“Why not? I’d love to.”
Even if she wasn’t still living in Fool’s Gold, she could drive in for the day. Tyler could hang out with his dad, her nieces could see their friends and then they would all go back to San Francisco, where life was normal and people standing in the grocery store didn’t know anything about you.
An hour later, Liz went to check on the kids. As she stood, she had to steady herself for a second. Her balance felt off—apparently she’d been drinking more than she’d realized. At the bottom of the stairs, she paused as a burst of loud laughter filled the room. She grinned. She wasn’t the only one who was feeling the alcohol. Good thing everyone was walking home.
After confirming all three of her charges were totally engrossed in their movie, she returned to the kitchen, opened the last few packages of cookies and dumped them on two plates. Normally she would arrange them neatly, but right now that seemed impossible.
Pia walked into the kitchen. “I don’t know how Crystal stands us. She’s the only one not drinking.”
Liz looked up, her sense of contentment fading. “Jo mentioned she was sick.”
“She’s dying,” Pia said flatly. “Today she doesn’t look like it, but she is. They’ve given her less than six months. She’s working with hospice. This is the first time she’s been out of her apartment in a week. She’s living on painkillers.”
“I’m sorry,” Liz whispered, the gut-clenching returning.
“Me, too. She’s a good friend.” Pia drew in a breath. “I don’t want to talk about it. Knowing I’m losing her is impossible and makes me cry. As drunk as I am, I probably won’t stop for hours and no one wants that. Least of all Crystal.”
Liz nodded and had to swallow before she could speak. “Are you up to carrying in a plate of cookies?”
Pia eyed the plate doubtfully. “What happens if I drop them?”
“They fall?”
She smiled. “I can make an effort.” But instead of reaching for the plate, she leaned against a counter. “Why didn’t you come back? When you found out you were pregnant?”
Not a question Liz wanted to answer. “It wasn’t an option.”
“Of course it was. Even if your mom wouldn’t have taken you in, there was still Ethan and his family. You shouldn’t have kept his kid from him. It wasn’t very nice.”
It was one thing to be yelled at by an older woman she didn’t know, but it was quite another to have Pia O’Brian passing judgments on her.
“And that’s the whole story?” Liz asked, trying to stay calm and keep her voice low.
Pia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. It’s not as if you tried to tell him.”
“You’re wrong,” Liz told her, planting her hands on her hips. “I did come back. Pretty much as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I’d been gone all of three weeks. You’d think after how in love he claimed to be he would have waited to replace me, but no. He was in his little apartment over the garage. Naked. In bed with someone.” She narrowed her gaze. “He was in bed with you, Pia.”
Pia slipped and had to grab onto the counter to stay upright. Her mouth dropped open. “No,” she breathed.
“Am I wrong?”
Pia winced. “I did get him into bed, but it’s not what you think.”
“You weren’t trying to have sex with him?”
“Okay, yes. It was that, but I…” Pia shook her head, then swore. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
Liz waited. “Didn’t mean what? To take him?”
“You were gone. Plus, I wasn’t completely sure the two of you were actually dating. Josh said something that one time and Ethan denied everything.”
Not an afternoon Liz cared to remember. It had been difficult enough working as a waitress in the one place the popular kids liked to hang out, but it had been sheer torture being there when Ethan came home from college and they started seeing each other. They’d both agreed it was better if no one knew about them. He had his family’s reputation to think about. After all, he was a Hendrix.
Liz had been young enough and foolish enough to think that was a good reason to slink around behind everyone’s back. Today she wouldn’t bother. Either a man wanted to be with her or he didn’t. But back then she’d been so grateful to have someone care about her. Especially Ethan.
Ethan who was accepted everywhere he went. Ethan who had a family that was always sober and kind and respectable. Ethan’s mother didn’t show up at the grocery store drunk and talk about being with other women’s husbands.