Page 73 of Thanks for the Friendship
“Yes. She’s probably the nicest person on the planet,” I say. “We should all try to be more like her.”
“Anyway, Diane and David are really nice people,” he says. “I’m sorry if my problems make things awkward for you.”
“It’ll be fine. I can handle it.”
“Okay, good luck.”
“Thanks.”
“Lila.”
“Yes.”
“I’m looking forward to Friday night,” he says eagerly.
“Me too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Oh, Lila. What are you getting yourself into?
The door flies open, and Diane pulls me in for one of her signature hugs.
“I’m so glad you could come,” she exclaims. “Wait until you see all the house projects we’ve been working on.”
I’m actually excited to see the work they’ve done on the house. I do love a good home renovation.
Diane is wearing a pink T-shirt, denim capris, and more of those hideous rubber/plastic shoes. A good friend would tell her how tragic the shoes are, but I’m already going to be walking a fine line. Then she starts talking about Sara and Cal.
“Dave is out running some errands, so we have some time for girl talk.”
“Great. I love girl talk,” I lie. “I’d love to see what you’ve done in the house first.”
Maybe I can keep her occupied with that for a while.
She leads me to the guest bath where she’s added some floral wallpaper. Normally I would be against floral, but the print she’s chosen isn’t completely unsightly. She’s added some floating shelves with towels, and it actually looks nice. If anything, it’s very Diane, bright and cheerful.
“Can I get you a drink? A Mountain Dew?”
I force a smile. Not a chance. “I’m okay right now. Thanks.”
“David doesn’t love the wallpaper, but we made a deal, and I gave him free rein over the office.”
“That sounds like a fair trade.”
We continue on our tour, and she takes me to one of the rooms where she’s adding book shelving and a window seat.
“I thought this could be a fun room for younger guests,” she pauses, her face falling. “I had this dream of Sara and Cal having a child and they’d come stay with their aunt Diane on weekends.”
Ugh. And here we go. I’m sure this is hard for her because she thinks of Sara as a daughter.
“I’m sorry, Diane.”
She presses her lips together and places her hands on her chest.
“It’s just hard because I know Sara is so devastated. This breakup came out of nowhere. She was completely blindsided.”
No, what’s really hard is that she doesn’t know the whole story. I certainly don’t want to be the one to destroy the image she has of Sara.
