California Girls(93)

Instead of laughing, Zennie stared at her with tear-filled eyes. “That is so sweet.” She hugged her. “You’re the best sister ever.”

“And you’re easy,” Finola murmured. “Come on. Let’s get you another club soda. Later, you can get wild and have a ginger ale.”

They headed for the bar. As they moved through the crowd, she realized that while she’d talked about Nigel a few minutes ago, she wasn’t missing him, not even as a buffer. Apparently she was getting used to being without him—something she wouldn’t have thought was possible a month ago. What she didn’t know was if emotionally moving on was good or bad. Or if it was simply inevitable.





Chapter Twenty-Four


Despite having worn flats to Finola’s fund-raiser, Zennie’s feet still hurt Sunday morning. While she was used to standing all day, she wasn’t used to doing it in ballet flats that pinched her toes. She was pretty sure that if she’d been wearing heels, she would be crippled for days. She thought about Finola’s four-inch stilettos and wondered how her sister did it.

More than just the shoes, she thought as she went through her yoga stretching routine. The whole evening. The beautiful people really were different from the rest of the world. Some of Finola’s supposed friends had acted supportive, but a whole lot of them had been looking for an open wound they could exploit. It wasn’t Zennie’s idea of a good time.

She’d just finished her video when her phone buzzed. She was surprised to see a text from C.J.

It’s a beautiful day. Let’s go do something.

Zennie considered the offer. She would love to spend time with C.J. They’d gotten along so well and since she and Gina weren’t speaking, she felt a little vulnerable in the friendship department. But she also couldn’t deal with one more disapproving person. While not telling C.J. about her “delicate condition” made the most sense, she found herself typing, First you should probably know I’m pregnant.

C.J. didn’t answer for a couple of minutes. I was thinking we’d just hang out, but sure, be pregnant.

That made Zennie laugh. Give me some time to take a shower and get dressed. Meet in an hour?

Sounds great. C.J. named a restaurant that served brunch.

Zennie got there at the same time as her friend. They hugged, then settled at a table. C.J. waited until Zennie had looked over the menu to say, “Pregnant? So the procedure was successful? I’m both impressed and shallow. No way I would do that for anyone. How’s the world taking it?”

“My boss doesn’t know yet. My mother’s pissed but she’s coming around. My dad was also upset, but I’ve shamed him into loving me again. I’ve lost a couple of friends over it.”

Zennie found herself fighting tears. “Honestly, being emotional is the worst of it. I’m not an emotional person.”

C.J. smiled. “All evidence to the contrary?”

“Exactly.”

“I have a solution. Let’s go look at some open houses. There are a couple of cute condos that just came on the market. When I saw the listings I thought of you.”

“You mean condos for sale?”

“Uh-huh.”

Zennie stared at her. “I’m not ready to buy a place. By myself? I couldn’t possibly...” She forced herself to stop talking. Of course she could. In fact, she should!

She grinned. “Yes, I’ll go look at condos with you. It will be fun. Just promise me we don’t have to talk about the baby.”

“The baby is the last thing I want to talk about. We’ll lament LA traffic and groan over bad carpeting because there’s always bad carpeting in at least one.”

Zennie smiled at her even as she had the oddest thought that Clark would enjoy looking at condos with her and C.J. She picked up her menu as a distraction, all the while telling herself that there was no reason Clark should be on her mind. They were done. Long done. Besides, if she were to fall for someone, it wouldn’t be him. Sure he’d been nice enough and interesting, but not for her. Clark, Schmark.

“What?” C.J. asked.

“I can’t wait for my hormones to calm down. My mom swears it will happen soon and when it does, I’m having a party.”

*

Ali was willing to admit it—she felt good. Better than good. She’d had the week off for her honeymoon and instead of feeling depressed and stupid, she’d spent the time figuring out her career and hanging with Daniel. She’d laughed with him, talked with him, made love with him and slept snuggled in his arms. Just as amazing, it turned out that keeping as busy as she’d been had meant eating less. Over the past couple of weeks, she’d noticed her clothes feeling a little looser. A quick step on the scale shocked her with the information that she’d lost ten pounds.

On her first day back at work she was wearing cute dark-wash jeans she hadn’t fit in for maybe eight months and a chunky open-knit sweater over a tank top she’d almost forgotten she had. One of the upsides of moving—aside from her yummy roommate—was going through all her clothes and reminding herself of what she owned. Something she should do more often, she told herself as she drove to the warehouse.

Losing a little weight had even inspired her to get up early and spend thirty minutes walking up and down the hills in Daniel’s neighborhood. She’d brought her lunch to work rather than going to the taco truck. Not that she would give up tacos forever, but a little protein on a salad every couple of days wouldn’t kill her and might keep the downward trend going.