I roll my eyes and send another text.
Me: You’ll be doing me a favor.
Sara: How?
Me: Because I won’t have to worry that you’ll break down.
Another lie, but I’m getting pretty good at this.
Sara:
Me:
Sara: Fine, but I’m paying you.
Me: Whatever. Just come over here.
There’s a long pause.
Sara: Can you make it cheap, though? I’m broke.
Me: JUST COME OVER HERE.
Sara: Bossy you sometimes turns me on. I’m not going to lie. But today—it pisses me off.
Motherfucking hell.
My entire body tenses as I type furiously.
Me: Are you coming?
Sara: Is that an innuendo or a real question?
Me:
Sara: I’ll be there in five minutes. I was leaving Muggers anyway.
I drop my phone. It rattles on my desktop.
“You sure you’re okay, Banks?” Tasha asks.
I look up to catch her standing in the doorway. She’s studying me intently.
“I’m fine,” I say. “Ashley’s friend, Sara, will be in here in just a few minutes. Can you send her back here, please?”
“Sure,” she says slyly. “But remember I’m leaving early today. I gotta get my daughter to her dentist appointment on time, or they won’t see us anymore.”
I nod.
She swallows, her chest rising and falling. “I also wanted to talk to you about something.”
Don’t say vacation. Don’t say vacation. Don’t say vacation.“Sure, what’s up?”
“My husband and I were talking last night, and I told him how you said I should take a vacation.”
Internally, I scream. “Yeah.”
“He’s going to an Illinois Legends meet-and-greet or something in Chicago. He won tickets somehow a while back. Anyway, he was thinking that it would be really cool if we could make it a family trip.”