Chapter Fifty
Josh
“She’s here, Josh.”
Josh exhaled and thanked God that she had crossed over to the Jersey side to be with her friend. “Mia, how is she?” Josh had been camped outside Carina’s townhome for hours. He turned the ignition and headed for the Ben Franklin Bridge.
There was a pause and he heard the distinct sound of a door slamming shut. “She’s not good, Josh. I’ve never seen her so upset. What the hell happened?”
Josh told her everything. The texts he had been receiving from Amanda, how she had been harassing him, to what had gone down in that campus alleyway. He listened to himself relay the sordid story and even he had difficulty believing it. How the hell could Carina not draw the conclusions she had? He had been standing with his back against a brick wall, Amanda on her knees, her hand on his belt. His heart broke when he remembered the look on her face, the betrayal, the pain.
“Josh, I believe you. I know you wouldn’t cheat on her. But give Carina some time. Two stiff drinks later, she is finally calm and sleeping in my spare bedroom.”
“Mia, if you think I’m going to let her believe for even a second more that I betrayed her and was unfaithful, you must be out of your mind. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Mia sighed. “Josh, I get it. Really, I do. But maybe it’s best you wait.”
Josh peered in the rearview mirror and watched his city grow smaller and smaller. “I need to see her.”
“And she needs space and sleep. Come over in the morning, Josh.”
Josh gripped the steering wheel and prayed for patience. Maybe Mia was right. She knew Carina better than most, what she needed or couldn’t deal with. “Alright. I’ll stay at Erin’s tonight so I can be near her. Call me as soon as she wakes up?”
“I will, Josh. I promise,” she said.
“Thanks.”
There was a pause and then, “Carina may be one of my dearest friends, but I love you, too. It kills me that you are both in so much pain.”
Again, Josh pictured the look on Carina’s face, how she had trembled at the sight before her in that alleyway. “I’m going to make things right. She’s my life.”
***
Carina
Carina awoke to a quick lick to the lips and a whimper. Even in the early hours, with the room blanketed in darkness she could still make out the culprit.
“Henry, you naughty boy, come here.” She patted the empty space next to her and Mia’s yellow Lab happily complied. She was spooning the big oaf when her cell phone buzzed next to her head. She must have fallen asleep with her phone, holding onto it, with the hope that Josh would call. Not that she would have answered it if he had. There wasn’t anything left to say. She had seen with her own two eyes that she wasn’t enough. She wasn’t what he needed. He needed his old life back, which didn’t include her. She read the text:
“I love you, Carina. Please let me explain.”
Carina gazed at the time display on her phone. She was amazed to learn that she had been asleep for almost ten hours. In another hour the house would come alive and she would have to face the music. Mia had been the friend Carina needed when she had appeared on her doorstep sobbing profusely. She had been unable to speak, at least not in full, coherent sentences. The two drinks had helped, though, and allowed her to give in to her exhaustion. But now as dawn approached, Carina grew anxious. Although her friend deserved an explanation for the impromptu visit, she was still in no shape to hear herself say out loud that she and Josh were over.
Carina gave her companion a kiss on his furry head and got out of bed. She looked down and saw that she was wearing a pair of Mia’s pajamas. She had absolutely no memory of changing into them last night. On a chair in the corner of the room were the sundress and sandals she had been wearing the day before. The sight of her clothing neatly arranged upon the cushion only made Carina feel more helpless. How the hell did she get here? She vaguely remembered getting into that cab. And she had no idea how her cab driver had teased out Mia’s address from her mad rambling.
Carina ignored Josh’s text and called for a cab. She rattled off the address to the dispatcher and ended the call. She then made the bed Mia had apparently tucked her into last night and threw her sundress and sandals back on. She instantly felt dirty and she ached to be home, where she could peel away not just the dress but the memory of being in that alley. Whenever she pictured Josh and Amanda in that alleyway, she also saw herself looking on like some stupid, naïve twit in her pink sundress…as her boyfriend waited to have his cock sucked by Amanda.
Satisfied that she had left Mia’s spare room in good shape, Carina crept to the kitchen and scribbled Mia a note on a pad of Post-its she had found next to the phone. She would call her friend later and thank her for being so wonderful. Right now, she just couldn’t talk about what had brought her here last night, not even to her best friend. The pain she felt was too raw and too deep to expose so soon.
Through one of the kitchen windows Carina saw a set of headlights round the corner. She gave Henry a pat on the head and thanked him for the cuddle. She was halfway to the front door to retrieve the cab she had ordered when she heard movement upstairs. Like a coward, she sprinted out the door and into the waiting car.