I laugh. “No, what?”
“Do you remember that Chrystle girl from last year?”
“Sure. He hooked up with her again?”
She holds up two fingers. “Her and her roommate, Maryse. Together.” She collapses into giggles.
“Oh God, gross! Estelle! I don’t want to hear those details! Yuck. I can’t think about Sabin like that!”
“Roommates, of all things! How cliché! You didn’t see us hooking up with a guy together, right? I mean, I wouldn’t be able to look at you the next day. Not that you’re not super crazy hot and all that, but… And there’s the fact that you’ve hooked up with my brother, which would up the creep factor.” She claps her hand over her mouth. “Oh shit. I’m sorry.”
“Estelle, it’s fine. Stop.”
“Fucking hell, Blythe. I shouldn’t have brought him up. I’m a tactless bitch.”
“Just touch your hand to Neon Jesus, and all will be forgiven.”
“Hold on!” Estelle bounces up, and I hear her shoes clack on the floor as she walks to the painting that hangs behind her. She reaches up and pats Neon Jesus on his head. “I’m sorry! Did you hear me? I’m sorry!” Her cropped shirt lifts as she reaches up. I know the camera image is not perfect, but I swear I see a bruise that wraps over her hip bone. I forget it about as soon as Estelle’s face comes careening back into the screen because she startles the shit out of me, and I almost spill my wine. “N. J. says I’m forgiven.”
I wave a hand. “There’s not really anything to be forgiven for.”
“Hey, B.?”
“Yeah?”
“You all right?”
I nod. It takes me a second to ask what I do. “What about Chris? Is he okay? He’s… he’s still happy, right?”
“I don’t know how to answer that. He’s fine, I guess. He acts fine, but I think he’s different. He’s… I don’t know. He’s a little boring, to be honest.”
“What? Chris is not boring, that’s ridiculous.”
“He is. We all think he’s a little dull now.” There’s a knock at her door. “I gotta go, love.”
“Okay. Have fun. Hey, ’Stelle?”
“Yeah.”
“Call me when it’s over. Not until then. We’ll just have to avoid talking about it. Tell Sabin and Eric. Please. It’ll be easier after.”
“Understood. Be brave.” She kisses her fingers and blows me a kiss. “Miss you, you fucker.”
“Miss you, too, you fucker.”
I shut the screen. The next time I talk to her, Chris will be married. Maybe then I will really believe that it’s over between us.
I am the queen of wishful thinking.
26
REGROUP
“DID YOU REMEMBERthe bug spray?”
“I think they sell bug spray in Maine,” I tell my brother. “Besides, I have packed everything that I can think of. The car is full. If we forgot anything, we’ll buy it in Ellsworth. Relax.” I reach into the backseat of the SUV and pat Jonah. This dog is the reason that I bought such a big vehicle, but without it, we might not have had room to cram the car with all of our summer supplies. Jonah pants excitedly at me. “I know. James is going to drive us crazy.”
“How about liquor? Do they sell that there?” James takes the familiar route to 95N. We’ll take this highway through Massachusetts and then all the way north to Bar Harbor, Maine.
