Whoever was knocking on Amy’s door would not go away, but she couldn’t be deterred. Her stance was clear; Amy didn’t want to be bothered and no one could force her to mingle with the outside world. But whomever it was on the other side of that barrier was not going away and Amy had a mind to call the police. Seconds turned into minutes, when the knocking finally stopped. In the bed with the covers over her head, Amy breathed out a sigh, surprised and content that the person had gone away. But when her doorknob turned, and someone entered she knew it was one of two people, her uncle Charley or Erin. They were the only two people with an emergency key.

“Hello, Amy?”

It was Erin, case solved, Amy thought. This was really a conversation she didn’t want to have. Erin crept through the house. It wasn’t in disarray but that was the problem. The condo didn’t look as if it had been lived in at all. However, there was a smell.

“Amy?” Erin called again. She cleared the living area and stepped into Amy’s bedroom, that’s when the evidence became clear.

The sheets on the queen size bed were crumpled and there was clearly someone hiding underneath them. At least Erin hoped she was hiding and not dead. The thought frightened Erin so bad she ran to the bed and pulled the sheets back.

“Hey!” Amy shouted. “Go away! What are you doing?”

Erin let out a harsh breath. “Amy! I’ve been calling you for days now. Why aren’t you answering your phone or your door for that matter?”

“Because I don’t want to. I’m not obligated, leave me alone.”

“I will not leave you alone!”

Luke has been knocking on your door and he won’t stop knocking on ours, even slept on our couch last night because Caleb went to his room and found him passed out in a drunken stupor.” Erin sighed. “Look, you guys need to talk and sort this out.”

“There’s nothing to sort out now please just leave.”

Erin stared at her friend and with fierce rebellion in her eyes, Erin pivoted on her heels and stalked over to the blinds. There she twisted the knob and they opened allowing the sun to spill in.

“Aaaaah!” Amy whined as if she were a vampire being melted upon contact with the sun’s rays. “Leave me alone, leave me alone,” she repeated.

Erin ignored her. Erin pulled the drapes back so the sun would shine through the room.

“What is that smell,” she asked, taking her nose to the air to sniff out the offending odor.

“Get out of here. Don’t be sniffing around with your pregnant nose, you probably smell the garbage in the kitchen.”

Erin wiggled her nose and went on an excursion to the kitchen. Surely enough, the garbage was piled high and smelled as if it had sat there for a week.

“How long has this garbage been in here,” Erin shouted towards the back.

“Get ooooooooout,” Amy whined again.

Amy couldn’t see Erin when Erin humped her shoulders in defiance, but she tossed her head back and shouted.

“No!”

Erin trotted over to the receptacle and pulled the bag. She sat it on the marble tile then tied the strings together tightly. Erin glanced around the kitchen and took note of the few dishes in the sink and a dirty fork on the counter. She lifted the bag and took it to the front door and sat it out in the hallway deciding she would take it to the dumpster on her way down.

Reentering the apartment, Erin moved back to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It was empty and that worried her even more.

“What have you been eating!?” Erin heard loud mumbling from the other room and it prompted her to go inside and face Amy again. “What was that? I didn’t hear you,” she said coming across Amy’s room a second time.

“I said… get out.”

“I don’t understand, why do you want me out so bad? I didn’t do anything to you?”

“You’re talking, and I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to do anything, and you’re trying to force my hand, therefore, get out.”

Erin crept closer to the bed and sat down on it. She leaned in and sniffed.

“When was the last time you took a shower?”

“Ugggh! Erin, you’re really invading my privacy right now!”

“I’ll tell you what. I’m going to go to the bathroom and run you a bath. You can soak for about thirty minutes, then, when you come out, I’ll have a nice breakfast hot and ready for your consumption. What do you say?”

It was as if Erin hadn’t heard a thing Amy said, but this time Amy didn’t ask her to leave because the bath and the food sounded good.

“I’ll take your prolonged silence as consent. Don’t worry, I won’t undress you. You’ll have to do that yourself.”

Erin slipped off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Amy rolled over and stuffed her face in her pillows. Did she want to get up? No. But she did want that bath and she did want that food. Erin stayed in the bathroom for another few minutes before she materialized back on the side of Amy’s bed. Erin poked Amy in the arm.

