“Aunt Lise?” he said.
“Yes?”
“This makes my tummy feel happy.” He smiled, and she wanted to hug him.
27. Motherly Advice
The following morning Elise went to the hospital to see her sister and meet her new niece. When she’d dropped Jeffrey off the previous day both mother and baby had been sleeping, and she didn’t get a chance to see them. Brice was picking up Jeffrey from her parents’ house when she arrived, so it was just the three of them. She was glad there wouldn’t be a toddler to interrupt them or her parents there to listen to their conversation. She hadn’t been able to have a decent minute of girl talk with her sister since she had returned to San Diego.
Melissa looked tired but content when Elise entered the room. The circles under her eyes were obvious, and all the color had left her lips. However, she was smiling. “You got here just in time,” she said. “She is awake. Mom and Dad haven’t seen her with her eyes open yet.”
Elise had stopped at the gift shop on the way up and bought a pink balloon with a bear holding a sign that said, “It’s a Girl!” She set it next to Melissa’s bed before peering at the bundle Melissa held in her arms. The baby’s face was as pink as a rug burn, her little hands were as wrinkled as an eighty-year-old’s, but she could already see features forming. A tiny little square nose like Melissa’s, and though her eyes looked vacant and small, she could see her sister in them.
“She’s beautiful,” Elise said.
“Do you want to hold her?” Melissa asked.
“I’d love to.”
She passed the tiny bundle into Elise’s arms. For some reason she expected the baby to immediately begin wailing as babies always seemed to do, but instead her eyes wandered over Elise’s face, and her little fingers locked onto the edges of the blanket she was wrapped in.
Elise sat down in a chair near Melissa’s bed. “She is precious, Melissa.”
“Thanks,” her sister said as she limped to the bathroom. She moved as if she had spent the previous day atop a bareback, galloping stallion.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Just extremely sore. Her head couldn’t fit through, so the doctor cut me all the way back to well . . . you don’t want to know. I have seven stitches.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, Brice almost passed out when the Dr. Sims cut me. I’ve never seen his face turn so white. But honestly I have to say it didn’t hurt that bad.”
“Did they numb you before they did that?”
“No. There wasn’t time. The baby was coming out.”
“What did they cut you with? Scissors?”
She shrugged. “I couldn’t really see. Some tool. But honestly, it didn’t really hurt at the time. I’ll tell you what hurt. What really hurt was after the baby came out everyone was standing around looking at her. The nurses. Brice was saying how beautiful she was and the doctor had to put his entire arm back inside me because the placenta was still in there. I can’t even describe the pain I felt when he ripped that out.”
Please don’t, she wanted to say. Elise was starting to think she didn’t want kids. Stitches? Cutting? Placentas being yanked from your body when the doctor is forearm-deep in your privates? It sounded awful. “Then he stitched me up.” Elise looked down at the child whose tiny little mouth was agape. At first she thought she was yawning, but when her grapefruit sized head turned to the direction of Elise’s breast like she was a magnet and she began sucking on her sweater, Elise knew the child had other intentions. “Uh . . . What’s she doing?”
Melissa laughed. “Being a rude little thing,” she said in baby voice. “Jeffrey used to do that, too. She’s looking for a breast to nurse on and she just hasn’t realized that milk only comes from Mommy. Have you, little sweetie?” Melissa cooed as she limped back to Elise.
“Here,” Elise held her toward Melissa.
“Will it make you uncomfortable if I nurse in front of you?”
Elise thought for a moment. “No. It’s fine.” They were sisters. They had bathed together as children and changed clothes in front of each other enough in life that it really wasn’t a big deal.
Elise made a conscious effort to focus on Melissa’s face and not her bare chest.
“Now let me tell you how this feels. Take your nipple. Squeeze it as hard as you possibly can, then twist it over and over again while still pinching it together.”
“Why does anyone have kids?”
“I don’t know. You just get used to it.”
“Is Stan coming by?”
“Not yet. I think he’s coming by later.”
Elise wondered if she should say something, or if she should let Stan do the honors of informing her about his relationship with Carly. “So, did Stan tell you about Carly?”
“No. What happened?”
“They’re dating.”
Her eyes grew wide as she took her gaze away from the baby. “What? Stan and Carly?”
“Yes. For quite some time now. They’ve been lying to all of us.”
“I had no idea!” Her eyes were aglow with excitement and delight. “Is it serious? Did they do it?”
“I’m pretty sure. But who even wants to think about that?”
Melissa released a loud, snickering laugh. “What scandal. I never would’ve suspected Carly to be the type to create such drama.” Ever since Melissa had married and had children, the most entertaining thing she was exposed to was a purple dinosaur. If there were ever any kind of gossip or excitement in anyone’s life, she felt it was the equivalent to when J.R. was shot on Dallas. She clapped her hands together. “Mom and Dad will flip. They love Carly! And think. If they got married, Carly would be our sister-in-law. She’d be family.”
