Page 51 of About Last Night

“Yeah, I know,” Toni says, extremely proud of herself, nonetheless.

The children in line to see Santa start cheering and screaming when they see Toni. She immediately bellows a deep, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” and something deep inside me stirs.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AUDREY

I was wrong. There were at least two hundred presents under that Christmas tree and we’ve handed out nearly all of them, thank God. Watching Toni play Santa, letting kids sit on her lap and tell her what they want for Christmas with a sweet, steady smile and affection is incredibly attractive. Toni is effortlessly charming, but her charm is rooted in kind-heartedness, selflessness that you see less and less these days. Greta, despite her talk of not liking kids, is patient and sweet with every single child that comes up to give her a hug, and they all come up to give her a hug. All four of the Giordanis receive hugs from every family member. They have conversations with all of them, focusing on each, making them seem like the only people in the room. If I’m exhausted after merely smiling and handing kids presents, I can’t imagine how tired the Giordanis are.

We’re down to only a dozen or so presents when I look up to see where the end of the line is and see the last person I expect chatting with Piero.

Shae.

Shae grins and waves. She’s wearing her black-rimmed glasses and a newsboy hat I bought her. She looks good, but Shae always looks good. But this time there’s no desire, no quickening of my pulse. All I feel is frustration, anger, and confusion. What the hell is she doing here? And why is she talking to Piero?

Willa notices I’m holding up the line and follows my gaze. Before I can say anything or move, Willa is off, a thunderous expression on her face.

Oh shit.

I grab the nearest person I know and ask them to take over for me for a moment and walk as quickly as possible, but there is no way I’m catching my sister. I see Piero’s expression go from polite professionalism to confusion as soon as Willa opens her mouth.

“—got some fu— nerve coming here. What do you think you’re doing?” Willa says.

I put my hand on Willa’s arm. She’s vibrating with anger and I’m reminded of the scene fifteen years earlier when my mother kicked me out of the house. Willa means well, but right now she has tunnel vision, and that tunnel is bright red with anger and pointed directly at Shae. She’s forgotten, or doesn’t care, where we are. That no matter what the fuck Shae is doing here, we have to maintain our professionalism. We aren’t employees, we’re contractors, and guests at this Christmas party. We cannot make a scene.

I should be the one who’s angry, and I probably will be later. But a calmness settles over me. This conversation was going to happen eventually. Might as well get it over with.

“What the hell are you doing here, Shae with an E?” Toni says in full Santa regalia, including fake beard.

“Toni,” Piero says, a warning in his voice.

“Toni,” Shae says and looks her up and down. “You look better in biker drag.”

“I’ll walk you out, Shae,” I say. “Willa, will you take over for me with the kids? Excuse us.” I move forward quickly, try to grab Shae by the elbow to turn her around, but she takes my hand. It’s more important that I get her out of the building and save as much face as possible, so I don’t release her hand, but tighten my grip and pull her along. Once outside I search the parking lot for her car. I pull her towards it.

“I’m coming, you don’t have to drag me,” Shae says.

I release her hand and walk the remainder of the way. At her car, I turn and cross my arms over my chest. “What do you think you’re doing, coming here like this?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to talk to you. That should be pretty obvious by now.” Shae opens her mouth to respond but I hold up my hand. “I’ve said all I have to say, all there is to say. You need to leave. Now.”

“No. I’m not leaving until you tell me why.”

“Oh my God, you’re joking, right?” Shae starts to speak but I keep going. “One of the reasons was hanging all over you that night at Dewey’s. She’s one of a half dozen reasons, that I know of. I’m sure there’s more.”

“That wasn’t what it looked like.”

I roll my eyes. “Why do you even care, Shae? You were obviously never satisfied with being monogamous. Now you can do what you want to do with whomever, whenever. Is this all about saving face?”

“Saving face?”

“It must be humiliating that I left you. Big blow to your ego and reputation.”

“You didn’t leave me.”

I laugh. “OK, fine. Now’s your chance. Break up with me.”

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