Not Sorry

I frown. “I can’t do that to Owen. I promised I would come to his show today.”

Keri shakes her head and finishes off her margarita. “You are too good to that boy. You have to be up in less than eight hours. You need to go home and get some sleep.”

“Maybe, but I would feel horrible if I missed his show.” I take another sip of my wine.

Keri raises an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t feel horrible if you broke up with him.”

Wine spews out of my mouth

. “Why would I break up with him? I love him.”

Now, it’s Jamie’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Because he treats you like dirt, and you are so much better than him.”

“He does not! Just last weekend, he took me to that amazing hotel—”

“And you spent most of your night cleaning up his puke,” Jamie says, also ganging up on me.

“He just drank a little too much! It can happen to the best of us.”

“It was your birthday, Olive! He was supposed to be taking care of you! Instead, you probably spent the whole night apologizing for letting him drink that much.”

I blush. She’s right. I did.

“I don’t want to talk about Owen anymore.” I ask Keri, “How are your classes going?”

She has gone back to school to get an English degree. A degree that I don’t have the heart to tell her won’t make her more money than what she was making when she was a real estate agent.

“I quit.”

My jaw drops open. “What? Really? That’s great! There is a new management position open that I think you would be perfect for.”

Keri starts laughing until she is snorting.

“What’s so funny?”

“I didn’t quit. I just wanted to get your honest feelings about if I should be going to school or not, and I knew you wouldn’t give me an honest answer unless I told you I’d quit.”

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry, Keri! I didn’t mean…I mean, you should—”

“Stop apologizing, Olive.”

“I’m sorry.”

Keri raises an eyebrow at me.

“I’m sorry. I mean—”

Keri shakes her head. “Anything new going on at work?” she asks, looking from me to Jamie.

“I hired someone to be me while I’m gone these next few months,” Jamie says.

Keri eyes me but doesn’t say anything even though I know she thinks I should be the person for the job.

Jamie turns to me. “What did you think of Sean? You think he’ll make a good me while I’m gone?”

I blush. “I’m not the best person to judge Sean. We didn’t get off to the greatest of starts.”

Keri leans back in her chair, glancing up as Owen and his band finally take the stage. “And why not?”