Chapter Nine - Brooke

There are two packages waiting for me when I get home from work. One is a large box, and the other is a thin manila envelope. I open the box first, sure it’s the wedding dress. It is. I laugh as I pull it out. It’s thin and the fabric feels cheap and scratchy. It’s not really white or cream, but rather the shade of yellow dirty walls turn after being exposed to weather or nicotine. I’m not sure it would actually be flattering on at all. I considered putting it on later anyway and sending a picture to Anthony. I open the letter before I do anything else. It doesn’t look it actually came in the mail. There’s no postmark on it and no return address.

I have a bad feeling as I pull it out, and it’s confirmed when I read the letter inside. It’s from Jeff. And he’s taken his threat to the next level. He’s given me a deadline for two weeks’ time. I feel sick looking at it, a rush of panic churning in my stomach.

Brooke,

I’m out of patience. You have two weeks to give me $50,000 or I’m telling the police your secret. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t. I promise that you’ll be sorry if you do. You have to pay for your crime one way or another: either to me in cash or to the police in jail time. Make up your mind.

Two weeks.

Jeff

I’m tempted to crumble it up or burn it, but I don’t. I feel like I should keep all of Jeff’s threats, in case I need to do something with them. Maybe if he threatens me again, or enough, I can go to the police and say he’s harassing me and stalking me, and that I have no idea what he’s talking about. It’s not a good plan, and it probably wouldn’t work, but I keep the letter anyway.

My phone lights up, and I worry it’s Jeff before relaxing when I see it’s Anthony:

David keeps asking about you.

I smile as I text back, running my fingers over the thin fabric of the wedding dress absently:

He’s a really great kid.

I don’t have much experience with kids, but I had really enjoyed the afternoon I’d spent with Anthony and David. Anthony is great with his son, and I like seeing them together. David is incredibly sweet and fun to be around. Like his father, I think.

He said he’s glad you’re my friend. I am too. I keep thinking us and about high school. Do you remember how close we were?

I sit down while reading the message, a little overwhelmed. I remember everything about our friendship, every moment. I think I always did. It’s more now than that now. It’s become the only thing I can think about when I’m not worried about Jeff and Autumn. I keep wondering what would have happened if we’d never lost touch. I wonder if I would have ever dated Jeff if Anthony had been in my life. I wonder if I’d be working the same job . . . If I would have made so many of the choices I’d made in the past several years.

I remember every day.

I text back, deciding to be honest. Something about talking to Anthony makes me want to be more open, makes me feel more open – brighter. My phone rings right after I send my text, and I’m not at all surprised that’s Anthony.

“Dinner at the Purple Hog tonight?” he asks when I pick up.

“That sounds great,” I say. I try to picture what it would have been like if we’d been close in college as adults. If he’d have always been sitting across pub booths from me, giving me advice, listening, and making me laugh. I wonder what course our friendship would have taken if we would have eventually become more than friends. If we’d actually been married right now instead of joking about it.

“Good,” he says, smiling. “My mom is already watching David tonight, so I need to have somewhere to be.”

“I’m sure she loves him,” I say, thinking of Anthony’s mom, a warm and caring woman who used to make me cookies and ask about my grades. She had always called me sweetheart and let me stay at her house for entire weekends.

“She does, and I’d hate to ruin their plans,” Anthony says. I can’t stop listening to how deep and rumbling his voice is. I’d never thought of it as unique, but now, after all this time, it sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Anthony sounds like no one else I’ve ever heard, and I want him to keep talking so I can keep hearing it.

“Good thing I’m free for dinner, then,” I say, laughing. With all the stress in my life and the looming threat of Jeff over my head, I’m just so grateful to have Anthony back. Spending time with him has been amazing.

“Seven?” Anthony says, smiling.

“Sounds great,” I say. I almost mention that my wedding dress came today, but I decide to save the news for dinner.

I shower and get ready, smiling the whole time. I have no idea what I’m going to do about Jeff or his two-week deadline, no idea how to protect Autumn – or myself – from his threats, no idea how to get that kind of money. I do know that what I want to do right now, and maybe from now on, is spend the night with my best friend. With Anthony.