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Addison’s face flooded with heat. “I don’t think—I mean, we don’t exactly?—”
“I’m not trying to embarrass you,” Olivia said, resting a hand gently on her forearm. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” She didn’t want the other women to think she was a prude when she was anything but. “I’m not embarrassed. I’m just not sure he’d care. We’re not really together, you know? We’re just fucking when we have the time.”
Olivia arched her eyebrows. “Uh huh. And that’s why Gabriel told me Mason forced him to give you next week off so you two could go away together? Cause you’re just fucking when you find the time?”
Oh God, as if she wasn’t already mortified enough about that. “Forced” was almost too nice a word for it—Mason straight-up bullied Gabriel into giving her the time off. He’d called the head chef on Wednesday to inform him she wouldn’t be in next week.
Not ask. Inform.
Gabriel had thrown back a slew of arguments about Mason not having authority over his kitchen staff. That she needed to clear vacation time with him in advance. And perhaps most damning, that her three-month trial period didn’t even technically include vacation time.
Mason listened to all these objections in perfect silence, his expression unreadable. Then he simply said, “You got along just fine without her for seven years. You’ll survive seven fucking days. She’s taking the week off.” He hung up without even waiting for an answer.
Gabriel informed her the next morning that her vacation time was approved, while she blushed from head to toe in abject shame.
“We’re not going away together,” she said as Nell finally returned to the table, not wanting the other women to think Mason was whisking her off on some extravagant vacation. “Not the way you think.”
Nell’s eyes widened as she realized the new topic of conversation. Handing out the shots in silence, she watched Addison with obvious fascination filling her big brown eyes.
“You aren’t going to Chile with him?” Olivia asked, confused.
Shaking her head, Addison admitted, “Mason cancelled his trip.”
The other two gave each other a long look that Addison couldn’t read. God, she hoped they weren’t judging her. She hadn’t meant to ruin his plans. In fact, she tried her hardest to convince him to still go. They could always go another time. Plan it out in advance, keep it from fucking up everyone’s schedules.
Mason wouldn’t hear of it, though. Now that she finally knew who her father was, he didn’t want her to have to wait any longer than necessary to meet him.
“So,” Olivia finally said, drawing out the word. “Where are you going?”
The whole truth, or a more palatable version of it?
In years past, the answer would’ve been obvious. But with four shots of tequila coursing through her bloodstream, her usual boundaries looked awfully blurred.
Fuck it.
Picking up the fifth shot, she dropped it down the back of her throat, not even sucking on a lime before saying, “We’re driving to New Mexico to meet my dad.”
She expected them to shut down, lose interest, change the subject.
This time, it didn’t happen. Shock and pleasure showed equally on their faces, and they peppered her with questions about her dad, her childhood, her life.
About her. They wanted to know her—the part she kept buried deep inside.
She did her best to answer every single question, truths and memories pouring out of her in a way only liquor makes possible.
Never in a million years did she imagine they’d do the same, sharing their own stories, reliving their own pain.
Olivia’s abusive parents. Nell’s psycho ex.
“I never thought...” Addison couldn’t figure out how to finish the sentence. So much emotional baggage lay spread out on the table between them—still raw and bleeding, but no longer hidden in the dark. She couldn’t have guessed how warm and comforting it would be to thrust all that turmoil into the light. “Thank you,” she said at last. “Mason’s the only other person I’ve ever told about any of this. I’m only starting to figure out how amazing it feels to say it all out loud.”
Nell grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze. “And that right there is why I’m going back to school to become a therapist.”
God, as if these two could get any more amazing. “Thank you,” Addison said again. “For everything tonight.”
She had a feeling she’d found a pair of true, lifelong friends.
