Page 2 of Unbelievable You

At least the day wasn’t a total waste.

Eventually my mom gave up and Dad started calling. He was always the easier one to handle, so I picked up the second time he called while I was making dinner.

“Hey, Dad,” I said, trying not to sigh.

“Hello, pumpkin,” he said, and I rolled my eyes at the nickname. Bit silly to call me that just before laying on the enormous guilt trip I knew was coming.

I turned off the stove so I wouldn’t burn anything and braced my back against the island.

“How are you?” he asked, as if he didn’t know. As if he was just calling to chat for no particular reason.

I listened as he launched into all of the reasons I shouldn’t have left lunch so abruptly, how I had upset Mom, how I was their only daughter and it was my job to carry on the Larson legacy. I’d heard him say all this so many times I’d considered making Bingo cards and filling them out whenever he called me about something like this. Most of the words had been repeated so often that they’d lost all meaning.

When I could finally get a word in edgewise, I reiterated that I was my own person, that I was doing work that I enjoyed, that money wasn’t everything, that I could have done something really abhorrent, like going on a reality show or starting a podcast.

Eventually I was able to calm him down enough and promise that I wasn’t going to cut them off and that I was absolutely going to be attending the historical society lunch that my mom was in charge of in two weeks and that I would send flowers to “apologize” for leaving lunch the way I did. The flowers were one thing, but I’d rather get hit repeatedly by a train than go to her lunch, but I would. To keep the peace. Or at least as much as I could keep without wanting to say to hell with it and deleting them from my phone.

Sorry I was so busy today. How did lunch with your mom go? Cade asked in our group chat.

About as well as expected. I kind of stormed off and went to get a burger. Just got off the phone with Dad. Think I smoothed things over. Going to send flowers. You know the drill. I answered.

Cade and Reid had been through this routine enough times with me to know how it went.

You’ve got to put up better boundaries, kid Reid sent. She had an equally tumultuous relationship with her mother. Reid had been raised to fulfill her mother’s dream of becoming a ballerina and then Reid had smashed that to pieces and quit and things had been volatile ever since. They barely spoke, and it almost always ended in a fight and Reid cutting off contact for a while.

It wasn’t healthy, exactly, but I couldn’t really give her advice in that department when I had my own parental situation.

I’m working on it I sent and then Cade changed the subject by sharing a picture she’d taken of her girlfriend, Eloise. It still blew my mind that my friend Cade, the one who loved cake and chaos, was dating a famous author. It still didn’t make a whole lot of sense, if I was being honest. Not that I thought Cade wasn’t good enough for Eloise or anything like that, I just didn’t see them together. Eloise was this older woman with this huge career and she’d fallen for Cade, who’d been working as her assistant at the time, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Yes, Eloise had gotten her a new job, but still. I didn’t like it. I’d never say anything negative to Cade about it. She was head over heels, and she was happy. Eloise hadn’t done anything directly to cause me to pull Cade aside, but I had my eye on her. They were going on a book tour in about two months and that would be the real test. If she was asked about her relationship status, what would Eloise say? Would she tell the truth? And what would she do if people linked her with Cade and started being awful? I didn’t know her well enough to know if she’d step up and protect my friend.

She said she’s coming to Sapph with us this weekend Cade sent, and that did surprise me. Cade had organized a few hangouts with Eloise already, but this was bringing her into our territory. Eloise was older and freshly out as bisexual and Sapph could be overwhelming even when you were used to queer spaces.

Jury was still out on Eloise.

The next day was a busy one for me, which was good since it didn’t leave a whole lot of time to ruminate on my parental situation.

I had a showing at one of my properties in the morning, then a meeting with my boss at the agency to check in and see how things were going, a few PR packages came in that I needed to unbox and film (including doing my hair and makeup and styling an outfit), I had a new print to launch in my watercolor shop, and then I was teaching two yoga classes back-to-back. I managed to shove enough food in my mouth and stay hydrated in between. One of the yoga classes was heated and fainting in the middle of teaching wasn’t very good for my brand.

Fortunately, teaching was one of my favorite things. I’d set up my playlist and had written out a little plan, but more often than not, the classes my students liked the most were where I came up with a flow in the moment. My brain knew the drill at this point, and I found myself linking poses that might not seem like they flowed together and creating a funky flow. Wisdom and quotes that I didn’t even know that I knew flowed from my mouth and I sounded like a person who actually knew what the hell she was talking about instead of someone who only pretended to.

It was a full house tonight and everyone was in a good mood. We’d just switched sides, and everyone was deep into their flow when all hell broke loose.

Chapter Two

Hunter

Flashing lights and blaring sirens, followed by smoke and panic and screaming. For a moment, I froze, but then my brain kicked in and I quickly got everyone out of the room and into the hallway that was choked with smoke, telling everyone to get low and head for the stairs.

People were bumping into each other and frantic and I hoped someone had called 911 because I was going to make sure that everyone got out. Smoke filled the air, making it harder and harder to breathe. I didn’t see any flames, but it was impossible to tell where the fire was coming from. We needed to get out. Now.

“Someone call 911!” I yelled and then had a coughing fit. I needed to check the rooms and the bathrooms but there was too much smoke and if I didn’t get out now, I might get trapped. Just as I was debating what the fuck to do, I heard sirens. Thank fuck.

Crouching as close to the floor as I could get, I hustled in the direction of the stairs and started heading down. The air on the lower floors was clearer, but then I had a coughing fit and tripped, rolling my ankle and crashing to the landing on the third floor.

“Help!” I screamed through another coughing fit and streaming eyes. I wish I’d grabbed a towel from the room. I was only wearing a sports bra and my yoga pants, so I couldn’t use any of my clothing to cover my mouth and nose to protect my lungs.

“Fire department!” a voice called out.