“Can I be honest with you, Willow?”
My brows rise. In our five years together as roommates, I can’t recall a moment where Elodie has been anythingasidefrom honest.
“I find Jonas repulsive.”
“Well, of course we find him repulsive,” I shoot back. “That’s been the group cheer the past three days. Your job is to keep me supplied with macarons while telling me he’s a horrible person.”
“And if you recall I did pat your head and stuff your sobby little ungrateful face with meticulously baked macarons, and I did ask where he was so I could hound him down.Butwhat I mean is not just despising him now after everything. I’m saying he’s repulsive. He’s always been repulsive. And your taste in men is an appalling enigma.”
A full minute passes in silence between us while a train whirs by, and all I can think to say when I speak again is, “How long have you thought this?”
“Five years.”
I laugh in disbelief. “There’s no way. You’ve hung out with him thousands of times over the past five years.Thousands.You threw us a surprise anniversary party last year. He asked you to be the godmother for our children one day,and you hugged him and cried. You can’t be that good of a liar.”
“It’s chilling what I can achieve for the sake of my friends.”
My eyes widen. Yes. Yes, it was.
“Annnyway,” she says, her tone unnervingly brighter, “the point is, Jonas was selfish and weird about his stuff. You give to a fault. Jonas was boring.You,when you’re not drowning in despair at least, are a delight.”
I frown. “Thank you.”
“And Jonas, quite frankly, was a jerk who always knew he wouldn’t end up with you and strung you along far too long.”
I shake my head. “No. He loved me.”
“Yes, but he didn’t love youenough. And he knew that. And he waited until he had somebody else in the wings to let you go.”
“And lastly,” Elodie rushes on before I can reply, “and most importantly, I don’t think you really loved him enough either.”
I feel slapped. “Elodie, you know that’s not true. I would’ve married him.”
“I absolutely agree. You’d have stuck through it with him just like you’ve stuck with everything else in your life. For better or for worse.”
Hey now. “Not true.”
“Tell me, how long exactly have you stood in front of every pet store in town, mulling over whether or not to get a cat but never do?”
“Jonas was allergic, you know that.”
“He just didn’tlikethem, andyouknow that. What do you eat every Friday night?”
I know where she’s going. “Taste of Thai. But that’s only because it’s downstairs and they have the best egg rolls in the Village. That’s a well-known fact.”
“And where do you shop almost exclusively?”
We answer simultaneously, “Reminiscence consignment.”
“And who is your best friend?”
“I’m not sure.” I narrow my eyes. “I may be about to be in the market for a new one.”
“There’s abuthere.” Elodie ignores me. “Butthankfully, youaremy littlemabellepetite étoile.You are my beautiful little star. You may not welcome new adventures without being thrust out by the boot, but now that this is where you’ve landed, you’re only going to be the better for it. I believe it. I’mcertain.”
There are several more “buck ups” and “once you take off those Jonas blinders, you’ll see how wonderful the world is” statements, followed by a fair share of demands like, “Now if you see this difficult-to-find cheese or that rare-and-authentic ingredient somewhere, make sure to buy three . . .” that all ends with a string of French expletives and aclickwhen her baguettes start to burn.
As I pull the Bluetooth out of my ear, I take in my surroundings. The small platform between the trains is empty now, but for a single trash can beneath blue signs. Two empty trains wait silently on either side, making the space look suddenly quite lonely and forsaken. I hadn’t intended to stay down here so long. Only enough to take a quick peek to be certain I had the train right and then move back upstairs to wait it out in the main hall.
