Chapter 2
Louise shifted in her seat and took a long sip of her drink, wincing at the taste before nudging Izzy’s elbow. Izzy shot her a look that made Lou roll her eyes.
“Listen, honey,” Izzy said. “We’re worried about you.”
“Wait…are you guys serious? Is this an intervention?” Natalie heard her voice pitch as if she were hearing it through a TV—she certainly hadn’t intended to do that.
“No!” Izzy exclaimed, but Lou made a face and shrugged, telling Natalie that was exactly what it was.
“It is! Wait, is Gemma even coming?” Natalie asked as she rose from her seat.
“Oh, sit down,” Lou said. “And yes, she is. But her going away thing starts in an hour. Well, ninety minutes.”
Glancing at her watch, Natalie scoffed. “Her party starts at nine? You realize I’m getting picked up at ten?”
That took them both by surprise, but Izzy spoke up. “Wait, why? We got this place so no one had to worry about going home.”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah, I know, but I don’t want to run in the city. Besides, I have three tours at the winery tomorrow, starting at nine and not finishing until nearly dinner time.”
“This is exactly what we mean,” Lou said, putting her drink on the table between them. “Honey, you’re hiding. I’ve never known you to be so…reclusive.”
“Boring, you mean?” Natalie snapped. “That’s what you wanted to say, isn’t it? Just because I’m not going out or partying and choosing to look out for myself doesn’t make me boring.”
Izzy held up her hand. “No. No one said boring. You said it. Anyway, it’s not like we’re partying hard—neither of us go out like we used to. But we do see each other occasionally. It just doesn’t take one of our best friends literally leaving the country for good to get us out of our homes.”
She realized she had nothing to say about that because, as Izzy said, reality had sunk in. Gemma was leaving the States. She was moving to Malaysia with her husband to live with his family.
Gemma, who ate the same four or five meals on rotation because she didn’t like the idea of learning something she might not like, was moving to a new country. She couldn’t buy Nicky’s Kitchen thin-crusted cheese pizza as a fallback when she didn’t want spaghetti, meatballs, Caesar salad, or steak.
“I cannot believe you staged a boring intervention,” she scoffed. “You know that people usually reserve this type of thing for serious problems—alcoholism, drugs, shoplifting?”
The glance between her two friends was brief, but she caught it.
“What?”
After a few beats of silence, Lou spoke up. “We’re not trying to be mean, Nat, but we haven’t seen you in three months. Even in the cyclone of last year, we still saw you a few times a week—even if it was just a video call where you’d gossip about your secret auntie and her scary ex.”
Smiles flickered across all three of their faces at the pet name they’d given to Maddy since finding out who she was.
“I know, but I’m busy—not, I dunno, chasing the dragon? Isn’t that what your types call it?”
Lou made a playfully irritated face but ultimately ignored the barb, which surprised Natalie; Lou took her study of Victorian Literature seriously.
So, when she spoke again, and it wasn’t a defense or interesting fact about the Opium Den Trope, Natalie realized she was as serious as Izzy was about all this.
“Nat, honey…we know you’re not in that kind of trouble, but you’ve withdrawn from everyone, and we’re worried.”
In the silence that fell, Natalie tried to find a way out of the corner she felt backed into. She didn’t want to cancel her run in the morning, have a hangover, or miss work. “I know, and I love you for that, but—”
“But you’re going to ignore us anyway?” Izzy interjected.
“No. Look, I won’t apologize for not wanting to drink. What is this? You suddenly decide frat house hazing was the thing you missed out on in college?”
Izzy’s academic issues in college made it a low blow, but Natalie simply wanted out of this conversation. However, that didn’t mean the way Izzy’s eyebrows rose slowly as she digested the comment didn’t make Natalie feel dreadful about it.
Slowly, Izzy pulled herself to her feet. “This is not about drinking,” she said, picking up her gin and tonic by the rim of the glass.
Before Natalie could say anything, she swooped in and picked up Louise’s glass.
“Oh, come on!” Lou exclaimed before sighing and turning to face Natalie. “Well, you’ve gone done it now.”
“Why? What is she…?”
Izzy marched to the kitchen and poured all three gin and tonics down the sink. “Like I said, this isn’t about drinking. It’s about taking one night away from work to spend time with the people who love you.”
“You’re going to throw a sober going away party?”
