president of some snotty college or whatever, but your mom sure knows how to curse.â
âI guess I knew how to get under her skin,â Lucy admitted ruefully.
âHowâre you two getting along, now that you donât see her?â
Lucy opened the cupboard and found the pancake mix.She noticed that Ariana already had eggs and oil standing by. Casually, she reached across her for an egg and broke it into the bowl, pouring in milk afterward. âWe donât talk much. I mostly text her a few times every day. Just checking in, letting Mom know what Iâm doing, asking about her and Dad. She replies, tells me something about her day. The main thing is, she doesnât get too nosy. Itâs like Iâm away at college or something. Itâs cool.â
Ariana rinsed the cloth sheâd been using to wipe down the surface, then poured two glasses of orange juice. âYou think itâs changed your relationship with her, being out here in LA?â
âI think, yeah, maybe. Itâs like, out of sight, out of mind. Which, knowing my mom, is a good thing. Sheâs got to have so much of her life under control; if Iâm part of that then itâs like, I have to fall in with all those other performance measures.â
Ariana shook her head in sympathy. âThatâs no way to live.â
âItâs just how Mom is. Thatâs why sheâs so successful. I think, after a while, she didnât even want to be that way, but she just couldnât stop herself.â
Lucy whipped up the batter for about one minute, thinking about what sheâd just told Ariana. Theyâd skirted around these types of topics during their phone calls. But itâd been a while since theyâd last had a really long talk. And it was nicer to have Ariana actually in her kitchen, sharing past history.
Ariana must have picked up on this, because she gave Lucy a wry smile. âFace it, honey, youâve missed me. Get over here, gimme a squeeze.â
Lucy endured yet another hug before moving over to the stove to heat up the griddle. Ariana leaned back against the countertop, juice glass in one hand, observing Lucy in her element.
âYou know something, youâve really grown as a person.â
Lucy scowled. âUghâcan we ditch the rehab talk? You always gave it to me straight, Ariana. Câmon, now, I can take it.â
âYou want me to call you out on something?â
âNo,â Lucy replied. âI just donât want any bull. Out here, I got away from all of that. The housemates, theyâre my friends, all of them. I didnât think it would be like that. Weâre all so different. But you know what? It really is that way. Weâve been through some stuff and, yeah, okay, I only told them very recently that I was on Jelly and Pie . Then you showed up. Which meant that anyone in the house who hadnât already Googled me, found out about me being in rehab, too. I donât want to be defined by my past. I donât want to be that girl anymore.â
âIt was sorta careless,â Ariana admitted. âIâm sorry, hon.â
âItâs all out in the open now. No one seemed too freaked out about it. Candace isnât running to her mom to tell her that one of her tenants is a raging junkie. It looks like everything is okay.â
Ariana didnât speak for a moment, which surprisedLucy a little. Instead, she took the pancake batter from Lucyâs hand and poured a measure onto the hot griddle.
âYeah,â Ariana said eventually, when three pancakes were cooking. âYour only problem now . . . is me.â
It was trueâalmostâbut Lucy had tried to conceal it. Either Ariana was being super-sensitive, or Lucy wasnât playing the role of âhospitable friendâ very well.
âYouâre not a problem.â
Ariana nodded without looking at Lucy. Softly she said, âOh, yes I am. Lucy,