“Do you think if our friendship remains in the it’s complicated mode for a bit longer that Scarlet won’t be able to forgive me? I don’t know how to uncomplicate things when my best friend is dating my daughter. Dating. Oh God, that word is hard to swallow. Like liver and onions.”
Neera shuddered. “Ugh, liver. Do I have to be compared to liver?”
“I said it was hard to swallow. Not that you were liver.”
“Duly noted.”
“You know, maybe it’s easier if she comes here. Do you think she’d want to come here? I could make tea here. I could— I’d be more comfortable if she was here. But then, what if things get weird and I have to force her to leave?”
“Mom.” Neera almost cracked a smile. “I’m sure she’d come over. It’s not going to be weird. Maybe just a little bit, but not what do I do if I can’t get her out of my house weird.”
“Oh goodness, I called her a daughter-fucker.”
“You did.”
“Like a motherfucker, but worse.”
“I think we all got that, yup.” Neera inhaled sharply. “I hope you know it’s not the two of us against you. I want to be a badass threesome. I mean, not that way. Oh, my God, not that way. A trio. Like a duo, but better. No third wheels. I want adventure. I want real life. I want you to be right there with us when we’re forging streams and scaling mountains— I’m not being literal here. No mountains. I would be a terrible mountain climber. Well, maybe a small mountain sometime, even though we’ve never actually gone camping before and we’d be the worst citified people and it would probably be hilarious. Point is, I want you there on all our adventures. In our lives. I’m not going to disappear, and neither is Scarlet. Both of us are the same people still, even if the dynamic has changed.”
Elodie wrapped her arms around herself, which made Neera’s heart hurt. She hated that she was hurting her mom. That she was putting up walls between them and divisions, tearing holes in a relationship that had always been the most important one in her life. “I just don’t know if I can go over there right now.” Elodie bit down on her wavering bottom lip and she wouldn’t look at Neera. “But if you do, I will understand.”
“Okay.” Neera let out an exhale. “I’m going to go over, and I’ll tell Scarlet where you’re at. Which is that you don’t hate her, but you’re just not ready to see her yet, but soon. You still love her, but loving someone doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t get mad or doesn’t need their space.”
“That’s very accurate.”
“I’m going to head over there now then.”
“Don’t you want something to eat?”
“I’m good. I’ll just grab something when I get back.”
“I could make something for you that isn’t tuna.” It was a kind offer, but more than that, it was her mom offering to take care of her, and Neera knew an olive branch when she saw one.
Her reassuring look changed to something softer. Something that she hoped her mom took for understanding. Neera wasn’t going to push. If Elodie wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. “I’ll just make a grilled cheese or something if I’m hungry.”
“You’ll be back, though, soon?”
Neera gave her mom a reassuring smile. “I will. An hour or two.”
Elodie bit the corner of her lip again and blinked hard, but then she nodded. It wasn’t even halfway to a blessing, but it was something, and something counted. It really, really did.
Chapter 16
Scarlet
Scarlet knew that Neera was coming because she texted that she was heading over to her house, so she scrubbed her face in the bathroom and checked her reflection in the mirror. She’d done something she rarely ever did and closed the boutique for the day. She’d posted on the social media sites and the website that the store was closed due to staff illness. She could have called someone in, but with staff coming and going, she really hadn’t trained someone for the day shift, since she was always there, generally without fail.
She realized how silly that was. She used to have a day person who helped at the boutique full time alongside her, but then Sarah had quit. Scarlet had part-time and full-time seasonal help before Christmas, but most people only applied for the jobs because they knew they were temporary, and they wanted extra money and work for the holidays.
After, with January being so slow, she hadn’t got around to hiring someone. She’d had Neera, and
she’d put off doing interviews. She hadn’t trained any of her evening or weekend staff, who were part-time, to work day shifts because most of them were on schedules where they wouldn’t be able to fill in anyway due to school or other jobs or having families.
She stared at her red rimmed eyes in the mirror. Her face still felt puffy even after soaking it with cold water. She felt like she hadn’t stopped crying since she left her parent’s house the evening before.
What did you expect? You knew that was how they would react.
The doorbell cut off her pity party before she could get into it full swing. She dabbed at her face with a soft towel then walked to the door. She knew she probably looked like leftovers warmed up and then put in the freezer, then taken out, thawed, and warmed up again. She almost didn’t want to answer, but it was Neera out there, and honestly, Scarlet was tired of being alone. She was tired of putting on a brave face for everyone. She was tired of being something and someone that she wasn’t.