Eris threw her head back and laughed.
With each guy they pointed out, Kallie found her spirits being lifted. The doom and gloom was lifting and the alcohol was settling into Kallie’s bones. She was loose. Hip. With it. Moving her body to the beat of the music and turning down guys left and right. Her confidence soared through the rafters and she enjoyed raucous laughter with her best friend.
The night was going well.
Much better than Kallie had anticipated.
“Come on,” Eris said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. We’ll need a good foundation if we’re going to drink in earnest tonight.”
“Trust me, Eris. I did enough drinking in St. Barts to last me a lifetime.”
“Quitter! You can do better than that. It’s our night! You’re going to do better than that.”
Kallie was tugged along the sidewalk of Manhattan until Eris ducked into a trendy fusion tapas restaurant. They squeezed in with the other New Yorkers so they could place their order for tiny plates of delicious and exotic foods. Kallie’s stomach growled as decadent dishes passed their heads, as the alcohol soaking into her veins made her teeter. She leaned against Eris and the two of them talked a little too loudly on the line, and soon people were staring at them as they cracked jokes and laughed until tears streaked their cheeks.
A couple of chairs in the back came open and Eris pulled Kallie over to them. They sat at the bar and a menu was placed in front of them. They promptly ordered, and the bartender set out waters for them, a silent cue that he would refuse them alcohol service if they asked.
“Whoops,” Eris said.
“Guess we were a little loud,” Kallie said.
“I’m ready for this food. It’ll be enough to sober us up so we can club hop until we can’t feel our ankles.”
“I’m just hungry. I don’t think I’ve eaten all day.”
“No wonder that half a bottle of wine did you in.”
“And the four drinks I had at the bar we just left.”
“Only four?” Eris asked. “Weenie.”
Kallie rolled her eyes as the vibrating of her phone caught her attention. She reached in and pulled it out, watching as James’s name scrolled across the screen. She glanced at Eris, who was too busy looking at a man who had come to stand in the corner with them, so she opened up the text message and read it.
I miss you. I’ve never been lonelier in my life than when you left. I love you, princess. Please come home.
“What the hell is this?” Eris asked.
She ripped the phone from Kallie’s hands and began to read the message.
“Eris, stop it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Give me my phone,” Kallie said.
“Right. Yeah. Well, don’t believe him, princess.”
Kallie frowned as she closed out the message and shoved her phone into her purse. If she didn’t get the phone away from Eris, her friend would surely type some sort of snotty reply back. The guy in the corner was gone and their food was set in front of them, but Kallie no longer felt like eating.
She felt conflicted, and it was clouding her judgment.
“Okay. I know that look. Talk to me,” Eris said.
“Why? So you can judge me for it?”
“No. So I can talk some sense into you and remind you the type of twat your ex-fiancé is.”
“Look, James isn’t perfect, okay? I know that. You know that. He knows that. We all know that. But we were compatible. I wouldn't have agreed to marry him otherwise. Our life paths? They converged well. We had the same goals. The same aspirations. The same passions. We worked, Eris. For years. I wouldn’t have accepted his proposal if we didn’t work.”