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“Because no one wants serious stuff done on April’s Fool Day,” Luce cackles, and I nod.
“Exactly. So we’re doing it on the second, and we’ll also find out Fet’s sex that day.”
“Well, you did say you wanted an exciting year. Is this enough excitement for you?”
I can’t help bursting out laughing, and I don’t stop until my stomach hurts and tears trail down my cheeks. Trust it to Luce to turn something serious into a punchline. “I’ve really missed you,” I hiccup as soon as my laughter starts subsiding.
Waving me off, Luce shows why she excels in PR by cutting straight to the point. “So let me get this straight. You now live with Soren and Mickey, because you have to. They don’t believe that one of them is the dad—”
“I think they believe it now.”
“Whatever. They didn’t believe it at first, but now it’s a ‘maybe’. You’re three months along, have to wait another week for the results of your paternity test, and in the meantime, you all play house because you have to. Is that pretty much the gist of it?”
At the mention of ‘have to’ my stomach churns. The words she says are true, yet they’re false because nothing about this is as black and white as my hair. “It’s not that simple,” I defend. “I think they want to be with me, at least sexually.”
“Oh? So are you in a throuple?”
Shaking my head, I do my best to explain, “No it’s not like that. I mean, yes we live together. And yes, we’re… together. But I make them pay.”
She lets out a shocked laugh. “You what?”
“Yep,” I say, nodding. “They pay me. I need the money, and—”
“Daaamn,” she cackles, dragging out the word. Then she points at my Cruella de Vil inspired hair. “You really are a villain.”
Am I? Is it bad that I’m making them pay? I mean, I don’t think so. If anything, it makes things easier. We all know where we stand, and this way I’m expecting them to discard me, push me away.
As the morning turns into afternoon, I still don’t have an answer to my own questions.
“If you ask me,” Luce says, out of nowhere, I might add.
“I didn’t ask you,” I volley.
Leaning back in the armchair, she crosses one leg over another while I take a big sip of my water. “You’re the one who fucked up, Gail. You played them. You lied—”
“Did not!”
“Oh, please. You totally lied by omission. You kept the pregnancy a secret because you wanted to get in one more good dicking. Do they know that?”
I’m pretty sure I told them after Mickey’s disappearing act, but as it all starts to blur together, I can’t be sure. “Maybe,” I hedge.
“And youdidplay them,” she says, and even though her tone isn’t uncaring, it still stings. I open my mouth to reply, but she holds her hand up. “Maybe not in the way you think, but you weren’t honest, Gail. You hid your hair, and you didn’t tell them the second you were pregnant.”
My jaw becomes slack as I stare at her with betrayal burning in my veins.
“Besides, while you fucked them at Cupid’s Court, you also flirted with them in other places. So can you really blame them for maybe not being sure you haven’t been with anyone else?”
I sputter indignantly. “What the hell, Luce? Of course I blame them.”
Damn, she really isn’t pulling her punches today. I know she isn’t saying any of this to be mean, but it still stings. I’d love to say it’s unlike her, and that I don’t deserve it. Both would be a lie. In true bestie form, she’s giving me the kick in the ass I need.
“Really?” she asks calmly. “Because from where I’m sitting, you created this situation. Sure, it wasn’t intentional, but everything boils down to choices made byyou.”
Even though I know all of this, it’s different hearing it coming from her. It forces me to look at the situation in a different light, one I’m not so sure I look good under. Everything she’s saying is true; I’m the one who’s been dishonest, and, especially now that I know about their pasts, can I really hold their reactions against them?
The answer is simple; no, no I fucking can’t.
“I hear ya,” I say, feeling my anger and indignation bleeding away.
