Madeline studied Abby before she said, “Do you want to meet her family?”
Abby gave a slight nod. “Eventually.”
“Back the train up.” Madeline made a backpedaling motion with her hands. “What am I missing?” She snapped her fingers. “Wait. Go back. You mentioned it was a working weekend. What did you do on Saturday?”
Now Madeline was getting closer to what was nagging at her. “We worked on a lot of content.”
Madeline smiled and pointed. “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you I loved your book review ofThe Catcher in the Rye.It was hilarious. I was just surprised to see you making your own videos again.”
“It was Blythe’s idea.” She didn’t say more, choosing to see how Madeline would react.
“Let me get this straight. You spent Friday and Saturday working on your videos?”
“We went live a few times, too.”
Madeline rolled her eyes. “You party animal.”
“But I knew beforehand since Ricki had to work this weekend.”
“Can’t you two do anything without Ricki?” Madeline narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s a little weird that they’re a package deal?”
“No, it’s not like that. They’re fun and funny. Ricki’s no problem. You’ll see what I mean this weekend when you meet them.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Plus, I need to check out the woman that’s captured my friend’s heart and taken her away from me every weekend.”
“I’m sorry. I’m a rotten friend.” Guilt washed over Abby.
“To hell you are. When I find my dream man, we’re gonna spend our first three months in bed, so you’ll be on your own. Speaking of, still doing the nasty?”
Abby rolled her eyes. “Yes, we’re having sex, but I wouldn’t call it the nasty.”
“Maybe that’s why you’re grumpy.” Madeline giggled.
Abby glared.
“Just spit it out. What was it about your working weekend that has you uptight?”
“I’m not uptight.” Abby said it with more defensiveness than she intended.
“Okay. Whatever. Just tell me, so we don’t have to keep playing this guessing game.”
“Shooting the videos was fine. Even enjoyable, but I hate reading all the comments and responding to them. It makes me feel icky.”
“Icky, how?”
“There’s a lot of drama. Mean people. When I was posting my book reviews, I wasn’t paying attention to how things worked, but now I’m seeing behind the scenes. The underbelly. And it’s kind of upsetting.”
Abby sighed and met Madeline’s gaze. “I didn’t tell you about Blythe’s friend Sweet Cyn. She was being picked on and lost it live. She ended up going off the grid to get help. And there’s Blythe’s rival. Her girlfriend sexually humiliated her on camera. It made me want to take a shower, but it’s what sells. It’s kinda gross.”
“Then why are you still doing it?”
Abby’s stomach roiled. Something that had been happening more frequently in the past week. “It’s important to Blythe. She wants to earn enough money so that she can stop doing Uber and DoorDash.”
Madeline’s penetrating gaze bore into Abby. “That answers why Blythe is doing it, but it doesn’t answer why you are.”
“I want to help her.”
“What else?”
