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Like the proverbial elephant in the room, an elephant that balances on a tightrope and juggles flaming monkeys and sprays champagne from his trunk that cascades onto the blazing monkeys, Tink finally asks the question I’ve been too scared to ask. “Where’s Evie’s dad?”
Her words are a whisper so she doesn’t wake Evie, and yet, Tina chokes like Tink screamed at her. “Umm.” She coughs into her napkin and bangs a fist to her chest. “He, uh… I left him.”
“Is he local?” Tink’s not uncaring – the opposite, actually. She’s one of the most caring people I know. But she does have an unquenchable thirst for details about people she considers her friends, and she’s not shy to ask.
It must be the chihuahua in her. Small but mighty.
“No… he’s not. Evie and I moved here alone.”
“Do you have any family here?”
“Nope.”
“So…”
Tina’s scared eyes flip from Tink’s, to mine, to Iz’s. “I can’t tell you my life story. I don’t even know you people…”
“Sure you do. You’ve seen her naked.” Tink smirks at me. “We’ve eaten together and shared shoes, and we’ve held your sleeping daughter. That pretty much makes us best friends. Also, my birthday’s in May. I like shoes. You’ve just missed my birthday this year, but I’m happy to accept the cats next year and we’d be good. No grudges, scout’s honor.”
Tina shakes her head no and stares at her half-eaten burrito. But she smiles. At least she’s not running away or calling the cops.
“We won’t tell your secrets,” Iz promises. Tink and I nod in agreement. “Truly, we won’t. We can keep a secret. Hell, we just finished keeping a doozy from my brothers. That information was locked up tight until I told it. We’re like Fort Fox.”
“You mean Fort Knox?”
Iz lifts a hand and points at Tina. “Exactly. But I didn’t want to say the actual name, because I was keeping the secret.”
Tina snorts. “It’s disgusting how charming you girls are.” Her sad eyes come up to meet ours. “I don’t tell my story. I can’t. He didn’t treat us very well, but now we’re out. Can’t we leave it at that? I don’t want to talk about it.”
Tink lets out a dramatic sigh and resumes eating. “Fine. Dropping it. P.S. I’m glad you’re out. Don’t forget, I’m a size six, and I don’t want stanky used heels. I want brand-new.”
Tina’s eyes wheel around in shock. “Just like that? We can drop it that easy?”
“Just like that.” Tink swallows her man-sized bite of food. “But if you ever wanna talk, you could call any of us. We’ll all come. And we’ll probably bring food. We’re the best listeners ever.”
“Okay,” she answers shakily. “Thank you… Uh, let me hop up and load your photos onto my computer. I’ll be about twenty minutes, then we can look and decide which you’d like me to touch up.”
