“Doing great,” Louis said.
Danny patted his shoulder. Then he followed Maggie into the room and toward the small contingent of our friends.
Louis tilted his head and took me in. “Don’t think about it for one more minute. We all know who you really are.”
I felt a twinge in my chest, but I pushed it down as he handed the drink over.
Then he leaned down and whispered, “A woman who clearly knew about her surprise party.”
I laughed and he tipped his glass in my direction.
“Come and find me, but not until you’ve had at least one of those,” he said.
He looked me up and down.
“Maybe two.”
I smiled as he headed off, and I turned to check out the crowd. How could I casually slip away now? And where on earth was Violet? I looked around the room at the guests—Derek and Michelle; Kelly Specter; Ryan and Meredith; Christopher, who photographed my cookbooks, and Christopher’s new fiancée, Julie Diaz. Julie was a partner at The Agency. She repped a lot of talent in the culinary world, and had made a play to be my agent, though Ryan (with his law degree) said there was no reason to bring someone else into the mix. What he meant was he didn’t want to hand over any of the money.
I was about to lose it when I spotted Violet making her way toward me, a slider in her hand.
“What’s going on here?” she said in a singsongy voice. “Why do you look like someone just gave you a bad oyster?”
“My phone won’t stop buzzing,” I whispered.
“How many emails do you get a day on average? Not to sound like Ryan, but you’re going to have to pull it together.”
She was right. But I pulled my phone out, and I saw a familiar subject line.
Hello, Sunshine
I clenched my teeth. This was starting to get irritating.
Did you think you’d get rid of me so quickly? #exhibit2 #comingsoon
Violet, who was reading over my shoulder, laughed a little too hard, trying to suggest that it didn’t matter. “This freak can send all the emails he wants. Your Twitter feed is secure! No one is getting in there!”
She pulled out her phone and showed me, like proof. No Tweets, not from me, not from the fake me.
“What’s going on, ladies? Why are we standing in the doorway?”
I looked up to see Ryan walking over, Meredith coming up behind him. She was dressed elegantly in knee-high boots and thin black pants, her long, honey-blond hair appropriately straightened. Her arms and thighs not revealing the three children she’d pushed out.
“Aintnosunshine just wrote again,” Violet said, holding up my phone to show him.
Meredith smiled tightly. “Our friendly neighborhood truth-teller?”
It was loaded, and why wouldn’t it be? Meredith had been okay with this pact originally. It had paid for her McMansion, and she got to stay home and raise the kids. But, like Danny, like all of us, Meredith had never thought Sunshine Mackenzie would be such a star. And, well, who doesn’t want their share of the spotlight? Nobody.
I took Meredith’s hand, looking her in the eye. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you backing us up on all this today.”
“It was a lovely statement, wasn’t it? I honestly thought it was pretty close to what I would have written. You’re a real pro.”
Another loaded smile.
“Let’s everyone play nice.” Ryan stepped in. “And let’s try to put the events of the day in the rearview, shall we?”
I held up my phone, the new email. “How exactly should I do that?”