Page 89 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

I meanwhile finally found the courage to text Esther back.

Me: My life has pretty much done a 180 since Thanksgiving. My dad died, and I’m in Wisconsin indefinitely while I deal with his half of a company he owned. Oh, and get this - turns out Mike’s been cheating on me with a lot of women. So… not engaged anymore!

I’d barely heard the sent notification when she was FaceTimeing me. I got up off the couch and slinked to a corner of the room to answer.

“Hey Es—”

“I’m sorry, what? You need to go over everything in detail because that whole message just gave me the text equivalent of whiplash. Start at the beginning. Your dad died? I didn’t know you had a dad. Well, I mean, in your life, that is.”

“Yeah, super long story,” I sighed. I went over in detail everything I could, finally ending on Mike’s betrayal and my decision to stay here while I worked out what to do with my newfound wealth. “I’ll be back in SF sometime soon. I still need to get all my stuff from Mike’s condo. I’ll let you know when I’m in town, we really need to get drinks.”

Cam and Nolan’s loud yells at the TV drew Esther’s attention. “Wait, where are you? And who was that?”

I took a deep breath, nervous to start combining my new and old lives. I walked back to the couch and turned the camera around. “The guy on the left is Cam. He’s my dad’s business partner, and he’s letting me stay with him while I’m getting on my feet. And the guy on the right is Nolan, Cam’s friend.”

A commercial break started and Cam grinned, reaching over and snatching the phone from me. “Hey, who’s this?” he asked, Nolan scooting over to get into frame.

“Hi, Marlowe’s friend!” Nolan called.

“Um, hey,” she replied. “I’m Esther. Nice to meet you.”

“Esther!” Nolan said. “You’re the one from grad school, right?”

She laughed nervously, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Grad school, huh? Esther, tell me…” Cam shot me a shit-eating grin and then looked back at the phone. “Has she always had a thing for professors, or is that just a recent—”

“Oh my god!” I yelled, grabbing my phone back. “What is this, high school?” I huffed and went upstairs. “Sorry about that.”

Esther gave me a knowing look. “Girl…”

I closed the door to the stairs and sat on the couch in the living room. “What?”

“Are you kidding me? What is going on in Wisconsin? ‘Cause damn.”

I blushed. “Yeah, I kinda had the same thought.”

“And they both totally like you. I can tell! That’s a real Sophie’s choice right there.”

If she only knew.

“I just found out the guy I’ve been with for three years and was going to marry has been fucking other women the whole time. I’m not really thinking about that.”

I hated lying to her, but it was better this way for now.

“Right, sorry. I can’t believe that. I always got the impression he worshiped the ground you walked on. In, like, a creepy way.”

He really had been the perfect boyfriend and fiancé, and with how often we were together, I didn’t even know how he had the time to be sleeping with so many women.

“I think he was just a master manipulator, love bombing me constantly to keep me distracted.”

Esther frowned. “I wish you weren’t so far away right now. I want to give you a hug.”

“Me, too. It’s been too long! Tell me about your new job. You started a few weeks ago, right?”

Her face lit up. “Yes! My new boss is amazing. What a difference it makes not working for a total narcissist…”

We talked for another thirty minutes, until she finally had to go. “I’m meeting Gabriel for dinner soon, but keep me posted on how everything’s going! And if you need a proxy to handle untangling your stuff with Mike here, let me know. I’d love an excuse to yell at him. Possibly hit him.”

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