Cherry sat on the bench next to her. “I always wanted a sister to play with. People say only children are spoiled, but they forget about the lonely part.”
“That’s sad,” Ellis said.
“Eh.” Cherry shrugged it off, and they both laughed softly. Then Cherry pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, met her eyes, held her gaze for a beat, and said quietly, “Hi.”
“Hey, you. How are you?”
“I’m hanging in there. You?” Cherry looked beautiful, despite the simple denim shorts and black tank top. Her skin was creamy, her lips sparkled with gloss, and she smelled like coconut, so perfectly apropos for the weather. Ellis inhaled quietly, taking in the scent.
“Same. How are things with Lila?” She was careful not to refer to the woman as Cherry’s mother until she was told that was okay.
“She’s been…honestly, pretty amazing. And I can’t even believe I’m saying that.” Cherry’s shoulders lifted and dropped. “I’m still not sure what to do with it.”
“That’s fantastic. I’m so glad to hear it.” And she was. “And you don’t have to do anything at all with it right now. Maybe just breathe, you know?”
“Yeah, that’s been my course of action.” It was clear by theexpression on her face that Cherry wanted to say more, but even though Ellis would’ve been happy to go down that path with her, it wasn’t the path they were there to travel, and they both knew it.
Ellis cleared her throat the same time Cherry turned to face her.
“So—”
“I—”
They stopped. Laughed. Cherry nodded at her. “You first.”
Here we go.
“I’ve been following Cherry on Top.”
“You—” Cherry blinked at her, opened her mouth, closed it again. It was kind of adorable and made Ellis smile. “Really?”
“Really.”
“But why?”
“Well…” Ellis gazed off at the water, her eyes tracking the little sisters in pink again as she rolled different responses around in her head. Finally, she settled on the best one. The only one. The truth. “I missed you. That’s the main reason.”
“You did?” Cherry stared at her, clearly surprised.
“Yes, I did. And I decided I wanted to see what kind of content you posted.”
“Even though you were mad?”
“Even though I was mad.” She glanced down at her hands before saying, “I was shocked when I saw your post where you came clean about the fake girlfriend and everything.”
Cherry’s nod was subtle. She wet her lips. “Yeah,” was all she said as she looked Ellis in the eye.
“I didn’t tell you I was looking because I wanted to see what happened. Wow, you gotdecimated.”
Cherry’s stare broke and her face was half grin, half grimace. She gave a chuckle that sounded nothing but rueful. “Understatement of the year, right there. And I lost half my followers. Also fun.” The look she shot Ellis then was sheepish. “My own fault.”
Ellis grimaced and tipped her head one way, then the other. Cherry was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to know how bad the consequences had been. “Think you’ll get them back?”
Seeming to ponder the question, Cherry gazed out at the water for a moment before saying, “I don’t know that I’ll get old followers back, but I think maybe I might get some new ones.”
“Funny, I though the same thing. Especially after watching the one you posted today.”
Cherry’s head snapped around so fast, Ellis was surprised it didn’t make a whipping sound. “You watchedthatone?”
