The Seven Pieces of a Feuilleton

Chapter 10

She dreamt of him.

Of them.

She dreamt of walking away from Dylan's inviting arms and Finn's oddly floating bed in the clouds to pick up her crying baby girl from the crib sitting in the waves.

But when she reached for her, for her Aurora, her arms grasped air. She spun around to see her ex-fiancé carrying her crying baby girl into her old car, the one she had destroyed on the night she had lost everything.

She yelled to Stuart to give her her baby, but he merely opened his mouth, proceeded to quote Lewis Carroll and then began to sound an awful lot like Clare Arnold.

Awaking with a start, Brenda rubbed her eyes, threw on her slippers and walked to the blasting intercom.

"Rise and shine, sunshine! Time to greet this gorgeous weather on another beautiful day in Southern California and let us in," Clare called out.

"Clare? Val? What are you doing here this early on a Saturday?" she asked, allowing them in.

"Beats me," Valerie shrugged, snagging a raspberry muffin off of the tray that Brenda had baked the previous morning. "Clare told me to come along."

"Early? Brenda, it's eleven. Another late night?" Clare replied, leaping into the apartment.

"You could say that."

It was two o'clock in the early morning when Dylan had dropped her off at Sherice's. Between their late night and her early morning transatlantic conversation, she had barely slept for more than three hours.

"And then I had an early call with my agent about a possible project," she continued. "The time difference to Paris is a bitch."

"Don't I know it. Daddy always calls at the most inopportune time," Clare replied, picking up Brenda's suitcase. "It's like he can't remember Cali is nine hours behind."

"What are you doing with my suitcase?" Brenda looked at her suspiciously.

"Can't tell you. I'm here on official friend business. Top secret." She began sifting through its contents.

"Does this have anything to do with Dylan's date?" Brenda asked, watching her.

"You're dating Dylan?" Valerie's jaw fell open, displaying bits of raspberry. "Hold on, since when?"

"No, I'm not dating him."

"Brenda, you just said you're going on a date."

"A date, Val. One date. Singular."

"Last I knew, you were still planning to hitch yourself to that fucking panty dropping English guy after you forced a divorce out of your cheating husband, so I'm gonna need more details." Seating herself on the sofa, Valerie watched Clare flit about in the corner.

Brenda sighed, taking a spot next to the woman whom she and Brandon had known for a lifetime.

"Dylan was starting this territorial duel thing with Finn. I asked that they not fight over me and then they both requested to fight for me, which means I had to agree to one date each with both of them."

"Had to? You had to? Two incredibly wealthy, fucking gorgeous men who could probably both give you anything you wanted without even checking the pricetag are fighting over you and you had no choice but to agree to a date with both of them?" Valerie gaped.

"Fighting for me, Val. For," Brenda emphasized.

"Damn, girl. I'd love to be in your shoes."

"David Silver!" Brenda and Clare shouted simultaneously.