Free Hot Water by Callie Sparks Page B

“And the shopping is out of this world, too.”
    Joely says, “Don’t let Elena hear you say that, or she’ll make sure you don’t go. This is not a vacation. It is a work function. ”
    My ears prick up at the mention of my mom’s name. Joely does a pretty good impersonation of her. They all turn to look at me, and then Joely clears her throat, embarrassed. But I smile. “Hey, I grew up with her. I know what a hard-assed bitch she can be.”
    They all laugh. And for the first time today, I relax. I think I’ve made some friends.
     
     
    Caden
    “So that was a nice surprise, eh, Cade?” Rhys says when while we’re waiting in the lobby for our dates to arrive in the limo. It’s another benefit, this one for Lymphoma. I attend at least one a week, and while for me, they all blend together, this is the type of thing Andrea lives for. It’s not that she really cares about Lymphoma, or any of the other causes. She lives for wearing new gowns, socializing, putting on airs. My mother was the same way. Those things are important, when you’re a Williams.
    Unfortunately, I’d made plans to go to this one with Rhys and his slut of the week. And there is no more uncomfortable feeling than going on a double date with your fiancé, and a guy who knows what your fiancé’s cunt feels like.
     I shrug in answer to his question. Surprise is not something we show. It indicates uncertainty. Which we do not accept in my line of business.
    “She is one hot piece,” he says. “You going to hit that again before you get yourself down the aisle?”
    I shake my head. He knows I’m not. He knows that I don’t shit where I eat. It ended the second I found out she was an intern.
    And I know what he’s thinking. He’ll make his move on her this week. He can wear even the most pristine and innocent of girls down. She’ll probably wrap her legs around him and once again he’ll rejoice in fact that there’s nothing I can have, that he can’t. It’s been that way all our lives. Awards, Harvard, promotions, girls. He’ll rub my face in the fact that he earned these things, while I only got them because I’m a Williams. Life as a Williams is so fucking easy, he thinks. I just coast.
    Right .
    Andrea and the slut arrive. Andrea is truly stunning, with her strawberry blonde hair and statuesque, dancer’s body wrapped in a short red dress. She turns heads, and mine was no exception. She’d gone to Vassar, and is one of the top image consultants in the United States. She got that way by knowing exactly what to do and how to act in any situation. She is well-prepared for all of life’s little emergencies. Even if the world were ending, her smile would not change. She does not ripple, does not ever lose control.
    Yes, she is a Williams, through and through.
    Even last Saturday, when I confronted her, she was completely composed. Rhys and I had been drinking all day, because we’d been out on the golf course. We went into the club and were just reminiscing about some of the wild things we’d done during college. We’d pretty much done it all, usually when we were fucked up . . . but that was then. Then he said that last year, right after my dad’s stroke and a few days before I’d proposed to Andrea, he’d come over to our apartment. He came over all the time because he lived only a few blocks over, and this time, I’d been in Vegas for the annual conference, so they thought they’d watch movies together. She was pissed because we’d been dating for a year and I’d kept putting off the marriage talk. They ended up getting drunk and fucking on my bed. I spent the whole time listening to his entire bullshit story, not showing a care, stamping out all that rage swelling inside me before it could bubble over.
    Rage is a negative emotion.
    In my head, I tried to come up with some way to twist it, make it positive. But how do you make that positive? At least my fiancée and best friend don’t hate each other ?
    When I got home,