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CHAPTER TWO
Alice pushed herself out of the chair and turned to quickly walk away. She’d had enough. She knew she would never win an argument with this crowd.
She didn’t care that the eyes of everyone were on her as she left the room. Behind her, she could hear Maureen dramatically blubbering on Lawrence’s shoulder. Alice sighed. It was all for show. She knew from her mother that her sister’s divorce was already in motion.
Alice walked down the ramp off the yacht, and when she was finally back in the safety of her little, old car, she broke down into a fit of sobs.
She couldn’t hold it together after that. Her sister was awful for doing this, but Alice shouldn’t have been surprised. Maureen always deflected her pain on others; usually her younger sister.
It wasn’t unexpected, but Alice always had the benefit of the doubt reserved for Maureen. She didn’t want to think her sister was a total bitch, but the truth was that she was more than that. She was downright evil.
Alice jumped when she heard a tap on the window. She looked up to see the figure of a woman standing on the other side of the dirty glass. For a moment, she thought it was Maureen there for round two.
Alice wiped her tears as she rolled down the window. The woman leaned in and smiled. “Hey stranger, don’t I know you from somewhere?”
Alice’s mouth fell open when her eyes cleared and she recognized the beautiful face smiling back at her.
“Oh my God! Rachel!” Alice pushed open the car door and ejected herself form the car with her arms outstretched. She couldn’t believe Rachel Nolan was really there. She wrapped her arms around Rachel’s neck and held on tight, as if the older woman had just saved her from a burning building.
Rachel had been one of Maureen’s best friends since high school, even though they were nothing alike. Alice always said Maureen kept Rachel around because someone in her little group had to have a brain.
Rachel was nothing like the rest of Maureen’s little clique. She was the only one Alice felt comfortable around, and they had formed a quiet friendship behind Maureen’s back.
Alice had also harbored a crush on Rachel for years, even though she would never reveal her true feelings. Besides, Rachel was straight. Alice would have rather have her as a friend than lose her over a silly, unrequited girl crush.
Letting go of her feelings was hard, but now that Rachel was standing right in front of her again, she felt a tsunami of emotions come roaring back, slamming full force into her heart.
She felt a mild pang of guilt for allowing herself to get lost in these emotions because of Jenna, but no matter how hard she tried, her long-held feelings for Rachel held firmly in place.
“You’re like a breath of fresh air in all of this!” Alice said as she finally let go of the older woman. “I should never have come.”
Rachel gave her a concerned look and patted her shoulders. “I know. I’m so sorry. I saw everything that happened, but couldn’t get to you before you ran out. Are you okay?”
Alice nodded and let out a little sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just, you know, having my personal business exposed in front of strangers like that. It’s just so…”
“So Maureen?” Rachel grinned. “Look, Maureen is who she is. You can either accept the fact that she can be a raging bitch or you can just walk away. Which do you plan to do?”
Alice thought for a moment. “She’s my sister. It would be hard to just walk away.” She looked toward the yacht with big tears in her eyes. “But I can’t go back in there, so don’t even ask. All those rich bitches and their hoity-toity bullshit. I’m done.”
“I have a better idea,” Rachel said, moving in to put a comforting arm around Alice’s shoulders. “Let’s ditch this hoity-toity shindig and just go have a quiet drink at my place? It’s been so long since we’ve had time to chat. We can just relax and catch up. How does that sound?”
Alice smiled. “That sounds really good. Lead the way.”
CHAPTER THREE
Alice, in her ten-year old Prius that smoked like a chimney when she pressed the gas, followed Rachel, in her sensible late model Volvo SUV, home.
Home turned out to be a beautiful condominium in a gated community in a very expensive part of town. They stopped at the guard gate and Rachel spoke to the guard, then waved for her to follow. The guard gave her the stink eye as she passed; obviously thinking she was there to clean Rachel’s toilets or some other menial task.
As she parked her car on the street behind Rachel’s, Alice regretted her comments about rich bitches and hoity-toity bullshit. Obviously, Rachel was doing as well as the other women in her peer group, hopefully without having to give herself to a man for money.
Alice stepped out of the car with her cheeks flushed. She gave Rachel an embarrassed smile. “Forget what I said about rich bitches and hoity-toity bullshit.” She nodded at the building in front of them. “Nice place.”
Rachel laughed. “Forget it. Sometimes a girl likes to reward herself for her hard work. This is my reward. Come on.”
Alice followed her to the beautifully-landscaped entrance to her building, which required a cardkey and pass code to open. Rachel opened the door and led the way to an elevator that was nicer than her dinky apartment. She inserted the cardkey into a slot and pressed a button labeled penthouse.
Alice looked at Rachel’s reflection in the mirrored doors and asked, “So, remind me again what you do for a living?”
