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Esther came back out and stuffed the sunscreen in her pool tote with the towels. “Speaking of your mother, how does she feel about Yemi?”
Jinny’s mouth twisted. “You mean because he’s black?”
“I wasn’t going to come right out and say it, but yeah.”
“Weirdly, she seems okay with it.”
“Really?” Jinny’s mother had never liked any of the men Jinny had dated. The only men that seemed to meet with her approval were Korean doctors and lawyers.
“I think it’s because he’s Catholic.” Jinny shrugged. “Maybe she’s finally given up on me ever settling down with a nice Korean boy and has reconciled herself to taking what she can get.”
“You’ve got to admit, after the parade of douchebag mouth-breathers you’ve dated, Yemi is definitely an upgrade.” Esther froze after the words left her mouth, afraid that maybe she’d gone too far and touched on a sore spot. Maybe they weren’t to the point yet where she could make jokes about Jinny’s taste in boyfriends.
“God, you’re such a bitch,” Jinny said, breaking into a smile. “I totally missed this.”
Esther smiled back at her. “Yeah, me too.”
“You ready to head down?”
“Mmmm hmmm.” Esther scooped up her bag and the two glasses while Jinny grabbed the OJ and champagne.
As they walked toward Jonathan’s door, Esther tried not to peer through the blinds in his front window—which were always shuttered these days. It was torture every time she had to walk by his apartment, and she hurried her steps to get past as quickly as she could.
Except this time, Jonathan’s door opened and he stepped out into the breezeway. Right in front of Esther and Jinny.
All three of them froze in a diorama of mortification. No one seemed to know what to say. Or to be able to move.
And then a woman emerged from Jonathan’s apartment behind him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The woman who stepped out of Jonathan’s apartment was beautiful. Tall, slim, blonde, with miles of unblemished, honey-gold skin. Her hair was twisted into a picture-perfect messy bun, and she was wearing a striped jersey tank dress that showed off her perfect figure.
Esther felt like she’d been kicked in the back of the knees. Her free hand fumbled for the railing to steady herself.
The woman smiled at Esther and Jinny, her eyes taking in the champagne and glasses. “Hello.” She had a radiant smile. Glowing with vitality. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and still managed to look like a model in a Neutrogena ad.
Jonathan turned away and locked his apartment door.
“Hi,” Jinny said, smiling as if this was a perfectly ordinary interaction that was in no way fraught with awkwardness and resentment.
“Let’s go,” Jonathan said to the woman. He put his arm around her and guided her toward the stairwell without a backward glance.
Esther watched them walk away, still clutching the railing for support. She felt a physical compulsion to follow, like someone had hitched a tow rope to her stomach and was reeling it in. Then Jonathan stepped out of sight at the end of the corridor, and the rope snapped. Her stomach lurched back into place with the poise of a drunk girl in six-inch heels.
“That was hella awkward,” Jinny said beside her.
“Yeah,” Esther managed to say.
“Who was that woman with him?”
“I don’t know.” Esther’s stomach was still reverberating from the shock. It felt like a bowl of Jell-O in the midst of an earthquake.
“Is he dating someone new?”
“I don’t know,” Esther said again.
Jinny looked at her, frowning. “Are you okay?”
