2 A.M. — November 22, 1996 #11
Parker stood up. “Why not? It’s true! Only an asshole would cheat on his family!” He stalked out of the kitchen, then turned back and glared at Zane and Sienna. “Do you know what this feels like? I finally get a brother but I don’t get to be his brother?!”
Sienna sighed. “Parker, I know it’s hard to understand right now, but I promise you it’s the best thing for everyone, including the baby.”
“What’s his name?” Parker asked.
“What?”
“What’s my brother’s name?”
Zane choked out, “Elliott.”
As if hearing the baby’s name suddenly made it real, Parker blinked quickly, clearly trying to stop tears that were threatening to make an appearance. “I can’t believe you’d do that to us. I thought you were… better than this.”
He spun around and took off down the hall.
Sienna watched, holding a now-sobbing Poppy, feeling utterly helpless.
She looked at Ivy, whose cheeks were streaked with tears she wasn’t bothering to wipe away.
She didn’t look almost grown in that moment.
She looked like the four-year-old version of herself that still lived in Sienna’s heart.
Sienna walked over to her and wrapped one arm around her while holding Poppy on her hip.
“I’m sorry, my sweet girls. We’ll get through this. ”
“No, we won’t,” Ivy told her.
“Yes, we will. I promise.”
“But not together.”
“Maybe not that,” Sienna answered.
Zane stood up and started toward the hall. Sienna let go of Ivy. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.”
“I need to try,” Zane said.
“I’ll go to him. You’ll only make it worse.”
His face crumpled. “Well, what should I do then?”
The answer came from Ivy. “Leave.”
And now, as Sienna sobbed into her best friend’s silk blouse, she felt like she’d been thrown a lifeline after three days of nearly going under. When she finally released Kylie, her friend glanced down at her shoulder. “I should’ve worn an old sweatshirt.”
Sienna laughed through her tears. “Do you even own a sweatshirt?”
“Now that you mention it, no,” Kylie answered. “All right, let’s go. Whiskey or tea?”
“Tea.”
“Ugh. I guess that’s not your first terrible decision, is it?”
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
They made their way to the kitchen, and Kylie guided Sienna to the loveseat, then put the kettle on.
She leaned against the counter waiting for the water to boil while Sienna filled her in on what had happened since they spoke on Friday night.
Kylie had been in Prato, the textile center of Italy, looking for a new supplier for her fashion line when Sienna had called with the news.
The real story, not the version the world would hear.
Kylie wrapped up her meetings early and flew to L.A.
instead of back home to Paris as planned.
The two were roommates back in their modeling days and had each other’s backs through it all.
Even though their lives went in different directions, they remained each other’s ‘when shit hits the fan’ friend—the one you could call at any hour of the night or day.
While Sienna was getting married and starting her life with Zane, Kylie saved up to put herself through design school, then used her connections and confidence to get on at Balenciaga.
She worked her tiny ass off for them until she was finally able to open her own label, Sorella Vita, which is Italian for ‘sister life.’ Kylie wasn’t from Italy, she was from Idaho, but she loved their food and the indelible strength and spirit of Italian women.
(At least that’s what she said in her first interview with Vogue.
She hadn’t had a bite of pasta or pizza since she hit puberty.) Over the next two decades, while Sienna was wiping bums and blowing noses, her friend was becoming a legend in the fashion industry.
Kylie made it clear she hated seeing her best friend—who was brimming with potential when they met at fifteen—give it all up to play a supporting role to a man she believed to be beneath her.
And now, he had finally proved her right.
Not that Kylie would ever say ‘I told you so’ to Sienna, who had seen her through every awful thing back in their modeling days.
But Zane had done what Kylie knew he would, and Sienna, needing to find the girl she once was, called the only person who knew her when her life was getting started.
“So, what are you going to do?” Kylie asked. “You kicked him out. Is that permanent or just a show of strength?”
Sienna tucked her knees up in front of her and rested her chin on them. “You tell me. I don’t think I should be allowed to make decisions right now.”
Tilting her head, Kylie said, “Well, you did pick tea so…”
Sienna chuckled, then her face crumpled.
“I have utterly fucked up as far as the kids go. This whole stupid idea is… impossible for them. But it’s too late.
The wheels are in motion, and I can’t stop it now.
The lawyers are drafting up the documents.
