Page 79 of Let's Talk About Love

“Sure.”

“You look nice,” she said, her voice thick with suspicion. “What are you all dressed up for? I know you’re not going to work like that.”

“I’m not dressed up.” Okay, somaybeAlice was.

Feenie’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“Anyway, Takumi is picking me up in a bit,” Alice began, lowering Glory to the ground. Behind Feenie, Ryan had a panicked look in his eyes and started frantically shaking his head. “I was thinking maybe you could finally meet him to make up for the party?”

Ryan covered his face with his hands.

Feenie picked up an apple from the fruit basket, tossed it into the air, and caught it. “No.”

“No?” Alice asked. Her eyes flicked to Ryan, who was suddenly interested in the ceiling.

“No. I don’t want to meet him.” She bit into the apple, waving as she left the kitchen. “I’m going to lie down. Let me know when the food is ready.”

“Okay?” Alice let the question hang, waiting for Ryan to answer.

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay,” he said, lowering his voice. “You did not hear this from me. Don’t even mention it. You have to pretend like I never said anything; I really hate doing this, but if you two don’t talk soon, I’m going to lose my mind.” He paused. “She’s mad because she thinks Takumi is taking her place. She doesn’t understand why you’re treating him like he’s your new best friend.”

“What?”

“I know, okay? I know. But that’s how she feels. Like you don’t talk to her anymore and you depend on him for everything now.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Ryan gave her a funny look. “It isn’t. I know it’s not true, but I can see why she feels that way. You spend a lot of time with him.”

“You two spend a lot of time together without me.”

“That’s different. We’re engaged.”

“So I’m just supposed to sit around and wait for you both to remember I exist?”

“Of course not, but you shouldn’t edge us out. You’re the one making it as if it has to be himorus.”

“How am I doing that? And why is this all my fault? Why do you two have a Get Out of Ditching Alice pass that I’m supposed to accept because you say so? How is that fair to me?”

“We don’tditchyou,” Ryan said.

“You do. You have for years. I just don’t say anything because I don’t want us to fight, but thesecondI find an actual friend on my own, youtwo act like this. Neither of you said anything when I spent time with Margot. Why is Takumi suddenly different?”

“Maybe we minded then and didn’t say anything either.”

Alice whipped around at the sound of Feenie’s voice. Feenie leaned against the refrigerator, arms crossed.

“Maybe,” she continued, “we were really hurt, but you were too busy being happy to notice. Just like right now.”

An enraged fierceness made the edges of Alice’s vision turn red. She balled her hands into fists. “I wouldn’t even have met Margot if you hadn’t decided to move in with Ryan at the last minute. The millisecond you two started dating, he came first.Youstarted to choose him over me every single time.” She turned that rage on Ryan. “And you havealwayschosen her over me.” Her phone buzzed. “Takumi’s outside.” She slung her purse strap over her shoulder while marching for the door.

“Buttons, wait.”

She paused, fingers tensed around the doorknob. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Inside the car, it wasn’t hard to pretend to be happy. One look at Takumi’s smiling face enabled her to paste a smile on her own. That anger she had felt in the kitchen melted away into a raw, distressing sadness. Alice hated that about herself. She could never stay mad for longer than a few minutes before it morphed into regret. She shouldn’t have said those things, she shouldn’t have yelled, she shouldn’t have she shouldn’t have she shouldn’t have.…

“Alice?” Takumi waved his hand in front of her face. “Where did you go?”