Page 113 of Taking the Pitch
It’s Charlie’s turn to gasp. “What? When?”
Hazel refills her glass and downs half of it before responding. “Two days ago.”
“What happened?” I ask. Even though I never liked Jason, I know Hazel was head over heels for him.
“He cheated on me,” she says, draining the rest of her mimosa, then adding, “with my cousin…over Thanksgiving.”
More gasps, and a “Holy shit” from me, fly around the table.
Hazel laughs, which sounds a little on the manic side, and says, “Oh, that’s not even the best part. The only reason I found out is because she showed up at my house when Jason was there and told me she not only slept with him, but that she’s pregnant.”
“No!” Charlie and I exclaim at the same time.
“Yep,” Hazel confirms, making a loud popping sound on the ‘P’ and emptying the rest of the pitch into her glass.
I flag down the waiter and order another pitcher. It’s a good thing Judd drove me, cause there’s no way I’m leaving this place sober.
Thirty minutes later, Hazel and I are riding a happy buzz as all three of us leave the Bistro. Charlie suggested a walk up the block to sober us up a little and since it’s currently not raining, Hazel and I agreed. Linking arms, we start our trek up the sidewalk.
“I’ve missed this,” I tell them with a sigh.
“Missed what? Getting drunk before noon?” Hazel asks, then snorts and giggles. She’s definitely more drunk than I am.
“No, hanging out with my girls. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve done this,” I tell them.
“Whenisthe last time we all hung out?”
We grow quiet trying to think when the last time actually was.
“I think it was when you found out about Judd,” Charlie says.
“Almost a month ago?” Hazel shouts, making a few people on the sidewalk jump.
Wow, it has been almost a month since that day. So much has changed since then.
Charlie shrugs. “We’ve been busy, girls. Life’s changing.” She bumps my shoulder. “We’re starting new chapters. Exciting ones. We’ll still have girls’ night; it just may not be as often.”
“Have you ever thought about being a writer, Charlie? Because that was definitely something that I would read in a book.”
Charlie chuckles. “I’ll leave the writing to you. How’s that coming, by the way? Still struggling?”
“Oh! In all the excitement at brunch, I forgot to tell you guys.” I look over at Charlie and Hazel. “I finished. I sent it off to my editor yesterday.”
“Oh my God, that’s fantastic!” Hazel squeals.
I beam at them. It is fantastic. It feels so freeing to be done with a book that I struggled so much with. Being in Judd’s library, well I guess it’s mine now too, and spending time with Lucy and Kessler really helped with my creativity.
“I’m so proud of you for being able to work through your struggles this year, Millie. You went on your first book tour this year,by yourself,you were able to get enough funding to expand your program and help even more kids, you broke through the worst case of writer’s block you’ve ever had since becoming an author.” Charlie stops on the sidewalk and looks at me withglassy eyes. “And most importantly, you fell in love and found your person.”
I look at my two best friends. The women who have been through it with me, who have picked me up when I’ve fallen, celebrated with me when I succeeded and gave me their strength when I couldn’t find my own. I would have never made it this far without either of them.
“I have you two to thank for most of that,” I whisper, my own tears threatening to spill over. “If not for you two, I never would have had the strength to keep going when I wanted to quit.”
“I love you guys so much,” Hazel sobs. “Who needs men when I have the best two girlfriends anyone could ask for?” She sniffles then adds, “And vibrators.”
We all burst into giggles and wipe away our tears before continuing on our stroll. We walk a few more feet before Hazel lets out a gasp and pulls us towards a store. “Let’s go in here.”
“What are you doing, Hazel?” I ask, looking up at the sign and see that she’s pulling us towards a jewelry store.
