Paradise Wild (Wild At Heart Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter 18

Thumping music from the living room reverberated through Celine’s small apartment, making the glassware jiggle. Ellie stood in a crowd of people near the second bedroom. She was telling a story, hands waving wildly, the wine in her half-empty glass sloshing like a mini tsunami. With a particularly violent swing of her arm, the glass itself soared toward the wall. A young man in an untucked flannel shirt and dirty jeans intercepted the flying object before impact.

“Nice throw.” He laughed, wiping the white wine from his shirt. “You want a refill?”

“What?” Ellie focused on him with effort. “Sure. Get yourself another glass.”

He grinned and began pushing his way through the crowd. Ellie grabbed the tail of his shirt and tugged.

“Get me one too.” She looked quizzically at her empty hands. “I must’ve put mine down somewhere.”

K-Rao stepped forward.

“I think you’ve had enough, yeah?” He grasped Ellie’s elbow and steered her skillfully through the dense crowd of twenty-somethings in the hall. “Excuse us, folks. I’m taking this lovely lady for a walk.”

At the long living room sofa, he whispered in the ear of a tall youth with long, untidy hair and a torn sweatshirt. The man hopped up and K-Rao settled Ellie in the seat he’d vacated. Ellie stared after him.

“That guy was my professor.” She squinted. “Used to work at HubSpot.”

K-Rao settled on the sofa’s arm. “Wouldn’t be surprised. Celine throws a hell of a Thanksgiving party.” While Ellie stared at her professor’s retreating back, K-Rao pointed at Ellie’s head and gave Celine, who was watching him from the kitchen, a thumbs up. 

Ellie leaned conspiratorially against K-Rao’s shoulder. “You miss Maui?” She had to shout to be heard above the music and surrounding conversation.

“Nope. Maui’s not going anywhere. I’m happy to be here.”

“I miss it.” Ellie burped and put her hand to her mouth, giggling. “I miss Viv.”

“You miss the big-ass house.” K-Rao punched her lightly in the shoulder. Ellie fell in slow motion, colliding eventually with the woman on her other side.

K-Rao pulled Ellie upright.

“I miss Denver.” Ellie slumped toward him again. He propped her against the backrest. “I blocked his number.” She groped for her phone and pulled from her back pocket. “See?”

K-Rao looked thoughtfully at the blank screen. “It sucks, Ellie. The guy was a bastard.”

“Yeah.” Ellie’s head bobbed back and forth, knocking repeatedly against the headrest. “Did you know his company was a hot mess? I should have seen it coming. He was a total loser.”

“That’s right.” K-Rao patted her arm and looked through the living room window at the glittering lights of the neighboring high-rises.

“So why do I miss Maui? I met only jerks. Like Noa.” She stopped nodding and followed K-Rao’s glance out the window. “Anything new about him?”

“Nope. He disappeared. I think you can forget about him, yeah?”

“Not so easy. Jerks stick in your mind.”

“Yeah.” K-Rao grinned. “What are you planning after you finish your courses? You job hunting yet?”

“Vivyenne. She was another class-A jerk.” Ellie poked a finger at her phone. “Treats Devora like shit. And Devora’s actually really nice, once you get to know her.”

K-Rao scratched his head. “How about your parents? Are they coming to visit?”

Ellie yelled into the phone. “Fuck Vivyenne and her tight-ass surgical white fetish.”

He laughed and tried to catch her gaze. “Hey, Ellie. I’m trying to switch the subject.”

Ellie smiled to herself. “It’s Thanksgiving. You’re supposed to be grateful. I’m texting Devora.”

“You’re in your own little world right now, aren’t you?” K-Rao squeezed her shoulders. “Wave if you need me.” He elbowed his way through the throng in the direction of the kitchen.

Ellie turned on her phone.

Ellie: Happy turkey day.

She was putting her phone back in her pants when it jingled. She looked at it with surprise.

Devora: Right. U too.

Ellie: Ur around on T-day? I’m at a party in San Fran.

Devora: Severe FOMO. At my parents’.

Ellie: Aww.

Devora: Not aww. Oww.

Ellie: Come over.

Devora: We’re in L.A.

Ellie pursed her lips in thought.

“What the fuck.”

Ellie: I want a raise.

Devora: Go for it.

Ellie: And first class ticket back.

Devora: Right. Anything else?

Ellie patted her head with both hands.

“Come on, Ellie. Think. What else?”

She scrunched her eyes tightly shut for a second.

Ellie: Got ideas?

Devora: U should have asked for more money from the beginning. I was authorized to give u more.

Ellie: WTF.

Devora: Can tell u more. I’ll call u in 5.

Ellie looked up from her phone in bewilderment, as though aware for the first time of the buzz around her. She pretended holding the phone to one ear and plugged the other with her finger.

Can’t hear anything but this music.

The mass of young people around her swayed in time to the pulsating beat. Conversations, in-person and virtual, augmented the noise.

Nobody goes home for Thanksgiving anymore?

She stumbled over outstretched legs and people sitting on the floor. The area by the front door was less crowded than elsewhere, but when she reached it she realized why. It served as an echo chamber, all sound reverberating against the close walls. Ellie lurched into the condo’s hall. The door closed behind her, cutting the volume by half. She stepped across the narrow strip of carpet to the communal garbage and recycling area. After the metal door clanged shut, the only reminder of the party across the hall was a faint thump.

She slid down the wall to face a large pile of flattened Amazon boxes. The phone rang.

“Hey.” Devora’s voice sounded quiet and less confident than Ellie remembered.

