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“Wait, like a book tour?” Reid asked from the kitchen where she was mixing drinks already. You’d think that she’d want to take a night off from being a bartender, but apparently not. She liked to experiment and then try her creations on us. They were always delicious.

Sometimes she’d come over to my place and see what she could do with whatever was leftover in my fridge. She said she liked the challenge.

“Yeah. A book tour. For two and a half weeks, all over the US. She’s doing TV interviews and signings and I guess I’m going? Because I booked tickets. But I haven’t even gotten the job yet, so you can see where I might be a little freaked out,” I said as Hunter took the bags of cake from me and started opening them.

Reid handed me a drink and I gulped at it.

“Isn’t that a good sign, though? That she wants you to go with her?” Reid asked, making another drink for Hunter. She knew each of our preferences for our drinks. Mine were always sweeter.

“I mean, I guess. But fuck. I guess it just hit me that this is a woman who is famous who gets invited on TV shows that the whole country watches. It’s just been the two of us in her house up until now and I forgot.”

I downed the rest of the drink and Reid made me another as Hunter passed me a fork. I went for the red velvet slice first.

“She became a regular person,” Hunter said.

“I mean, yeah.”

“You knew this might happen when you had the interview, though, right?” Hunter asked, going for the trés leches slice that I’d gotten specifically for her. Reid was going to town on the chocolate slice with chocolate frosting.

I waved my fork in the air. “I mean, hypothetically. None of it felt real at the time and it still doesn’t. But I guess I had kind of gotten comfortable and this threw me off. Maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be.”

I was absolutely doing that. Anyone else would have been excited about the traveling. New York, Texas, California, and a few other places and cities in between. The schedule was grueling, but Eloise had done this shit a million times. This was normal for her.

“No, I think it’s fine to be a little thrown by something like that,” Hunter said. “And like you said, it’s in the future. So no need to stress about it now. Plus, have you considered that it could be fabulous? You’re getting access to things that other people would kill for.”

That was a good point.

“You’re like that assistant from that fashion movie. Except your boss is much nicer,” Reid said, her mouth full of cake.

“Yeah, at least she hasn’t asked me to fly her home during a hurricane.”

My freakout was starting to wind down, thanks to talking things out with my friends, the cake, and the drinks.

“Fuck, I’m sorry I acted like this was an emergency.”

Both Hunter and Reid shook their heads at me.

“We’re here for you, kid,” Reid said. “That means good and bad.”

“We love you and I’d be pissed if you had stayed home and were all alone in this. So shut up and eat your cake.”

That was exactly what I’d needed to hear.

* * *

On Friday, I showed up at Eloise’s house with the usual coffee and egg and cheese sandwiches this time. I’d been running late, so I got breakfast at the expensive café instead of having nothing. When I unpacked the sandwiches and offered one to Eloise, I saw her preparing to say no. Every single day I asked and every single day up until now, she’d said no.

She let out a long breath and took the plate from me. “Fine.”

“Don’t get too excited,” I said, smothering a laugh as she sat down in the breakfast nook in the kitchen with her coffee and the sandwich. This was new.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she said as she looked down at the sandwich. Now that she’d mentioned it, she did look slightly tired, her face a little pale and pinched. She still looked incredible, obviously, but I’d seen her face enough by now to notice small differences.

“I’m sorry. Was there a reason?”

She sighed and then took a tentative bite of the sandwich, chewing delicately and swallowing before she answered.

“Migraine,” she finally said.