Page 67 of Fly with Me

“What’s my type?”

“Angsty. Dramatic. Like, you know, Lindsay.” Yeah, Heather and Jake had been united in their dislike of Lindsay. “The pilot woman seems… nice? And driven. Successful. But, like sweet?”

“She is.” Olive huffed a laugh. Of course the only girlfriend Heather would actually approve of would be a fake one. Her sister had joined their parents’ dentistry practice a few years earlier, fulfilling all the expectations that Olive’s parents once had for Olive. As soon as Heather became an adult, she never missed an opportunity to make it clear what she thought of Olive’s life choices in the most little sisterly way possible. She’d always been on Mom’s side.

“Well, I guess I think you should try to hold on to her.” Her tone was tentative, but not biting. “About Cody’s birthday… the party’s on the fifteenth at five, but I was thinking—”

“Shoot.” Olive grimaced, holding the phone to her forehead. “Stella’s big corporate event is on December fifteenth, god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think… I didn’t know his party would be that day.” Honestly, she hadn’t thought she would be invited to Cody’s birthday party. She hadn’t been invited to Fiona’s birthday party this year “for Mom’s mental health” or some bullshit. She switched the phone to speaker long enough to add the party date and time to her calendar. “Maybe could I stop by before—”

“I was just going to say that it might be better if you dropped by on his actual birthday maybe. Instead.”

“Because you don’t want me to be around Mom.”

“I’m just trying not to choose sides. Every time you’re in the same room together, you both—”

“What do you want me to do, Heather? I’m supposed to just be cool with the fact she’s telling everyone I’m trying to profit off my brother’s death?”

“You can’t think that’s what she really thinks. She’s just devastated. Lashing out.”

“Lashing out against me. She got a lawyer against me. Against me trying to do what Jake wanted.”

“Can you just do the paperwork for her? I’ll figure stuff out about Cody’s birthday and text you.”

“Fine.”

“Mom’s really not…”

“Really not what?” A sudden baby shriek meant Olive had to pull the phone away from her ear.

“Sorry, buddy, I’ll change your diaper soon,” Heather said in an exhausted voice. “Olive, I have to go, Cody’s freaking out. It’s probably for the best that you have a conflict with the party.” The call ended.

What was she supposed to say to that? She was sick of being treated this way by her family.

As she walked back into her apartment, Olive stifled the urge to throw the phone against a wall. This was too frustrating a conversation to have before caffeine. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. She’d been working nonstop since Disney, with the interview with Stella and the hike on her only off days until today.

Her niece had seen her on TV. Everyone was talking about the interview?

She’d known that could happen. But she’d been so focused on her crush on Stella she hadn’t considered the implications for when the fake relationship ended. When this ended, Stella would be one more failure. One more thing her family could point to in this legal battle and say she was an unreliable mess. God, if they ever found out that this was only a fake relationship…

Gus started whining. “Sorry, buddy,” she muttered. She dumped kibble in his bowl before returning to the couch with her phone and laptop. After a few seconds of indecision, she did what Derek explicitly told her never ever to do. She opened Twitter and typed in the stupid hashtag.

Her thumb slid across the screen. Stella had been right. It was mostly positive.

She shut her eyes when the video came up and shut the app to bring up Google.

The response to the TODAY interview was also generally positive except for the requisite religious or conservative trolls who always had something to say anytime a queer person did anything. Fuckheads.

She scrolled over to Facebook. Another app that hadn’t been opened in a while. Her mother had never figured out what was private and what would show up on the newsfeed. Unfriending her mother had seemed petty. But now she wished she had. So few of her real friends ever posted on here anymore. It was mainly photos of kids being posted for the benefits of boomer parents and boomers themselves posting various boomer-y and often incredibly ignorant political takes.

She scanned the page of her notifications. She’d been tagged at least a hundred times about the TODAY show. Mostly by her various older cousins.

That’s when Olive saw it.

A post from one of her mother’s friends to her mother.

Mary Ellen—is this your daughter?

And from her mother.