helped her up the small flight of steps to the building and her spacious condo.
Cal and Julie both ditched their heels as soon as they walked in the door, and Drew slipped off his navy blazer. He went straight to the kitchen. “I’m making popcorn,” he singsonged. His foul mood seemed to have disappeared, which suited Julie fine.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Julie said, doing the hold it in dance of someone who’d had too much to drink at lunch. She beelined to the guest bathroom where all of Drew’s things cluttered the dark marble countertop.
“Hey, Julie,” Drew yelled a minute later from outside the door. “I made some of that mango tea you talked about. Will you have some and tell me what you think?”
Julie finished in the bathroom, washed her hands and opened the door to see Drew with a whopper of a smile creasing his face. “Well, since I’ve lightened my load, I can have some, sure,” she said.
Drew had already poured them each a glass. Julie carried one to Cal, who had a comfortable spot on the sofa. Julie sat back on the thick cushions. The couch was very similar to the one she had at her house. Cal had fallen in love with it and bought nearly the same thing in a different color.
Cal gulped her drink. “Ugh. Drew, what’s in here? I think it’s a little bitter. What do you think?” She stretched out on the sofa, her foot nearly in Julie’s lap.
Julie tasted the drink. It was icy cold just the way she liked her tea, but Cal was right about the bitterness. She didn’t want Drew backsliding into a depression though and she took another sip. “This is...interesting. Maybe I’ll pick some up for my place. With a lot of sugar.”
Drew beamed and took a drink. He grimaced. “Yuck, this is awful!”
Julie sipped more and made a face just to elicit a laugh from Drew. It worked.
Cal puckered her lips together after another taste. “I’m so tired. How come three-hour luncheons wipe me out so fast?” She set her glass on the coffee table.
Julie had more tea, then set it next to Cal’s. She couldn’t hold back a giant yawn. “Because it’s exhausting to be ‘on’ for that many hours.” She stretched her legs, crossed her ankles on the coffee table and leaned her head back on the sofa. “This is nice,” she muttered.
“It is nice,” Drew said. “When was the last time the three of us spent any alone time together?”
The carefree smile on his face made Julie happy. She shook her head. “I can’t even remember.”
“It’s been years,” Drew said before sipping his own tea. His voice sounded sad and maybe a little angry. “I feel like you guys have left me behind.”
Cal lifted one eyebrow. “What are you talking about? I see you all the time.”
Scowling at her best friend, Julie scrambled for damage control. “Drew, I miss this too. But sometimes schedules change and I can’t control what happens.” When the three of them had first met, they’d been virtually inseparable. Julie loved them both like the siblings she’d always wanted and never had. But as her career took off and life got busy, her time with Drew had dwindled to a fraction of what it used to be. Julie didn’t realize Drew’s mood swings had become so frequent. Cal hadn’t mentioned him having any public breakdowns and Julie hadn’t thought to ask.
As she watched Cal, a pang of sympathy hit her chest. Cal worked her butt off to keep her brother safe. Drew had been a happy kid for the most part, but after their father had committed suicide, he’d withdrawn. Cal had managed to pull him out of his depression just in time for their mother to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She’d died within six months of their father’s funeral. It was as if Drew snapped after that. He’d retreated to someplace in his mind and hadn’t managed to cope with life. He held down a job bagging groceries at the market around the corner, and Julie figured that’s what kept him as grounded as he was.
Cal yawned and Julie followed. She was dead tired. All it took was sitting down on a comfortable couch for a few minutes and her body said naptime. Cal’s lids drooped over her eyes and she sighed. “We are so lame. I think if someone screamed fire, we’d turn over and go to sleep.”