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Sadie
I’m in the neighborhood. Can I swing by?
If she came over now there’d be no way to hide that I’d been crying. She’d want to know what was wrong, and more than anything, I wanted to lean on her the way I always used to before she got together with my dad.
I wanted my best friend.
Sure.
She showed up five minutes later, and the second I opened the door, concern filled her blue eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Whatever semblance of “put together” I had crumbled at her question. Not even two seconds and she knew. My mom spent at least half an hour with me before my outburst and never once asked if I was okay.
Sadie didn’t need an invite. She stepped inside and pulled me into her arms, hugging me hard and taking all my weight as my body sagged against her. “I’ve got you,” she murmured as she walked us toward the couch and we sat down. “Did something happen with Connor?”
She said it like she already knew the answer, and I remembered how destroyed she was when my dad ended things between them out of some misplaced loyalty to me. I cared more that he’d lied than that he fell in love with her.
Sadie was amazing. I’d think he was a bigger idiot if he hadn’t fallen for her.
I pulled away and grabbed a tissue off the coffee table, blowing my nose and then sagging back against the couch.
“I ended it.”
“Why? I thought everything was going so well.”
I was already shaking my head before she finished. “He won’t open up to me.”
She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
I sat up, and for the second time in a week, I poured out my soul and shared with her everything I’d been keeping to myself until I spilled it all with Connor. I told her all about vet school, Connor’s use of sex to avoid talking about himself, what happened at the reception, and then finished by telling her about my disastrous brunch with my mom this morning.
“I can’t believe you’ve been carrying all this by yourself.” Her own insecurities flickered in her eyes. “You used to tell me this stuff when it was happening, not months later.”
“I know. It’s just different now.”
“Jenna, if you don’t want your dad to know, you can tell me and I’ll keep it a secret until you’re ready to tell him. I never want you to feel like you can’t trust me just because he and I are together.”
“It’s not that. Not really, anyway. It’s that you have someone. You tell him everything first.” She opened her mouth, but I held up a hand to stop her. “And that’s how it should be. I’m just feeling a little lost. I don’t have a person, and my life feels like a mess of epic proportions right now. Me not telling you was never really about you, it’s about me and getting in my own head about stuff.”
She didn’t look like she believed me. “You’re sure?”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it once. “I’m sure. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you about any of this.” I sagged against the couch, the weight of everything I’d been carrying hitting me. “Everyone’s got their life together and I’m floundering. I feel like someone threw me in a pool and I can’t figure out which way is up.”
“First of all, it may appear that everyone’s got their life together, but that’s rarely the truth. There’s always some aspect that they’re neglecting, so you’re not the only one who struggles. Second,” she started, dipping her head down to make sure I was looking at her, “about the whole vet school thing?—”
“I know. I need to figure it out before I have to pay next semester’s tuition, especially if I’m not going to go back.”
“Jenna, do you want to be a vet?”
My heart clenched as she watched me with complete openness. “Yes,” I mumbled, then cleared my throat and said louder, “Yes.”
She smiled. “Then don’t let those pretentious fuckers tell you that you can’t. You go back to that school and prove to them how amazing you are. The summer’s not over. Do you think there’s a chance you could find a vet down here to intern with until you go back? Maybe it’d be good to get some perspective and work with someone who’s not in that program or tied to it.”
The card that Connor handed me before he walked out of the reception flashed in my mind.
“Actually, there is someone.”
“Well, then what are you waiting for? Call them now! Or we could drive to the office.”