“It’ all yours. Take your time, your food will still be warm.”

With that, Erin turned and left the room for the kitchen, giving Amy enough time to talk herself into getting up. Erin didn’t blame her friend. She knew Amy was distraught, and for good reason.

In the three days that Amy had been hidden in her condo, Erin had lit into Luke’s ass over and over.

“Don’t stress yourself out baby, please,” Caleb ask imploring Erin. “At least for the sake of our child.”

That made her feel bad, but she couldn’t help herself. Amy didn’t deserve to be played like that, but there she was wrapped up in her covers wallowing in sorrow because of Luke’s mistake.

In the kitchen, Erin rambled through the freezer but all she could gather was frozen waffles, hamburger meat, and tater tots. She would have to call in and order takeout, but she didn’t want to leave Amy alone. Reaching for her phone, Erin dialed Caleb and he answered on the first ring.

“Is everything okay,” he asked, aware that she’d gone on recon at Amy’s apartment.

“I would say it is. She’s alive, and I think she’s well.”

“You think? What is she doing?” His voice was soft spoken but the timbre profound.

“I made her take a bath, but she needs food. She had none, and I can tell she’s only been eating peanut butter and not off a spoon but a fork.” Erin’s gaze went back over to the lone utensil sitting on the counter and brown residue that was encrusted around its edges. Next to it a jar of peanut butter sat with the top lopsided as if Amy couldn’t be bothered with twisting the cap back on.

“Do you mind making a run to the Waffle House. Just grab her an all-star breakfast and don’t bring Luke, please.”

“He’s begging to see her,” Caleb said.

“Well this is his fault, so he should have thought about that before he had a secret relationship behind her back.”

“I won’t be able to hold him off much longer. He’s threatened to come up there and sit against the barrier of the door for however long it takes, and I believe him. Talk to her, Erin.”

“Baby, that’s why I’m here and it’s all I can do. I can’t force her to listen to him or take him back.” Erin paused. “Maybe you should talk to Luke.”

“I think you’ve covered the reasons you think he’s an asshat.”

“The reasons I think? And you don’t think he’s an asshat?”

“I understand Luke a little better than you.”

The phone became quiet as Erin gawked.

“What does that mean? Are you saying you take his side?”

“Whoa,” Caleb began, “no one’s taking anyone’s side.”

“Sure, sounded like it to me. How do you understand Luke better? Would you have done the same thing?” Her voice was rising, and Caleb felt the need to calm her quickly.

“Erin, I don’t want us to argue about someone else’s problem. I understand Luke better than you because I served alongside him at times. I know the effects of war and what being alone can do to a person. Remember, I was the one that pushed everyone away when I thought you would be better off without me. PTSD is a heavy thing, depression holds just as much weight. Luke did the opposite of what I did. He searched for someone to cling to in his time of need. We all respond differently, but that is what I mean by I understand him a little better than you okay.”

Erin sighed. “I guess,” she said with a little smirk. “You’re right, but still you should talk to him because out of all the shouting I did, I found one thing that remained the same.”

“Which is?”

“He doesn’t understand why what he did is a bad thing. He just keeps with this rhetoric of how friendly their conversations were. He’s missing the entire point and unless he figures it out, he doesn’t stand a chance of getting back in Amy’s good graces. Talk to him.”

“You’re right, I will.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes with food for the both of you.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“What have you eaten?”

Erin smirked. Ever since her doctor confirmed her pregnancy, Caleb had been watching her like a hawk. He made sure she ate a nutritional breakfast, not that she hadn’t always done so, but still, he was there, lunch and dinner as well. She appreciated his sincerity and couldn’t have asked for a better life partner.

“I had a bowl of fruit. Strawberries, pineapples, mangos, and pears.”

“That’s my girl. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon,” she replied disconnecting the call.

For a long second, Erin stood there smiling down at her smartphone. Being with Caleb was her dream come true, but it had taken some serious upsets to get there. Nevertheless, here they were happily engaged, and she couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life with him and their child. Erin’s ears tingled thinking about the little life growing inside of her; one with her DNA and Caleb’s. If someone would have told her three years ago she’d be this happy with Caleb, she wouldn’t have believed them, and she wanted nothing but the same for her best friend.