“Well, she hasn’t been acting like much of a friend these past few months, blowing me off. Sneaking around. Lying. She must’ve told me a dozen lies, and the whole time I just thought she didn’t want to be as good of friends as we used to be. I thought she was getting sick of me.”
“They were being sneaky?”
“Yes, I think I even almost walked in on them having sex.”
“You did? What happened?”
It was an incident Elise would rather not spend a ton of time recapping, and she quickly filled her sister in.
“Oh my God. Think if you had seen them. Actually caught them in the act.”
“It would’ve scarred me for life. Let’s not even go there.”
“Well, I know you’re probably hurt because they left you out of the loop. But you have to think of why they did it. Everything probably just snowballed. They probably wanted to tell you, but the longer time went by the harder it became.”
She nodded. “I know. You’re right.” She felt a lump in her throat. “But now everything is such a mess.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Not just with them. I’ve screwed up my love life, too.”
“You have a love life?”
“Yes, but please don’t tell anyone.”
“What? Are you gay?”
She stopped crying. “No! Please. Do I seem gay?”
“No. But you have gone quite some time without a boyfriend.”
“Well, it was because I couldn’t find anyone I liked. And I finally did. He’s gorgeous and sweet and successful with his business, and I totally screwed everything up.”
Anticipation was practically jumping from her sister’s eyes. “Who is this person? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“His name is Max, and I met him when I was living with Justine and Jimmy. He owns a guitar shop. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I thought Mom and Dad would flip out when they found out he has tattoos and drives a motorcycle, and now he knows that I was afraid to introduce him to our parents, and he thinks I’m ashamed of him, and it’s one huge mess. And now I’m the most miserable I’ve ever been.”
“Okay. One thing at a time. Start from the beginning.”
Elise told her all about him, and the past few months that they had spent
together. She told her about walking in on Stan and Carly at Starbucks and how her cell phone had accidentally dialed Max.
“Look,” Melissa said. “Mom and Dad love you. They want you to be happy. I know they’re hard to deal with sometimes, but they would accept Max.”
“I know. At this point I would tell them in a second. I don’t even care what they have to say, but it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone.”
“Give him some time to get over his hurt feelings, and he’ll be back.”
“He will?”
“Yes.”
“But he won’t even answer the phone. And why should he come back? Now that he thinks our parents are total assholes.”
“If it’s meant to be, it will work out. Now as for Stan and Carly, they’re your best friends, and you have to get over it, too.”
28. An Offer
When she returned home, Iris and Megan were gone, most likely getting an estimate for the Saturn. There was a strange envelope with no return address sitting on the counter. Her address and phone number had been typed on the envelope. She opened it, hoping by some off chance it was a check from Justine, but who was she kidding? After several phone calls, she was never going to see the money again. She tore open the envelope. The letter inside was also typed.
Dear Elise,
Please don’t rip this up, or throw it away. Typing this was the only way I figured I could get your attention. I’m sure you’ve looked at the signature and realized by now that it’s me, Carly. First, I want to say that I am so sorry for lying to you. I could explain to you why, and it might make sense to you, but the more I think about it the more I realize there is no excuse. You are my best friend, and I should’ve never misled you.
Over the past several months I have wanted more than ever to let you in on everything, mostly because I just wanted to tell you that I have never been this happy. I know this might be weird for you to hear, but I have never been in love, and now I really think I am.
Honestly, I’m glad you found out. There were so many times that I wanted to tell you, and I lost so much sleep thinking about when and how I should tell you. But now you know, and I’ve missed you more than anything. I miss my best friend. If you need time, I understand. But please try to forgive me.
Love,
Carly
She didn’t know how to respond. Thinking of Carly and her brother in love was still so strange to her. But she missed her best friend, too. The phone rang, and she set the letter aside.
When she looked at the number, her heart skipped a beat. Her agent. The agency only called if there was good news or they needed something from her. Bad news was usually delivered via e-mail, and even minor good news usually took the e-mail route, too. A phone call constituted something important.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi Elise. It’s Carissa at the Adams Agency. Cheryl wanted me to get a hold of you, so let me buzz her and put her on.”
“Okay, great,” she managed to calmly squeak out, even though she felt like shouting, “What is going on? Just give me the news!”
There was a buzz, then the familiar voice of her agent, coming from afar, as if she were on speakerphone. “Good news here, Elise. I just got off the phone with Jennifer Bloom, and apparently we got an offer we weren’t expecting. It’s not for the big screen, but Kelly Goldberg, a television producer, is putting in an offer to buy the rights for a television series. An hour-long program, like Alias or Murder She Wrote. She’s working out an offer today with Jennifer, but it looks like your book will at least end up being a pilot. If it is picked up as a major show, you’re looking at residuals for many years to come. I wasn’t sure if television was okay with you, but I think in the long run this will work in your favor.”
She felt tempted to fall to the ground and flail her arms and legs around with excitement, but she had to maintain her composure. “Television is fine. Perfectly fine.”
