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who is Carly going to talk to if not you and me?” She leans forward to build a direct eyeline between us that excludes Christopher. “The thing with Seth at the wedding. How are you doing?”
    I take a deep gulp of wine, then wince as I swallow. “I’m fine. It’s no big deal. He’s just… you know… still having a hard time. I guess.”
    Christopher snorts. “You’re making excuses for him? He got drunk and made you miss your sister’s wedding.”
    I pat his hand. “Take it down a notch, there, Bulldog. I was there for most of the wedding, and Seth… you know. He’s still adjusting.”
    “He’s an asshole.” Christopher takes a swig of his beer.
    Lindsay nibbles her lip. “Are you sure you’re okay? I mean, that had to be tough. And you know, we’ve never really talked about why you guys broke up in the first place. Did he…” She pauses, and a look passes between her and Christopher. “Did he do something… bad to you?”
    “What?” I laugh, then stop when I see how intently Christopher is watching for my answer. “This is what you think? You guys have been talking about this?”
    Christopher picks at his beer label, not looking at me. “Not us. Her.”
    “He just seemed to love you so much,” Lindsay said. “And then, suddenly, poof. Gone. I was just worried—”
    “He didn’t do anything wrong.” My throat feels dry and I grab my wineglass. “He was great. I just wasn’t ready, I guess, and he couldn’t accept that. When I gave the ring back, he kinda freaked out.” I see Christopher tense next to me and I backtrack. “Not in a bad way, just… he started drinking, he wouldn’t stop bugging me about it, and it just got to be too much. So I ended it for good and moved back to Dad’s.”
    Lindsay nodded, her face full of sympathy and understanding. “And how’s that going, being back home?”
    I shrug. “It’s okay. I mean, at first, it was really comforting, you know, being Daddy’s little girl again after going through all that crap with Seth. Then there was the preparation for Ella’s wedding, and Five really seems to like having me around. I’m probably going to get my own place again after November sweeps, when things calm down.” I stare down at the wineglass in my hand, and feel a little shaky from thinking about Seth. See, this is why I don’t like talking about this kind of stuff. It doesn’t do any good, it just upsets me, and who needs that? I down the last of my wine. “And that’s it.”
    Lindsay watches me expectantly, and I see a slight expression of disappointment seep over her face as she realizes that’s the end of the conversation. But still, she smiles, because Lindsay, as previously stated, is the coolest girl on the planet. I aspire to be Lindsay someday, with her long blonde hair that does what it’s told and her great cooking and her ability to always be kind no matter how bad of a verbal ass-kicking someone desperately need. Lindsay never says the wrong thing. Lindsay would have taken the quilt graciously, sent a thank-you note exactly three days later, then called Brandywine Seaver to report every instance in which one of the predictions might possibly be coming true.
    I hope Lindsay never gets a thing for schnauzers , I think, and the thought makes me laugh a little.
    “Well,” Christopher says, standing up and grabbing the empty bottle of wine, “I’m ready to kick both your asses at Scrabble. Who’s up for an ass-kicking?”
    Lindsay and I share a smile as we follow Christopher to the table, where we proceed to annihilate him in Scrabble, the way we do every Friday night.
     
    ***
     
    November sweeps starts, ironically, on October 26th, and Christopher and I are plunged into the insanity. We work long days, drink loads of coffee, and spend countless hours trying to soothe our boss, Victor. He’s perpetually convinced that Tucson Today is on the verge of being canceled, which it never is, and the paranoia gets ten times worse during