“Well, Veronica is back—”
“She left?”
“Yeah, apparently she left with a totally different billionaire, pretty much the minute she got here! That’s why they called me!”
“Weird,” Tabby sniffs.
“Extremely,” I agree. “And she’s back, with this… guy. This investor from Portugal or something. He is kind of… Well, I guess they are a couple now? But they sort of look like Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia, if you know what I mean.”
“Ewwww,” Tabby shudders theatrically.
“Right.”
“So if Veronica has been away this entire time, what was so important that you couldn’t even send me a picture or anything? Your old friend Tabby, just left hanging high and dry out here in lonely old Miami.”
She breaks off suddenly, squinting suspiciously.
“Seriously, Opal,” she begins again. “What exactly could have made you forget about the most important person in your life?”
“I could never forget about you,” I object.
“And yet…”
I feel like she’s trying to read my mind through the app. And I am defenseless against her. It doesn’t matter how far away from each other we are.
“Okay, I need you to keep an open mind,” I begin cautiously.
“I knew it!” she barks triumphantly. “Pool boy? Please tell me it’s a pool boy. Pilot? Astronaut? Does Jabba the Hutt have a twin brother or something?”
“Seriously! Tabby! Do you promise?”
She raises three fingers in front of the computer screen. “I solemnly swear.”
“Smiling and supportive!” I reiterate.
Slowly at first, I begin to tell her the story. I want to make sure that when I explain the extra naughty parts, she is already on board. But with each sentence, I hear myself speeding up. There’s so much to tell. And it’s so exciting!
I tell her about Cal on the jet, about his advice to be more audacious. I tell her about Irving’s response to my boldness. And how the ocean breezes and the beautiful men just drove me a little… insane maybe? Because all of a sudden I needed more and more and more. All of a sudden, I had to have everything.
Tabby’s eyes widen, then widen some more. But I can’t stop. I have to tell her every little bit, even if it shocks her unconscious. I need her to know. Maybe I’m just explaining it to myself so I can hear it out loud and confirm it is real.
When I finally pause, Tabby looks like she’s just been on the back of a motorcycle. Even her hair has reacted with shock.
“You’re supposed to be supportive,” I remind her. “Be supportive now.”
“But where did he go!” she begs plaintively. “You just let him go? Just like that? Where the hell is he?”
I bite back a smile. That’s my best friend. She is on board.
“I don’t know,” I admit sadly. “Cal seems to think… I guess running off is not out of character.”
“I would chase his ass down!” Tabby asserts, completely believably. “I certainly would not let that beautiful piece of man meat get away from me!”
“I want to chase him,” I admit. “I guess I can take comfort in the fact he’s not running away fromme?”
“Sure, it’s just a coincidence that he is somewhere completely other than where you are,” she shoots back wryly.
“Ouch,” I wince.