Page 27

Before

“Babe!” Este called. “You ready?” She must have let herself in through the side door by the kitchen. The way her voice traveled through the house told me she wasn’t waiting for me to welcome her in.

After the first night we met and she cleaned me up, Este letting herself into my house quickly became the norm.

I made her swear to always announce herself—I didn’t need her to have some weird I-have-seen-your-husband’s-junk story in her back pocket to trot out at dinner parties.

So, she often entered by shouting, “It’s Este.

I am in your house. Please cover your wang, Will. ”

The morning after the party, she had made good on her offer of coffee and Advil when she knocked on the kitchen side door around eleven with both in hand.

I had introduced her to Will, who was already on his way to his home office for a call.

He had waved politely, and she and I had gone out to the patio to dissect the gossip from the night before.

We started hanging out together almost daily after that.

We had a lot in common. We both felt like fish out of water in Winter Park—although Este couldn’t have cared less about this fact.

And we were both in search of ways to fill our days.

Este had left her job sometime after Beau had sold his company and before they moved to Florida, and I quit my job at the museum shortly after Will and I eloped.

Between the two of us, we had hours—if not days—of free time each week.

I think we mutually found solace in the morning runs, shopping on Park Ave, yoga classes, spa trips, and evening cocktail meetups.

We made up our own little world with a full schedule of diversions.

And I needed all of the diversions I could find.

Will had been so tied up with work since we got back from Nevis that I spent all my time with Este and Beau.

We would stay up late drinking wine on their back porch while Will texted apologies.

Sometimes after midnight, I would wander home barefoot just to find him in his office working on some brief or pretrial motion.

I could shake him out of his work fixation by then.

A buzzed, middle-of-the-night me stopping by his home office was enough to qualify as foreplay, so he’d welcome me in and then whatever else might follow.

But by the time the morning came around, Will would be gone—already at work for hours around the time I was rolling out of bed, trying to figure out how to nurse the hangover from the night before.

This morning, Este was at my house to go to the fish market on Fairbanks.

Lombardi’s was a family-owned Winter Park staple where you could find fresh seafood driven in almost daily from the coast. The plan was to pick up some fish so that Beau could grill for dinner to christen the outdoor kitchen they had just installed.

“Ready,” I called down from the bedroom.

As I headed down the stairs, I sent a text to Will.

3:47 p.m.

Grilling at Este and Beau’s. Want to come?

“What are we cooking?” Este wondered aloud as we looked over the glass cases at the fish market.

“Shrimp?” I suggested.

She winced and held up her recently manicured hand. “Do these fingers look like they’re ready to devein shrimp?”

I looked over the rainbow-colored rows of fish. “Wahoo? Snapper?”

Este snickered. “I’m scared for Beau. I’m not sure he knows the first thing about wahoo. We better get plenty of sides, or we’re going to starve.”

She grabbed a bag of crackers and opened them, popping one into her mouth.

“You have to pay for those,” I scolded.

She shrugged and threw another one into her mouth. “Minor crimes bring me joy.”

I checked my phone to see if Will had responded to my text. Not yet.

Anytime now, Somerset.

I impatiently considered texting him again, but I was so acutely aware of how Constance’s criticism of his workaholic ways had ended their marriage. I didn’t want to go barking up the wrong tree. At least I could be sure Este and Beau wouldn’t judge me for being solo. They never did.

“Okay. We’ll get the snapper,” Este said by way of surrender to the attendant behind the counter. “Can you give me a detailed instruction sheet on how to grill it? Like, imagine the recipe you’d give a child, and then dumb it down even further.”

As we left the market with fresh fish and a step-by-step instruction guide, my phone buzzed with a call from Will.

That first-date rush lit up in my bloodstream.

Hey la, hey la. My boyfriend’s back.

“Hi,” I squealed into the phone.

“Hey, babe,” he said softly. “I just got home. Where are you?”

“Este and I are at Lombardi’s. Is everything okay?”

He sounded tired or upset about something. I checked the clock in Este’s car. It wasn’t even four o’clock.

“What are you doing home?”

“Opening a bottle of bourbon,” Will said. “I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours trying to save Fritz from a malpractice claim.”

“What happened?”

Este frowned, but I waved her off. She started the car, and we headed down Fairbanks, back toward her house.

“He took on a case without telling anyone. Some favor to a friend. And then he missed a hearing. The judge was about to dismiss the whole thing. A big case. And I’ve been making phone calls since yesterday to the defense attorney and the judge, pulling favors and even lying to save his ass.”

I felt protective of Will, especially when he sounded bone weary. “Why is that your job?”

“It reflects badly on the firm. And Fritz’s equity with the courts isn’t exactly stellar these days.”

It wasn’t unusual for Will to take a swipe at Fritz’s lack of professionalism. But this was the first I was hearing that Fritz’s reputation was on the decline.

“So where is Fritz in all of this? Did they reschedule the hearing?”

Will breathed a heavy sigh. “He’s probably halfway to Italy by now. He dumped this mess on my desk and told me he and Gianna were headed out of the country for some trip.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Will said, and I could hear the sound of a drink being poured. “Come home. We’ll take the boat out and blow off some steam.”

“Oh.” I looked over at Este. “Este, Beau, and I are cooking dinner tonight to break in their new outdoor kitchen. Do you want to come?”

“I’m not in the mood for people.”

“I’m people.”

“You know what I mean. Just come home.”

It was my turn to sigh. I didn’t want to tell Will I had plans. He hardly ever asked for anything. And it had been weeks—at least—since we had spent any time together. But I felt guilty bailing on Este after we had just bought a mountain of food for three.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “See you soon.”

Este would be disappointed, but she would understand. And I would see her again tomorrow. And the day after that.

“I’ve gotta go check on Will,” I announced.

“Is he sick?” Este looked confused.

“No. Bad day at work, I guess.”

“Okay.” She shrugged. It wasn’t like Este to let her disappointment show. But I could see she was irked. Still, when she dropped me off in the driveway, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Love you,” she said. “Let me know if you want us to bring over dinner plates.”