I nodded.
“You don’t look okay,” she said.
My stomach turned and I shook my head. “I think it’s a stomach bug. Or stress or something. This whole thing with my mom ...” I sighed. “It’s messing me up.”
“I can’t believe what a bitch she was!” Sadie said.
I nodded and walked to my kitchen, putting on the kettle for tea. I didn’t have the stomach for coffee—I’d been throwing up all morning.
In the bag Sadie had brought me, I found some medication and a knob of fresh ginger.
“Thanks for this,” I said and sliced the ginger, putting it in a cup so I could make tea from it.
“I hope it settles your stomach,” Sadie said.
I nodded. “Me too. What can I make you?”
“Coffee, if you don’t mind,” Sadie said.
I put a cup under the spout of the Nespresso machine and switched it on, waiting a moment for it to boot before I pressed the buttons to make her a cup of coffee.
“Tell me again what Parker said,” Sadie said when the machine gurgled and spat out a cup of coffee for her.
“He was great about the whole thing. He said he didn’t want to lose me. But this whole thing is getting to him. He just lost his best friend, and I don’t know if it was worth it.”
“What are you talking about?” Sadie asked.
I shrugged. “It’s just not that simple, you know?”
It had been a week since Parker and Ryan had fought about me. Ryan wasn’t talking to Parker or to me. I wasn’t talking to my mom. Parker had been serious about sticking it out. He wanted to make it work with me. It was flattering, but my stomach twisted and turned whenever I thought about it.
And now, I had a stomach bug on top of everything, making me feel so sick I couldn’t go to the office. Thank God, Mrs. Collier’s job was just about done, and I could afford to take a day off work.
“I just don’t see how Parker would exchange a friendship that’s lasted for years and years for a relationship that’s only been going on a month.”
“Maybe he’s serious about you,” Sadie pointed out.
“I’m starting to get that idea,” I said.
The coffee machine finished, and I added foamed milk to the cup with a whoosh from the nozzle. When the cup was ready, I pushed it toward Sadie across the counter, along with the jar of sugar so she could doctor her coffee.
She added three spoons of sugar while I watched.
“I don’t snack on other shit, okay. This is my guilty pleasure,” she said when she caught me watching.
I giggled. “I’m not going to tell you you’re not allowed to have so much sugar in your coffee, Sades.”
Sadie rolled her eyes. “Tell my mom that. She’s on me about my weight all the time. But what if like the way I look? I like food—I can’t have it all my way.”
I rolled my eyes. “Moms, right?”
“I know,” Sadie agreed with me.
I sighed. “I still can’t believe she did that,” I said. “My mom, I mean. What did she think was going to happen?”
“Did she know Ryan didn’t know?”
I nodded. “I told her a few times not to say anything until I could figure out how to talk to him about it. She knew exactly what was going on. If she was trying to turn Ryan against me, so he would side with her, she failed. I doubt he’s taking her side in all this now that we’re not talking. But I hate her for how she keeps ripping everything apart.”