Epilogue – It's Not Over

May 2011 – Three months later

“Are you ready to order, miss?”

Stephanie looked up at the young waitress standing next to her, holding a pad and pen in her hands.

“Oh, my friend isn't here yet,” she said. “It may be a few more minutes.”

The waitress nodded and walked away, and Stephanie turned her head back toward the street. She checked her phone on the table again, looking at the clock that said 12:38. It wasn't like Adeline to a minute late for something, much less eight.

She hadn't seen her best friend since she had spent two weeks in LA. She had been so busy in those past three months that they had rarely even talked. They got to exchange text messages sometimes, but phone calls had been few and far between and five to ten minutes only, not long enough to catch up on much. She had no idea what had been going on in her friend's life lately.

She hardly gave the girl who had parked the Expedition in a spot across the street a second glance – until she looked a second time because she swore it looked like Lance's Expedition. It wasn't until she had crossed half the street that Stephanie noticed the girl in the flowery blouse and the jean shorts was Adeline.

Her mouth had dropped to the floor by the time Adeline stepped up to the table, a big smile across her face.

“Hey!” she said to Stephanie. “Sorry I'm late – lunch traffic.”

“You look amazing,” Stephanie said, standing up to give her a hug. “What the hell happened here? Where's the pencil skirts and the dress suits and the flats that you're so famous for?”

“My boss requests that I dress more 'sexy casual' now,” Adeline said with a laugh.

“He's such a pig,” Stephanie said, laughing. “Speaking of, how is he?”

“He's good. He would have come to lunch but he's busy moving things into our new apartment,” she said, sitting down in the chair across from Stephanie.

“You're moving into an apartment?”

“Well, staying in a hotel the past three months has been costly,” Adeline said. “And it doesn't look like this divorce will be a quick and easy one either, unfortunately. We may be here a while. It looks like Marc is going to drag it out as long as he can.”

“That sucks. I knew he was an asshole, but I guess he's showing his true colors.”

“Whatever,” Adeline responded with a carefree flip of her hand, which brought a smile to Stephanie's face. “At least I have Lance here with me. That's all that matters.”

“You're oddly laid back today,” Stephanie said. “Are you feeling alright? Did the real Adeline get kidnapped and replaced by an alien imposter?”

Adeline laughed. “No. My doctor put me on some medication for the anxiety. I'm feeling better than I have in months.”

“Doctor? I didn't even know you were going to a doctor.”

“Lance convinced me to go,” Adeline said. “I wasn't sure about it at first, but it's been good. The panic attacks are under control, I can be around people without my heart racing, and I find myself looking on the bright side again, for once.” She smiled. “I feel like I can finally breathe again, Steph.”

Stephanie was about to respond when the waitress came back to the table asking if they were ready to order again. They ordered drinks and their sandwiches, and handed the waitress the menus at the table before she walked off.

“So what brings you all the way out to Los Angeles?” Adeline asked when the waitress walked off. “You said you had some news to tell me?”

“That I do,” Stephanie said with a smile. “I quit my job.”

Adeline's eyes widened. “Should I be happy or sad?”

“Happy. I'm moving back to New York.”

Adeline let out a tiny squeal. “That's great! But who are you going to be working for now?”

“You might know him, his name is Joseph Fatone.” She smiled. “He called me up and said that he could use someone. He asked me if I knew anyone who was good at their job, competent and reliable. I told him that unless he wanted to steal you away from Lance, I didn't know anyone like that.”

Adeline laughed.

“But then I told him that I happened to know someone who was pretty decent and might be looking to move from her big time client to someone who was a little more familiar and close-to-home. He asked who, and I said 'Pope John Paul – what do you mean who? Me, silly!' I'll be moving in a few weeks.”

“I thought you loved San Francisco?”

“It's alright,” Stephanie responded. “But it's not all that it's cracked up to be. I'm closer to my sister, yes, but I still don't get to see her more often than I did when I lived in New York because I'm working all the time. And I miss you guys – you, Lance, Joanna...I miss my friends. Even if it's a while before you and Lance are able to come back to New York, it will still be nice to have something familiar around me.”

The waitress brought their drinks out to them and quickly left.

“So, you,” Stephanie said. “This sexy new look, and the new positive outlook on life – it's refreshing, Addy. It's nice seeing you like this.”

Adeline smiled, accepting the compliment from her friend.

“It's nice seeing you happy, getting away from Marc for good. I guess things are finally starting to get back to normal, huh?”

Stephanie noticed Adeline's smile fall.

“Yeah, I guess they are,” she said.

“Oh no – oh no, no, no,” Stephanie said. “The smile went away, the sexy confidence disappeared – what's wrong, sweetie?”

