Page 56 of Things We Tell Ourselves

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest. A week after we met, he found out that I’d never been to Bali and insisted we go.” She sighs, stepping up to the island a few feet from Nancy, gazing past all of them out the back windows. “It was exactly what I needed. It was…a spiritual experience, you know?” She gives each of them the briefest of glances before staring out into the backyard dreamily. “I felt connected to something greater than myself.”

“I bet,” Nancy mumbles, glimpsing at Leah.

Leah lifts a piece of toast to her mouth, tearing more than biting into it. “I saw the receipts,” she states, her teeth crunching into the toast, “It must have been one hell of a trip.”

Camille slowly pulls a barstool back to have a seat. Her toast has long since popped up, but she doesn’t dare take her eyes off of the events unfolding in front of her. The tension building in the room would normally send her running, but being an outside party to it, she can’t look away.

“Do you remember our trip to Bali?” Nancy asks, looking at Leah.

“I do,” Leah retorts. She takes another loud bite of her toast, crunching into it as she glares at Sadie as if it were her that her teeth were biting into. She swallows. “How long have you known my son?”

Sadie finally turns her eyes from the backyard, gazing at Leah as if pulled reluctantly from a fond memory. “A few weeks. He came to the launch of my clothing line. By the end of the night, he’d swept me off my feet. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”

Camille looks to Nancy, waiting on her to make another sarcastic comment.

“How lovely,” Leah mutters, the words sounding forced. Her nostrils flare as she takes another large bite from her toast.

Nancy looks to Camille. “Have you ever been to Bali?”

“No,” Camille replies, reaching across the island for the toaster.

“Here.” Nancy grabs the two pieces from the toaster.

“Just butter please,” Camille requests when Leah offers her the jelly.

Nancy slides the plate of toast and a small butter dish to her, looking at Sadie. “Get a butter knife from that drawer,” she nods at Sadie’s hip.

Sadie opens the drawer with a grin on her face when she hands Camille a knife.

“Thank you,” Camille responds. “I don’t even know where Bali is.”

“It’s in Indonesia,” Leah answers, setting her toast down on her plate. “Part of the Sunda Islands.”

Nancy picks at the crust of her toast. “We took a boat around the islands. It was years ago, but I still remember that blue water like it was yesterday.”

“That’s what I’d love to do next,” Sadie says, looking at Nancy. “Spending a week on a yacht with my girlfriends … going on a private tour of the waterfalls and Mount Batur.”

Nancy and Camille nod along. Camille slathers her toast with butter. Leah seems to be chewing louder than ever as if to drown out the sound of Sadie’s voice. None of them speak a word against Sadie’s assumption that Nancy and Leah went on a girls’ trip and not the lovers’ getaway Camille knew it to be.

“You didn’t want to visit Mount Batur with me,” Easton’s voice chimes in from the hallway.

He rounds the corner into the kitchen, wearing short swim trunks. His chest is bare except for the single long rope of a necklace, hanging halfway to his navel.

Sadie looks his top half over appraisingly. “We didn’t have time.”

Easton breaks out in a grin and walks over to her. “That’s right,” he replies, wrapping his arms around her midsection as she drinks her water. He kisses the side of her head and rests his chin on top of her shoulder, eyeing Camille and Leah across the island. “We barely left the suite.” He winks.

Leah stops chewing, dropping what’s left of her toast. She shoves the plate away from her.

“That’s it. I need to lay down.” She rolls into the living room.

“Careful,” Nancy warns Easton, “if you start talking about your bedroom prowess, your mother may start telling you about her own.”

Leah pauses to cast Nancy a cautious but amused glance.

“No thanks,” Easton huffs, setting his sights on the toaster.

“Come watch some Golden Girls with me,” Leah calls to Nancy, continuing her path to her bedroom. Nancy grabs her plate, tipping her head at Camille as she moves from the island.

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