Page 77 of June

“Right,” Caroline replied.

“Oh, and that’s Bridgette and Monica behind them.”

Caroline’s head was spinning, trying to keep up. She’d been somewhat popular in school, but she’d never had this many friends that hung out like this.

“So, you’re a student?” Monica asked about ten minutes later after everyone had settled in around the table, and Monica and Bridgette had sat across from them, off to the right a bit.

“Yes,” she said, repeating it for the fifth time already.

Enid had walked off to the bathroom with Rory a few minutes ago, and they looked like they were talking about something. Caroline hoped she’d passed the best friend test and that Rory wasn’t telling Enid to drop her on their second date or something.

“Do you like school? I loved school,” Monica said.

“You’re a nerd, though,” Bridgette teased her.

“You like that I’m a nerd. I do all the spreadsheet stuff at work for you.”

“That’s true,” Bridgette replied.

“Um… It’s fine. I’m ready to be done.”

“You’re in grad school, right?” Bridgette asked. “MBA like Enid? I thought I heard someone say that.”

“No, undergrad. Almost a junior.”

“My son is a junior,” Monica shared.

“Sorry?” Caroline replied.

“My son, Aaron, is a junior now. Crazy. Well, hewillbe in the fall. He took four AP classes in high school and was able to test out of a few of the entry-level courses, and he took eighteen credit hours each semester, so he’s a bit ahead.”

“Oh, wow,” Caroline said, feeling like she was every bit the underachiever she’d always thought she was.

“So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” she replied, shrugging a shoulder.

She’d read an article a while ago about how Americans were so obsessed with what people did for a living that after asking a new person their name, it was the next question in any small talk conversation, while in most other countries, people could get to know a stranger well without ever having asked what they did for a living. Maybe she should move to Europe or something.

“Hey. Sorry, I’m late. I couldn’t find parking.”

“Hey, Jill,” Sophie said.

Caroline looked up at the beautiful woman standing by the table. Jill had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked like she could have been modeling a bathing suit on a beach in California.Thatwas whom Enid just ended things with? Was Enid a crazy person? Was she dating a crazy person now?

“I’m back. Sorry,” Enid said to Caroline. “Hey, Jill.”

“Hey,” Jill replied. “And you must be Caroline.”

“Yeah, hey,” Caroline said.

Should she stand up? Was she supposed to shake Jill’s hand? Did people do that, shake the hand of the former date of the woman they werecurrentlydating? Did that even make any sense?

“Jill. Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Caroline replied.

“You okay?” Enid whispered in her ear as Jill sat down next to Bridgette.

---