18. Lily
Lily
S asha sucks back her margarita noisily, eyes fixed on me with avid fascination.
“This drink is so good, but I feel like I need popcorn, too. This is like watching a real telenovela, except I’m listening to it.
Are radio telenovelas a thing?” She bounces in her chair, uncaring of the looks she’s drawing from the other patrons sitting near us.
“What happened next? You’re eight, right?
And your mom’s knocked up with her stepbro’s baby. But how did she know it was his?”
We’re at one of our favorite bars, Lolita’s, as I give her the lowdown, but I scrunch my face up at her words.
“Apparently, my parents hadn’t, uh…” Sasha makes a circle with her thumb and middle finger, thrusting her index finger from her other hand through it. “Freaking hell. Yes. That. They hadn’t been doing that.”
“Your dad must’ve been gutted.” Her eyes crease sympathetically, but my well of pity is suspiciously low, finding out that my dad had been keeping such a massive secret from me. He told me that my mother had just walked out on us one day, that she didn’t want to be with us. With me .
“Not at first. He went into a rage and kicked her out.”
She leans over the table, her eyes wide. “Kicked out the pregnant lady? Shit, that wouldn’t have gone down well. ”
“And Donald’s a prominent businessman. A married one with a glowing reputation as a family man.
” I roll my eyes at the description because if there was a man who was less of a family man, I’d yet to meet him.
It was kind of shocking he hadn’t eaten his offspring as soon as they were born, thinking they’d give him extra powers or something.
“Dad thinks she didn’t go to Donald for help because he would’ve turned her away.
Their parents weren’t together anymore, but they had been siblings during their formative years, so shit would have hit the fan that they were having an affair.
“So, what happened to her? Where is she now?”
Grief wells inside my chest for a woman I barely knew. My memories of her are fuzzy, slipping through my fingers like water. There’s a brief sound of someone singing, their voice high and delicate, and then a phantom touch of warm fingers trailing over my head.
But it’s hard to know what’s real and what my imagination is filling in. I’d blocked out most of my memories of her long ago, finding it too painful to think about a woman who was supposed to love me and had just walked away, without even looking back.
“No one knows,” I whisper. “By the time Dad came to his senses, several days had passed and he looked for her, but she’d just…
vanished. He went to the police, but after he admitted to making her leave, they said unless there was evidence of foul play, she was an adult with free will and the motive to disappear. There was nothing they could do.”
“That’s insane,” Sasha breathes. “And Declan gave all that evidence to your dad? Proof that they conspired to—” she points at me.
I bob my head, grimacing at my empty glass. “I need another drink.”
As if summoned by magic, a server appears at our side with fresh margaritas, her smile bright. “These are from the two sitting at the bar over there.”
We thank her, leaning over to the side to catch a glimpse at the bar, and I grin when I see a familiar face.
“Justin! Come join us!” I wave him over, his friend on his heels.
He takes the seat next to me, leaning over to press a quick kiss to my cheek.
“Hey, Lil,” he says, his breath coasting over my ear.
His friend sits next to Sasha, and Justin points at him.
“This is Matty, my college roommate. He’s in town for the weekend.
Matt, this is Sasha and Lily. We’ve all known each other since school. ”
“Well, Matty the college roommate,” Sasha gives a bright, sloppy smile.
“Thanks for the drinks.” She raises her fresh margarita.
“Cheers!” We clink glasses with a laugh, and for the first time today, I relax.
Laurie told me she’d file for an annulment immediately, and keep me posted, so now there was nothing left for me to do.
It’d all be over soon. I glance down at my ring finger, only the faintest tan remaining from where my engagement ring had been.
There was nothing to mark my wedding band, because it’d only been there for four days.
A bitter snort escapes me, but before anyone notices where my dark thoughts have gone, I hide behind my drink.
Two hours later, and the world is too bright and strangely fuzzy, spinning away from me whenever I try to focus on one specific spot. Justin has his arm slung around my shoulders, his eyelids drooping.
