Coley snapped me out of my yearning stare when she whispered, “She’s a little bitch, you know. I swear she is so insecure in the relationship. I can’t really blame her, though. She’s just another notch on my brother’s belt, and she knows it.”
I turned to her and grinned. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so. She actually threatened me to watch myself or she could make Caine kick me out.”
“Yeah like that could happen. Whatever. She’s here for right now, but he’ll soon get bored and move on to another pretty face. It’s what he does. He moves them in quickly to play house and then he kicks them out just as quickly. I hope you’re all right with seeing a new face every couple of months.” She let out an evil sounding laugh. “Or more like hearing a different moan or scream at night.”
I looked back at Sara trying her best to molest Caine and murmured, “Don’t remind me. I think I may have to get earplugs for the night. There isn’t much wall between our two beds.”
Coley laughed out loud and hugged me again. “Come on. Let’s get a drink for us and my caveman brother.”
We walked into the kitchen, opened a bottle of wine, and grabbed a beer for Caine when Sara pranced in.
“Oh I got it. I can bring Caine the beer.” She quickly snatched it out of Coley’s hand and then with the syrupy voice again said, “Coley, it is so nice to see you again. It seems as if you’ve lost weight since the last time I saw you. You must share your secret.” Sara smiled and quickly returned, beer in hand, to Caine.
Coley murmured, “I really hate that girl. I just want to knock those wonderfully veneered teeth right out of her mouth.”
I laughed. “Hey be nice. This is my new roommate you’re speaking about. Could her teeth be any whiter? How in the hell does she get them like that?”
Coley shrugged. “I don’t know…white-out?”
We were laughing hard and mimicking her phony voice when Caine yelled for us to come outside and keep him company. Apparently, the accommodating Sara, rubbing her boobs all over him, wasn’t enough.
“Oh, before I forget. I made plans for us to meet up with Kendall and Rebecca tomorrow night for drinks. You don’t start work until Monday, right?” Coley mentioned as we were walking to the back porch.
I smiled. “That sounds great! I haven’t seen either of them in a really long time. It’ll be great to catch up. And yup, Monday morning is the first day of my new job.”
Caine took the steaks off the barbeque and put them on the patio table which was already set up for dinner and turned to us. “Let’s eat!”
We spent most of the meal laughing and telling stories of what we had all been up to lately. It was a perfect evening to be sitting outside enjoying a meal, a good glass of wine and my best friends, minus the crazy who sat glaring for most of the evening.
Finally, Sara spoke up in her falsetto voice that I was beginning to hate. “So, Neely, why did you leave your husband? Or did he leave you?”
Caine’s eyes shot daggers at Sara, and he slammed down his beer on the table. “Sara! That is none of your damn business. She doesn’t want to talk about it. And that was rude to…”
I interrupted with, “It’s fine, Caine.” I didn’t know why I was trying to help Sara. “I left my husband because I wasn’t in love with him. I wasn’t attracted to him. I didn’t respect him. In short, I detested being in the same room with the man. Everything about him was…weak.”
I took a second to take a sip of wine. As harsh as the words sounded, it felt good to be honest with myself.
“But mostly, I hated how I acted when I was around him. I was mean, cruel, and I purposefully would say things to hurt him. He’d cry like a baby, which made me hate him more. I was awful toward him.” I looked down at the table and sighed. “I didn’t like who I was becoming, so I needed to get out.”
Everyone sat at the table in silence for a moment. Caine looked fiercely at Sara, and Sara refused to look in his direction. I looked at Caine and was happy I wasn’t on the receiving end of his glare. He looked pissed. He obviously saw what Sara was trying to do. I was happy he wasn’t blind to her manipulation.
Coley clapped her hands and stated, “That’s because you don’t need a boy. You need a man! And tomorrow night, my dear friend, we’re going to hunt until we find one.”
I laughed with Coley and hoped it would be as easy as that. But Coley was right about one thing, I wasn’t interested in anyone who wasn’t strong enough to handle me. I didn’t want a weak-minded yes man. I was looking for a real man.