Page 20 of Friendshipped
“So,” Felicia continues. “In my experience, the best revenge for a bad break up is living well. Would you agree?”
I give my sister a slight warning glance.
She ignores it, flips her ponytail over her shoulder and barrels forward presenting her pitch to Jayme.
Jayme says, “I guess. It’s still fresh, though. I only found out yesterday.”
“And he was with someone else?” Felicia asks. Then she mercifully adds, “I’m not trying to pry. I’ve been there. Dumped by a man who had been cheating on me.”
She was? I had no idea. When was this? Why weren’t Trevor and I called in to exact revenge? I stare at my sister trying to catalog the men I know she’s dated and wondering which one did this to her.
“He and I dated for almost a year. I didn’t know if he wasthe one, but we were pretty serious. Then he broke up out of the blue. Mutual friends saw him with someone else that weekend. The way he was all over this new woman was too intimate for it to be new.”
Felicia looks at me and silently mouths, “William.”
“William?” I ask, but it comes out more like a statement while my head swims thinking of my sister going through this and me not even knowing about it.
They broke up while I was at Miami. I only met him once over Thanksgiving. I feel like I missed an entire season of my sister’s life.
“I’m sorry,” Jayme says before the words have a chance to come out of my mouth.
I nod in agreement.
Felicia waves her hand as if swatting off an annoying insect.
“I’m simply telling you my history, so you know I’m not flying blind here,” she explains. “I know what it means to grieve. But, you’re young. You don’t need to give much more energy to this guy who left you. You need to move forward. Grab up your own life. Find a man who fits you and appreciates you.”
Jayme nods. She’s sitting up, actually listening to my sister, who arguably does have a very persuasive way about her.
“That’s how I met Gregg,” she says. “People could have said Gregg was a rebound, and some even did, but it doesn’t matter how soon I met him after the dufus who left me—I try not to say my ex’s name out loud. It’s beneath me.”
I chuckle. Felicia’s so sincere, but sometimes so ridiculous.
Felicia shoots me a glance.
I stifle my laugh and take a sip of lemonade.
“And now Gregg and I are engaged,” she says as if it’s guaranteed anyone who follows her suggestions will end up happily married by the end of their experience.
She pulls her hand out from under the island where it had been resting on her knee. When she holds her fingers up and wiggles them, a huge diamond gleams at us from her ring finger. She’s even got props! It’s like she’s saying,Look, you too could have one of these. Just do as I say.
Despite Felicia’s misguided use of her engagement ring to entice Jayme back into the dating scene, I can’t help the surge of excitement mingled with happiness I feel for my sister.
I want to dig into all things wedding, after all, my sister came home to focus on planning this weekend, but Felicia turns to Jayme, setting aside all talk about herself. Nothing deters her when she’s got a potential reformation sitting right under her nose.
“So, I’m trying to tell you that you need to put yourself out there again. Get on the bike and ride. Not literally, of course, but you are in the prime of your life, with plenty of good men out there to choose from. You just have to find them.”
Felicia turns to me and says, “You too, Lexi. You both need to find good men.”
Felicia nods at each of us as if she’s presented the most logical idea in the history of ideas, and also the last word on the subject.
The next sentence comes through my ears like a muddled, drawn out sound, gurgling and distant. My brain processes Felicia’s words like I’m underwater.
“And … I’m going to help you.”
“We both need men?” I ask. “And you’re going to help?”
As much as I would like to start dating someone, the idea of Felicia orchestrating things makes me feel like I just rode the tilt-o-whirl at the county fair. My love life and my sister should remain separated like two siblings on a long car ride.
