Between Hello and Goodbye(61)

“Faith?”

A woman with dark hair and dressed in designer clothing from bag to shoes approached, her eyes fixed on me. “I thought that was you.”

“Viv!” Faith said, looking suddenly nervous. The women air-kissed each other’s cheeks. “Asher Mackey, this is my friend, Vivienne Simone.”

Clearly, this was the friend whom Faith didn’t tell about Hawaii. Also clearly, Faith hadn’t told her about me either. A knowing smile I didn’t like spread over Vivienne’s red lips.

“A pleasure. Faith has been keeping you a secret, apparently.”

Faith laughed lightly. “What are you doing here, Viv?”

“Oh, I’m meeting Jill and Bianca for lunch,” Viv said, still sizing me up. “But who cares, I’m dying of curiosity. Tell me, how ever did you two meet?”

“It’s the craziest story,” Faith said. “I twisted my ankle on a trail and Asher was one of the firemen who came to my rescue.”

Vivienne’s eyes widened, her voice turning cool. “I see. This happened in Hawaii. Two months ago.”

“Well, yes,” Faith said.

Vivienne brightened, appraising me all over again with fresh eyes and looking strangely triumphant. “A firefighter. Now it all makes sense.” She laughed loudly, like a clanging bell. “A little souvenir from your trip?”

My hackles went up. “No, it was more like I couldn’t stand to be away from Faith for another second.”

“Uh huh. Take a number, honey.” Viv looked at the door. “My friends are here. This restaurant’s a bit played out. I think I’ll take them somewhere else. So nice to meet you, Asher.”

She shot Faith a wink and sauntered out to join two women at the entry. All three looked our way, whispering together, then went out in a burst of laughter.

“She seems fun,” I muttered.

“I used to be like that,” Faith said. “Not all that long ago, either.” She raised her eyes to mine. “You might not be able to tell, but she’s glad to see you. The distance between her and me lately now makes sense to her.” Her phone on the bar buzzed a text. “Yep. See?”

She showed me the text from Vivienne that read That’s my girl, followed by three flame emojis.

Faith gave a small sigh. “At least it’s universally acknowledged that you’re hot.” Her smile faded. “She thinks you’re just another guy in a long line of guys I won’t remember being with in the morning.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “It doesn’t make you anything less than, Faith.”

“I know. But she thinks she knows what’s happening between you and me, and she wouldn’t believe it if I told her it was something else. As if I weren’t capable.”

“That’s on her.” I reached across the table and took Faith’s hand. “You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone but you.”

“You’re sweet.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Before you, I only had Silas saying things like that to me. It’s like you go along on a certain path, and it seems fine and fun and maybe a little reckless. But you don’t know what else is out there until you sit still for a minute.” She shook her head. “Anyway, it feels nice having someone else who believes in me.”

“Where are your parents?” I asked. “Do they know?”

“Know what?”

“That your agency wants to make you a partner and that you probably made an award-winning commercial. Do they know any of that?”

“They’re here but they’re not really here if you know what I mean. I called my mother a few days ago and left a message, telling her about the ad. Like shouting into a void. Still waiting for the return call.”

I scowled. “What the hell is her problem?”

“Where do I start?” Faith toyed with a cocktail napkin, then glanced up at me. “You really want to hear this?”

“If you want to tell it.”

“There’s not much to tell. I told you about their money and how they wanted me to go to a good college and all that. But that was basically the beginning and end of their actual parenting. They divorced when I was ten and the ensuing custody battle was a little rough on me.”

“They fought for you,” I said, but she shook her head.

“They made me choose who got custody.”

“What the fuck…You were ten?”

She nodded. “Neither was truly hoping to be the Chosen One, by the way. They just wanted to use me as a weapon against the other. I opted to live with my dad but only because Carmella worked for him, and she was my favorite housekeeper. I knew she’d end up taking care of me more than either of them, but my mother never forgave me. Which is kind of silly because she was never cut out to be a mom. She should’ve stuck with her horses and that awful hairless cat…”

I coughed a laugh, mostly out of admiration for this woman who was stronger than she knew. But I’d known. I knew it when I told her she could’ve crawled out of Ho’opi’i if she had to.

“Anyway,” Faith continued. “My mother stopped speaking to me and my father—immediately upon achieving his marital freedom—began taking a series of girlfriends, each one younger than the last. I like to make a lot of jokes about my father’s proclivities with younger women but it’s actually kind of terrible.”