Epilogue
Cierra
Two months later
The squabble ofseagulls flying overhead clashed with the beats of “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons as I sipped a spicy Bloody Mary and looked out at the gently rippling waves. The briny air curled around me and I tilted my head back, welcoming the sun’s early afternoon rays.
I was meeting Sofie at the Ocean Café for lunch and she was running late. Working together didn’t allow a lot of time to sit and talk for any significant amount of time, so I’d been looking forward to getting together with her for the past week.
Ocean Café was one of those small restaurants locals usually went to, and I’d been a fan ever since I stumbled onto it on one of my exploration walks when I’d first arrived in San Francisco. The seafood was fresh, simple, and delicious, and the front row view of the ocean was unbeatable. And the Bloody Marys and blackberry margaritas were the best in the city.
“Sorry I’m late,” Sofie said as she pulled out the wrought iron chair.
“No worries. I’ve just been enjoying my drink and watching the surfers. I still can’t imagine how they can stay on their boards. Amazing.”
“When I was in high school, my boyfriend lived for surfing, and he’d get so mad because I just couldn’t do it. I swallowed more sea water than anything else. After we broke up, I never put my feet on another surf board.” Sofie waved the waiter over. “I’ll have a blackberry margarita.”
“They have the best ones ever,” I said.
“That’s why I suggested coming here. I’ve been dying for one.” Opening her purse, she took out a pair of sunglasses. “Do you think you and Trace can join us next weekend?”
I shook my head. Sofie had invited us to go along with her and Colin to the Renaissance Festival in Hollister. “Trace planned a weekend getaway for us in Carmel. It was supposed to be a surprise, but when I told him I was going to go with you and Colin, he had to tell me. He was so bummed about it. It was cute.”
Sofie giggled. “I can’t picture him as being cute.”
“Well he is outside of work. Maybe in a couple of weekends the four of us can go out dancing.”
“I’d love to. Let’s plan on it for sure. I just read that Carmel is the third most romantic getaway in the country. I bet he got a suite with a Jacuzzi tub.”
“I hope so.” I smiled as tingles of excitement shot through me—Friday couldn’t come soon enough.
The waiter put Sofie’s drink in front of her and took our orders: seafood cobb salad for me and lobster risotto for Sofie. I ordered another drink, and we settled back and caught up on what was going on with our lives outside of the office.
“I bumped into Kelsey a couple of nights ago. She was at the fundraiser for the pet shelter,” Sofie said as she scooped up some rice on her fork.
“Chardonnay on the Bay? Yeah, Kelsey loves that event. There’re a lot of rich, single men who go to it. I haven’t spoken to her since that day in the office with Trace. Wow… that seems like a lifetime ago.”
“After the horrible things she said about you behind your back, I’d never speak to her again either. And to think you were friends all those years.”
“I know. After all of that went down, I felt real shitty about it. I mean Kels and I hung out a lot, and I thought we were good friends. But when I think back on our friendship it seemed like I was the one making concessions all the time. Whatever Kelsey wanted to do we did it. And if she said she didn’t like someone, then I wasn’t supposed to either. If I did, she acted like I was a traitor. I guess I didn’t want to argue, so I just went with it. There were restaurants and bars that she didn’t want to go back to because none of the guys flirted with her. I mean it was crazy and I just accepted all of it. Of course I’d go back to the banned restaurants and bars with other friends, but I made sure Kelsey didn’t know about it. Nuts, huh?”
“Sometimes it’s easier to just go along with a friend’s quirks than to challenge them.”
“I guess. I’ll admit it was starting to wear thin. I still can’t believe how she lied about Trace and tried to convince me that he was a total jerk.”
“She didn’t want to tell you she cheated on him, and she was scared to death that you and he would get together. I mean, it was so obvious that you two were attracted to each other.”
I laughed then popped a morsel of crab in my mouth. “Did Kelsey ask about me?”
Sofie shook her head. “Not a word. She acted like I was her long lost friend. I was polite, but I only talked to her for a few minutes. She kept telling me she had her eyes on Langston Mitchell.”
“Of course she did. He’s from one of the wealthiest families in the city. I hope she finds what she’s looking for.” I took another sip of my drink.
“She’s looking for a rich man to give her everything she wants while turning a blind eye to her indiscretions,” Sofie said.
I nodded in agreement, and at that moment I felt sorry for Kelsey because she was so busy looking for a man who could give her material things that she was missing out on the richest gift of all—a real connection of heart, body, and soul.
“I wish things wouldn’t have ended on such a sour note. We did have some fun times.”
