The waitress, a young girl, probably barely old enough to serve liquor, came to the table.
“Hi. Can I get you ladies something to drink?” Her smile was sweet and Lexi had a vivid flashback to a time when everything seemed wide open and attainable.
“The service is definitely better this time,” Jackie said with a laugh. “I’ll take an iced tea.”
“Oh, that sounds good. Me too,” Becca said.
The girl looked at Lexi. This girl would go through her share of up and downs too. She wouldn’t be in control of some of them but it was up to her how she faced them. It took Lexi too long to realize that.
“I’ll have the same. Thank you.”
The girl smiled, walked into the restaurant.
“Okay,” Jackie said, putting her perfectly manicured hands on the table. “I say we do a girls’ night. We’ll make it themed. Besties old and new. I met your friend Maisie and we were talking about it. She’s on board. Becs, a bunch of people follow you from high school, right? We’ll invite some of them. Lena and her wife, your friend Jamie.”
Becca nodded enthusiastically, making notes in her phone.
“I can’t,” Lexi said.
Both women stopped and looked at her. She took a deep breath, wishing she had her iced tea just to have something to do with her hands. “Actually, that’s not true. I don’t want to.”
Jackie’s face crumpled. She looked so sad that Lexi reached out and put a hand on hers.
“Iwantto reconnect with you two. I just don’t want to have high school parties or hang out with a bunch of people I wasn’t close to ten years ago.”
“Oh,” Jackie said, pulling her hand away.
“Let’s do something smaller. Us. Your friend Maisie. We won’t worry about a bunch of people we used to know. Hell, we didn’t worry about them back in the day, why would we now?” Becca laughed. “Though I’m always curious what people are up to. Where their lives led them.”
Tucking her hands in her lap, Lexi took one more fortifying breath. “Probably not where they planned. I know that’s true for me.”
The waitress brought their drinks, setting them down with a slightly shaky hand. “Would you like something to eat?”
“Hmm, should we just share a veggie platter? Maybe some hummus and pita?” Jackie asked Becca.
Becca looked at Lexi. “That okay with you?”
Since her stomach rolled like an angry ocean, eating wasn’t on her agenda. “Sure.”
The waitress wrote it down and left.
“Lexi, are you okay?” Jackie asked after taking a sip of her tea.
“I lied to you guys. Right here on this patio,” Lexi said. The relief of telling them made her shoulders feel ten pounds lighter. She sat up straighter.
“What are you talking about?” Becca asked, her gaze narrowing.
Lexi told them everything. The truth about living at home, her mom, the Dress Hut, Will. Waitressing. They sat, listening intently, their expressions unreadable. Even Jackie, who could usually broadcast her feelings with a look, gave nothing away.
“Why would you lie?” Becca asked softly.
“You guys came in looking like you’d barely aged. I was having a bad day. Everything was going wrong and there you both were like a visual reminder of where my life was supposed to go.” She pointed at Becca. “You with your million followers and book deals.” She looked at Jackie. “You with your big rock of an engagement ring, Lena with her partnership. I couldn’t even carry soup.” She showed them the little spot on her left thumb pad. “Look, I have a scar from spilling it.”
Becca covered her mouth, and her eyes suggested she was covering a laugh. Jackie leaned in like she was really concerned, then leaned back.
“Nigel’s mother hates me. I mean, can’t stand to be in the same room as me. She only comes to our house when I’m working late andwhen I get home, I notice all of these little things she’s changed. A vase in a different spot, my towels folded differently. One time, she rearranged my silverware drawer because the small and large spoons should go next to each other. Nigel says I’m just being paranoid, that she’s just trying to help. Hates. Me.”
Becca gave Jackie’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze, then looked at Lexi. “I bought my first one hundred thousand followers. You can do that. I was feeling lonely and bored and tired of like three people responding to my posts. At that time, even bad engagement was good for me.”
