CHAPTER 13

Amanda

 

“Well, I’m checked in!”

“You know you can come stay with my at the cabin. You think it’s a death trap, but it’s just a little old,” I said.

“I’ll take my chances with the hotel. There’s this cute little coffee shop I passed by. It was called ‘Coffee Creations.’ Want to meet me there?” Sarah asked.

“I’ll meet you anywhere. I’m so excited to see you!” I said.

“Meet you in fifteen?” she asked.

“Make it thirty. I take it easy going down this mountain.”

“See you then. I have so much shit to tell you it’s insane.”

I was ecstatic that Sarah was finally in town. I knew she couldn’t stay long, but it would be wonderful to see her. I cleaned myself up a bit before I went into town, taking it slow as I drove down the mountain. It didn’t matter how many times I traveled that road in my life, I would always have minor panic attacks going down it. Coming up wasn’t an issue. But being pointed down at the ground for seven miles?

It turned my stomach every time.

By the time I arrived the coffee shop, I was ready to lunge into Sarah’s arms. I wrapped myself around her and picked her up. I swung her around as the two of us giggled, and I could feel people staring at us in the coffee shop.

But I didn’t care. This was my best friend, and I had no idea when I was going to see her again.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Sarah said. “I can only take so much loving at once.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you,” I said as I sat her down. “Ready to get some coffee?”

“Oh, I already bought it for us. A large white chocolate mocha latte for me and a large hot mocha raspberry coffee with creamer for you.”

“Bless you,” I said breathlessly. “I have the most incredible best friend alive.”

“And don’t you forget it. Oh! Before we leave, remind me to stick all your art shit in the trunk of your car.”

“It’s not shit, and you’re not going to at least come visit the cabin?” I asked.

“Nope, but you can always come visit me in my hotel room,” she said, grinning.

“Wimp.”

“Weirdo.”

“I’ve missed you,” I said.

“I’ve missed you, too. Any word from your dick ex since his shit on the plane ride down?”

“Not a word,” I said. “Now, what’s all this drama you spoke of? I’m ready for my daily dose of pettiness.”

I watched Sarah’s face sink the moment I brought it up, and I reached over and took her hand.

“Boyfriend shit, I take it?” I asked.

“Ex-boyfriend shit,” Sarah said.

“What? What happened?”

“I found out he was cheating on me, Amanda.”

“Well, he wasn’t really a winner, to begin with,” I said.

“Come on. Work with me here.”

“Sorry. How did you find out?” I asked.

“He called me from jail.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Back up a second. How the hell did Blake wind up in jail?”

“I haven’t told you?” she asked.

“I think I’d remember a fucking conversation about Blake going to jail, Sarah.”

“He got into a fight with someone at a gas station. From what he told me, some guy was yelling at his pregnant girlfriend, and Blake stepped in. Punches were thrown, and both of them were arrested.”

“Oh. So he’s not, like, in prison. He’s just being held,” I said.

“Until a couple of days ago, yeah.”

“Okay, so fast forward a bit. When did you get this phone call?” I asked.

“I was his one phone call you get while you’re in holding.”

“He didn’t call his parents or something?” I asked.

“I guess not,” she said, shrugging. “Anyway, he was giving me the details of what happened, and I told him to stay there. That I was coming down to the station to bail him out or whatever I had to do to get him.”

“So, you went to the station?”

“And there was some bitch there who had already bailed him out. I walked into the station and saw them coming out, hand in hand with her lips attached to his damn neck.”

“But you were the only phone call he made?” I asked. “How did that other girl know he was in there?”

“It was the pregnant girl,” Sarah said flatly.

I had to take a second to wrap my mind around that fact before I drew in a deep breath.

“So… let me get this straight. Blake got into a fight with a man in the gas station who was yelling at a pregnant chick. We assume it’s the man’s girlfriend, but really it’s a girl Blake knocked up?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“And she went to the station to bail him out.”

“Yes.”

“After he called you to tell you what was going on,” I said.

“Yes.”

“Have I told you this asshole’s an idiot?” I asked.

“Why the hell do I get tangled up in men like this?” she asked.

“Because you don’t listen to a damn thing I tell you. I told you he was no good from the start.”

“My heart hurts, Amanda.”

I got up from the coffee table and pulled Sarah into my arms. No matter how happy I was that she was away from that man, it didn’t discount how much she was hurting. I held her close as she sniffled into my neck, her hands gripping my body tightly.

