A shadow of a smile ticked Kallie’s lips before she slid into the back seat of the car. She didn’t have Ash, but she did have Eris. And that was all she could ask for. Her best friend made her irate sometimes, but in the end, she could always count on her to be there. The three of them started their two-hour drive back into the city, and the entire time Kallie stared out the window. Watching the mansions roll by. Watching the roads give way to trees. Watching the trees give way to the city smog.
All in an attempt to get her home.
She wondered what happened now. What came next? But all she could come up with was work. She had a business to run. Money to make. People that still needed her help. She figured she would go back to her office. To her business. Proceed on with business as usual, like nothing had ever happened. But all of it felt empty now. Something that used to bring her so much passion had been touched by Ash and James both. It seemed tainted somehow. And the idea of walking back into her office Tuesday morning made her cringe.
She was paid to organize people’s lives, and she felt like a hypocrite. Hairdressers kept their hair impeccable as a testament to their talents. Nail professionals kept their nails perfect as a testament to their abilities. But Kallie’s life was in shambles. How was she supposed to advertise her organizational services when her life was falling apart in the most public arena possible?
Kallie felt like a fraud.
That was why she cringed about having to go back to work.
“You know he’s a piece of shit, right?” Eris asked.
“Ash is a good man, but he’s got his faults,” Jeremy said.
“Do you want to get laid tonight?” she asked.
“I could ask you that same question. I know you’re just trying to support your friend, but Ash is my friend too. Remember how we met?”
“And we can un-meet very easily.”
“Enough,” Kallie said.
She sighed as her two friends fell silent.
“I get that you’re trying to make me feel better, Eris. But I was enjoying the silence. Can we get back to that?” she asked.
“Sure. If that’s what you want,” Eris said.
“Yes. It really is.”
“Just entertain this for a second.”
Kallie groaned as her forehead fell against the window.
“Eris, she doesn’t want—”
“No sex for you,” Eris said to Jeremy.
“Cut it out,” Kallie said with a groan.
?
?All I’m saying is there are so many things that could happen to Ash on the rest of his vacation or whatever his trip to the Hamptons was,” she said. “He could sprain his ankle running on the beach. He could be attacked by seagulls. He could fall asleep in the sun with the word ‘shithead’ outlined in sunscreen on his stomach.”
Kallie closed her eyes and tried to block out her best friend’s voice. Eris and Jeremy began to argue back and forth, and it made Kallie wish she’d taken the cab without even consulting them on her leave. She knew her friend was trying to make her laugh, but she didn’t feel like laughing. All she wanted to do was get home, crawl in bed, and watch some television. Zone out while staring at the ceiling. Lie there in silence until sleep finally took her under again.
But Eris and Jeremy’s bickering wouldn’t give her the silence she had asked for.
“And even if Ash is still some half-decent man underneath the drunken facade he’s plastered on, why did he keep approaching Kallie?” Eris asked. “She wasn’t doing a fucking thing to him, and he pops out of nowhere and berates her every chance he got.”
“I’m not defending his actions,” Jeremy said. “All I’m saying is he’s probably bashing Kallie to people like you’re bashing him now. So if you want to be better than him—”
“Kallie didn’t fucking do anything, Jeremy!”
“What makes a man behave like that?” Kallie’s question stopped the bickering in the car.
“What?” Eris asked.