Page 24 of Because of You
There is literally nothing on earth better than girlfriends. “Aw, thanks, pals. I think this is the one.”
“No thinking about it,” declares Molly. “Go put your clothes back on. You’re finished here.”
I do what she says, slipping the red dress back onto the hanger and placing it on the rack that the store left us to hold our final choices. I join Molly on the couch where she is scrolling through her phone. She turns to me when I sit next to her.
“Hal, we’ve barely talked about the Caseys since the hearing. Have you heard anything from them?”
“Jen called me yesterday. They have both sets of grandparents with them this weekend. They couldn’t make itfor the hearing, so they are having a little weekend family celebration. She says Maya is over the moon and has already written her new name on everything she owns.”
“That’s the sweetest thing I have ever heard,” says Julie, as she walks out of her dressing room in a black halter dress and starts examining herself in the mirror. “I’m so sad I missed the hearing. I would have loved to have been there.”
My mind reels with all the things I could say to Julie right now. At first, I say none of them, not wanting to upset our balance or mess up this shopping trip that Molly planned. But then, I hear Ben in my head.How you feel matters. And he’s right. It does matter.
“You could have been there, you know. I would have liked you to be there. I think Eric, Jen, and Maya would have appreciated it.”
Julie turns to me. “I wish I could have, but there was so much to do at the office. The plumber came that morning, and some tech equipment was being delivered, and someone had to be there for all of that. I texted Eric and Jen, and I sent Maya some gifts later that afternoon and promised I would come see them as soon as I could.” With that, she turns back to the mirror.
It’s nice that she made it right with the Caseys, but what about me? She didn’t even apologize or mention she knew how important that hearing was to me. I consider saying more but decide against it. My stomach is churning with nerves, and I know this is just the way Julie is. She gets so tunnel-visioned when she goes into work mode that she forgets about the people around her. She is impossible to reason with, and trying would just toss a wet blanket over the rest of our day. I stay quiet even though I’m reeling on the inside, words and words and words that I could say to Julie bubbling up before I shove them back down again.
Before long, Emma comes out of her dressing room and all four of us weigh the pros and cons of the dresses that she and Julie picked out.
But in the back of my mind, I keep hearing Ben’s soothing and sure voice saying, over and over again,How you feel matters.
Chapter Sixteen
Hallie
Our limo glides to a stop in front of the Fairmont in downtown Pittsburgh. Dark green carpet lines the sidewalk in front of the hotel, with press on either side of the entrance behind ropes and crowds of people lining the carpet.
“Our Jeremy doesn’t do anything halfway when it comes to his baby,” says Molly, snapping closed the compact she was using to check her makeup and sliding it into her gold clutch.
I have been coming to Jeremy’s Kids Play annual gala since the very first one back when we were in college. Since Jeremy started the foundation right after he left the league, it was already up and running by the time he met Ben. He played for Pittsburgh’s NHL team before his injury and fell so hard for our city that you would think he is a native. After his injury, he never left. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and started the foundation right here. Even with the crowds and the athletes and the razzle dazzle that Jeremy delivers, the gala feels warm and friendly. The food and music are outstanding, and it is one of my favorite nights of the year.
“This is so not my scene,” mumbles Emma as the driver opens the door for us and we exit the car into mayhem. “I don’t know why you guys make me come every year when I would bejust as happy to stay home and finish packing and let you tell me all about it at brunch tomorrow morning.”
Tomorrow we leave for our annual summer vacation at the Parkers’ lake house, so the four of us are meeting for brunch in the morning before we drive to the lake.
Julie links her arm through Emma’s.
“Because, my dear friend, we all must be equally hung over for our road trip to Maryland.” Julie ticks off all the rest of the reasons on her fingers one by one like a teacher giving her class instructions. “Also, you like Jeremy, we can’t take our annual ‘we’re all dressed up and fancy’ picture without you, and this year we are networking too. Go forth and find those clients, besties.”
“Of course I like Jeremy; we all like Jeremy.”
“Not like you do,” Julie and I say simultaneously.
“Jesus, Jules, do you ever just turn off work mode?” Molly grumbles.
“You should know her better than that, Mol,” I say in a voice that makes me sound cheerier than I feel on the inside. The idea of networking for a firm I’m not even sure I want to be a part of sounds exhausting, and the thong that my clingy dress requires digs into my hips in a way that makes me want to tear it off and go without underwear for the night. “Jules never gives it a rest. There is always an opportunity for networking, and none so much as tonight, in a room full of the wealthiest and most well-known athletes in the country, a lot of whom have probably never even considered the words estate planning, much less tried to do some of their own.”
“Fucking right,” says Jules, pointing at me. “Now, picture please.” The picture is our annual tradition. The first year the four of us came to the gala together during the summer after our first year of law school, we took a picture together on thesidewalk in front of the hotel. It was our first picture all together, and we have taken one together before the gala ever since.
“Excuse me, can you take our picture?” Julie flags down a man who turns out to be Asher Hansley, veteran quarterback of Pittsburgh’s NFL team. He is at least six-two and gorgeous in that boy-next-door, purposefully disheveled light brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, bright smile, and blinding white teeth kind of way. That’s just the way it is at this event. Athletes everywhere. For a second, he stands frozen, a half-smile on his face as he stares at Julie. But then he seems to snap out of it, and I snicker when he grabs the phone and motions us together. Julie’s regular sized iPhone looks like a Barbie accessory in this guy’s giant hands. We all put our arms around each other and lean in close. God, I love these women, and this night.
“You ladies look stunning,” he says as he snaps a bunch of pictures and then hands the phone back to Julie. “Enjoy the party. Save me a dance, blondie.” His gaze locks on Julie, who immediately flushes in a very un-Julie-like way. Then he flashes us a wink and swaggers towards the entrance. I turn to see Julie still staring at what is, admittedly, a superior ass, as Asher makes his way down the carpet, flashing his smile at reporters and fellow carpet-walkers. It’s so satisfying that even cool as a cucumber Julie Parker is not immune to the dazzle of the professional athlete.
“Jules, get your eyes off that man’s ass.” Her head snaps up. Her face is still red, and she is wearing a sheepish smile.
“But it’s such a nice ass. Probably looks even nicer in black football pants.”
