That gets a real smile out of Tessa. “An adorable ball of fluff! How’s Penny?”
“I swear, she grows more each day. I have no idea how big she’s going to be. I can’t wait until I get a new place and can bring her home.”
“Why don’t you just move in with Braden?”
Her question jars me. First, he hasn’t asked me. Second, I haven’t thought about it.
Third, because I know I’d do it in a minute if he asked, and that’s a little freaky.
“We’re not there yet,” I say. It’s not a lie, but it doesn’t feel like the truth, either.
“Oh.”
“How are you and Garrett doing?”
“Good. I like him a lot. He’s no Braden Black, of course.” She takes a drink and then wipes her mouth with a napkin.
I’m not sure how to respond to that, so I take another sip of coffee and let the warmth sit on my tongue for a moment before I swallow.
Finally, I say, “Tessa, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ve apologized. I fucked up, and I’m sorry. Are we ever going to be normal again?”
She looks down, swirls her latte in her paper cup. “I don’t know, Skye.”
“Look at me, Tess.”
She meets my gaze.
“What do you mean you don’t know? I’m still me.”
“Yeah, but you’re not you, too. You’re Braden Black’s girlfriend. You’re a rising star on Instagram. You’re the new face of Susie Girl cosmetics. Next thing you know, you’ll have galleries fighting over who gets to display your work. You’re moving up, Skye, and I feel like you’re leaving me behind.”
I touch her forearm. “I’ll never leave you behind. We’ve been besties for six years.”
“Yeah, and during those six years, we were always equals.”
“We’re still equals.”
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t feel that way.”
I flash back to freshman year at BU. Tessa and I weren’t roommates, but we lived on the same corridor in the same dorm. Though we both got on fine with our respective roomies, neither of us made a huge connection with them. In fact, we laughed at my roommate, Mary Ellen, who once told us that girlfriends sometimes had to break up as if they were a couple.
“Are you breaking up with me?” I ask, trying to sound jovial.
I expect her to break into giggles at the memory of Mary Ellen’s statement that we thought was hilarious at the time.
She doesn’t. Instead, “I don’t know. Maybe we need to take a break.”
“Like Ross and Rachel?” I can’t help asking, even though I know now isn’t the time for my silly attempts at humor.
“Well…Ross and Rachel did eventually get back together,” she says. “I’m not saying it’s forever, Skye.”
“Seven years later,” I say.
She stays silent.
“Fuck,” I say. “You’re serious.”
“Things are easier with Betsy,” she says. “We’re on the same level.”
“What level is that?” I ask sarcastically.
She shakes her head slowly. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re different. The old Skye never would have forgotten to cancel a shopping trip.”
My heart beats rapidly. This isn’t happening. “It was a mistake. For God’s sake, Tess, Braden and I flew to New York in the middle of the night. That whole weekend was out of whack.”
“I know. I actually do understand, and I accept your apology. But then you were supposed to call me after your meeting in New York, and you didn’t.”
My heart drops to my stomach. She’s right. “God, Tess, I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is,” she says. “Things aren’t the same.”
“We’re no longer college students, if that’s what you mean. But I’m still the same. I’m still Skye.”
Even as I say the words, though, they don’t ring true.
Who is Skye Manning, anyway?
The answer is…
I don’t know.
The Skye Manning who’s the most at home at Braden’s underground leather club isn’t the Skye Manning who is Tessa Logan’s best friend.
Is she?
What about the Skye Manning who’s taking Instagram by storm?
The Skye Manning who Addison Ames hates?
Which one am I?
Am I all of them? Or none of them?
I swallow the last of my coffee and rise. “I have to go. Call me if you change your mind.”
“Skye…”
Tessa keeps talking, but I’m out the door.
She wants to trash a six-year friendship?
Fine.
I text Braden.
I want to go to New York. Tonight.
Chapter Forty-Five
We’re not going to New York tonight.
Braden’s text is short and succinct and reiterates that he has work to do here in Boston.
I’m sitting on my couch having a pity party when I remember—
I have to do my first post for the Susie Girl line today!
Fuck. I’m about ready to destroy everything for this pity party. Of course, I literally just lost my best friend. We’re “on a break.” How cliché.
Still, I signed a contract. I have a job to do.
The cosmetics and skin-care products are still spread out on my table where I left them yesterday after opening the package. My new camera from Braden sits next to them. I haven’t yet tried the camera. Today’s the day. But first the Susanne post.