Page 89 of Pride and Protest

“Oh my God, Liza, I am having a terrible time,” Janae said, cutting Liza off.

“Well, I’m having the opposite time, girl—” Liza pushed on. Janae would flip when she heard what Liza had let Dorsey do.

“You were right, by the way,” Janae said.

“About what?” Liza asked. Liza was a sucker for that phrase, and Janae knew it.

“About Jennifer not liking me.”

“Not exactly happy about that,” Liza said.

“I’m in New York, right? Settling in.”

“Right.” Liza was proud of her. Her sister had taken the first step to living a new life.

“And Jennifer knows I’m in New York. She didn’t text me once. ThenIcalled her and told her I was in the city, and right after that she tagged me in her Instagram with her and Dorsey’s little sister.” Liza went into Instagram and found Jennifer’s post. Liza read the hashtags:#Friendsarethefamilyyouchoose #sisnlaw #birdsofafeather.

“Thatbitch,” Liza said. That is how you treat someone you like. You introduce them to your family; they are involved in your life. Jennifer had made it to the “front page” of Dorsey’s life.

“She sent me a DM.”

“Send it to me!”

Liza waited for the screenshot.

I guess you saw the post! Can’t keep people who are meant to be apart! Sorry you got mixed up in all of this. David is such a man-child.

“Yeah, so her and Dorsey are together, and I guess she wants to hook David up with his sister,” Janae said miserably.

Liza gulped. “Her and Dorsey are together?” Someone breathed in her ear, or in her head, she wasn’t sure.Side chick.

“I don’t know. I hate to gossip. It’s just you were right about them. The whole family’s trash.”

Liza only nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Liza was exhausted, and the day had only just begun. “The trick is to find something interesting, even in the least interesting places,” she told Chicho.

“Find something interesting in uninteresting places, check.”

A whole seven hours later, Liza had a topic schedule laid out for fifty half-hour spots and also started calling and lining up speakers. In the next few days, they would record a few of the episodes to bank.

“Okay, Liza, I think my head is about to explode. Can we be done for today? I want you to tell me all about Joseph Park. I know I’m a newly married woman, but he is a man of mystery, and I have to know what happened yesterday.”

“Joseph Park is a great guy, but really, nothing happened between us.” The only way to lie was to tell the truth a little.

“I don’t get you. Why don’t you want to tell me things all ofa sudden? This is something that we would both be squealing over, and now you’re keeping this to yourself.”

“Chicho, I’m telling you there’s nothing.”

“Joseph Park just texted Colin to say he wanted to come by and make you butter chicken for lunch tomorrow. Can you explain why a world-famous chef is coming over here to makeyoufood?”

Liza shrugged. “Maybe he lost a bet.”

“You are full of it, Liza, and I’m going to find out why.”

The next morning, Colin took Liza and Fredo on a tour of Alexandria like it was a Tuscan village in Italy. He went on and on and on about the architecture, about the culture, and by noon, Liza knew an extraordinary amount about old houses in Alexandria. And absolutely nothing new about Colin and Chicho.

Part of her wanted to make sure that her friend was truly happy. She hated to say this, but she was looking for clues or signs of regret, for Chicho to run to her and say, “I was wrong about everything.”