Center Ring by Nicole Waggoner

Author:Nicole Waggoner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Norah

1 New Text (From Leila Cell)

Did you take another test?

Reply (To Leila Cell)

Yes.

1 New Text (From Leila Cell)

I just want you to know I’m here for you. I saw the first test last night when I came upstairs with your water.

Reply (To Leila Cell)

That means a lot to me. Thank you. Please keep this to yourself. I need more information before I make decisions.

1 New Text (From Leila Cell)

Of course.

Kate

Kate looked around the table, feeling overwhelmed, as their conversations braided together into some alien sense of cohesion. She had missed so much. Ellie was dating a client? How had that even happened? Leila might be going back to the university? She especially hated being the last to know Cami had been fired and hired. Norah’s hand gently squeezed her leg as they listened to Leila talk excitedly about an arts festival she wanted them to make plans for. Kate knew they were all watching her. She took a bite of the crab dip to make them happy and tried not to think about the buttered bread crumbs and gorgonzola cream. Leila’s hand found hers briefly under the table and she felt stronger.

“I just don’t know what she’s thinking. It’s a huge risk.” Cami’s words were blunt, but Kate understood she was just worried about having to pack up another apartment for Ellie if she lost it again. Norah scrolled through her phone, and Kate noticed Leila watching every keystroke she made. Were they texting about her? “From what I understand,” Cami continued, “I couldn’t care less that most of what they say are lies, but I still don’t think Ellie has any business being with some sort of teen heartthrob turned cougar bait.”

“I think she really believes in him.” Leila shifted her glass from one hand to the other. “When have we ever heard her speak so highly of a huge star before, much less of an independent film? I think she’s hoping to rebrand his next chapter.”

“Ellie has her blinders on. She’s seeing what she wants to see right now.” Cami swished the ice in her glass. “So what if his film is brilliant? And so what if it’s not? Ellie thinks she’s saving him. Somehow she’s twisted representing him as an actor into reinventing his identity. Not wise. Look at Clooney. He’s been nominated time after time for an Oscar, but what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see him?” Cami looked around the table, and Kate shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She needed to speak soon. “That he’s a sex symbol.”

“Sure.” Kate sipped her wine. “In my mind, he’s always going to be the pediatrician I wished I’d met on ER, but that doesn’t necessarily define what I think about his art. If anything, when I see the new Clooney movie with Oscar buzz, I assume I’ll get to look at something pretty, even if the film is terrible.”

“I see your point,” Cami conceded, but Kate knew it was mostly out of gratitude, not out of agreement, that she had joined the conversation.

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