“Well, yes! What was I supposed to think? All I know is that I told you my deep, dark, shameful secret, and you never spoke to me again. My mom would call your mom and ask if you could come over, and your mom said no, that you weren’t feeling well, or you were at your dad’s, or you were busy. I knew why, Lorna. Do you even know what happened to me that year? How Leslie Pratt spread rumors about me? Do you have any idea the names they called me? Did you know that two girls tried to jump me, and if it hadn’t been for my brothers intervening, they could have killed me?”
Lorna was stunned. How could she have known that? She’d been living in her own nightmare. “No,” she said softly. “I didn’t know any of that.” Her mother had never told her about Mrs. Kleberg’s calls. And Lorna had hidden herself from everyone, afraid her terrible homelife would be discovered and she would be humiliated. “Your sexual orientation was never a thing to me, Callie. I’d always known it—it was just who you were.” She’d been so mired in her own mortification that she’d turned into a hermit that year and hadn’t really come out of her self-imposedprison until later in high school, when Mr. Sanders, the choir teacher, took notice of her.
“Yeah, I’m getting that now,” Callie said. “But at the time, I thought the worst.” She picked up the knife and shrugged. “Well, it’s water under the bridge now, right? It’s okay, Lorna. Whatever I thought, I got over it a long time ago.” She carried on with the icing.
Of all the things Lorna had expected, this scenario never entered her mind. Because Callie, and whatever she might have been dealing with, had never entered her mind. She couldn’t remember ever considering how hard it must have been for Callie to come out at that age. She could never see past her own despair.
Lorna never wanted to be that girl again, the one who was so locked in her own misery she failed to see what was happening to people she cared about. Except she was still that girl in many respects. “Wow. This is really... not what I expected,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I really had no idea. All this time I thought it was because I tried to insert myself into your family without even telling you. I was too wrapped up in my own drama to think of how hard things must have been for you. I hope you can forgive me.”
Callie smiled and waved the knife in the air. “Don’t sweat it. I already have. Don’t look so sad—it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”
It matters. To me, to my life, to my ability to crawl out of this damn bomb shelter.“I wish I could make it up to you.”
“How? I’m out and I’m proud, as the saying goes.” She suddenly laughed. “I really did hate you for the longest time,” she said, giggling.
Lorna nodded. Her self-loathing was still zipping along at a clip, but she didn’t feel like she was carrying the weight of thatlost friendship exactly. She felt... she felt... lighter? All was not lost, and in that place where the weight had been, hope was now released in her; she could feel it churning, and before she even knew what was happening, she burst into tears. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, swiping at the sudden deluge of tears.
“Lorna!” Callie grabbed some tissues from a box and came hurrying around the kitchen bar. “Why are you crying? I don’t hate you now. What is this?”
“What, you mean this?” She gestured lamely at her tears. “Just something that keeps happening to me. Don’t mind me.” She slid down onto her haunches, burying her face in several tissues. “I suddenly have all these emotions bubbling up.”
“It’s kind of hard not to mind you.” Callie squatted next to her. “Are you okay? Should I call someone?”
“No, no. I’m fine.” As if her mortification could run any deeper, Callie thought she was having a nervous breakdown.
“Hey!” Another woman was suddenly on the floor beside her. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I think we’re okay,” Callie said. “She’s just having a moment.”
Lorna forced herself to her feet and, in doing so, accidentally pushed Callie and the other woman trying to help her. “Sorry.” She managed to stop crying and attempted a smile as she dabbed at her face with the tissues. “So sorry.” She risked a look at the other woman. She was tall and slender and had a long, sleek, blond ponytail. She looked like she’d just come from the gym.
The woman’s gaze darted between Callie and Lorna. “Wow. I guess you’re the famous Lorna Lott I’ve heard so much about. I’m Kate—Callie’s wife.”
Lorna stuck out her hand. “That’s me, Lorna Lott. The worst friend ever.”
Kate laughed. “Callie has talked so much about you. Are you okay? Would you like some water?”
“No, thank you,” Lorna said. “I’m really okay.”
“I’m going to get you some water,” Kate said, and went to the other side of the kitchen bar. “Let me ask you something, Lorna,” she said as she filled a glass. “Did you really jump off the patio roof onto a trampoline?”
A sparkly memory suddenly erupted in Lorna’s head. They’d all gathered around, Callie and her brothers, a couple of neighborhood kids. She couldn’t help her smile. “I had to. Her stupid brothers dared me. I almost died because of them.”
Callie laughed. “You almost died because of my dad, who was going to kill you. You’re so lucky you didn’t break your fool neck.”
Kate smiled fondly at Callie and came around the kitchen bar. She handed the glass of water to Lorna, then slipped her arm around Callie’s waist and kissed her. They looked happy. They looked so happy that an ache sprouted in Lorna’s chest all over again. “Where are the kids?” Kate asked.
“Playroom.”
“I’ll be back,” Kate said. “You two can finish doing whatever this is,” she said, making a swirling motion with one finger.
Lorna watched her go, then looked back to see Callie eyeing her curiously. “What?”
“Not sure. I don’t know what’s going on with you, although it looks like it might require medication, if I’m being honest. For the record, you were not the worst friend ever. You were the best friend ever, Lorna. We had a misunderstanding, like all thirteen-year-old girls throughout history. I’m just sorry we didn’t get to do high school together.”
“Me too,” Lorna said. “I’ve been agonizing about it for years. Literally, years. I’m in a wellness program now, trying to stop agonizing about things that happened in the past. That’s kind of why I’m here.”
Callie nodded. A corner of her mouth tipped up. She went back to the cake, got a different knife, and cut a slice. “Did Mom really call CPS?”
