California Girls

Maddie nodded sadly, as if concerned.

“She seems nice,” Zennie offered.

“She’s a heartless bitch who hates my guts.”

“She hides it well.”

They reached the bar. Zennie ordered a club soda. Finola did the same.

“What happened to the vodka martini?” Zennie asked, sounding confused.

“I haven’t eaten in five days. I’d get sick. I’ll have some wine with dinner.”

“Five days?” Her sister stared at her. “So you could look good here?”

“Absolutely. Everyone wants to know how I’m doing. If there’s any sign of weakness I’ll be ostracized and that’s a best-case scenario.”

Zennie looked around at all the well-dressed people in the ballroom. “So why do you do it?”

“I love my job and it’s worth it to endure this so I can show up at work on Monday and love my job again.”

They wandered around the silent auction. Zennie started to bid on martial arts lessons from a celebrity instructor only to realize the opening bid was five thousand dollars. She tucked her bag under her arm.

“So, only looking,” she said, looking shell-shocked.

“You’re pregnant, sis. No martial arts for you for a while.”

“Right. I forgot.”

Several more women came up and offered Finola the sympathetic half hug-air kiss. One acquaintance’s husband walked by, pausing only to hand her a business card without saying anything. When he’d moved on, she turned the card over. He’d handwritten Call me followed by a number.

Zennie peered over her shoulder. “Am I imagining things, or is he offering you sex?”

“I think he’s offering me sex.”

“I had no idea your world was like this. No offense, but I’m not sure I like it.”

“It was easier when I had Nigel.”

“I could get you a really big stick. That might help.”

Finola laughed. “Thank you for coming.”

“You’re welcome. Do you know what the menu is? I’m dying for a meal without kale or yogurt.”

“Healthy food getting to you?”

“You have no idea.”

Finola pointed to an auction. “That’s a brownie and cookie package delivered every quarter for a year. I’m going to buy you that and I don’t care what it costs.”

Instead of laughing, Zennie stared at her with tear-filled eyes. “That is so sweet.” She hugged her. “You’re the best sister ever.”

“And you’re easy,” Finola murmured. “Come on. Let’s get you another club soda. Later, you can get wild and have a ginger ale.”

They headed for the bar. As they moved through the crowd, she realized that while she’d talked about Nigel a few minutes ago, she wasn’t missing him, not even as a buffer. Apparently she was getting used to being without him—something she wouldn’t have thought was possible a month ago. What she didn’t know was if emotionally moving on was good or bad. Or if it was simply inevitable.





Chapter Twenty-Four


Despite having worn flats to Finola’s fund-raiser, Zennie’s feet still hurt Sunday morning. While she was used to standing all day, she wasn’t used to doing it in ballet flats that pinched her toes. She was pretty sure that if she’d been wearing heels, she would be crippled for days. She thought about Finola’s four-inch stilettos and wondered how her sister did it.

More than just the shoes, she thought as she went through her yoga stretching routine. The whole evening. The beautiful people really were different from the rest of the world. Some of Finola’s supposed friends had acted supportive, but a whole lot of them had been looking for an open wound they could exploit. It wasn’t Zennie’s idea of a good time.

She’d just finished her video when her phone buzzed. She was surprised to see a text from C.J.

It’s a beautiful day. Let’s go do something.

Zennie considered the offer. She would love to spend time with C.J. They’d gotten along so well and since she and Gina weren’t speaking, she felt a little vulnerable in the friendship department. But she also couldn’t deal with one more disapproving person. While not telling C.J. about her “delicate condition” made the most sense, she found herself typing, First you should probably know I’m pregnant.

C.J. didn’t answer for a couple of minutes. I was thinking we’d just hang out, but sure, be pregnant.

That made Zennie laugh. Give me some time to take a shower and get dressed. Meet in an hour?

Sounds great. C.J. named a restaurant that served brunch.

Zennie got there at the same time as her friend. They hugged, then settled at a table. C.J. waited until Zennie had looked over the menu to say, “Pregnant? So the procedure was successful? I’m both impressed and shallow. No way I would do that for anyone. How’s the world taking it?”

“My boss doesn’t know yet. My mother’s pissed but she’s coming around. My dad was also upset, but I’ve shamed him into loving me again. I’ve lost a couple of friends over it.”

Zennie found herself fighting tears. “Honestly, being emotional is the worst of it. I’m not an emotional person.”

C.J. smiled. “All evidence to the contrary?”

“Exactly.”

“I have a solution. Let’s go look at some open houses. There are a couple of cute condos that just came on the market. When I saw the listings I thought of you.”

“You mean condos for sale?”

“Uh-huh.”

Zennie stared at her. “I’m not ready to buy a place. By myself? I couldn’t possibly...” She forced herself to stop talking. Of course she could. In fact, she should!

She grinned. “Yes, I’ll go look at condos with you. It will be fun. Just promise me we don’t have to talk about the baby.”

“The baby is the last thing I want to talk about. We’ll lament LA traffic and groan over bad carpeting because there’s always bad carpeting in at least one.”