21
“It’s my best friends, the ones I told you about.” Annie held up her phone so that Serena could see the incoming FaceTime call. “They like to check in on me.” She gave her a wry smile. “They want to make sure I’m not about to kill myself or something.”
A tic jumped in the corner of Serena’s right eye, and Annie realized too late that she shouldn’t have made a joke about suicide. Especially after what Serena had confided in her. But before she could apologize, the other woman smoothed a hand over her forehead and said, “Right. Happens to me too. Danny had me hospitalized once because he thought I was going to harm myself.”
“What?” Annie spun around in surprise to fully face Serena. God, she was the worst. She’d just stuck her giant foot in her mouth, making a joke about something that wasn’t funny. She wanted to ask Serena more about what she’d just said, but she had already picked up the call and Izzy’s loud voice distracted her.
“Annie! Are you okay?” he shouted, holding his phone so close to his face that all Annie could see were his perfectly arched eyebrows. “We saw on the news that there’s a huge storm going on there. Flooding and everything. Wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Annie recoiled from the loud voice and traded a look with Serena. Before she could speak, Izzy bellowed again. “Can you hear me?” He brought the phone up to his face.
Annie winced at Izzy’s high-pitched yell. This close up she could see every pore of his clear brown skin.
“For heaven’s sake, Isaac Michael Griffith, how many times do I have to tell you, you don’t need to yell on FaceTime?” Julia’s face scrunched into a scowl and Annie suppressed her grin. “Get that phone away from your face.”
“Don’t call me Isaac. It’s Izzy.” Izzy moved the phone away and stuck out his tongue.
“So mature, Isaac.” Julia’s voice dripped with disdain.
Annie did laugh then, grateful that her two best friends were behaving exactly as she’d left them, and also completely ignoring her. “Hello? Remember me? The one you called?”
“Go ahead and take the call,” Serena mouthed at Annie as she made to stand up. “I can wait at the breakfast bar.”
Annie waved a hand at her. “No, no. Stay. I want to introduce you to them.”
“Who’re you talking to?” Izzy’s curious face peered at her.
“Hang on a sec.” Annie beckoned to Serena. “Come over here so they can see you.”
Serena scooted over on the couch, her face clouded in uncertainty. “Are you sure?”
“Yes!” Annie gestured to her again. “Come on.” She turned back to the phone and angled it so that Julia and Izzy could see Serena. “This is my new friend Serena.”
“Hi.” Serena waved at them, a tentative smile on her face. Even with her hesitancy, Annie could see how luminous her face was when she smiled, as if lit from within.
“Hi, Serena.” Julia waved, but then she must have dropped her phone, because all they could see was some blurred and jerky movement before her image came back on the screen.
“Serena and I are stranded inside because of the storm. Wait, isn’t it really late there?” Annie checked the clock. “Like after one?”
“Yup.” Julia grinned, and Annie could see for the first time how red her face was.
“You guys went out?” Annie stuck out her bottom lip, half pouting that her friends were together in New York City partying it up while she was stuck inside in a storm.
“Julia met me after the show. She wanted to introduce her new love to me.” Izzy wiggled his eyebrows, and both Annie and Serena laughed.
“And?” Annie raised her eyebrows back at Izzy.
“I like her. I think you would too.” Izzy gestured to Julia, whose face was turning a darker shade of red. “I think she’s in love.”
“Julia, you look like you got a sunburn. How much did you drink tonight?” Annie teased, thinking of how the Asian glow always affected her and Julia when they drank.
“A lot.” Julia had a goofy look on her face. “But I was nervous. It’s the first time Sheilah has met any of my friends.”
Julia had just met Sheilah through a friend right before Annie moved to Kauai. She’d rounded up Annie and Izzy for bubble tea to discuss it. “I really like her, but my parents aren’t going to approve.” Annie remembered how Julia’s eyes had clouded when she said that. Julia was bisexual, and her traditionally Chinese family didn’t know.
“Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling you to finally come clean with your parents. It’s going to be hard, but maybe in time, your parents will come around?” Annie may not have known how to fix her own life, but she had no problem giving advice to someone else.
“Yeah.” Julia had heaved a deep sigh.
Now Julia happily told them about the night and how well Sheilah had gotten along with Izzy. Annie studied her friends’ faces as Julia spoke. They looked so relaxed, so happy in their own skin. They knew what they wanted—to dance in New York City—and were still pursuing their dreams. While her dreams had crashed and burned and she was left wondering what to do next. What did she do when there was no place to channel all the passion she’d once put into dance?
The more she listened to Julia and Izzy talk about Sheilah and what was going on in New York, the more Annie missed her old life. She had a focus back then. She knew what she wanted and was doing what she loved. Teaching, rehearsing with her modern dance company, performing in and around New York City, and going to schools for lecture demonstrations. She’d even enjoyed the administrative side of the studio—hiring teachers, dealing with advertising copy, maintaining the website, ordering supplies, and the myriad things to do when you ran your own business.
She’d thrived on the fast-paced life of a performer, the thrill of getting up in front of a crowd, no matter how big or small, and the joy she took in movement, whether in a class or on a stage. She had never thought it would all end so abruptly, and all because the landlord had raised her rent. One minute she was planning the winter schedule for her dance studio and dreaming up new choreography for the company, and the next, her lawyer was advising her to file for bankruptcy.
Even though Julia liked to point out that her company had been in trouble financially, Annie liked to think she would have figured out a way. She always did. But she didn’t get that chance. Her landlord took that choice away from her. And now she was in Kauai, at loose ends, not sure what she wanted to do.
“Are you listening to me?”
Annie blinked, brought back to the present by Izzy’s voice. He’d taken over catching her up on his life. And no, she hadn’t been listening. She’d been dwelling on her past, on what her life could have been if she hadn’t lost everything. She hadn’t even wanted to dance anymore after that. She had always taken so much pleasure in dance classes. But she hadn’t stepped foot in a studio in three and a half years.
“I wish I was there with you. I miss you guys,” Annie said instead of answering Izzy’s question. She missed her friends so much. Why had she and Brody moved to Kauai?