AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Kill who?” Garry steps forward, eyeing me with suspicion.
“Hey.” I kiss his cheek, ignoring his question. “Where’s Sally?”
“At home, trying not to vomit her way through this pregnancy.”
I grimace.
Poor Sally.
“You didn’t have to come. You should be at home with your wife.”
“Believe me, Claire. She wanted me out of the house.”
I try to hide the smile when I squeeze his shoulder.
“Who are we killing?” His eyes roam from me to Mandy and back again. Mandy glances at me. Her eyes are sadder than I like. “That bastard,” Garry curses, his hands balling into fists at his side.
“I’m lost. Can someone tell me what’s going on? Are you okay, Claire?” Alex pleads.
Me, Mandy, and Garry have been friends for so long that sometimes we don’t even need to speak. Our eyes say everything we want.
I pat Alex’s chest. “How about you get me a glass of wine and I will tell you everything?”
Alex dips his chin, gives Mandy a once over to make sure she’s still breathing, and we take our seats in the kitchen.
***
“That bastard,” Alex echoes a half-hour later.
“See?” Mandy screeches, almost spilling her wine. Alex halts with his beer halfway to his mouth. “I want to kill him. I liked him in the beginning. I hate when my judgment about someone is wrong.”
Same, Mandy. Same.
“And he hurt Claire. No one gets to do that.”
My heart swells.
He winks at her, and I think my friend just melted. “If you want to kill him, I’ll help. But maybe tomorrow, when you’ve had time to sleep on it.”
“Thank you,” she smiles, joking, before turning back to me, and all amusement leaves her face.
“You turned down the job.”
This is why I love my friends so much. They know I’ll get over Caleb. He won’t be the end of me. Their biggest concern is that I put aside my life’s dreams for him.
I shrug, defeated, while hoping all my answers are buried in the bottom of this wineglass. “I know.”
“Why don’t you try again? Ask for a second chance?” Garry suggests, and I groan inwardly.
That seems to be everyone’s answer this evening.
“Where’s the job?” Alex is scanning my face, and sometimes I think he can read me as well as my friends can.
“I’ll still be working for The Hope Foundation, but the job is just outside the city,” I mutter under my breath and say a prayer they don’t hear me.
No such luck.
They gasp in unison.
