Page 101 of Tango

“Did you try this one on, too?” Piper asked, moving it away from Chanti’s feet.

“I tried to, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it cover my boobs. Good luck with that.”

Piper turned to her dresser and lifted her hairbrush. “If not. I’ll just wear this slip. I’ve seen things that look similar on the runway.”

“You’re paying attention to runways?”

“Not at all. What about tarot? Did you pull some cards like you did for the pink one?”

“I started to,” Chanti said. “And then it felt like the wrong thing to do.”

Piper paused. “What does that mean?”

“That things are set. Follow through.”

“That sounds promising.” Piper pulled the brush through her long brown hair, hoping to make the curls soft and bouncy.

And yes, she was thinking of Ethan, and yes, Chanti picked up on it.

“Ethan’s going to be there tonight?” Chanti asked.

“Him and Tango. He told me I couldn’t slip a filet mignon into my purse for her.”

“Deserved, though. I’m going to remind you of when we went to see the tarot reader.”

“John of the ‘cull your friends, they’re chaos’ warning. He’s very good. Accurate.”

“A lot of weird shit’s been going down. I want you to be careful tonight. How are you feeling?”

“I’m trying to silo off my thoughts so I can focus on getting through tonight. And my lips feel like I’m holding them to a vibrator but not in a fun way.” Piper picked up a can of hairspray. “Close your eyes. Hold your nose.” Piper sprayed a cloud over her hair. “And to your comment about a lot of weird shit going down, I thought about that when I was on the bridge.”

“What did you conclude from your deep thoughts?” Chanti pulled the pillow over and stuffed it behind her head.

“I gave myself a thirty percent chance of surviving when I threw my legs over that bridge.” Piper set the can down and reached for her bush brush. “It was never my intention to put Ethan in harm’s way.”

Chanti put on her listening face.

“I didn’t register him on the bridge. Though I knew Tango was there. So surely, I knew Ethan would be there somewhere. I just didn’t see him.”

“Why would it matter?”

“I hope he wasn’t in my calculus when I threw my legs over the railing.”

“Thirty percent.”

“Thirty percent to survive the fall. Once I was in the water and sucked in my first gulp of water in the river? I’d say seventy, maybe seventy-five percent chance of living without Ethan. I raised that to closer to a hundred once I realized he was there. Mostly that was because with two of us in the river we were more visible. Two people falling from the bridge gave people more time to look, assess, and decide that we were humans, not trash.”

“You’re still viral, by the way. You got a whole lot more than fifteen minutes of fame.”

“Yay me,” Piper grumped. “Might as well get them used to seeing my face if I’m going to be a whistleblower.”

“Potential whistleblowing. You can only come forward with an accusation if we have the goods. We need the spa business plan,” Chanti said. “But, I have to say, it was kinda heartwarming that there was a shit ton of people trying to help. They lined the riverbank, shouting and banging shit, pointing at you so the boat would see and pick you up. Once they hoisted you on, the crowds were screaming and jumping around. Your butt crack brought a lot of joy.”

“They didn’t see my butt crack because they were focused on the Adonis powering his way onto the boat.”

“He is a fine specimen of a man. I mean he’s good in a T-shirt and tactical pants, but strip that all away …”

“Cut it out.” Piper took a breath. “I haven’t watched the videos. I’m not ready for that yet. But I hope every single one of the helper people gets some good karma headed their way.”