She noticed the little red number one on the screen in her car, meaning she had a text, and she hit the touchscreen so the car would read it to her.
“Ellis Conrad said, Near the lake across from diner twelve fifteen.”
Cherry chuckled at the lack of inflection or emotion in the robotic car voice. It made it sound like Ellis was clipped and stoic, two things she definitely was not.
At twelve ten, she pulled into the diner’s parking lot, which was only half full. Sunny Side Up served lunch, and it was good, but not nearly as popular as breakfast, so she wasn’t surprised by the lack of customers. It was likely why Ellis had time to meet her.
She trudged across the little street to the lakeshore, the area busy with other folks walking or meeting up or having lunch. There were lots of shops and little businesses in the area, and summer was prime time for lakeshore activity. She found Ellis sitting alone on a bench that faced the water, and even just seeing the back of her blond head made Cherry’s stomach do a little flip-flop of gleeful anticipation.
“God, am I glad to see you,” she said as she sat next to Ellis, close enough so their thighs touched.
Something was wrong.
She could tell instantly. The air felt off. The atmosphere. The energy Ellis radiated.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, then immediately added, “Is Michaela okay?”
Ellis didn’t look at her, just at the phone she held. “My sister is fine,” she said quietly, then did some scrolling and held the phone toward Cherry. “Who’s this?”
Cherry took the phone and squinted at the photograph, which wasslightly grainy. Two women were sitting at a small outdoor table in a restaurant, their hands clasped across it. Both were brunette.
“Scroll. There are several.” Ellis’s voice held no emotion at all, weirdly similar to the car’s robot voice. What the hell was going on?
She scrolled and very clearly felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. The second photo was less grainy, much sharper. Sharp enough that she recognized one of the women, and this time, they were kissing. It was Julianne, Andi’s wife. She didn’t recognize the other one.
“Um,” Cherry swallowed, and her stomach churned, “I think that’s Andi’s wife, Julianne.” Oh, poor Andi.
“It is. I had to do some research last night. Your friend Andi has a significant online presence.”
Cherry could hardly breathe.
“Interestingly, when I wandered through her social media accounts, I found several posts that tagged an account called Cherry on Top. And I was curious, so I took a look.”
Oh fuck.
Cherry felt sick and was almost certain she could hear walls crumbling down around her.
“Let me ask you a question.” Ellis continued to stare out at the water, and her voice was low. Quiet, but not in a soft way. In a steely way. In a clearly angry and hurt way. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What? No!” Cherry blurted before she had time to think. Then, “No, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Ellis looked her in the eye for the first time since she’d sat down, and her blue eyes widened in disbelief for a split second before her whole face shuttered again. “Not according to Cherry on Top.” The sarcasm was clear.
“I can explain that,” she said, but Ellis was clearly having none of it.
“You can explain what? How we’ve been seeing each other for nearly two months—eight whole weeks—and not only did you neglect to tell me that you’re an LGBTQ+ influencer with several thousand followers, but you have a girlfriend, and you talk about her all the time on your socials?”
“No, that’s just it. I don’t. I don’t have a girlfriend. She’s pretend. I pretend to have one.”
“I’m sorry, youpretendto have a girlfriend?” Ellis’s eyes were almost comically wide. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“To get more followers,” she said quietly. Miserably. “Andi gets so many views on her posts that feature her wife…” She sounded ridiculous and she knew it.
“Yeah, well, Andi’s wife is clearly banging somebody else, so something’s not working.”
She had no idea what to say to that, and then her eyes welled up, which was all she needed. She felt helpless as she literally felt everything she’d wanted slipping through her fingers. And it was her own fault.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this.”
