Page 17 of Everyone Is Lying to You

“Did you hear his dad went to prison? Pyramid scheme!” Bex says.

“I saw that. But what’s he doing? Rodrigo?”

“Running a hedge fund.”

That makes sense. Money makes money, even if your dad is a felon. “So this deal of yours…how does your husband feel about it all?”

“That’s the problem.” She pauses again and massages her temples. It’s dark on the balcony now and her face is only illuminated by the light inside the room. I can still see the dusky outline of the bruise.

“He doesn’t know about it,” she finishes. “And he isn’t going to like it. He’s…he’s traditional about a lot of things.”

“Obviously,” I snort. It’s the closest I’ve come to expressing any kind of judgment about the life she’s chosen.

“Yeah. I know.”

“And he doesn’t want you to do what? To work? You’re already working, aren’t you?”

“But no one knows that. Or if they do they don’t believe it. People are happy to think I just take pictures and videos of my life as a homemaker, right? They don’t think it’s real work and Gray kind of takes that attitude too. But this, this would be a job, a big job, and I know he won’t like it.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m still figuring that out. I would love for you to write about it as it happens, when I announce the deal, I mean, get it up as soon as possible. And then we can do the whole profile, but I want to make it so that this is something he can’t take away from me. I want it out there in the light and I want everyone to know.” The words catch in her throat. She chokes on them. “Too many things are hidden and secret in our lives. I want to change that. I want something better for my kids, especially the girls.”

I reach over to place my hand on top of hers. I get it. I want opportunities for my daughter that I never had. I want her to have all the things, even if I don’t know exactly what that means.

“You’re brave,” I say.

“I’ve never been more scared in my life. But I have some leverage. There’s some things Gray would rather I not know. Rather no one knows. I don’t want this to get nasty. But I have ammunition.”

She shivers and it isn’t because of the cool breeze coming in from the desert.

“Want to go inside and watch a movie? Finish off a bottle of wine?” she says, deliberately changing the subject.

“Yes please,” I say, and mean it. I want nothing more than to grab the insanely fuzzy blanket from the foot of the bed and pop open the expensive wine that welcomed me on the counter and check ifHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Daysis on the hotel TV. It seems like the kind of movie that’s always on a hotel TV. I want to snuggle with my old friend the way we did in college. When was the last time I just sat on a couch and watched a movie with a girlfriend? It’s been years. I don’t think I’ve done it since I went away with my sister right before Nora was born for what we called our sistermoon. And that’s my sister, not even a friend. I talk to my mom friends mostly on text because even though we all started out having our babies in the city, now we’ve scattered to various suburbs and even new states. I’ve made some new friends since our move, but it feels like we’re still auditioning each other. Plus, it takes dozens of texts to get a single mom date on the calendar and even then childcare falls through for half of them.

But I yawn. I’m exhausted and drunk and also hungover atthe same time and I’m already yearning for my first cup of coffee in the morning as I dread the headache that awaits me.

Bex sees it in my face. She’s always been able to read me. I miss that.

“I forgot about the time difference again,” she says quietly. “You must be exhausted.”

“Yeah. But maybe I could rally.”

“No. No. There’s time for us to catch up. You’re here for the week. So much time. Get some sleep and let’s meet up in the morning before the main event. I’ll order breakfast to my room. I’m just down the hall.”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course. I need a good night’s sleep too.” She stands. “Ohhhhhhh, but I do need to use your bathroom before I head out. I’ve got insane mom bladder, especially after those martinis.”

“Trust me. I know. I leak when I laugh too hard, and I have to cross my legs when I sneeze. It must be worse after six.”

“You have no idea. My vagina is the size of the Grand Canyon.”

It’s such a Bex thing to say. Something that I would never imagine coming out of Rebecca’s mouth or being in one of her captions. I wonder how long I’ll get to have this version of her…if it’s only for tonight.

“I’ll wait to stand up until you get out of the bathroom ’cause I’m gonna have to go real quick too,” I say.

I lean back on the rocking chair as she opens the sliding door and steps inside. The haze has cleared and the stars are something else out here. I think I see Orion and maybe Lupus, the wolf. Peter is very into astronomy. It’s one of his many hobbies.I don’t have hobbies anymore and I don’t even know what they would be if I had the time. But Peter loves mastering a subject just enough to sound smarter than most people in the room. He put one of those constellation finder apps on my phone. I reach for it so I can tell him what I’ve seen when we talk in the morning.

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