Page 81 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

Her phone vibrated next to her.

“Riley,” Willow cried as her friend appeared on the screen. “I have missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too, babe. You should be here today.” Riley turned her phone to give her the full panorama. “It’s Jules’s birthday and her dad is throwing her this epic pool party. I slept over last night, so I’m just catching up on sleep while the caterer and florists do their thing.”

Envy filled her heart as she glanced over at the window where rain patted on the glass. “It’s raining here. Again. How can it be June and so grey outside?”

“Come home. Mom said to tell you she meant it, that you could come here to stay.”

“I wish I could. Dad is threatening some shit trying to declare me mentally incompetent and take over all of my financials. I don’t think he’s serious, and my lawyer has gotten ahead of it, we hope.”

“Oh, Will. That sucks. I mean, Darrin hasn’t always been the most levelheaded, but I didn’t think he was particularly cruel.”

Willow huffed. “He stiffed me out of the majority of my earnings for most of my life. He’s routinely put his hands on me in an aggressive way. To drag me somewhere, to get me to focus. I’m starting to see it all add up for what it was. Controlling abuse. I’m not the first child actor it’s happened to.”

Riley shrugged. “It’s not like he really abused you.”

“What?” She couldn’t believe the words from her friend.

“I just mean, he hasn’t beaten you, right?”

“What’s your definition of abuse, Riley? The number of times I’ve had bruises from a grip too hard and was then gaslit into believing I deserved it. While the weather here sucks, walking around every day knowing I’m not going to be treated that way has been a blessing.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I guess when I think of abuse, I think of deliberate physical beatings, not the shit your dad did. Anyway, show me your bump.”

Willow stood and grinned, smoothing her black dress over her bump. “The doctor says I’ve officially popped. And it’s a boy.”

“I’m going to be an honorary aunt to a boy. You look so good. Did you pick out a name?”

“Not yet. Luke is still calling him Cletus.”

“And how is Luke coping with it all? I mean, that was some ultimatum you dropped on him. I’m glad he stepped up.”

“He’s doing great. It took us a while to find our feet. I tried to keep to the contract, but ...” She sighed. How to explain how it was impossible to not get buoyed along by Luke’s sudden one-eighty. “We’re ... I don’t know ... what’s the adult word for fooling around?”

Riley’s eyes flashed wide. “I think that’s called friends with benefits. Or hooking up. Wow. I mean. Are you staying there with him long-term?”

Was she? She heard the door to the apartment slam. Luke was home. She’d dressed for him, in a slim knit dress that showed off her new pregnancy curves.

“It’s way too early to make those kinds of decisions. Staying in Manchester is a huge step. Malibu is home to me. Listen, Luke just got home, so I’m going to have to go in a minute.”

“Oh, well. I wondered if you could do me a favour?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“I need to borrow fifty thousand dollars.”

Her stomach flipped at the size of the ask. “Riley, that’s a lot of money.”

“I know, I know. It’s a lot. I’m sorry. I said I wasn’t going to get into a mess on my credit cards again, but I did. And you know last time Dad paid them off, he said he wasn’t going to bail me out anymore. I wondered if you could pay it off for me just this once, and I’ll pay you back a bit each month.”

Something troubled her. While she’d do just about anything for her one true friend, she knew Riley had a spending problem, trying to live up to everyone else in their zip code. “It was only four months ago that your dad nixed bailing you out. So, you spent a lot. That’s over ten thousand a month.”

Riley flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “I feel like garbage about it. I don’t even know how it happened.”

“It happens when you hand over your card for shit you can’t afford to repay. It’s not rocket science.”

Riley played with the ends of her hair. “I know,” she said on a whine. “But then, Jules’s dad said she could borrow the condo in Miami, and we went for a month. And you know how Jules is, she’s so extra. We went to all these great places. We hired this speed boat and toured the Keys. It got expensive real fast.”

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