Page 105 of Everything After

CHAPTER 57

LILY

I’d had butterflies in my belly the whole journey to the restaurant in Miami where Holly and Saffy were waiting. For most of the night I’d been unable to sleep while points I wanted to raise whirred around in my head. I figured if I lost my cool and ranted at her it would hurt Holly since she was the peacemaker in all of this.

Then I asked myself, who am I doing this for? Certainly not to clear Saffy’s conscience that’s for sure. Therefore, as my friendship with Holly meant more to me than anything, I had agreed to do this for her, and not for me.

The way I saw it was that I’d had my wedding, and since Holly wanted both of us in her wedding party, I had no choice in the matter but to play nice.

“Hi, Ms. Parnell, would you kindly follow me?” the hostess asked as I entered the restaurant. Even after all these years of being famous, it still freaked me out when people I’d never seen before called me by my name.

Holly had booked a discreet table at Queen Restaurant, an exclusive converted Art Deco cinema, now an elegant dining establishment situated in fashionable Washington Avenue, South Beach.

The hostess led me up a small flight of stairs and when I saw that Holly was sitting alone in that section of the restaurant, panic rose in my chest.

My initial thought was that Saffy’d chickened out at the last moment, and I was glad a small partition gave us privacy from the main dining floor because I figured there would be a few choice words to say once I sat down.

Holly stood, kissed my cheeks. “Come, sit,” she ordered, gesturing toward the seat next to her. “Saffy’s just popped to the restroom. I must warn you, she’s nervous.”

Despite my previous cocktail of emotions that wavered between a longing to see Saffy again and wanting to strangle her for abandoning me in Florida with Holly, relief flooded through me that she’d turned up. “Ah, there she is,” Holly informed me.

I turned to look behind me and everything stopped. I didn’t breathe until my fingers and lips began to tingle, then I took in a gulp of air and let out a gasp. My reaction even tookmeby surprise.

In my mind, I remembered the youthful pretty girl, the boho-type with her long, flowing golden hair and her hippy vibe. Gone was the vibrant blue eyes that captivated mine and everyone else’s attention, they were now dull, hooded and her face had had too much exposure from the sun. Dark freckles stretched widely across her face, mainly on her cheeks, nose, forehead, and even some on her chin.

“Hi, Lily.” She looked nervously from me to our mutual friend for support.

“Shall we sit down. I need something to drink. I felt a bit nauseous in the car, and I need some sugar,” I said, unsure how to start a conversation.

Saffy sat on the other side of Holly, making it even more obvious that Holly intended to play the peacekeeper should our meeting get out of hand. My heart pounded in anticipation of the opportunity to vent my grievances toward Saffy that had festered in my mind for years.

Holly waved a server over. I asked for a glass of sparkling elderflower while the two women ordered cocktails.

“Congratulations on your pregnancy,” Saffy remarked, and flashed me a nervous smile.

“Thanks,” I said, taken aback that my pregnancy should be the focal point of conversation after more than a decade.

An awkward silence ensued at the table then Holly said, “So…”

“Look, I’m just going to say what I need to get off my chest,” I blurted when my anger had gotten the better of me. “Saffy, I was appalled that you brought me all the way to Florida and deserted me within months.”

“I’ve always felt bad about that,” she muttered, avoiding my gaze to toy with her napkin.

“And that explanation is supposed to make me feel better? I delayed going to university to make our plan happen for you. By leaving me to fend for myself, it was clear that I didn’t matter to you.”

“You meant a lot,” she mumbled. She stole another glance toward me, but when I stared back, she couldn’t hold my gaze and looked back down at her napkin. I couldn’t decide whether her action meant that she was ashamed, or she wasn’t being honest with me.

“Really? You mean I did until you decided to leave, then I didn’t? Even afterward, you never once reached out to apologize for your selfish action.”

“I did try to contact you through your record company a couple of years ago,” she quickly argued. I was surprised by that because if she did, no one ever passed that message on. Then again, how could I trust she was telling the truth?

“If you did, no one told me about that. Still there had been many years prior to that when you left me wondering why I’d even been friends with someone who had so little regard for me.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled again.

“Are you really? Let’s face it, we’re both here today because you mean something to Holly. She deserves that we set our differences aside for her. This woman here has proven herself to be the friend I thought you were, so we should both thank you for the introduction.”

Holly placed a hand over mine and looked horrified. I guessed she thought my personal attack on Saffy was over the top, but I’d given up my life in London, and left all my friends behind to commit to the plan we made. Florida would not have been my first choice to study music, but I made that concession because she wanted to study marine biology.