“It’s going to be okay, Sarah. It’s gonna be okay. When did all this happen?”

“Two days ago,” she said.

“Before or after we talked about the contractor shit?” I asked.

“After.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Things got busy, and when I saw him with that pregnant woman I didn’t want to stay in the city. I couldn’t. I needed to get out.”

“I understand that feeling,” I said.

“Can you stay with me tonight?” she asked.

“I can, but I’ve got somewhere to be in the morning.”

“Oh? Did I come in at a bad time?” she asked.

“Not at all,” I said as I pulled her away from me. “I told Brian I would watch Lanie.”

“Ah, the sexy neighbor,” she said, grinning. “How’s all that going? I need a nice, juicy distraction.”

“How about we save those stories for when we get to your hotel room?” I asked.

“Oh, my gosh. You didn’t. You slept with him?”

“Keep your voice down, would you? Let’s take this stuff back to your hotel,” I said.

“I cannot wait to hear this.”

I followed Sarah back to the hotel she was staying at, and we scurried up to her room. Sarah threw the door open, and we piled onto the bed before I turned on the television. I flipped through the channels until I landed on a Patrick Swayze movie, then the two of us began to gossip. I told her about my steamy encounter with Brian and how waking up in his arms felt like heaven, and Sarah gushed about how she wanted to see a picture or something of him before she left.

“If you come up the mountain, you could see him in person,” I said.

“You don’t want that, trust me. I’m all about manly men, and once he saw me, you’d be shit out of luck.”

“Are you saying you’d steal him away from me?” I asked.

“In a fucking heartbeat, especially if he’s got the kind of muscles you’re talking about.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Roadhouse is coming on next!”

“We haven’t watched Roadhouse in years,” Sarah said.

“We haven’t done anything like this in years,” I said.

“Why not?” she asked.

I took a long drink of my coffee as I thought on that question. Why hadn’t we done this in so long?

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “I guess life got in the way. We became serious about college, and I was trying to do stuff with my art. We joined that honors fraternity, which basically took up the bulk of our spare time. Then came being preoccupied with boys.”

“We grew up too quickly, Amanda.”

“Life has a weird way of doing that to people,” I said.

“Well, here’s what I say. I say we should order way too much pizza, watch movies all night long, and stay up talking. Then, you can get loads of coffee before you have to venture back up the mountain to see your hunk of burning love.”

“Seriously? Don’t call him that,” I said, giggling.

“Piece of man meat?”

“Nope.”

“Luscious mountain man?’

“Hell no, Sarah.”

“Big Daddy Papa Bear?”

“I’m going to hit you with a fucking pillow,” I said.

“Oh really?”

Suddenly, a pillow whacked me in the face. My coffee went tumbling to the floor, spilling out all over the carpet. I looked over the edge of the bed and saw the caffeinated goodness staining the carpet. I felt the ache deep in my soul. The beautiful black gold was spilling everywhere as Sarah cackled behind me.

“You’re so paying for that,” I said.

Grabbing a pillow, I threw it in her face. I stood up and grabbed another one, then proceeded to whack her over and over again. She rose to her feet and started defending herself, and soon the two of us were jumping on the bed trying to push each other off. Pillows were flying and the comforter was tangling around our legs, tripping us up and collapsing us to the bed. We were sweating and breathing heavy, with pillows strewn all over the floor and the smell of raspberry coffee fluttering around the room.

“You can get one tomorrow morning,” Sarah said, huffing.

“But I wanted it now,” I said breathlessly.

“We’ll get soda with the pizza.”

“I get to pick the soda,” I said.

“We’ll each get a soda.”

“A two liter for each of us?” I asked.

“Yep. Because we need the caffeine to stay up and catch up.”

“I have to babysit tomorrow, Sarah.”

“And you can go tired with sunglasses on your face like every other twenty-two-year-old asked to babysit someone,” she said.

We laid there on the bed, our bodies splayed out and our limbs cockeyed. My hand searched for hers, and I grasped it, running my thumb around in the palm of her hand. I heard her sniffle, and I pulled her close to me, holding her tightly as she cried into my shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay, Sarah. I’m going to help you get through this.”

“I loved him,” she said desperately. “I really did love him.”

“I know you did,” I said as I stroked her hair. “I know.”