largest hoop earrings I’ve ever seen dropping three bamboo coasters in the middle of our table.
“Welcome! I’m Maria. I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get you ladies to drink?”
Emma looks at her first. “We’re gonna need a round of margaritas for this conversation.”
Maria chuckles. “Been there! I’ll be right back.”
“Well, that wasn’t in the Celeb article.”
“You did read it!” I gasp at Emma.
“I told you I didn’t believe what it said, not that I didn’t read it.” She unfurls her cloth napkin and cloaks her lap with it.
Julia opens to the homepage of and is skimming the humiliating highlights. If she didn’t know what we were talking about before, she’s filled in now. When she finally looks up, she’s smirking at me.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m just trying to connect the dots. Sometimes I don’t know which one to start with.”
I’ll give her which one to start with.
“Everett needed my help, so I canceled on Joe.”
The prompt arrival of three beverages steals the attention from that sentence.
“You have impressive timing,” Emma jokes with our waitress.
“Isn’t that my job? Interrupting a juicy conversation?” She arches her back with her laugh.
“Good thing we’re just getting started.” Julia elbows me in the ribcage.
I’d be panicking a little more if my friends weren’t adorning big grins. A sign that they’re enjoying our night out, even if it’s at my expense. Mission accomplished.
Maria plunks a margarita on each coaster. “Well, let me get right to the point and I’ll be out of your hair. Drinks look good?”
Julia takes the first sip. “Amazing!”
“Perfect. Can I get some appetizers started for you? Or are we ready to order dinner?”
“Uh… I think we might need another minute,” I pipe in, having yet to open my menu. Which wouldn’t be a problem if deciding what to eat at a restaurant for me wasn’t akin to making everyone in the world agree on something.
“No problem. I’ll be back.”
Our waitress makes herself scarce, but instead of studying the options in front of me, I launch back into our conversation.
“I’m looking for advice here, ladies. What am I supposed to do? Is it crazy to move in with someone for three weeks?”
I thought the paycheck I received earlier would be my excuse not to move in. A chance to experience living on my own now that I have the means to do so. Why am I still hesitating?
Julia squeezes the wheel of her lime over her glass. Coarse salt falls from the rim as she samples her drink. “You don’t need our advice, Sum.”
“I’m afraid I’ll repeat the same mistakes. I don’t want to rely on another man to take care of me.”
“That’s not what’s happening here,” Emma steps in. “It’s three weeks. And Everett is relying on you to help with Quinn. Not the other way around.”
“But what if…” My words burrow beneath a mountain of shame.
The number of jobs I’ve accepted surpasses the fingers on my hands.
Every one of them has ended in failure. Who’s to say this time will be any different?
Especially when the stakes are tied to my solo livelihood.
There’s no room for error. An insurmountable pressure to swim.
If I sink and screw this up, I can say goodbye to both jobs.
Julia reaches for my hand and rearranges the words I was going to say. Fills them in with ones I need to hear. “But what if it works out?”
She’s not asking, she’s telling me to picture that version of my life. One where I have two successful jobs that I’m loving.
“That!” Emma points at my smile. It’s the first time I’ve heard her shout or get excited about anything. “Right there… that’s your answer!”
Julia gives my hand a squeeze. “See. Don’t let Brian steal your joy anymore, okay?”
“Yeah.” I nod. She’s right. I’ve submitted to him for as long as I can remember. Choosing to follow my heart and trust in a situation that’s making me happy feels like a step in the right direction to taking that power back.
“What about you and Henry though?”
It’s the only worry left that’s keeping me from jumping into this. Julia’s learned to rely on me while I’ve been living with her. I can’t leave her high and dry.
“We’ll be fine,” she contends. “Maybe I’ll ask Jake to help out more.”
“You will?”
Julia pauses to fill Emma in on all the necessary details to keep up with this conversation, and I take the opportunity to scan the menu.
“I said maybe,” she reminds us.
“Does this mean you’re considering his date request too?” I ask.
“He asked you out?” Emma swirls her glass and takes a sip.
Naturally she left out that little detail, and pink stains her cheeks.
“We’ll see.”
I cover her hand. “I love this for you.”
She feeds me an appreciative smile. “Thanks. What about you, Emma? Any men in your life?”
Emma lets out an awkward laugh that turns into a hiccup and smothers it with a long pull of her drink. She wipes her upper lip with her napkin. “It’s a complicated story.”
“Lucky Henry is with his dad,” Julia pipes in.
“And we have all night,” I add, planting my elbows on the veneer tabletop.
Her thumb buffs at the stem of her margarita glass. “‘Good’ is not the word I’d use in this case.”
The more I’m getting to know her, the more I’m recognizing her and Everett’s similarities. She’s difficult to crack open.
Julia sits taller. “Well, now you have to tell us.”
“It can’t be any more embarrassing than finding yourself in a tabloid with Rhett Dawson,” I joke.
Emma sighs. “I’ve been seeing someone on and off since high school. His name is Nathan.”
I hold up a hand. “Wait, is that the guy in the graduation picture on Everett’s dresser?”
I recall it. Longer, curly hair. Boyish grin. He was cute.
Emma blanches. Julia yanks on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, on his dresser? You sure you don’t want to update your little cover story for that article?”
“No! It was a wet clothing situation. That’s it.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. It’s amazing how many years we’ve been friends, and I still manage to surprise her.
“You know what, we were talking about Emma.” I point at her for good measure. “Is this Nathan guy the one from the photo?” I repeat my question.
Emma’s cheeks burn a brilliant coral. “No. That’s Will Baker.”
“Are we ready to order, ladies?” Maria interrupts for the third time.
“Yes,” Julia says, rattling off her order without looking at the menu. I’m sure she picked it ten seconds after being seated.
“I’ll have the wild Alaskan salmon, please,” Emma says next.
“And what about you?”
It’s no Cheesecake Factory, but there are still too many options for someone with a severe case of FOMO. I expected to have a minute, not a paperless waitress taking no notes. Damn her for being so good at her job.
I abandon the menu. “What do you recommend?”
“Our most popular are the burrata, crispy calamari, or the lounge burger.”
“I’ll take all three,” I announce, snapping my menu shut and handing it to her.
“Well, okay then! I’ll have those out shortly.”
My hand is halfway to my drink when I catch Emma and Julia’s entertained expressions.
“I’m going to miss living with you,” Julia says first.
“And Quinn’s going to love living with you,” Emma says second.
Not everyone finds the kind of friendship where you feel seen and validated exactly as you are. It’s a special kind of love. One that I feel lucky to have found in Jules and now Emma.