Page 4 of So Thirsty

“Great. Can’t wait.”

“It’s not as bougie as it sounds. It’s work. Most days I’m wrangling at least one hungover man-child, or getting groupies to sign NDAs, or chasing Rolling Stone, or spending a tragic amount of time on the band’s Instagram. Some days I’m a glorified roadie. Plus, the showers over here have no water pressure. And the toilets are weird.”

She’s not being dishonest, but she is downplaying her journeys for my benefit, so I won’t be so jealous. I’m both grateful and a little insulted. “Still…”

“Sure. Still…” she says. “But fuck it. I get to see you!”

“I hope this goes without saying, but you don’t need to fly back from Europe for a weekend.”

“Your birthday weekend,” she says, and I flinch so hard, I almost fumble my phone. “And the timing worked out. European leg is done. Lee and the band fly home right after me. You and I will get up to some trouble, some birthday debauchery—you know, classic high jinks…”

“Right, right.”

“Then I get to go back to being a PR bot slash rock star’s girlfriend.” She lets out a dramatic sigh. “You know, their last show is Friday, they fly back Saturday, and he’s got everyone back in the studio next week. And not where we live, in New York fucking City, no. In Pittsburgh. His new hometown dream studio that he had to open, in Pittsburgh. So now I have to haul my ass there to document the creative process. I think he’s afraid of losing momentum. He’s relentless.”

“You fell in love with the ambition of an ambitious man.”

“And you failed to talk me out of it. This is on you,” she says. “Anyway, I should probably go. Start to pack. Lee’s out with the guys, and it’s easier to get shit done with him out of my hair. Mr. Ambition is salty about having to survive a few days without me.”

“He just can’t bear to be parted from you,” I say, swoony like an animated princess.

She snorts. “All right. Later, angel. Meet you in paradise.”

“I’ll see you there.”

I set my phone screen down on my desk. It’s eleven seventeen a.m., and I’m supposed to be in a meeting. I saw Naomi calling and wondered if she was canceling. I don’t know why I always assume the worst.

It’s typical Naomi to call at inconvenient times. When I’m supposed to be in a meeting. When I’m doing my weekly Saturday cleaning, rubber gloves on, bleach in hand. When I’m asleep at three a.m. She doesn’t understand time zones, or home maintenance, or nine-to-fives, but she’s so authentically freewheeling and oblivious that it’s impossible to be mad at her for it. It’s her finest magic trick, transforming her most frustrating qualities into part of her charm.

I take a deep breath and a sip of my now-tepid coffee, dial into this meeting late, prepared to apologize for my tardiness, but no one seems to notice my arrival, or that I hadn’t been there in the first place.

—

It’s one of those miserable January days so frigid it’s difficult to breathe. The wind is ruthless, stinging any exposed skin. I feel the baby hairs on my neck and at my temples go frosty. I reach to pull my hat down, and my fingers suffer. All feeling in my extremities fades. The cold infiltrates my brain, and I imagine my thoughts cased in ice like the branches of the peach tree in the front yard, which has been scrawny and barren since September.

I stand in the driveway, waiting for Joel to come say goodbye. He went inside to get something and has been gone for too long, leaving me here to freeze.

The door opens and he comes shuffling out holding a small gift-wrapped box. The paper is gold, edges clean, tape invisible. There’s a neat pink ribbon tied around it, an impeccable bow teetering on top.

“Another present?” I ask.

“Not for now,” he says. “For your actual birthday. Day of.”

“Open it in the car as soon as I pull away?”

“You would. Present shaker.”

“I’m not a present shaker. I’m patient and normal.”

He raises an eyebrow and I pout.

“All right,” he says. “Got everything you need?”

“Yep. Do you?”

“I’ll survive.”

“Okay. Love you,” I say, and give him a quick, dry kiss—our lips winter chapped. “And thank you. I’ll see you in a few days.”