“Yep,” Izzy said, rinsing the glasses. “She’ll have to get used to it anyway, right? Isn’t Malaysia a Muslim country? They don’t drink, right?”
She had to pause, but Lou rolled her eyes and jumped in. “It is a Muslim country, but it’s not illegal to drink. You can buy booze the same as here; they just have a very low tolerance for gaggles of drunk idiots roaming the streets.”
“How do you even know that?” Natalie asked, amazed by Lou’s matter-of-fact tone.
“Because I went with Gem for two weeks back in February. Remember?”
Embarrassment crept in, and Natalie felt her stomach twist. “Right, sorry. Of course, yes. Sorry.” She didn’t remember at all. She knew that Lou had gone away on vacation, but she had to admit that she had not paid that much attention.
Good Lord, were they right? Was she becoming a bad friend?
Without meaning to, she bit her lip and winced in pain. “Sorry,” she said again. “I was kind of distracted in February.”
Maybe that’ll get me out of the sinkhole I created for myself.
“Yeah, we know,” Lou said. “And we understand. Jordan’s court appearance was very stressful for you, so we postponed the trip for a week or two until after it happened.
We’re not mad at you for being distracted by genuinely big and stressful life stuff—we’re just worried.
Please stay with us tonight. Change your ride to tomorrow morning; you’ll still be back in time for your first tour.
If you’re worried about running in the city, I get it; you’re used to the charming and rural backdrop of Fitzgerald Hills.
Concrete and sirens don’t exactly compete, but I’ll come with you.
We’ll all come with you; how about that? ”
“We? What we?” Izzy exclaimed. “Me, too?”
“Yes,” Lou shot over her shoulder before returning to Natalie. “Right?”
“You don’t have to, Iz,” she said, but Lou cut her off.
“Yes, she does. We are making a point, and she’s part of that. Will you let us prove that you can have a night out and stay—as you put it—on track?”
She wanted to be mad; the whole thing felt like they were insulting her.
Calling her boring. Were they jealous? She laughed at that intrusive thought—jealous of the recently and tragically single workaholic who couldn’t even get the courage to make a pass at a good-looking guy?
Hardly. Was she feeling manipulated? What would make her uncomfortable about this?
They had made every excuse null and void.
She could run, with company for that matter; she wouldn’t be hungover, and she’d still get home in time to set up for the day.
One, two—that’s nine thirty. Three, four, five is half past midnight. If we are in bed by one, I can get up at six. Five hours of sleep isn’t enough, but it’s not the worst…
That made her feel slightly better; she’d be tired but wouldn’t be behind before the day started. The tightness in her stomach loosened momentarily, but something else loomed in the back of her mind—worry, anxiety, a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right.
That was when it hit her.
What made her more uncomfortable than the disruption of her routine was how awkward she was with it. She didn’t want to change it, and the thought of changing it—even for a day—made her nauseous.
That wasn’t normal, right?
Looking at her two closest friends as they watched her sit and seethe in silence, she was equally annoyed at them and herself. She would stay, but she’d probably hate it. She’d have to make up for the lost time tomorrow, but she was determined.
“All right, but you don’t have to not drink because of me.”
“Shut up,” Izzy said quickly, cutting her off. “I already dumped out the drinks—don’t let them have been sacrificed in vain. Now, text your ride and tell them.”
Shaking her head, she withdrew her phone and opened the text thread she had with Maddy and Jack.
Good thing this was a favor from Jack, not a paid ride, or the cancellation fee would be huge for such a long out-and-back trip.
When a reply came in, she was barely locking her screen to put her phone away.
Not from Jack, he was as slow a texter as ever, but from her aunt, who had been seriously upskilling in the tech department for months.
From Maddy: Good for you, dear. Have a great night out; be careful, but have fun. We will take the opportunity to treat ourselves to an extra-long dinner date!
She still hadn’t quite gotten her head around the use of emojis, but Maddy’s enthusiasm overshadowed any of her oddities.
Jack’s reply finally came through, and she smiled.
From Jack: No problem. Morning it is. Seven o’clock all right?
Jack wasn’t her uncle, but he had always felt that way despite not being related to her. Now that he and her aunt were an item, it felt even more like he was always meant to be her uncle.
From Nat: Perfect, thank you. Sorry for screwing up the plans
A tightness twisted in her chest as she replied, and she counted the hours again; they’d be home and in bed by one, surely?