Scarlett was still looking at her like she was trying to understand what was happening when Juliet piped in. “I’m so glad you two are still hanging out! I was worried that you might not be friends anymore and I’d be making everything super awkward by messaging.” She smiled brightly, and Megan didn’t have the heart to disavow her of her belief. “What about you, Scarlett?” Juliet asked. “What are you up to lately?”
“I’m freelancing, actually.” Scarlett sat up a little straighter. “Telecommuting, mostly data analysis for private firms. It’s a great setup, because I get to make my own hours, work from home, pretty much living the dream.” She grinned with those perfectly white teeth that she hadn’t even had to suffer through years of braces to get.
“I’m so glad.” Juliet sighed. “The one downside of not being on social media is that I don’t get to see what you’re all up to. It is so good to see your faces.”
“Thanks.” Scarlett waved her hand in a “get on with it” gesture, and Megan was quite grateful for it. “Now we’ve got to know. Tell us why you’re calling. What’s your news?”
“I’m getting married!” Juliet fairly bounced out of her seat. “His name is Gabriel, and we’ve been keeping things kind of quiet because his family is very conservative and wouldn’t approve of us living together, but we’ve decided to make it official. We’re getting married on February 19 here in Quebec.”
“Congratulations!” Megan and Scarlett said together, their words overlapping. Megan meant all her congratulations, too; Juliet was always so sweet. She deserved somebody really good. But... February 19? Megan looked at the calendar and did some math. “But that’s so soon. There’s almost no time to plan a wedding.”
“Tell me about it.” Juliet gave a half-smile. “But his grandmother is not in good health, and we want everyone we love to be able to attend, so we decided to make it really fast. His father has wonderful business connections, and he pulled some strings, so we’re at the Château Frontenac for the whole thing.” She clasped her hands together. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a long time, but we were best friends growing up. It feels so important to me that the two of you attend. Is there any way you can make it?”
“Oh.” Megan’s heart fluttered. “I...don’t know.” Quebec? In February? “I’ve never been on a plane,” she said, trying to stall her mind that was already spending the ten thousand dollar check she still had in her pants pocket.
Scarlett looked similarly uneasy. “I...don’t know. It’s a lot of money for tickets, and I want to say yes, but... I have to think about it, Jules.”
Juliet’s face fell. “Of course. I understand. I haven’t mailed your invitations yet—I don’t even have your addresses—but I wanted to talk to you first so you could know how much I wanted you to come. And Quebec will be so gorgeous then. It’s Winter Carnival that week, and it’s so different from Florida...” Juliet had those big, pleading eyes, like out of a cartoon.
“Maybe it’s possible!” Megan found herself saying, with another cursed exclamation point sneaking into her voice. “I mean, I don’t know, but I don’t want to say no right off the bat...”
“Well. Think about it, all right?” Juliet bit her lip. “If you made it, we could totally cover your hotel. But maybe you two could talk more? I’ll hang up. Let me know! Please. I’d love to see you. And message me your addresses!”
“Of course. Of course we’ll talk.” Scarlett was saying it like she wasn’t going to hang up on Megan the minute she didn’t have the social obligation to talk to her, the way she’d avoided all of Megan’s attempts to reach out. She’d later made some attempts of her own that Megan had of course avoided, too, but who was keeping track of that?
“Okay! And let’s not be strangers. I miss you both.” Juliet gave them beaming smiles and then disconnected, leaving Scarlett as the only face on Megan’s screen.
For a minute, Scarlett and Megan just stared at each other.
Scarlett rested her chin on her folded hands. “Career change?”
“Diner’s closing, thanks. Telecommuting data analysis?”
“More like data entry.”
The silence stretched on some more, and maybe the mercy would be to just hang up and pretend they hadn’t talked at all.
“What are we gonna do, Meg?” Scarlett asked.
“About what?”
“About Juliet.” Scarlett made a face. “She really wants us to go.”
Megan wrinkled her nose. “She also apparently thinks you and I are still best friends.”
Scarlett laughed. “Who’s gonna tell her?”
“We can’t tell her,” Megan insisted. “She wants us to go to Canada! I’ve never even been out of the state.”
“Shit, I can’t afford to fly to Canada.” Scarlett shook her head. “We’ve gotta say no, right?”
“Right.” Megan sighed. “But I don’t want to look at that sad face.”
“Neither do I. I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna take the coward’s way out and just RSVP no when the invitation comes.” Scarlett leaned back in her chair. “And change my name and go into hiding.”
Megan looked at the screen. “I could...” She stopped, the possibility that had come half-formed to her mind suddenly dissolving. “No, it’s dumb.”
“What?” Scarlett asked.
“I was just thinking aloud. Never mind.” Megan shook her head. “Have a good night. Good luck with whatever you’re doing now.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Scarlett’s sarcasm filled her words. She didn’t even say goodbye before hanging up.
Megan stared at the screen, at her own face looking at her, and sighed again before closing the window. She had the whole evening to be sad and feel sorry for herself without worrying about what other people thought of her.
Especially Scarlett.
Chapter Three
This was probably dumb. Most of the things Scarlett did were dumb. She wasn’t even sure Megan still lived in the same house, but she’d gotten a Christmas card from this address a few years ago when Megan was maybe still trying to keep up appearances, and Megan wasn’t the type of person to move. So she sat in the driver’s seat of her car in front of a plain-looking beige house, which had a single string of Christmas lights trimming the garage like the saddest scene in a depressing holiday movie, and stared at the light on in the bedroom. It was late. It was late, and she and Megan weren’t even friends anymore. Sitting in front of her house like a creeper wasn’t a good look.