"Liz," I mouth and motion for her to give me two seconds.

"UGH! Hang up already! She's not worth the minutes," Lauren complains.

My face flushes and I'm mortified. I hope Liz didn't hear that.

"Who are you talking to?" Liz wants to know.

"My friend Lauren," I say slowly. "I'm actually out shopping with some friends."

"I thought you were at work," Liz says. Her voice sounds strange.

"I was, but I'm on break. Lauren and Ava picked me up for lunch."

"Kaitlin," Lauren whines. "Come on! I told you Gary is waiting. He just got another call and he has to leave. We've got to get the last shot. Hang up with that loser. She doesn't deserve you!"

My jaw drops. I know Lauren is just trying to defend me, but Liz is not a loser. Liz had to have heard Lauren. I know it. And now I have a feeling the conversation we just had made things worse between us. I'm too tired to be upset. I just want this fight to be over.

Before I can say anything, Liz says stiffly, "I can see you're busy with your new friends. I'll try you another time."

"I'm sorry. Can we talk soon?" I ask awkwardly and try not to sound too sad when Liz hangs up without saying when.

I push open the doors to Belladonna and my phone rings again before I even have time to take in what's just happened. Liz tried to make up, I think, and I started rambling and then Lauren interrupted us and I let her. Why did I put Lauren before Liz? Why didn't I tell her I had to take care of this first? This conversation was important and I think I just blew it. What if I ruined my only chance at fixing our friendship? I think I'm going to throw up. What's wrong with me? My phone rings again. Is that Liz calling back? I look at the screen and see "restricted" on the caller ID.

Oh God. Who could that be? My breath gets tight and short. Someone other than Matty and Nadine knows I'm not at work, don't they? I've been avoiding all of Nadine's calls, but I don't know who this is from. Tom? Should I just let it go to voicemail? I take a deep breath and answer.

"Kaitlin speaking." I try to sound super professional. If it's Mom or Tom I can try to say I had a dentist appointment. If it's Nadine, I'm in big trouble.

"Hey, gorgeous," I hear Austin say.

I exhale. "Austin, hi!" I walk back into the store and forget all about what just happened. "Your number came up funny."

"My cell phone died. I forgot to ask you something before so I'm on Rob's phone," he explains. "Where are you?" I'm sure he can hear all the commotion in the background. Lauren just found a pair of Scoop shoes she had been looking for and she and Ava are jumping up and down and screaming while Gary and Larry take more pictures even though Lauren claimed they were getting ready to leave.