Page 140 of Slumming It

She had?"What photos?"

"She texted me a bunch yesterday. You got them, too, right?"

I hadn't actually. Since Vivian's departure, I'd talked to her only a handful of times. Each time, she'd had to get off the phone far too quickly due to the craziness of her job. But she had sounded reasonably happy. Or maybe she was simply too busy to be sad.

To my mom, I asked, "Photos of what?"

"Oh, you know. Work stuff."

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. Usually, Vivian and I shared everything. True, things between us had been a little tense just before her departure, but we'd worked all of that out just fine.Hadn't we?

About the photos, I said, "Actually, I don't think I got them."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure it's just because she's busy. Want me to send you the ones I got?"

"Uh, yeah. That would be really great."

"And I'm sure you heard that she's talking about extending her internship."

She was?If so, this was the first I'd heard of it. I frowned in confusion. Reese hadn't mentioned it either.Did he even know?

Suddenly, it seemed like I was way out of the loop, and it left me feeling a little unsettled. Vivian had always liked to dream big. What if she liked Chicago more than Driftwood Cove?

What if she never came home?

I didn't even want to think aboutthat.

But speaking of homes, at least once a day, I checked on my parents' property as well as on the trailer and our little hotel.

As far as I could see, everything was doing fine. The hotel's temporary manager seemed like a really smart guy, and the assistant was so friendly, I swear, she and I would've been good friends if we lived in the same city for longer than a few weeks.

Our handyman Donnie was still staying in room number-one under our former arrangement, and Rosalie had been converted – for now at least – into a regular employee, doing the work thatIused to do, but for an actual paycheck and benefits, courtesy of the Sentry Brothers.

As promised, I had been sending Vivian regular updates, but with the passing of every week, she had seemed increasingly distracted, like something else was on her mind.Was it the breakup with Jason?

After confessing to my mom that I hadn't heard anything new about Vivian's plans, I asked, "But when you talked to her, did she sound okay?"

"Sure, but why do you ask?" A note of worry crept into Mom's voice. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing like that. I was just thinking of the breakup, that's all. She dated Jason for like two whole years."

"If you ask me," my mom said, sounding disgruntled now, "it was two years too many."

The comment surprised me. "So you never liked him? I had no idea."

"Well, I liked himthen,"she said. "But now he's on my bad-list. Do you know, he's dating that Nikki girl?"

Poor Vivian."Already?" I wasn't terribly surprised, but I still hated to hear it.

"Oh, yeah," Mom said. "And he's not hiding it either."

I hadn't known, but it made me doubly glad that Vivian was out of town, if only to give her more time before she had to see the two of them together.No wonder she was talking about extending her internship.

As my mom and I continued to talk, I did a slow burn, thinking of Morgan and Nikki making endless trouble for me and my sister. I hadn't seen either of those two witches in weeks, and yet, they still found a way to make their presence felt – like a road wedgie or social disease.

I chatted with my mom for another ten minutes and was just about to say goodbye when she burst out, "Oh, my God. I almost forgot to tell you."

I startled. "Tell me what?"