“I figured that’s what you’d say, but I just wanted to make sure. We should have more details about the offer later today, but I’m expecting it’s going to be pretty decent.”
“Ballpark figure?”
There was a certain caution in this industry. No one ever made predictions, because if they were wrong, they didn’t want to assume blame. “I would say anywhere from ten thousand to half a million.” That was the other thing. People never gave a close estimate. An estimate always covered all price ranges. “Either Carissa or I will let you know as soon as we have more details.”
“Okay, great. Thank you so much.”
She jumped up and down when she hung up the phone, and since there was no one there to share her excitement with, she planted a huge kiss across the Thunder Down Under poster. She decided to tell Carly first.
She wanted to talk to her in person, so she drove to Pacific Beach. Any nervousness she felt about talking to her for the first time since she’d caught them red-handed at Starbucks was squashed by her excitement over seeing her Ashley Trent novels as a television series. She noticed her brother’s car in the parking lot and had second thoughts. Maybe this wasn’t the best time. She was still pissed at him for saying all that he’d said about Max.
However, she was going to have to forgive him at some point, too, so she might as well start now.
29. Good-bye and Hello
Moving day was quite different from the past. This time she packed her boxes and hired movers. She sat back sipping a Sprite while two brawny young men hauled all of her belongings into a large truck. She put it on the credit card and vowed to pay the luxury off as soon as she got the money from her television deal, which had landed a decent six-figure advance.
She’d already been talking to real estate agents, and the day that check came in she’d be looking for a new home, her own home. For now her stuff was going in storage and she’d be staying with Carly for a couple of months. She spent every night with Stan and was never around anyway. Elise was happy for them but also couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy that they had each other. They got to wake up to each other in the morning. She missed Max so much, and knew she would have to get over him sooner or later. There was nothing else she could do. He’d made up his mind and if it were meant to be, he would’ve forgiven her by now.
The only possessions the movers weren’t taking in their truck were Bella and her suitcase that she’d be living out of for the time being. She went for Bella’s leash and on the way passed Megan. She was throwing her purse over her shoulder.
“We’re off to pick up Nicole from the airport. So this is probably good-bye. Thanks for being such a great roommate.”
“Thank you for . . .” Elise hugged her thinking of something to say. “Being such a great friend. I’ll miss you guys.” It was true. They were good people, just slobs.
“Don’t be a stranger. Come by and see us.”
“I will. And you’ll have to come see my place when I move in.” The words were sincere, but Elise sensed neither one of them would ever actually visit. She was old enough to know that these invitations often went unfulfilled in life, as people grew up and moved on. Iris and Megan were too young to realize that you could be exposed to the most intimate moments of people’s lives while you lived with them, and then once you moved out, you moved on.
Iris came around the corner, holding the keys to the Saturn. They still hadn’t fixed the back bumper nor told their roommate about the damage. Roommates were such interesting creatures. Elise sort of wished she could be there to see Nicole’s reaction when she saw her car. “Max is here,” she said.
“Max? Are you kidding me?”
“No. I’m not,” she whispered. “He’s in the living room.”
“What does he want?”
“I didn’t ask him.” Then she turned to Megan. “We have to go. Nicole’s waiting for us.” She opened her arms to Elise. “Hug me quickly, and then get your ass out there already.”
Elise gave her a quick, sloppy hug before heading to the living room. Her heart poun
ded with every step. He was so cute it was almost painful to look at his dark eyes. “Hey,” he said. “Looks like I always catch you at the last minute.”
“Yes. That’s right. The day you asked me to the races I was moving as well.” She hoped this would trigger a fond memory and he’d suddenly be plunged into the depths of missing her.
He smiled, and for one hopeful moment she thought he might actually be here to mend the fences. But then she saw the bag in his hands.
“I ran into your brother yesterday at Winston’s, and he mentioned you were moving. I thought you might want your stuff that you left at my place.” She saw a sleeve from her hooded black sweater poking from the plastic shopping bag in his hands. She knew her hairbrush and her black bra lay inside the bag as well. Now she wished he would just drop the bag and go. This was it. There was nothing to tie them. And as stupid as it may seem, a sweater and some toiletries were her last hope of ever remaining in touch with Max. Having these back in her possession meant that she’d really never see him again.
“Thanks. I appreciate that. I uh . . . I really want to . . .” She wanted to apologize one more time to him, to let him know how truly sorry she was. But she wanted to find better words than the ones she had been using up until this point. Obviously, they hadn’t been working.
Iris and Megan breezed past them and hollered a good-bye, and Elise hardly noticed.
“Look,” Max said after the door closed behind them. “Do you mind if we sit down for a minute?”
“No. Not at all. I um . . . do you want something to drink?”
He shook his head as he sat on the couch. “I’m fine. I just . . . I wanna talk to you.”
She sat down next to him and studied his face as his eyes wandered over the floor then back to her face. “When I met you I was so happy. I hadn’t felt like that . . .” He thought for a moment. “Ever.”
“Me, too,” she said quietly.
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