Page 24 of Lily In The Valley
“This baby is making me so emotional.” She sniffed, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.
Nyah, Lynn, and I stared at each other, immediately recognizing the flaw in her logic. “Now, Nessa, we all know it’s not the baby making you cry.”
She looked up at us, confusion causing fine lines in her otherwise smooth forehead.
“Don’t look at us like that.” Lynn smirked. “You know you’re the crybaby of the group.” Vanessa’s mouth dropped, half-shocked, half-insulted.
“Nessa, it’s true. You’ve been wailing at anything since you were born.”
“So.” She pouted, a half-smile inching around the corner of her mouth. “Anyways,” she added, drawing the word out. “Can we finally know where you got matched?”
Lynn and Nyah leaned closer. I reached back to grab my phone off the coffee table. Slowly, I went to the email that held my fate, opening it and holding the phone up to my dearest friends, my sisters. Silence filled the space as they read the words I’d read earlier. Nyah was the first to speak.
“How do you feel?” Her hand covered my shoulder, a gentle squeeze preventing me from retreating into my shell.
Instead, I shrugged. I wasn’t sure of my emotions. Seattle was a great hospital. I would learn a lot. It wasn’t my top choice, but it was a top hospital. Still, something nagged away at me. Vanessa snapped her fingers in my face, bringing me back to the conversation.
“Stop that!” she scolded. “We all know you wanted Johns Hopkins or Stanford. It’s okay to be upset.”
“I’m not upset,” I murmured. “I’m…indifferent.”
“Here, take a shot,” Lynn said, pouring me a round of tequila into one of the plastic cups. I threw it back, wincing as the liquor burned the nonexistent hairs off my chest. “Now take another one.”
I side-eyed her but followed her instructions. When she started to pour another, I grabbed the bottle from her hands. “Lynn, enough. I have to drive home.” I exhaled. “I’m fine. Seattle is a win. I’m proud of it. But…”
“It wasn’t your first choice,” Vanessa finished for me.
I nodded. “It wasn’t. And now everything’s picking up here. I don’t know if I’m ready to leave it all.”
“Kelly, it’ll be okay. I know you. You’ll make the best of it,” Nyah reassured, rubbing my back.
“I don’t know y’all,” Lynn started. “I don’t think Seattle is the problem.”
Vanessa rubbed her belly, then looked at me gently. “I agree, Lynn. I don’t even think it’s leaving us behind that’s the problem.” She sipped more of her beet juice, fighting the gag as she swallowed.
My eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Stop acting ignorant, Kelly,” Lynn said, tapping my hands. “You and Khalil love each other. Have loved each other for years.”
“We’re friends” I started before Lynn slapped my hands again. “Ouch!”
“Stop lying to yourself.” This time it was Vanessa scolding me. “You walk around so confident, telling people what to do.”
“I do not tell people what to do.” I smirked, rolling my eyes.
“Oh please, you throw around orders just as much as Nessa cries.” I looked to Nyah, hoping to garner some sympathy against the unnecessary attacks from my so-called friends.
“She’s not lying,” Nyah agreed.
To hell with these bitches.
All of them.
“Did you know he’s been talking to Zay about settling down? Before you came in, they were discussing baby names and marriage?” Vanessa tender-hearted look was too much. It was all too much.
“Why won’t you let yourself be with him, Kelly?” Nyah asked, her voice soft.
“That’s exactly why,” I said quietly. “He’s my friend. I know what to expect from him in that lane. But once it shifts, everything becomes unpredictable. Risky.”
