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“Lake,” Georgie looks at me seriously. “Stop making excuses for why you can’t be with him.”
“They’re not excuses, they’re reasons,” I hand the waitress my card, “and there are a lot of them.” I remind her.
“Beth will understand.”
“Beth is the least of my worries.”
* * *
Sitting in my car,I take a few moments to gather myself by checking my reflection in the visor mirror. I refresh the coral lip gloss, watching as it shines on my lips from the sun that filters in through the windshield.
“Why the fuck am I worrying about my lip gloss?” I mutter to myself, flipping the visor back up, angry with myself.
Slamming the car door shut, I walk up the stone steps to Beth's front door when I feel my phone vibrate.
A: This is not over.
And then another message.
A: If you won’t talk to me, I will be forced to come to you.
I shove my phone back in my pocket. I’ve wanted to text him back the last twenty messages, but I couldn’t… at least not yet. I needed to see Beth first.
Beth isn’t expecting me, but I chose today to visit her because I know this is Eric’s weekend with Ashley. I also know that Beth likes to hike Thunderbird Mountain on the weekends, and it takes forty-five minutes to get from the bottom to the top and back. While Beth hikes, Laura visits her mom. Checking the time on my phone, I know she should be home.
When I knock on the door I know she will answer, and that’s why I’m shocked when Laura stands in front of me. She has always been welcoming, trying her best to make me feel like part of the family, even when my sister has not, and that’s why it hurts me to see her looking at me like I’ve betrayed her. It’s as if she’d given me something, and instead of taking care of it, I’ve broken it.
I don’t even care how she knows, just that she knows. At this point, Taylor is inconsequential.
“Laura, I…”
She puts her hand up to stop me. “When I was in college and my brother was in high school, that’s when I started to notice how my friends looked at him.” She gives a weak smile, “Especially when he started to play the guitar.”
She’s being way too nice to me, something I probably don’t deserve, but I’ll take it.
“It used to make me uncomfortable because Addy is my little brother. He’s kind and sweet, and I didn’t want anyone to hurt him,” she sighs. “But when Taylor and Addy started dating, it was like the best of both worlds – until it started to impact our friendship.” Laura shakes her head, her blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders. “They were never on the same page. She wanted to settle down, he was chasing a dream, and then when he wanted to settle down, she was chasing her career.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.
“Because I don’t want him to get hurt again.”
“I know what you think of me,” I explain, looking her in the eye. “It was never my intention to come between anyone.”
“But you lied, and you had my brother lie to me.” Her disappointment washes over me.
From the side, I see Beth peer into the doorway as Laura steps aside.
“I’m sorry.” I try to say as sincerely as I can.
She takes one look at me and turns back into the house, but I follow her.
“Beth, just let me explain.” I trail after her.
“I asked you to stay away from him,” she says, turning around to face me.
“That wasn’t fair of you,” I say angrily.
“Fair? You want to talk about fair? Don’t you have enough, Lake?” she spits. “You got the family name, you got the college degree, the fancy job, the fancy car…” she points towards my car parked at the curb.
