Sophie (The Boss 8)

“Well, you are spoiled. But it’s not spoiled of you to have emotions and need to express them.” She winced. “And I hesitate to point this out, but that’s something you complain about with Neil.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to notice that he and I are very alike in that respect.” I doggy paddled toward the deep end.

“Which is why it’s a good thing you have El-Mudad. Because as fine as he is, his personality is somehow even finer.” She jerked her head toward the shallow end. “Where are you going, Smokey Lonesome? Let’s hit that hot tub.”

I swam back to the shallows and followed her up the steps toward the indoor tub. She waited until we’d settled into the seats and the water was above our collar bones before she said, “Okay, are you high enough for some news that you might not like?”

My heart jolted. “I am indeed high, but it’s gonna depend on the news and what I don’t like about it.”

She pressed her lips together. The corners of her eyes squinted. “I…booked a pilot.”

My immediate first thought was that she’d hired someone to drive a helicopter. Then, I remembered her job. My jaw dropped. “You mean—”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks reddened even further than they already were from the heat. “So…you know where TV films, right?”

“Vancouver?” Maybe that was just Supernatural. The show had consumed my husband’s life.

Holli tilted her head. “Well…yeah. But also in Los Angeles. So…”

My stomach lurched. “So, you’ll have to move?”

“That’s what Deja and I are trying to figure out.” Holli lifted one set of toes out of the water and frowned at her pedicure. “Do we stay in New York, where the magazine is? Do we expand the magazine to a Los Angeles office? Do I do the bicoastal thing like Peter Allen?”

“I don’t think that song is really about that,” I mumbled. My ears rang with piercing tinnitus like I was a soldier on the battlefield in an incredibly vivid war movie. My best friend was leaving? “But if you’re all the way across the country—”

“I’ll be away from Piet a lot.”

“You’d be away from me a lot!” I shrieked.

“You moved to London for a fucking year. I don’t want to hear it.”

Okay. She was right.

“The thing is,” she began, then paused, frustrated. “Look, you know I love New York. I wish I could be here all the time forever. I love that I’m like, a free helicopter flight from my BFF’s ridiculously luxurious mansion I get to take frequent advantage of. But I love my wife. And I’m a mom. I don’t feel like I can be away from my kid for months on end.”

“Ooh! El-Mudad has a jet you could borrow!” I suggested enthusiastically. “You could come home on weekends!”

“We did think about that.” She quickly added, “The weekends at home part. Not asking to borrow a whole jet. The pilot might not even get picked up, you know? There are only so many time slots.”

“Netflix,” I reminded her sagely.

“Okay, yeah. But if nobody wants it, this whole issue is resolved. If they do want it, though…” She took another big, deep breath. “I don’t think I could live that way. I don’t think I could sacrifice that time with my family.”

Well, the whole thing frankly sucked. I was in a super shitty spot, stuck between wanting my friend to be happy and successful but not wanting her to go away from me. “What am I going to do without you?”

“You won’t be without me. You have a jet. You could come to see me on the weekends.” She rolled her head on her neck, and her spine popped loudly.

“Jesus, you were holding on to some tension ahead of your big announcement. Am I that difficult to deal with?”

“Do you actually want the answer?” She raised one eyebrow in challenge.

I kicked my feet up and splashed her. Relentlessly.

Olivia's first one-on-one visit with Valerie after months apart wasn't as dramatic as I'd envisioned. Probably because Olivia had never been clued into any of the behind-the-scenes stuff and because the presence of Mariposa during the other visits hadn’t felt out of place. Due to all of her grandparents having intense careers, there were often times when visitation got disrupted for this, that, or the other.

Still, the entire time Olivia was gone Neil paced back and forth in front of the fireplace in the den.

"You're going to wear a hole in the rug." I heard my mom's voice come out of my mouth, and I cringed.

El-Mudad was on my side. Looking up from his Kindle, he said, "There's too much house here for you to confine yourself to this room. I'm sure there are guest rooms you've never bothered to put footprints in."

"If the two of you would like to get rid of me, just say so," Neil snapped.