29

“I can’t believe he didn’t warn you,” Janka said quietly as they sipped coffee in the back room of the gallery on Monday morning. “The press outside the gallery this morning was insane.”

“I’m sorry, Janka.” She whispered sadly. “I feel terrible you had to close the doors. I could go home.”

“No. It’s better they are here than at your brother’s house where your niece plays.” Janka refused to let her go.

Liesl’s phone buzzed again, and she groaned looking at it. “Fuck off!”

“Which one is it? Merl? Sandy? Your mom? Trent? Torrie?”

“Sandy.” She grunted. “Last night Granny said she was a load mom should have swallowed and I don’t disagree.”

Janka giggled. “Your granny is something else. My granny sits in a rocking chair making slippers. Yours runs the bingo mafia.”

They all giggled at Janka’s playful words. Granny had once gotten into a fistfight with a woman at bingo for trying to cheat.

“This morning I had all of my aunts at Fred’s door with hugs and loving support. They all also wanted details on the hot man I was making out with on the internet.”

“At least the video was gone this morning.”

“Yes, but the damage is done. The bitch sent out a call to arms to find the girl who ruined her dreams of being Mrs. Isaias Machado. I had to shut down all my social media accounts. I had death threats for being a homewrecker.”

Her phone buzzed again and this time it was Merlin demanding she call him. She almost wanted to respond. For eight years when things went sideways in her life, he had been the person she turned to. With Isaias not reaching out since he’d dropped her off the night before, a strange need for comfort filled her. She remembered Janka telling her she had daddy issues, and she shook her head, exhaled, and put her phone down.

Pounding on the door made Janka curse under her breath, “it better be Elsie bringing alcohol.”

“It’s not even nine in the morning,” she shot her best friend a shocked expression.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Janka mumbled back.

A few moments later she came back with Elsie on her heels.

“Guess who called me on my way over?” Elsie made wide eyes at her. Before she could answer she responded, “Isaias’ legal team. They must have heard I was working on a cease and desist. They told me to drop it and they would deal with the situation.”

“What?” Liesl was stunned.

“I told them to go hell because according to my client, Isaias has not made any attempt to communicate with her and thus the trust he would appropriately manage the situation does not exist.”

“What did they say?” Janka said as she grabbed a bunch of glass jars Liesl usually used for rinsing her brushes and dumped them into the sink and rinsed them out. “Voila,” she muttered as she dug through a cupboard and found a bottle of whiskey. “This will do.”

Liesl shook her head at Janka while she waited for Elsie to respond as she shoved her jacket onto the back of a chair and dropped her briefcase on the floor. Looks like they were going to be day drinking.

“He said that Mr. Machado will be in contact with Ms. McGrath shortly and they would appreciate my cooperation in the matter.”

“What did you say?”

“I said, go fuck yourself, and I hung up.” Elsie took the glass and stared at it as if questioning whether she genuinely wanted to drink from it. She shrugged and tossed the entire contents down her throat. “Also, Merlin called me begging to get you to call him. He’s quite concerned for your wellbeing.” She shivered as the alcohol coated her insides, “he too, also got told to go fuck himself.”

“What I can’t comprehend, is how fast this whole thing spiralled out of control,” Liesl complained as she did the shot of whisky and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She gagged as the liquid hit her stomach and wanted to immediately come back up.

“Craven France is an influencer socialite who posts stories and videos all over the world. She has a following of over two million. It was nothing for her plea for assistance in trying to find the person breaking up her fake relationship to reach millions in minutes,” Elsie complained.

Liesl’s phone buzzed again, and she looked and grunted. “Merlin again.”

“Why don’t you shut it off?” Elsie asked as she rolled her sleeves up and waved at Janka to keep pouring.

“She’s waiting for Isaias to call her and explain why the fuck he didn’t give her a head’s up last night before dropping her off.”

“Do you actually think he’s going to call Liesl?” Elsie swirled the dark liquor around the glass container and grimaced.

She gave a sad snort as she accepted the next shot of the whiskey, “the weekend was pure perfection from the minute he showed up here Friday night to help me antagonize the McGraths right until he kissed me until I was barely upright at the door when he dropped me off last night at eight. Now it’s been thirteen hours of radio silence.”

“Did you call him? Text him?”

“No.” she shook her head. “Why do I need to make the first move when I’m not the one who fucked up?”

“Maybe he’s thinking he fucked up and you won’t want to be around him,” Elsie offered the same explanation Janka had when she’d questioned her over two hours ago. “You should message him.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Every time Merlin messed up, it was me reaching out. It was me somehow apologizing for his actions. It was me who was smoothing things over. I will never again be in a relationship where I take ownership of another man’s screwups. He owes me an apology and I’m not chasing after it. He can reach out and if he can’t then he’s not the man I thought he was, and I’ll move on. I’ve known him ten days not ten years. I won’t die if I never talk to him again.”

Her two best friends held up their glasses in a toast to her strong speech and she clinked her glasses with theirs before tossing the burning liquid down her gullet. “Where the hell did you get this? It’s like paint thinner.” She coughed a bit as she wiped her mouth again.

“It could actually be paint thinner, considering I found it under the counter with your paint supplies. For all I know you used a whisky bottle to store paint thinner in.”

The alcohol was now buzzing through their systems, and they all giggled.

More pounding on the front door of the closed gallery had them all groaning. Janka poured them each another shot and then rose from the table to go answer the door.

The sound of her arguing with someone filtered back and then her footsteps approaching made Liesl drunkenly call out over her shoulder.

“If it’s the reporters again, tell them I refuse to give an exclusive to anyone except Oprah.” She slurped back the whiskey, “and no comment on dick size.”