His eyes glance at something behind me. “You will, Little C. I promise,” he says as I feel someone tap my shoulder.
I turn around to see Charlie, an odd look on his face. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” He pats John’s shoulder and wishes him a happy birthday before pulling me away to the large window overlooking the ocean. “What the hell did you do? And how long did you think you could keep it from me?” he asks.
He’s finally figured out I’m not Casey. “What do you mean?” I ask innocently.
He holds up his phone. “I just got off the phone with Ava. She says you turned down the job.” He laughs. “She actually accused me of talking you out of it! Little did she know, I had no idea.”
My mind starts racing. What the hell was going on? Last time I saw Ava, we were drinking from paper cups filled with champagne and masquerading as best friends. How could this have happened? “I don’t know what happened,” I stammer.
“Come on, don’t play coy. You had the balls to give the executives the middle finger. At least take some credit for it!” Charlie’s smiling.
“But she’s lost her job,” I say, more to myself than to him.
“Oh, don’t worry about her. I think she’ll be okay.” I look up when I hear my own voice and see Casey, a knowing smile on her face. She hands Charlie her empty glass. “Charlie, would you mind getting us refills please?” she asks as she nods toward the bar. “I need a minute alone with my bestie.”
“You got it,” he says before practically skipping away.
“He seems pretty happy,” Casey says sadly.
“How could you not tell me?” I accuse her.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she says quietly.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me take the job if I told you about it, and I didn’t want you to get fired.” I look out at the waves crashing on the beach, feeling incredibly relieved that I didn’t have to move to New York, yet worried that Casey had just thrown everything away just so I could stay.
“Rachel, if I’ve learned one thing since we switched, it’s that family is more important than any job. And I could never let you be taken away from them.” She leans against the glass and sighs. “Although I have to admit, I’m going to miss Charlie.”
“He’s not going to New York. He didn’t get the job.”
“What?” Casey grabs my shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
“Ava fired him. Now you’re both unemployed!” I say loudly. Casey starts to laugh and I join in, both of us laughing so hard that tears begin to stream from our eyes.
“Oh my God, I just peed a little bit.” Casey looks at me wide-eyed, spitting out some of her drink.
“Ah, that’s what giving birth to three kids will do to ya,” I say and we break into a fit of laughter all over again.
Casey finally composes herself. “Well, we’ve really made a mess of things, haven’t we?”
I think for a moment before answering. “Depends on how you view it. Some may argue that you’ve just made the best decision of your life. You can’t keep up this pace forever,” I add, thinking about how easy it was for me to sacrifice time with my friends and family since I’d become Casey. Maybe it was time for her to take a breather too.
“And I have you to thank for it. You helped me realize what’s important. The saddest part? I had no idea what I was missing.”
I nod to the dance floor, where John’s dancing with Audrey and Sophie. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“Hey, you two, don’t get all teary-eyed on me.” Charlie walks up with two shot glasses filled to the brim with a bright purple liquid. “Are you having a moment?”
“What are those?” Casey asks, glancing quickly at me. It couldn’t be. The shots we drank at the reunion were the same color.
“The bartender said to tell you he whipped these up just for you guys. He made me promise not to even take one sip! Not that I would. I’d lose all of my man cred if I drank a purple shot. What the hell’s in these anyway?”
Our lives, I think.
We both swing our heads toward the bar. Brian’s there, quietly wiping down the mahogany counter. He looks up, smiles, and gives us his signature wink.
“Oh my God,” I say. “We did it.”
“Hold on,” Casey interrupts. “We need to take the shot first before we get too excited.”
Charlie steps in. “What are you guys talking about? It’s just a shot.”
“Shh,” we say in unison as we take the shot glasses gingerly out of his hands and hold them up, careful not to let a drop of liquid spill.
“To my perfect life,” I say, thinking of John and the girls.
“To my perfect life,” Casey echoes, looking at Charlie, who furrows his brow, confused. We clink glasses and I feel the sweet purple liquid slide down my throat and then everything goes black.
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