Chapter 32
Evangeline
Annaleigh tosses me the box of Sugar Crisp and plops down onto the couch with the Apple Crunch.
“Hit ‘play’,” she orders in a no-nonsense tone. I do as I’m told and the Real Housewives of Wherever comes to life on the screen. “Oh, yeh!” she says as she pulls her legs up under her and drapes a throw blanket over her lower body. She looks really damn content with a clay mask on her face and a lopsided ponytail holding her jet-black hair out of the way.
“So, this is how the other half lives?” I tease as I take a drink of my wine and rip open the box of cereal.
“Friday night, baby. This is how we do in Reyfield.” She twists her arms into what I presume is meant to be a breakdance move. I snort through my nose as her attention goes back to the TV. “I love that Courtney,” she mumbles at the screen. “Always causing trouble!”
I shake my head. Now that she’s finished school, my bestie has become a Neflix and Chill professional, especially now that she’s pregnant. Next to her job as a lab technician at the Reyfield General, her junk food and garbage TV obsession is like a second career. Which means that house chores aren’t even on her radar. Prescott hired a two-days-a-week cleaning lady but from the looks of this place – there’s a yellow polka-dot bra hanging off the side of the television, for crying out loud – they may need a live-in maid.
#TheSqualorIsReal
She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “So, tell me. What’s going on in your world? All packed up to move?”
I groan and toss my head against the back of the chair. “All packed. And the condo is listed with a realtor. I’m so not looking forward to the move, though.”
“I know, huh?” she says. “It must be hard going back home after everything.” I can hear the sympathy in her voice but her facial features don’t move. They’re constricted by the clay on her face. Maybe that’s what it’s like for people who do Botox…Hmm…
Annaleigh gets it. I know she does. She’s been right there from day one. We were walking through a Chicago mall together the day that Simon ‘discovered’ me and convinced my parents to bring me to his agency for some headshots. She was lying across my bed, giggling the first time I tried my catwalk strut in six-inch stilettos. She has an album full of pictures of me pulled out of magazines and catalogues. Annie has been my biggest fan and confidente through it all. She’s seen the highs and now, she’s witnessing the lowest of my lows.
She scoots closer to me on the couch, throwing the edge of the blanket over my legs. “Don’t worry. It’s only temporary. I know you, Eva. It’s only a matter of time until you’re back on your feet, kicking ass again.”
I offer her a tiny smile. “Thanks, Annie.” I grab my wine glass and take another sip of my hearty red. “Your support means the world to me.”
“I mean it,” she says, giving my shoulders a squeeze. “You’re the most bad-ass chick I know. You’ll be fine.”
“Thanks for believing in me.”
“Always,” she says with an exaggerated wink. “Through thick and thin.”
I feel myself getting a little choked up. “You know, if my brother hadn’t gotten the bright idea of marrying you, I probably would have.”
She tosses her head back and laughs tightly, her mask restricting her facial movements. “Good to know. It’s nice to keep it in the family.” Then her eyes go stern. “And you can’t cry right now. You’ll ruin your mask and that clay came all the way from the Dead Sea. Get it together, girl!”
“Fine! Fine!” I draw my finger along the rim of my eye to brush my tears away.
A loud shriek on the TV draws our attention back to the show. A group of women in sophisticated gowns are brawling in the middle of what appears to be an art gallery exhibit. The camera cuts to a video of one of them crying her eyes out as she pulls off her eyelash extensions.
Annaleigh and I glance at each other and laugh tightly. Stupid facial masks... “Anyway,” she says, “how are things with you and Big Daddy?”
My stomach roils. I toss a pillow at her. “Would you please not refer to my man as ‘Big Daddy’? It sounds gross.”
She chortles into her box of cereal. “I’m just teasing. But seriously, how are things between the two of you?”
“Things are getting serious,” I say with a smile wide enough to crack the clay on my face.
She twists toward me, waiting for details. “Oh really?”
“Really…We’re going to talk to my parents soon,” I tell her.
“Oh my god! I’m so happy for you!” she shrieks. “It must suck having to hide like that.”
I nod in agreement. “It does suck. I can’t wait to just have everything out in the open. Let the chips fall where they may.”
“You know your dad is gonna freak out, right?” She brings her soda can to her lips.
Laughing under my breath, I pull my twitchy fingers through my hair. “That’s exactly what I said to Raph. But I don’t care about my dad’s reaction. He’s in a happy relationship with my mom. He should want the same thing for his best friend and he should want it for his daughter, too.”
Annaleigh eyes me sceptically. “Hun, I’m sure that he wants both of you to be happy, but not necessarily together.”
I sigh, knowing that she’s right. “I have to focus on my happiness,” I tell her. “And my happiness is with Raph. Everything else is secondary.”
“Okay…” she says sounding unsure as she turns back toward the TV. “You know I’m here for you no matter what but I just hope that you’re ready for the fury that’s about to come swooping through your life.”