“Oh my God!” she says, seeming genuinely happy to see me. “Erin fucking Duffy!” She pulls me into a tighthug.
“Wow!Hi!”
“It is so good to see you! I was hoping you’d be here! I’m so sorry we lost touch—I had to get off of Facebook as part of my therapy, but I think about you sooften.”
“Oh I’m hardly ever on Facebook either. I…think about you often too.”I think about you having sex with my writing partner.“I didn’t realize you were friends withShauna.”
“Well, we are now. Sherry works closely with my husband.” She holds up her left hand to display her wedding ring. “I married a lawyer, can you believe it. He got a job in San Francisco a year after we married. I like it up there. You should come visit. Who else is here? I saw Jen Shallot when we were parking the car. Her hair is the exact same shade of pink it was atEmerson.”
I keep looking over at the door to the stairwell. “Um…”
“You’re looking at me like I’m still that crazy bitch you roomed with. Let me just tell you now that I’m a changed woman. Like, four years of therapy and meds and three years of marriage to an alpha male kind ofchanged.”
“Oh that’s great, Brie. I mean, I never thought you werecrazy.”
“Liar.”
“I mean, you behaved like a crazy person at times, but who doesn’t. People drive people crazy. No one in particular, I mean. Just people ingeneral.”
As if on cue, the stairwell door opens, and out walks Scott Braddock. Brianna follows my gaze, and does a double take. I watch her face as it registers who he is. I watch his face as his stride slows, and he considers whether or not he should pretend to take a phone call and walk in the opposite direction. But it turns out Brie really haschanged.
“Well look who it is,” she says, her voicecalm.
Scott proceeds to walk towards us, hesitantly. “Brianna. Good to seeyou.”
“Is that really Scott Braddock? Good to see you too.” She holds out her hand for ahandshake.
He shakes her hand, allbusiness.
“You remember ErinDuffy?”
“Vaguely,” he says, grinning. “Erin and I are actually writing together, inL.A.”
“No.Way.”
“We just started writing a script together. Our agents just married each other. It was theiridea.”
Brianna studies the two of us for a second, and nods, as if having a conversation with herself in her own head. “Well that makes sense. Yeah. I can’t wait to hear all about it. So you guys are heretogether?”
“Nope! I’m here with my best friend, Maya. He’s here with his best friend. They’re together, but we aren’t. It’scomplicated.”
“Not really. Are you working in theatre,Brianna?”
“I am, yeah, off and on. My husband is a lawyer, so I don’t really have to work, but you know. I love the theatre. I stage-manage around the Bay Area. It’s fun, there’s a good theatre scene. Well, I better go up and see what’s keeping my husband. We couldn’t get a room at the fancy inn. Everything’s booked up. I’ll see you guys at the ranch.” She rubs my back as she heads for the elevator, like a bona fide non-crazyperson.
Scott puts his aviators on. “It’s complicated,” he says, laughing. “See you at the ranch, Duffy.” He walks out the sliding front doors, to the parkinglot.
Maybe it’s not that weird that we’re workingtogether.
Maybe it’s just me that’sweird.
Maybe I’ll have fun tonight afterall.
Chapter 11
*Erin*
It’s official.This is the best wedding I’ve ever been to. Shauna and Sherry’s four dogs were a part of the processional, and they were much better behaved than their nieces and nephews. The ceremony was officiated by a hilarious, gorgeous drag queen called Shazam. Shauna and Sherry are both wearing white sundresses with cowboy boots and their curly hairstyles match. The dining area is lit by hanging café string lights and tea light candles in mason jars, the flower arrangements are lavenders, white and lilac colored roses, eucalyptus and rosemary. The entire ranch smells amazing, and it’s all Eighties and disco music all thetime.
