Chapter 14

There’s a knock at my door that jolts Leno into a barking fit. Even though I’m already awake on this Saturday morning, I’m definitely still in pajamas, and the dilapidated topknot that’s lobbed to the right side of my head suggests just how annoyed I am that Casey has let her phone die and forgotten her keys once again. But when I look through the peephole and see that it’s Monica double-fisting two pints of Salt & Straw ice cream, I welcomingly open up the door.

“Surprise!” she squeals.

“What the hell are you doing here? I thought you went back to Turks and Caicos?” I throw my arms around her and give her a hug. I’ve missed my closest coworker/beauty consultant, to be honest, and that has nothing to do with the ice cream in her hands.

“No, Danny ended up flying back here for some big player trade and we just decided we’ll pick up where we left off sometime around the holidays. That’s life for you, eh?”

“Wait—so were you at the Calder event last night? I was under the assumption it was just a complete and total intern fuck-show.”

“Yes, and, Charlotte, it was the most amazing event ever, which is why I’m here. With these!” She holds up the ice cream like she’s flashing her boobs to me. “You’re the only other person who would be as relieved as I am that it miraculously all worked out, so I decided we should celebrate with ice cream for breakfast.”

I cringe at the word miraculously but she has my favorite ice cream in hand, so I try to look past it—and the fact it isn’t even 9:00 a.m. There has got to be a logical explanation for how both of the events managed to go off without a hitch—an explanation I will dedicate serious time to figuring out just as soon as Zareen reactivates my office key fob.

“Plus,” she continues, “the event organizer at the museum overordered the ice cream for the sundae bar, so we all got to take home a bunch of free pints. Sorry, it’s kind of early but figured you’d want a scoop or two before I leave to go catch Danny’s Galaxy game?”

A scoop or two or six.

“Come in, put your stuff down. You and I both know it’s never too early for mint chocolate chip,” I say, already reaching in the cabinet for a couple of chipped cereal bowls.

“Screw the bowls. Where are the spoons?” she asks.

A moment later, Monica and I clink our heaping scoops together at my kitchen counter. I forgot how good and simple it is to eat ice cream straight from the container.

“So...where is he?” Monica’s eyes get wide as she scans my apartment from wall to wall without moving her neck.

“Where’s who?”

“Your husband.”

I almost choke on a chocolate chip.

“Excuse me?”

“Did you really think Zareen wasn’t going to tell me what fell out of your bag at the Voyager dinner? I want to meet your man! I want to see the urn!”