I’d written to her in prison but never heard back.

“I wondered if you got them,” I said.

“I got them. It was really nice of you. They cheered me up.”

“Was it awful in there?” I asked. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

“It was, yeah. I don’t want to talk about it. But it was good in some ways, too. I got clean. It’s been almost three years.”

“That’s great. I’m so glad,” I said.

“I wanted to write you back,” she said. “It was NA. They really pressure you to cut ties with the people you did drugs with. To make it easier to kick.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I mean, whatever helps, right?”

“Yeah.”

We sipped our drinks for a minute.

“So what else have you been up to?” I said. “Since you got out?”

“First thing I did was go on a diet. I got fat in there.”

“You did not. I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true!” Danielle said. “They gave us mashed potatoes every fucking day. I gained like five pounds.”

“Oh no, five pounds.” I rolled my eyes.

“Charlotte, listen. I’m glad you texted me.”

“Well, of course. How could I not?”

“No, I mean I missed you. A lot. I know I screwed things up.”

“No more than me,” I said, flustered. “You had bad luck, getting caught. I’ve missed you, too.”

“You’re so sweet,” she said, putting her arm around me.

“We went through a lot of shit together. I’m glad you’re doing okay now.”

“Me, too,” she said, turning to kiss me on the cheek.

A slim, dark-haired girl came up behind us. She looked about our age, mid-twenties, and pretty. Her lips twisted in a half smile.

“Aww, you guys are adorable,” the girl said.

“Audrey, hey,” Danielle said, letting go of me. “Charlotte, this is my friend Audrey.”

I felt both relieved and irritated at the interruption.

“Hi,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Audrey said.

“Charlotte is my oldest, dearest friend,” Danielle said. “We haven’t seen each other in ages. We have to catch up.”

“How about a drink?” Audrey said. “Another round?”

“Sure,” Danielle said.

Audrey ordered whiskey, same as me. The bartender brought our drinks, sloshing Danielle’s martini as he set it down.

Danielle turned to me. “Did you hear about Joey?” she said.

“No,” I said.

“He got locked up. Out west. New Mexico, I think.”

“Who’s Joey?” Audrey asked.

“My boyfriend from before,” Danielle said. “We used to, when we’d fuck, we used to try to come at the same time, and right at that second we would shoot each other up. I thought we’d get married. I never had anything like that with anybody else.”

“That’s insane,” Audrey said. “You’re insane.”

“I loved him,” Danielle said. “Fuck, I loved him. We were so in love it was crazy.”

“Are you serious?” Audrey said. “Yeah, that’s fucking crazy!”

“We were fucking romantic,” Danielle said. She rubbed a mark on her French manicure. She was definitely getting tipsy. Showing off a little, too. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to impress me or Audrey. Maybe both of us.