Page 9 of The Note

May was about to open the back door when Lauren said they’d of course all stay together andthat this wasn’t the weekend for Kelsey to be talking to strange men.

“Finally,” Lauren said as the truck began inching its way out of the space, the bed of the pickup coming so close to Josh’s Subaru that Kelsey shifted the car into reverse.

As the truck’s reverse lights turned off, May spotted a small white sedan approaching them in the opposite lane. “No, no, no, no,” she cried from the backseat as the driver of the white car hit the left turn signal. “Don’t you dare take our spot! Nooooo!”

As the pickup pulled away, Kelsey gave the Subaru horn a littlebeep-beepto underscore their claim to the spot. But reversing to make room for the enormous truck to depart had left enough space for the white sedan to make its move.

“Oh, bitch, no.” Lauren reached for the car horn as she realized what was happening.

Kelsey blocked Lauren’s hand as the white sedan swept cleanly into the vacant spot. Florida plates. A rental car. “Of course. Tourists.”

“We’retourists,” Lauren said, starting to roll down her window. “But they’re entitled asshole tourists.”

Kelsey held her right hand to the side of her face, shielding herself from the scene she obviously expected Lauren to make as she inched the car forward. The woman who stepped from thepassenger seat of the rental appeared to be looking directly at them, smiling.

“Oh my god,” May said, “did you see that look she gave us? She was so proud of what they did.”

“You should have at least let me blast them with the horn,” Lauren said. “They would have backed off.”

“Look at this cute little town. I don’t think people honk around here.”

“Um, says the woman who literally honked at them twice.”

“That’s different. A littlebeep-beepisn’t a honk.”

“Seriously,” May said, “did you guys see her actuallysmirkat us? What a total asshole.”

“You guys, stop,” Kelsey said, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. “I don’t want people staring at us because we’re yelling at people out of car windows.”

“I wasn’t sure,” Lauren said, “but you’re right. That girl totally knew that they were in the wrong.”

“So they’re awful, because people are awful,” Kelsey said. “But it’s just a stupid parking spot. And my good parking luck is going to come through again, I can feel it. Look, right around the corner. That convertible’s pulling out. I told you.”

With a few tries, Kelsey was able to squeeze Josh’s car into place with only a few inches to spare. May was about to open the back door when she spotted the couple from the rental turning the cornerdown the block. Both tall, white, and blond, but her hair was more of a strawberry blond. His arm was around her shoulders, and hers around his waist—two happy little lovebirds.

“Oh my god,” May said. “And there she is again.”

Kelsey glanced in the rearview for a glimpse and then moved her bag from the console to her lap, dropping the car keys inside. “Please, you guys. Just let it go.”

Lauren threw her arm around Kelsey’s shoulders when she joined them at the curb after the spot-thieving couple had passed by. “Who would have ever predicted that Little Miss Kelsey Ellis, of all people, would keep us on good behavior?”

“What can I say? I’ve learned the art of being Zen. Besides, let’s save our bad behavior for the fun stuff.”

When they were offered a table on the restaurant’s coveted front patio, May stepped toward the chair with its back to the sidewalk, leaving the prime people-watching seats to Lauren and Kelsey.

“Oh, do you mind if I sit there?” Kelsey asked. “My eyes are so sensitive to the sun.” The sun was already coming down the horizon to the west, and Kelsey’s hat and sunglasses were still firmly in place.

“Of course I don’t mind,” May said.

As close as May believed the three of them had become in the past year, she realized she had never allowed herself to feel truly sorry for Kelseybefore. That last dinner in Boston, it would have been unthinkable. Her life had seemed so enviably privileged and perfect.

She reached over and gave Kelsey’s hand a quick squeeze. “Thank you again for organizing this trip.”

Kelsey placed a second hand over May’s and held it for a long moment.

“Anything for my girls.”

7

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