At a motel in Apple Valley, Kari was on her knees cleaning the toilet when she heard her best friend’s voice.

“Kari?  Kari?  Kari Grant, where are you, girl?”

Kari wiped her forehead with the back of her rubber-gloved hand.  “Back here,” she said loudly.  “In the bathroom.”

“They told me you were over here,” Faye Church began saying, but when she arrived in the doorway of the bathroom, she stopped in her tracks and frowned.  “What on earth are you doing?” she asked.

Kari looked at her friend, who stood before her dressed in Prada head-to-toe, with keys in one hand and a Styrofoam cup of Starbucks coffee in the other.  Then she continued scrubbing.  “One of my girls called in sick,” she said.

“Then make your other girls clean her rooms,” Faye said.

“Nope,” Kari said firmly.  “This is a new contract.  If we get behind like that, they may cancel us.  I can’t afford that.  I’ll clean every toilet in Apple Valley before I let that happen.”

Faye shook her head.  “You’re better than me, girl.  Cleaning toilets?  I’ll just have to lose this particular contract.  I’m sorry.”

“Sure you would, Faye,” Kari said as she rose to her feet.

“I’m serious!”

“If you owned a business, and didn’t have Benny as your backup, a man who happens to be a successful lawyer by the way, then you’d do whatever you had to do to stay afloat.  Trust.  Okay?”

Faye smiled.  “I guess you’re right.”

“So what’s up?”  Kari began removing the rubber gloves and placing them in her supply cart.  When Faye didn’t respond, Kari glanced back at her.

“Did J tell you?” Faye asked.

Kari exhaled, turned toward Faye, and leaned against the sink vanity.  “He told me.”

“It’s a crying shame, Kare.  I’d kick his ass myself if he was here right now.”

“Just because somebody said something on the internet doesn’t make it true,” Kari responded.

“But it’s not just on the internet,” Faye pointed out.  “It’s all over.  Access Hollywood.  TMZ.  Even Wendy Williams mentioned it in her Hot Topics, and you know that woman’s legit.”

“But it’s still gossip,” Kari said as she stood erect and began pushing her cart toward the bathroom’s exit, where Faye stood.

“Did he call you?” Faye asked, as she moved aside.

Kari didn’t answer that.  She already felt like crap.  Here she was, cleaning toilets for a living, and some gorgeous actress was claiming to be engaged to Alex.  And that actress’s engagement to him seemed far more plausible and real to everybody in town than Kari’s relationship to him.

As Kari (and her cart) walked out of the motel’s bathroom, and was about to head for the next room to clean, Faye placed her hand on Kari’s arm.

Kari looked at her hand, and then looked into Faye’s eyes.  When their eyes met, and Kari could see that tears of empathy had pooled in Faye’s eyes, those unshed tears Kari had been fighting all day appeared in Kari’s eyes too.  And the two friends embraced.

“You’ll find you a good man, Kari,” Faye said as she held her best friend.  “You’ll find somebody who deserves you.”

They held onto each other for a long time, and then stopped embracing.  Kari wiped away a tear.  Faye still had her hands on both of Kari’s arms.  “You do believe that, don’t you?” Faye asked her.

“Do I believe that good men are out there?” Kari asked.  “Yes, I do.  Do I believe I’ll get one?”

Kari scrunched up her face.  She dreaded even answering such a pitiful question.  “I’ve got to get back to work,” she said, just as her cell phone rang.

“Why don’t you and Jordan come to dinner tonight?” Faye asked, as Kari pulled out her cell phone.  “Benny and I would love to have you.”

Kari looked at her Caller ID, and Faye immediately saw a change in her expression.  “Who is it?” Faye asked.  Then she realized who.  “Is it him?  Don’t answer it if it is.  Make that asshole sweat.  Don’t answer it, Kari!”

Kari loved Faye, but she wasn’t trying to hear her.  This was Kari’s life.  And her heart.  And nobody, not even Faye, was going to dictate that.  She answered the call.  “Hello?”

“I’m coming to town tonight.”

Just the sound of his voice caused Kari to close her eyes in a tight squeeze that left her filled with all kinds of emotions.

Alex continued: “I need to see you concerning a matter,” he said.

It was true then, thought Kari.  And there was no way around it: they needed to talk about it.  “Okay,” she said.

“Okay,” said Alex.  Then there was a longer-than-usual pause.  “See you tonight,” he added.

Kari didn’t add anything.  She ended the call.

“What did he say?” Faye asked anxiously.

“He’s coming to town tonight.”

“And?”

“We’re going to talk.”

Faye’s heart dropped.  She knew what that meant.  She pulled Kari into her arms again.