“Because you thought I couldn’t handle it? Because you thought I’d blab? Because you were afraid that I’d get testy about you being cursed?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. We didn’t vow to keep it a secret or anything.”
“But you did. From me. The person who is closer to you than a sister, and debatably even your brother and cousins.”
I finally look at her. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. It was stupid. I’m extra sorry with a huge load of super sweet cherries on top. I was a douchebag. A douchebag with a side of evil devil bastard asshat beastly bottoms. You can push me into the pool if you want.”
Elodie works her bottom lip with her top pearly teeth. She could leave me stewing in my sorry juices, but she’s too good for that. I know I don’t deserve to have a best friend as good as her. “That seems quite extreme.” She points at where my feet are parting the nasty green muck. “From far away, it just looked dubiously green. Like they might have put food coloring or dumped eight hundred packets of jelly mix in here to make it look tropical. But up close, it looks more like a burbling, murky, thick green carpet living on top of the water. It looks like a swamp creature from the deepest deep could have been birthed here.”
“So, you’re not going to push me into the pool to be eaten by the creature? And you forgive me?”
She sighs loudly and rolls her eyes. “I do forgive you, but only because you redeemed yourself by saving my ass from being Mrs. Henry Wholelotanames.”
I chuckle. “I like that. It’s better than what I came up with.” The pool slime is now advancing up my foot.
“You’ve come up with so many things.” Her face falls. “Do you think my parents are worried?”
Maybe now is the time to bring up the stuff I really should be talking to her about. “I’m sure they’re fine. You left a note, and they know you’re coming back. They’re peed off, maybe, and annoyed, probably. Worried? Maybe slightly. But you’re your own person. I’ve said that for years.” I turn and study her bowed head. “It’s your life, Elodie. You have to live it. I don’t think you should move back in with them when you get back. Find your own apartment. Give yourself some space.”
“The house is like six thousand square feet. I never felt like I didn’t have my own space. I have my own basement suite, and it’s separate from their house.”
“But you’re still in their space, and because you are, I feel like they think they can make all your decisions for you.” I’m utterly fascinated by the ghastly green muck crawling up my ankles.
“You know they don’t do that.”
“I know. I’m just…I’m just saying. I know you love them, and they love you, but choosing a husband for you? That’s unhealthy. They don’t have a healthy attachment to you. You need to set boundaries.”
“But they thought they’d never have any kids. I’m their miracle baby.”
“I know that too, but you’d still be their miracle baby if you lived on the other side of the city in your own place. You’d still be their miracle baby if you chose your own husband and had your own life and didn’t have to see them every single day or talk to them on the phone every other hour.”
“We don’t!” she says sharply. I know I’m pressing on some raw nerves here for her.
“Okay, you don’t, but we’ve talked about this before. You know you need to do something different. You’re the one who told me that they stifle you, and you weren’t okay with them trying to marry you off to some guy. They would have had to live without you then.”
“It was their choice, though. He was. He was stable, he came from old money, and he lived in NOLA.” She shakes her head and shifts her legs. When she looks up, I notice it’s clouding up overhead, rapidly, with big dark clouds, and that they’re reflected in her eyes. “Ugh, you’re right. I should find my own place. That would be the easiest since it would be a natural detachment right now. Like ripping off a bandage. I’ve already done that.”
“You can’t beat yourself up about wanting to escape from an arranged marriage to a fool. Or any arranged marriage to anyone.”
Elodie’s eyes flicker upwards. “I know.” A crease appears on her forehead, and her nose scrunches up. “Those clouds came out of nowhere, but now it looks like it’s going to…”
She doesn’t get to finish. There’s a loud clap of thunder that makes us both jump, then the sky opens up and unleashes on us. When it rains in the south, it’s usually hot, but this rain isn’t. It’s so, so cold, and it comes down in sheets, pelting us with surprising fury.