Imperfections by Shaniel Watson Page A

up? I know Ava and her don't get along but come on.
    "You know she doesn't like me. She can't stand it that I'm engaged to her cousin. She was rude to me, that girl hates me."
    "Kate, you're exaggerating, Ava does not hate you. And when was she rude to you? I don't remember one time during the night she said something rude or offensive to you."
    "All you had to do was read between the lines, I'm not stupid. 'Where's your ring, Kate? I had breakfast with him and he didn't mention your name once.' With her fake-ass southern accent carrying on about how much she knows her cousin and he would have told her this and that. Well, obviously she doesn't know her cousin as well as she thinks she does!"
    "You need to calm down—"
    "I don't need to do anything; the problem here is you're too calm. Why didn't you say something to your friend when she was insulting me, your real sister?"
    "You don't need me to defend you against Ava, you can hold your own with her. I've seen you do it plenty of times. Why are you so upset about what you think she was implying. It's not the truth, is it? So why are you letting her get underneath your skin?"
    "Forget it. I just thought that my sister would have my back while her friend was attacking me and my relationship with my fiancé. Nick is your friend, right?"
    "Yes."
    "He cares about you and you care about him, right?"
    I bite my lower lip and shake my head in agreement. I don't know what to say to that question.
    "So why would you let her insult me and our relationship like that? Didn't you see how happy we were the night we announced our engagement? How happy everyone was for us, especially Mom and Dad?"
    Again, I have nothing to say. I can only nod my head in agreement with her because I was the only one that wasn't happy.
    "Good. Please put your friend in her place and let her know Nick and I are very happy along with our families. We are going to be together whether she likes it or not. Our relationship might not have been very long and not a lot of people even knew about us because we wanted it that way, but it's real so she needs to get the hell over it. He's mine now whether she likes it or not."
    If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was talking to me, sending me a message to stay away from her man or she would shoot to kill. "I will definitely tell her. I will make sure she gets the message loud and clear."
    "Good. I'm going home and I'm taking my ginger ale with me."
    She gets up from her chair, comes over and hugs and kisses me on the cheek. "I'm exhausted, I'm going home to sleep but first I'm going to call Nick before I go to bed."
    "Goodnight, I hope you feel better."
    "I do now that we've had this talk. I'm feeling better already."
    "Bye." I'm glad she's feeling better. This day sucks and now I'm going to eat this whole pot of macaroni and cheese and pay for it tomorrow with a ninety-minute workout.
     

     
    "We really did an intensive work out, Ava."
    "I know. I wanted to try Bikram yoga and I thought what better time than now with my girls."
    I haven't seen Ava in two weeks but we text each other. Yesterday she called me and told me to clear my schedule for the day because I and two of our friends were going to try a Bikram yoga class with her. Chloe is a fashion designer but until her designs take off she's a personal shopper for a major department store. Isabelle is a stay-at-home mom, her son Conner is nine months old and her husband Kevin graduated from an Ivy League college, he's a financial planner.
    "I haven't seen you guys in such a long time, I missed you."
    "Why didn't you call us sooner, chick, to let us know you were back in town for good?" Chloe says, leaning back in her chair drinking her bottle of water.
    "It was sort of a snap decision on my part deciding to come back. I only told my family but I was going to call when I was settled in. I know how busy you guys are, you with your fashion designs and work, and Isabelle with Conner, a husband and a new