“Where’d Matt go?” he slurs, pressing his cheek to my shoulder.
I snort-giggle. “Probably the same place as Sasha.”
We both stare over the empty seats across from us, neither of us able to give an answer on the location of our friends or when they’d disappeared. Justin sits up to look at my face, his beer-coated breath making my nose twitch.
“I had fun tonight, Lil,” he says, his cheeks flushed and eyes overly bright. “Did you have fun?”
“Yeah.” I smile. Or at least, I think I do, but my lips feel oddly numb. I touch them with my fingers, pinching and pulling at them, ignoring the strange look he sends me. “I needed a night to let loose, you know. It’s been such a weird couple of weeks.”
“Tell me about it,” he huffs out a laugh. “You uno-reversed marriage. But now, here we are!”
“Here we are,” I agree, I look around lazily, the faces in the bar all blurring into one weird Picasso picture. My stomach cramps uncomfortably and I grimace. “I think I should go home,” I mutter.
“Yeah.” Justin burps, his face going a sickly green. “Me too.”
“Oh, I’ve got a great idea! Let’s share a cab.” I bounce a little, and then immediately regret it.
“Do we live near each other?” he frowns. “I don’t think we do. ”
I think about that for a second before agreeing, “No, we don’t. Hey! You could just sleep on my couch.”
“Deal.”
We head outside, the fresh air feeling heavenly on my flushed face.
Justin staggers, throwing an arm around my shoulders to right himself. “Do you think we should try to find Matt or Sash?” he wonders, half-heartedly looking up and down the street.
“Nah,” I say, my phone in my hand. I squint down at it.
“She texted me. Apparently, they went back to her place…an hour ago? Holy crap.” My mouth drops open, a crazed laugh escaping.
“It’s two in the morning! How the heck did that happen?
” He shakes his head, looking as confused as I feel.
I order us a car, and we huddle together until it pulls up.
“Come on,” he says, herding me into the backseat. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
Back at the house, we stagger inside and I organize a pillow and blanket for Justin, before gathering a bottle of water, pain relief and a bucket. I set them all on the coffee table, ordering him, “Do not make a mess on my carpet.”
He grins crookedly. “I’m house-trained, I swear.”
Shaking my head, I stumble into my bedroom and get ready for bed. I throw back a pain pill and finish half a bottle of water, before collapsing into bed, only managing to half drag the covers over me before darkness sucks me under.
I’m woken by the smell of bacon. I roll clumsily out of bed, letting my nose lead me to the kitchen where Justin’s standing in front of a skillet.
“Morning,” he says too cheerfully, and I narrow my eyes. “Was wondering if you’d surface sometime today.”
I blink blearily. “What the heck are you doing? And why’re you so happy?”
“I don’t get hungover,” he announces. “And going off the look of you, I probably should’ve cut you off earlier, huh?”
“I’m starting to remember something,” I grumble, sitting at my small table and lowering my head to my arms.
“What’s that? ”
“That you annoy the shit out of me.” My arms muffle my voice, but he hears me anyway, laughing his head off, and I seriously consider grabbing the skillet and whacking him with it.
“You’ll like me more after some bacon and toast,” he assures me, and he’s not wrong, although I only eat one piece of bacon before my stomach protests. I don’t actually start feeling human until I swig back two cups of coffee, and I look across the table at Justin with a smile.
“Thanks for that,” I say. “I had fun last night.”
“I did, too.” He smiles back at me, suddenly looking a lot more exhausted than when I’d first got up. “I should go soon. I’m kind of scared that Sasha might’ve eaten Matt’s head.” I stare at him blankly until he explains, “Like she’s a praying mantis.”
“I got it. You’re just not funny.”
Before he can retort, there’s a sharp knock at the door, making me lift my eyebrows.
Justin frowns. “You expecting someone?”
I shake my head just as the knock comes again, louder and more impatient. “No.” I stand up and head for the door, expecting some kind of door-to-door salesperson.
Instead, I come face to face with a smirking bitch.
Otherwise known as Silvia.