Page 23 of One More Time
‘I’ll keep that plan on standby,’ Kim said, sitting up and donning her full Lady Boss persona – spine stiff, those amber eyes piercing.
Lucy tamped down a feeling of dread. The Lady Boss pulled no punches, and she wasn’t sure she was sturdy enough to handle the blows.
‘Nicky Broome,’ Kim said sharply. ‘He was not great to you all those years ago. And, this may be a stereotype at work here, but surely decades in the rock-and-roll business haven’timprovedhis character.’
Lucy couldn’t say really, one way or another. Nicky seemed funny and thoughtful. He had been interested in her, listened and teased. It had felt …easybetween them, at least once they’d gotten over the initial awkwardness. Plus, Kim didn’t have the full picture. She didn’t know about the song, and what came after. The pain and regret. It was probably the one and only secret Lucy had ever kept from her best friend of some forty years. And it was a big one. Huge, really. But it was a lie by omission that was as fixed as bedrock. The maelstrom of Nicky Broome was something Lucy had kept for herself. If she was the only one who knew, no one could minimize it. Nobody else could own even a little piece of it for themselves.No oneknew.
‘This isn’t some big thing,’ said Lucy. ‘I just ran into an old friend.’
‘Flame,’ Kim corrected.
Lucy pushed back, ‘Friend.’ She took a deep breath, knowing just where Kim was headed with this topic. ‘Look, I know I’m absolute garbage when it comes to men. I makebad choices. I made at least three pretty big ones. I’ve come to terms with that. No more ex-husbands for me, thanks. My collection’s complete.’
‘I know this is a novel idea, but youcanfeel things for someone without marrying them. I have felt plenty of things and have exactly zero ex-husbands.’
‘I know what you’ve felt, Kim. And it’s mostly anatomy,’ Lucy said.
Kim shrugged, not the least bit bothered.
Lucy went on, ‘I have no intention of getting all wrapped up in anyone. I’m not doing that anymore. Not even for Nicky-rock-star-Broome. Even though he actually makes panties melt all the way off whenever he so much as walks by.’
‘That is a very niche superpower,’ Kim retorted. ‘And, by the way, I think you can do it. I believe in you. I know you can get all up in his anatomy and not come out with an ex-husband. Let him melt those panties repeatedly.’
‘That sounds really …unsanitary,’ Lucy chided. ‘But yes. I think I will.’
‘Good, you need a break as much as I do. More. You’ve got the bride, the family bullshit, the goddamn dads convention.’God, the dads.She hadn’t allowed herself to dwell too much on that particular wedding gift. Ex-husbands were truly the gift that kept on giving. ‘Take time this week to decompress. Enjoy a distraction.’
‘I’ll try,’ Lucy replied, mostly meaning it.
‘DecompressunderNicky Broome,overNicky Broome—’
‘Yeah, I think I understand what you’re getting at.’
‘Good,’ Kim said, clapping her hands to her knees as though she’d really just done some damn business. ‘Now, if I’m not mistaken, we have some bridesmaids to endure.’
‘Kim,’ Lucy warned gently.
‘Sorry, I meanenjoy. Enjoy! Of course, I meant enjoy.’
CHAPTER TEN
LUCY
There was a lot of giggling. Given the amount of complimentary champagne in the room, this was not entirely surprising. Still, the giggling was different. It bordered on manic at times, and seemed to be contagious. Occasionally, tears accompanied the giggles; other times, they came interspersed with exclamations of joy. There had been a brief but unsettling Taylor Swift sing-along. There were a lot of selfies. A lot of talk about angles.
Lucy and Kim reclined side by side in matching pink velvet chairs in the center of the circular room. Around them, each on a separate pedestal, were Chloe’s four bridesmaids. They were all lovely, none of them were above the age of twenty-three, and there was So. Much. Giggling.
A battalion of seamstresses in smart black tailor’s coats bustled around pinning, stitching, and consulting with one another.
‘I feel like a sociologist plopped down in the middle of astrange, isolated tribe. I don’t know what this ritual is, but it’s fascinating,’ Kim said in a low rumble, her eyes fixed on Chloe’s friend Alexis. Alexis was stupidly gorgeous and could easily be a long-lost Kardashian (of the Jenner variety). Kim added, ‘I don’t think we ever giggled this much.’
Lucy replied, ‘That’s because we’re Gen X miscreants raised feral.’ Lucy couldn’t drag her eyes away from Chloe’s cousin Hannah, who was attempting a viral social media dance in floor-length lavender silk. ‘We were fully formed jaded malcontents by age twenty. We were too world-weary for giggles.’
‘I find that oddly comforting,’ Kim said, before taking a healthy sip of her champagne. ‘In related news, it turns out I enjoy drinking before noon. Will all these events involve day drinking?’
‘Yes,’ Lucy replied matter-of-factly.
‘Excellent.’
