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“Okay. You’ll come to my place as soon as you get done today?”
“Unfortunately, I’ve still got all the weekend’s packing to do.” Her expression falls. “But I’ll hurry and try to get over there before dark. Don’t you worry…I bought a bottle of mace.”
“Oh good!” Holly says, slapping her hand over her heart. We hug once more and then drive away.
***
At four thirty I leave the store, also dismissing Maxine so she can do her own weekend preparations. We’ve got a couple of big days ahead of us, and I must find some way to get my mind out of my own personal dread and start looking forward to it again.
As I pick an assortment of nice dresses out of the walk-in closet, I begin to feel more like my old self again. Being in my bedroom isn’t so bad; my body’s aching from all my tossing and turning on the couch. I’m almost tempted to just sleep in here tonight. Quade never flies out twice in the same week, and I’m sure he flew home on Wednesday. So I’m probably being silly to pack it out of here now. It’s a surprisingly hefty inconvenience to move my things over to Holly’s and then have to get on a plane tomorrow. I’d love to have a long bath and one night of good sleep before all this, in my own bed.
Three hours later, I’m almost finished packing and never even stopped to eat. Still a little way from twilight, I dig some leftover curry out of the fridge and sit at my desk with it, plugging away at a few last-minute details. As darkness approaches a certain melancholy seeps in, reminding me that I want to enjoy my own home before the weekend away… and also that it will be a hotbed of fear the moment the sun goes down. I shoot Holly a text and she quickly responds, encouraging me to get out and come over as soon as possible. Taking one last sad glance around my house, I gather up my luggage and leave.
Holly’s response to my arrival, squealing and rushing into my arms, is all I need to get over my away-from-home blues.
“Levi’s on his way out,” she says with an excited glint in her eye, apparently loving the idea of a girls’ night.
“Hey Fiona, how are you?” Levi asks in a tone of mild concern, grabbing my bags with one arm and wrapping the other around me.
“I’m alright,” I reply, wondering what he knows.
“Good, good. So you’re about to have a big weekend in paradise, huh?”
“Well…if that’s what you call Florida this time of year. I plan to either be in a building or a pool the entire time.”
“That would work for me!” He seems chipper enough as he gives Holly a smooch and scoots out the door.
But as soon as he’s gone, Holly turns to me with eyes of knowing…sadness and shock still in their corners. She motions for me to follow her up the steps and toward her bedroom. “Guess what I have,” she says with a clever look.
“What?” I ask, my mood beginning to elevate.
“I have a hot tub…we can actually use!”
I clap my hands together in glee, as she swings the master bath door open and begins pouring the tub.
“Oh Holly, you’re such a mind reader.”
She throws me a quick smirk, then rushes out of the room and returns a minute later with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
“Voila!” she says, presenting one of them to me.
“Oh gosh,” I gently protest, throwing up my hands. “I really shouldn’t get into anything before the conference. They keep you plied with free booze at this thing.” Holly makes puppy-dog eyes and I surrender, taking the glass and stipulating that I’ll have only one.
We settle into the huge, granite-encased tub and fire up the jets…sighing as we lay our heads back and sip.
“So, you completely lost your enthusiasm for that one guy huh?” Holly asks after several minutes of grateful silence.
“What guy? The flower guy?” I’m both surprised and relieved she’s back in the mood for idle girltalk.
“Yeah.”
“No!” I accidentally shout with a laugh. “Not really, I just couldn’t talk about anything with my Quade paranoia going on, remember?”
“What…you think he’d be upset that you were meeting someone?” She looks incredulous.
“Honey, I have no idea what would upset Quade at this point. But, yeah, I’d suspect he could potentially harbor jealousy or spitefulness over something like that. I mean…his behavior rather pointed to possessiveness in the extreme.”
Holly grimaces and shudders her shoulders up around her face. “I guess you’re right. I still can’t believe what happened…”
