Southern Chance (Southern 1)

“Hey,” she says, answering the phone with us on speaker. “I just got your email and Olivia’s. You guys are on fire.” She laughs. “I should send you two away more often if you are going to come back with all these ideas.”

“Yeah,” I say, thinking of the whole look we did yesterday. We incorporated some country flair to the chic pictures they sent over. I was a graphic designer, and Olivia was a stylist, and the two of us together made quite the team. It also helped that we understood what the other was saying. “I’m calling with some news.”

“Oh,” she says, picking up the phone now, “is everything okay?”

“Well, we are still laying low. The detective is supposed to call us by the end of the week with the result from the fingerprints found at the scene,” I inform her. When we called her in the middle of the night, she knew it wasn’t good, and she knew from the news stories that it was going to get a lot worse before it got better, so she was more than okay with us leaving.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” she says. “So what’s up?”

“I guess there is no easy way to say this.” I think about when I started at the magazine five years ago, and how she took a chance on a brand-new student straight out of college with no experience. I think about my life back in LA and how different it is to the country. I used to do spin class five days a week, and I used to have celery juice every single morning. Now I have coffee and lard, and I couldn’t be happier. “I’m staying here.”

“What do you mean staying there?” she asks.

“I mean, when this is all over, I’m only going back to LA to pack up my stuff, and then I’m moving back.” Olivia reaches over and hugs me, putting her head on my shoulder.

“I see,” Meryl says.

“I love my job, I really do, but I love my life here even more. And now that I’m back, I can’t think about leaving.”

“What if I said you can do both?” Meryl says right away, and I look at Olivia, who looks at me with her eyes wide.

“I would say what do you mean?” And then Olivia chimes in.

“Actually, she would say hush your mouth.” She looks at me and whispers, “That was good, right?” and I nod, smiling.

“Oh, Jesus, do not tell me that you are turning country,” Meryl says, and Olivia laughs out loud.

“Heavens to bitsy, no!” Olivia shrieks, and I laugh.

“It’s heavens to Betsy,” I say, and she just shrugs.

“Anyway, as I was saying, what if you worked from home and then flew in a couple of times a year? You can skype from wherever you are during meetings,” she says, and I clap my hands quietly. “That way I’m not losing my favorite graphic goddess, and you still do what you love.”

“Oh my gosh,” I say, overjoyed.

“I reckon she’s happy,” Olivia says, and we all laugh now.

“I’ll send you a new contract, and you can look it over,” Meryl says, “and, Olivia, don’t go falling in love with any cowboys.”

“The saying is save a horse and ride a cowboy.” She winks at me, and my face goes into a grimace.

“Gross,” I whisper, and she just shrugs. I see a little mark on the top of her breast when her shirt dips low. “That’s even grosser.” I point at the mark, and she pulls up her shirt.

“He’s your brother. Apparently, branding me turns him on,” she says, and I fake vomit.

“I will keep an eye out for your email,” I tell Meryl and hang up the phone. “Holy shit.”

“That’s amazing. We are still going to work together,” Olivia says. “Just not live with each other.” She pouts. “I’m going to have to get a new roommate.” She puts her hand up and her thumb down. I push away from the island and walk over to the fridge.

“We should have a piece of pie to celebrate.” I pull out the homemade cherry cake that my mother made yesterday. “Do you want a piece?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

“I’m full as a tick.” She puts her hand on her stomach, and I just look at her. “It’s not my fault, it’s Casey’s. He walks around all the time with all these sayings.”

“You know I love you,” I say, “but I just want to make sure that neither of you get hurt.” She looks at me.

“We both know this is temporary,” she says. “We’re just having fun.”

“Okay, but …” I start to say, and she puts up her hand to stop me.

“As soon as everything dies down and it’s safe for me to go home, I’m leaving,” Olivia says, and I don’t discuss it anymore since she changes the subject with work.