Page 136 of First in Line

“Girl, what is going on? When did that happen?!”

“About eleven-ish years ago. But we’re divorced now.”

“Since when?”

“Uh… last week, actually.”

“Evangeline!”

“I know,” Evie whines, as if overwhelmed.

“Did he want to divorce, or did you?”

“I did. He wanted to… try again, I think.”

“And now you two are divorcedandtrying again.”

“We’re not—”

“Don’t lie to me, Vivi. I’m your boss. I can fire you.”

Evie sighs. “It sort of happened on its own. I wasn’t visiting relatives during my weeks off. I was with him in Europe. First Monaco, then Barcelona.”

Cynthia doesn’t seem to know what to answer, but I’m pretty sure she’s shaking her head disapprovingly.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Evie tries to justify herself. “It wasn’t meant to get serious. It was just…”

When she can’t find the words, her friend fills in the blanks for her, “You were just getting railed all over the Mediterranean coastline.”

“Cynthia!” Evie protests. After a pause, she mumbles with an audible smile, “Just the far Northwestern portion of it.”

Cynthia chuckles at that, and I can’t hold back a small smirk. Evie’s opening up, which is good. We’ve behaved in front of her friends so far, no matter how much my hands long to touch her. But she’s able to talk about these things to her closest friend, which has to be a good sign.

“What are you going to do now?” Cynthia wonders, a little more seriously this time.

“If it were his choice, I’d drop everything and join him for the rest of the European season.”

“And you can’t because…?”

“I have to work? Aren’t you my boss? Don’t you want me to do my job?”

“You know I’m very happily married, but ifJackson Reyeswanted me to drop my wife, kids, and job to spend the summer with him in Europe? I’d do it. Maybe. Probably.”

Evie laughs at that. “I’ve worked so hard to get this degree. I can’t just abandon everything to follow him around.”

“First of all, it’s just for the summer. Second, most of your projects won’t need immediate attention until the school year starts again. And third, if you cared about this job so much, you would have gotten certified by now.”

“But it’s for more than this summer, isn’t it? And his job requires his immediate attention all the time. I would have to be the one leaving everything behind if we really want to make this work.”

“And you can’t do that?”

“Would you? Would you leave it all behind for Yasmine’s career?”

Cynthia doesn’t even have to think before she answers, “No, not for her career. Forher. I’d drop everything to be with her in a heartbeat.”

That apparently gives Evie a lot to think about, and when several seconds have passed without another word, I decide it’s time to come out. I can’t risk staying much longer and being discovered. Neither of them would be comfortable knowing I was eavesdropping.

I try to act normal as I return to the main room. “Hey, we were just talking about you,” Cynthia says when she sees me.