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“Okay, one natural disaster movie coming up.” She knows how much I love natural disaster movies. The bigger the disaster the better. “How’s ‘The Day After Tomorrow?” She smiles an all knowing smile. That movie has everything and is one of my all-time favorites. Does she know me or what?
“Perfect.” My bestie knows me better than anyone, including Evan. Maybe I should use this opportunity to tell her about my trip to the mainland. She’ll feel sorry for me since Chase bailed, and maybe she won’t hurt me too bad. “Bren, can I tell you something without you getting mad?” I ask as she’s putting in the DVD.
“Um, I can’t give you any guarantees. You know how impulsive I am.” She gives me a devilish smile as she plops back down on the couch.
“I know, just don’t pick up any sharp objects, and we should be okay.”
“Olivia! What did you do?” she asks sternly.
She’s going to kill me. I look around to make sure there is nothing she can throw at me. “Wait, I need alcohol for this.” I run back into the kitchen and grab the bottle. Better to have it in reach. I come back and she has an any-day-now look on her face. The impatient one she gets when I stall. I take a seat on the chair across from her, out of her reach.
“Spill it.”
“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “I took a quick trip back home to see Evan today.” I duck behind a throw pillow as she launches the remote at me.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you insane?” She shifts to sit Indian style facing me, her arms waving wildly. I know if she starts talking with her hands, she’s really pissed.
“Um, yeah, but what does that have to do with me seeing Evan?” I try for some light humor. It doesn’t work.
“Mad?” She tries to rein in her anger, but I can see she is failing. “Liv, I’m furious. Why would you torment yourself like that?” I know she’s not mad at me, but her concern for my wellbeing is bordering on irrational.
“I needed closure,” I mutter almost under my breath.
“Closure? I can give you closure. He fucked your roommate, end of story. Done. There’s your closure.”
“No, I needed to know why.”
“What the fuck does it matter?”
“It matters to me. I wanted to know if it was something I did.” If I did something to make him cheat, I want to know what it was so I don’t do it again.
“Oh, Liv,” she sighs. “And what did the cheating fuck say?”
“Not much. He begged for me to come back to him.”
“Please, don’t tell me you are considering it?” she says irritated.
“I didn’t say that,” I say. “He was so sincere, so remorseful.”
“Of course he was.” Her voice drips with sarcasm. “But that doesn’t excuse what he did.”
“I know.” I close my eyes and sigh. “I still love him, but ever since meeting Chase . . .” I trail off. Thinking about how Chase makes me feel makes me miss him even more.
“Look. I don’t know what’s going on with you and Chase, but I can see that you’ve been happier these past few days with him than you ever were with Evan.” She pats the couch next to her. I reluctantly get up and sit next to her. “Chase cares about you. I’m not saying run off and marry him but just let things happen.”
“I want to. He makes me feel so wanted, special.”
“It’s always when you’re not looking for love that it finds its way into your heart.” She scoots over and gives me a great big best friend hug. She knows me better than I know myself.
I wake up Wednesday mid-morning to pouring rain. Every day can’t be a beach day. Brenda is still sound asleep, but she was always a late sleeper. I wander into the kitchen to make coffee. I choose a caramel pod and shove it into the Keurig. Looking out the sliding glass doors, I notice the ocean looks very angry. Must be a big storm for the waves to be this large. I grab my cup, add some milk and a Splenda, and head into the living room to check out the weather.
I turn on the news just in time. According to the NWS, there is a line of severe weather over our region producing strong thunderstorms and hail. Wonderful. This looks to be an all day event. I go over to the hall closet and pull out some candles just in case.
Back in the kitchen, I notice it’s getting windy, so I run outside to grab the patio umbrella that I left open. Every year, I forget to close the umbrella during a storm and it always winds up down the beach all mangled. I quickly close it and run back into the house. Soaked, I make a half assed attempt to dry myself off. It’s useless, so I decide to take a shower before the weather gets any worse and we don’t have any electric or hot water.
Brenda is up and around when I get out of the bathroom. “You might want to shower now,” I say glancing outside. “I don’t think this is going to get any better.”
“Did you leave me any hot water?” she says, already doubtful. I always take the longest showers and the hot water heater here is small.