“Hey.” Ellie listed to one side. “Don’t think we’ve actually talked since I moved to Hawaii.”

“Right. Texting’s better. But that phone’s Vivyenne’s. Sometimes I think she monitors my messages.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Ellie kicked the boxes with her foot and they tumbled forward. “Shit.”

“What’s up?”

“Hold on.” Ellie set the phone on the floor and re-assembled the pile. She scooted farther away so she wouldn’t be tempted again. “Sorry. I’m in the garbage closet. It’s quiet.”

“I’d take a garbage closet. I’m at my parents’. It’s a nightmare.”

Ellie registered the slight slurring in Devora’s speech. “You sound drunk.”

“So do you.”

Ellie laughed. “That’s because I
am
drunk.”

“Right. Well, here no one officially ever gets beyond tipsy. My grandfather’s so tipsy that he’s passed out in front of the TV.”

“You should really come over. I’ve never had a Thanksgiving like this. The room’s full of people our age who apparently don’t need to be home.”

“What about you? Why aren’t you back in Delaware?”

Ellie closed her eyes and a vision of her family around the mahogany dining room table washed briefly in front of her eyes. “Wish I were. It’s fun at Thanksgiving.”

“Right. But that’s not why you texted.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ellie’s spine straightened against the wall. “You wanted to tell me about the raise.”

“Right. Ask for double.”

“Double what?”

“Double what you’re making right now.”

A noticeable amount of wine stopped circulating through Ellie’s system. Her head suddenly cleared. “Double?”

“That’s right. Doctor Lovejoy’s in a good mood. It’s rare, so take advantage of it. She just got engaged to some old flame.”

She felt as though an Olympic boxer had landed a direct punch to her gut. Her mouth hung open. She dropped the phone, which skidded across the concrete.

“Ellie?” Devora’s voice sounded tinny and distant.

She held the phone next to her ashen face. “Shit.”

“You okay?”

Ellie rocked back and forth against the wall. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“What’s up? I thought I was doing you a favor.”

“You are.” Ellie rose, leaning against the wall for support. “Ask that bitch for triple what I make now. And a first class ticket back. And a better car. And…” Ellie wiped her mouth. “I get to have final say over the garden.”

“You’re giving me life here, Ellie. Hold on.”

Ellie lay down on the cold concrete. It cooled her throbbing head. She stared at the piles of cardboard, the recycling boxes, the garbage chute.

Denver’s marrying Vivyenne.
The thought made her gag and she sat up, coughing.

“Hey.” Devora’s voice sounded excited. “You’re
never
going to believe this.”

Ellie massaged her temples. “What? She fired me?”

“No. You’ll rake in sixty-six thousand dollars from now until the end of January. Basically all she said was, ‘Okay. I’m sure Denver would want her to have it.’ Whatever that means.”

Ellie’s voice was flat, defeated. “That means she’s feeling guilty.”

“Guilty? You don’t know the woman. Guilt is not something she wastes time on.”

“No.” Ellie shook her head. “Probably not. She just hits and runs.”

Ellie heard a muffled conversation from Devora’s end of the line.

“Hey, I’ve got to go. I was hiding in my brother’s bedroom, but they found me. You have a great Thanksgiving. Have some fun for me, okay?”

Ellie wiped a tear from her cheek. “Sure.”

She lay back on the floor and pulled a piece of cardboard over her head.

An hour later, Celine shoved the garbage area door open and screamed. Ellie flung the box from her as though she’d been shocked and sat bolt upright.

“Girl.” Celine held her chest. “You scared the life out of me. What are you doing in here with a box over your head like a homeless person?” She eyed Ellie’s face. “You get lost?”

Ellie sat up and hung her head. Tears dripped onto the gray floor, staining it with dark circles. Celine dropped the bag of empty bottles into a bin and squatted beside her friend. “What happened?”

Ellie leaned into her. “Denver’s getting married.” Her voice cracked as she choked out the last words. “To Vivyenne.”

“Oh, Ellie.” Celine rocked her gently while she sobbed. “You deserve someone better than that.” She whispered to herself. “And he’d better watch out, because I’m siccing K-Rao on his sorry ass.”

***

“I thought the money would make me feel better.”

Ellie sat with a large mug of coffee at the kitchen table amid the detritus of the prior night’s party. K-Rao and Celine reclined, looking the worse for wear, across from her.

“But it doesn’t?” Celine raised her eyebrow. “That’s some serious cash.”

K-Rao elbowed Celine and nodded at Ellie. “But it’s tainted money, yeah?”

“That’s right.” Ellie shuddered. “I’d be taking money from the person who stabbed me in the back. I’d feel like a whore.”

Celine walked to the refrigerator, pulled out a pie dish, and stared accusingly at K-Rao. “Who was at my pie last night?” She tipped the pan toward them and Ellie eyed the gouge marks left by spoons and forks. K-Rao looked at the table.

“I might have brought it out. Just at the end. A couple of the guys were really hungry.”

“Well, I guess you’ll be baking us another one this afternoon, right?” Celine winked, dropped the pie on the table, and fished three forks out of a drawer.

Ellie poked at the crust. “I’m basically screwed. If I go back, I make lots of money but feel horrible. If I stay here, I have no money but feel self-righteous.”

Celine shook her head. “That’s not the way I see it.”

Ellie bit into a tiny piece of pie. “What do you see?”

“I think you’re going to feel like shit no matter what you do. So take the money.”

K-Rao turned in his chair. “My woman’s got no morals.” He kissed Celine on the cheek. “What about Ellie’s self-esteem?”