It was a few seconds before Adeline looked up at Stephanie to answer.

“It's probably nothing. Lance thinks it's all in my head – classic Adeline anxiety, overreacting to something I'm likely making up.”

“What does he think you're making up in your head?”

Adeline sighed. “I'm probably crazy. But...I feel like I'm being followed. All the time. Watched.”

“Watched?” Stephanie said. “You mean paparazzi? Get used to that, honey. You'll be the wife of a once-wildly-famous pop star. You might have more privacy if you sign for your own reality show.”

“No, Steph,” Adeline said. “Not the paparazzi. Somebody else.”

The waitress brought their plates, and the table went silent for a moment as the girls waited for her to leave.

“Who do you think is following you?” Stephanie asked after the waitress had walked off without a word. “And why do you think you're being followed?”

“I don't know,” Adeline said. “Like I said, I'm probably crazy. It's probably nothing.”

“It's not nothing if it's making you uncomfortable,” Stephanie said.

Adeline put a French fry in her mouth and shrugged.

“Well for one thing, I've been having these strange dreams. I'll be walking down a hallway by myself and I feel like someone is following me. Then I'll hear footsteps behind me. And I'll turn around, but there's no one there.”

“You know what that means?” Stephanie asked.

“What?”

“Your hotel room is haunted,” Stephanie said with a smile. “You sure you haven't been getting into Lance's old stash of Ambien?”

“You're so funny,” Adeline said as Stephanie laughed.

“If you start seeing dead people in the tub and telling them to get out, you've got a problem.”

“I shouldn't even have told you anything about it,” Adeline said. “He made the same joke.”

“I'm sorry,” Stephanie said, getting out one last chuckle. “I hate to be like Lance in any way, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to laugh about that again. It can't be only the dream that is leading you to believe this, right Addy? You're a little more reasonable than that.”

“I don't know,” Adeline said. “I can't help feeling that someone is keeping tabs on me.”

Adeline looked toward the street, and Stephanie saw the concerned look on her face as she looked around at the people walking down the sidewalk around the outdoor cafe. She looked at everyone and everything, including the trees and bushes, with suspicion.

“You aren't joking,” Stephanie said. “You're a hundred percent serious about this, aren't you?”

“Yeah, I am,” Adeline said.

“Have you told Lance any of this?”

“Some of it,” she said. “But he doesn't take me seriously. He thinks maybe it's a side effect of the medicine – the dreams and paranoia. After a while, I stopped bringing it up because I'm tired of being told I'm paranoid.”

“Well...did you talk to your doctor? Wouldn't he be able to tell you?”

“I brought it up, and he said that he's never heard of these kinds of side effects from this medicine, but that anything was possible. He kind of brushed it off, started talking about my past demons and how facing them could be making me feel like they're finally come up to the surface, 'following' me if you will. In psychologist speak – I'm making it up in my head.”

“All jokes about sleeping pills and crazy bathtub ghosts aside,” Stephanie said, “you do have ghosts, Addy. I mean, in the symbolic sense. It wasn't too long ago that you found out your husband was having you followed. I don't want to agree with anyone, I want to be open-minded, but isn't it possible that could be making you a little paranoid?”

“I suppose,” Adeline said. “I can't help feeling that this is only the beginning.”

“What do you mean, only the beginning?”

“I know I've been through a lot of stuff,” Adeline said. “My parents dying, then my grandmother, then my daughter; my marriage failing, a cross-country move, all this stuff with Lance...” She went quiet for a moment. “Now I'm throwing a long and possibly nasty divorce into my life and an engagement at the same time. I'm sure it's bound to add stress to my life that could have some mental side effects – but I don't think I'm imagining this, Stephanie. I don't think I'm crazy.”

“Not crazy that way, at least,” Stephanie said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

“Even after the divorce is finally settled, and Lance and I can get back to our normal lives – I don't think it will end,” Adeline said. “I think it's only beginning. I have a feeling it's not over, and it won't be over for a long time.”

The two women went silent again, trying to avoid the tension that had suddenly surrounded them.

“You know, why are we even talking about this?” Adeline asked. Stephanie noticed that her demeanor and smile had perked back up and she wondered if it was a facade or the real thing. “You have to tell me how you decided to go work for Joey.”

“Well, one day he called me up completely out of the blue. He was all, 'Oh Steph, I miss you so much old buddy, what's been up lately?' It was weird, even for Joey. Anyway...”

Adeline chuckled as Stephanie went on with her story. It was nice visiting with Stephanie again after so long. If someone had asked her nine months ago if she would ever feel like this again – happy, whole, and in love – she would have answered no. She felt free, after so long feeling like she was only half a person – even if she couldn't ignore the chill that ran down her back from the presence of eyes watching her.