“Out of all the people who I expected to be shocked in a bad way, you were the last person I suspected,” she said, grinning.
“Trust me, this is not a bad thing. You were miserable. I just expected you to fly off to Europe or something instead of coming here,” I said.
“Well, my vocal coach referred me to someone out here she thought was great. He’s still giving lessons and actually sang at The Met quite a few times. I figured I could study with him, maybe take a part-time job somewhere to keep myself afloat and let my investments grow a bit before I head off into the night sky.”
“Wait. So, you’ve given this a lot of thought,” I said.
“When have I ever not given it a lot of thought?” she asked. “Hailey, you were my inspiration. I was tired of living a life I didn’t like, a life I wasn’t proud of. You were the one who showed me how beautiful a life by my own rules could be. You and Bryan and Drew. Though I’m ready to kill Bryan, that’s for sure.”
My mind wafted back to that night when I’d collapsed into my sister’s arms after Bryan used my body and tossed it out into the night. I could remember crying all over her clothes while she held me close, not being able to talk about it for a solid hour because I’d cried my voice away. I could remember how angry Anna was with him and how she’d been ready to knock down his door and beat him into oblivion.
My reasoning was he had been drunk and probably wouldn’t remember the encounter in the morning.
“I’m really sorry for showing up so abruptly. I know I’ve done that to you on some many occasions, and I want to thank you for taking me in,” Anna said.
r /> “You’re always welcome into whatever home I have. My studio apartment isn’t much, but the bed’s big enough for us, and the coffee pot could feed a family of ten,” I said, grinning. “Though I have to admit, you’ve been pretty quiet about the whole thing. Why don’t we go across the street and talk about it?”
“You think it’s too cold for milkshakes?” Anna asked.
“What kind of question is that?” I asked.
I closed the gallery for now, and we walked across the street to Drew’s Diner. I came over here every once in a while to eat lunch, but these past few weeks had been so busy that I ended up working right through my break. The two of us sat down in a booth in the corner and immediately ordered milkshakes, and I got a plate of fries for us to share while we figured out what to eat for lunch.
“So, you were complimenting me on being a wonderful role model,” I said.
“You would latch onto that,” she said, smirking. “I saw how you were following your dream out here in July, and it made me realize I was tired of being a corporate drone.”
“Do you want to get your own place, or should we rearrange the apartment?” I asked.
“Oh, no. Eventually, I’ll get my own place. I’m not going to do all that to you.”
“Well, the offer still stands. If we split the rent, you’d only be paying three hundred a month.”
“But then we’d be on top of each other all the time, and I’d be ready to kill you,” she said.
“Thanks for that. So, are you looking for a place then? What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Well, I guess I kind of started the move a couple of weeks ago.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as the plate of fries were set onto the table.
“Ready to order?” the waitress asked.
“Give us about twenty minutes, and we’ll be ready,” I said, smiling.
“Wonderful. Just flag me down. I’m gonna go take my break,” the waitress said.
“A couple of weeks ago, I started heavily investing. I took my retirement fund and rolled it over into a moderate-risk account, took the savings account Mom and Dad were having me keep for retirement purposes and invested that into a moderate-risk IRA, and took the savings account I was building for emergency purposes and invested that into yet another account I could eventually draw from.”
“Good for you,” I said. “Investing’s how I got most of my money for this gallery.”
“I still have a savings account I keep for generic purposes, and right now, that’s what I’m dipping into for all this. I’ve still got some paychecks that’ll dump into my account over the next three months, so I should be set up in a new place before then.”
“How are you still getting paid when you quit?” I asked.
“Because I schmoozed my boss. I told him I wasn’t happy, and I just sort of gave him my life story? He told me he’d cash in all my vacation and paid leave time before he submitted my two-week notice crap.”
“That is awesome, Anna. Seriously,” I said. “What places are you looking at in San Diego?”