Jill pulled into a parking space and found her cell phone. She dialed the number, and as she waited for the call to connect, she adjusted the air-conditioning vent to blow cool air on her face. The tweed jacket she’d chosen had been a mistake—the whole interview had been a mistake. She should have removed the photograph from her portfolio the second she noticed the smudge. Including it was sloppy and unprofessional, not the impression she wanted to give. She yanked off her jacket and tossed it aside.
Ellie answered Jill’s call almost before it had a chance to ring. “It’s about time you called,” she kidded, her familiar New Jersey accent as thick as ever. “You were there so long I thought you’d moved in. So tell me: how’d it go?”
Jill and Ellie had been best friends since fifth grade, ever since Ellie had rescued Jill from a series of horrifying packed lunches consisting of iceberg lettuce and rice crackers. When Jill turned eleven, Jill’s mother had decided that if Jill were ever to attract the right boy’s attention, she needed to lose weight. Every day began with a trip to the bathroom scale and her mother’s disappointing sigh. One day, Ellie claimed a seat on the bench next to Jill, unwrapped her lunch and offered Jill half. The gesture almost made Jill weep and they’d been nigh on inseparable ever since.
“The meeting with Mrs. Brockhurst? Not great.” Jill relayed the details as she waved the car behind her away. “I knew I shouldn’t have included that picture, El, but honestly, it’s my favorite. I didn’t notice that I’d included the wrong print until this morning, and by then I didn’t have time to fix it. I guess I was hoping she wouldn’t notice.”
“Still a great picture, Jilly.”
“Thanks. I liked it too.”
“Listen, you want to meet for coffee? I’ve got some time before I have to leave.”
As one of the coordinators for the family at the Brockhurst compound in East Hampton, Ellie was expected in Long Island for training.
“What’s the guest count up to now?” Jill asked, remembering an update she’d read in the newspaper. “Two hundred people?”
“Two twenty-five as of this morning. I don’t know where they’re going to put everybody.” Ellie sighed. “And get this: they want servers to call the guests by name and memorize food and drink preferences too.”
“It’s a ton of work, Ellie—”
“I’ll say.”
“But,” Jill continued, “I have complete faith in you. Imagine how great this will look on your résumé?”
After graduating high school, Ellie had gone straight to work. First as a server for a catering company, then as a team leader, then a supervisor. She had a talent for organization and an eye for detail, and promotions came quickly. Her dream was to start her own events company, and of course Jill wanted to help. She slipped Ellie’s business card to Marc’s friends’ wives, who always seemed to be hosting a party or event. But when Marc had found out, he was livid, reminding Jill again that her friends and his associates would always be separate.
“Yeah, sure it will,” Ellie agreed. “Anyway, what about coffee?”
“I can’t,” Jill said as she switched off the engine. “Marc’s party is tonight, and I still have a few errands to run.”
“Yeah, of course.” Ellie’s tone cooled, something only Jill would have noticed. But she did and it made her uneasy.
Jill’s oldest and best friend and Jill’s new husband had never warmed to each other. Back when Jill and Marc started dating, Ellie had accused Marc of coming on too strong. She didn’t like that he expected Jill to fit into his world yet made no effort to fit into hers. Once, Ellie had hinted that she thought Marc might still be married while dating Jill, but the resulting argument was so fierce that she’d never mentioned it again. For his part, Marc accused Ellie of being crass and uninterested in bettering herself. He mocked her accent, made fun of the way she dressed, and he cringed every time she laughed. Jill refused to examine the fact that she and Ellie had practically grown up together and acted the same way until a few years ago. Until Marc took an interest in her.
“Hey—how about dinner when you get back?” Jill’s heart sank at Ellie’s dull acceptance of her second-place status in Jill’s life. “Cheeseburgers and fries at Ruby Jacks?” Jill urged. “I’ll meet you there at eight?”
Ellie snorted and all at once the tension between them was broken. “Better make it six, fancy girl. Some of us have day jobs.”
“Deal.” Knowing Ellie didn’t have much money, Jill almost offered to pay, but that would mean poking another sore spot between them. So she didn’t.
Jill’s circumstances had improved since her marriage to Marc three years ago. She’d moved from sharing a dank apartment in a sketchy neighborhood with four other roommates to an 8,000-square-foot home in a posh neighborhood in Summit, New Jersey. Marc had been generous with credit cards and a clothing allowance, and he found ways to help her spend it. It was almost too good to be true that Jill would never again have to forage through clearance racks at Old Navy or scour the bins at Goodwill when she needed something to wear. However, despite her best efforts to remain in touch, many of her friendships had fallen away. Ellie was the only one left, and Jill had started to notice the threads connecting them were beginning to fray.
Three
Jill paid the lot attendant for her parking space and made her way to the shops. A tear in Marc’s tuxedo had needed to be rewoven before the party, and Jill had paid a rush fee to ensure it would be ready. Marc was anxious