It’s as good as done. But the damage to the kids is…
” She let her voice trail off, feeling tears slide down her cheeks.
“Zane’s the one who did the damage.”
“I definitely didn’t make it better and I can’t think of any way to fix this.”
The kettle whistled. Kylie took it off the stove and filled the teapot.
“When I have a work problem—we’re talking massive ones, not some little irritating thing, but like, possible bankruptcy sort of stuff—I always ask myself how I got where I am.
That information is invaluable because it shows me the weak spots that will get me into trouble again. ”
“I’m nothing but weak spots these days.”
“I’m sure it feels like it, but you’re not. You’re much stronger than you know. Smarter too.”
Shaking her head, Sienna said, “The last thing I am is smart. I never even set foot on a college campus. I barely finished high school.”
“You would’ve if you hadn’t been scouted so young.”
“You were the same age and look what you’ve done.”
“That’s because I wasn’t busy getting married and having babies,” Kylie answered, pouring the tea into two mugs and bringing them over to the love seat. She handed one to Sienna, then sat next to her.
The heat from the mug warmed Sienna’s hands. “You always had more potential. Even Yvette saw it.”
Yvette Hastings was the longest-serving editor-in-chief at Style magazine. She set the tone for the fashion industry and could make or break a model’s career. Designers too. Kylie’s eyes narrowed. “I actually blame Yvette for all of this.”
“How exactly?”
“Because she’s the one who told you to marry rich.”
“What? No, she didn’t.”
“How do you not remember that? You were devastated,” Kylie said.
“I have no recollection of that whatsoever.”
“Probably because you met Zane that night.”
“Wait. Are you serious?”
Kylie nodded. “Yeah. We’d just wrapped up shooting a Gucci ad—”
“Oh my God, was it for those dresses with the mushrooms on them?”
“Mine had flowers. Yours had mushrooms.”
“They were so weird.”
“Yeah, they were. Yvette was on set watching, and after we wrapped up, she told you you’d peaked and to quickly find a rich husband because you’d only go downhill from there.”
The scene came rushing back into Sienna’s mind. Her standing in her underwear and a thin robe, chilly and vulnerable while the most powerful woman in fashion told her she’d gone as high as she would. “I can’t believe that was the same day I met Zane.”
“I’ve always wondered if she hadn’t crushed your dreams like that, if you wouldn’t have gone home with him that night.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Sienna answered, irritation building in her chest. “I did go home with him, and now I’m where I’m at, and I can’t change it.”
“But you have to look back in order to avoid the same mistakes.”
“So what? You want me to start digging into every little hurt from my childhood? I’m in a crisis and I need a plan of action now,” Sienna said, her tone sharp.
“Not three years from now. Today. My children are in pain. I’m forcing them to lie to everyone they know—including their grandparents—and I feel like a complete bitch about it.
My husband is living in some depressing rental and might decide the grass is greener on the younger side.
So if I do want a life with him, I better hurry up and decide before it’s too late. ”
“First of all, if the only thing between him wanting to stay married to you and running into the arms of another woman is the house he’s living in, you’ve already got your answer.
Second, rushing yourself is the worst thing you can do.
It’s what you did when you met Zane. You rushed in like there was a sample sale on Prada bags,” Kylie answered.
“You’re still acting like he’s some sort of amazing catch and you can’t let him get away, when you’re the catch. Not him.”
Rolling her eyes, Sienna said, “Thanks, but comparing me to Zane is like comparing apples to… something that has nothing to do with apples. He’s a genius. A god. I’m a stay-at-home mom.”
“He’s not a good husband, and isn’t that kind of the whole point of being married? To have a good husband and partner who puts you first?”
“He’s a good… well, he can be.”
“He’s always been a cheater, Sienna. Face it. He did it to Angela and he’s probably been doing it to you the whole time. You just didn’t want to see it.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t see it because there was nothing to see.”
Kylie gave her a skeptical look. “Hard to believe, given his history and his line of work. You’re telling me you never once thought that there was even a possibility he could be fooling around?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not what a good wife does,” Sienna answered, now feeling thoroughly frustrated.
“What on earth would make you believe that?”
“Because a good wife trusts her husband unless he gives her reason not to.”
“So, in all the years you were with Zane, he never gave you a reason not to trust him completely until this one event?”