“Seriously? Don’t call him that,” I said, giggling.
“Piece of man meat?”
“Nope.”
“Luscious mountain man?’
“Hell no, Sarah.”
“Big Daddy Papa Bear?”
“I’m going to hit you with a fucking pillow,” I said.
“Oh really?”
Suddenly, a pillow whacked me in the face. My coffee went tumbling to the floor, spilling out all over the carpet. I looked over the edge of the bed and saw the caffeinated goodness staining the carpet. I felt the ache deep in my soul. The beautiful black gold was spilling everywhere as Sarah cackled behind me.
“You’re so paying for that,” I said.
Grabbing a pillow, I threw it in her face. I stood up and grabbed another one, then proceeded to whack her over and over again. She rose to her feet and started defending herself, and soon the two of us were jumping on the bed trying to push each other off. Pillows were flying and the comforter was tangling around our legs, tripping us up and collapsing us to the bed. We were sweating and breathing heavy, with pillows strewn all over the floor and the smell of raspberry coffee fluttering around the room.
“You can get one tomorrow morning,” Sarah said, huffing.
“But I wanted it now,” I said breathlessly.
“We’ll get soda with the pizza.”
“I get to pick the soda,” I said.
“We’ll each get a soda.”
“A two liter for each of us?” I asked.
“Yep. Because we need the caffeine to stay up and catch up.”
“I have to babysit tomorrow, Sarah.”
“And you can go tired with sunglasses on your face like every other twenty-two-year-old asked to babysit someone,” she said.
We laid there on the bed, our bodies splayed out and our limbs cockeyed. My hand searched for hers, and I grasped it, running my thumb around in the palm of her hand. I heard her sniffle, and I pulled her close to me, holding her tightly as she cried into my shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay, Sarah. I’m going to help you get through this.”
“I loved him,” she said desperately. “I really did love him.”
“I know you did,” I said as I stroked her hair. “I know.”
CHAPTER 14
Brian
I watched Amanda leave to go meet who I assumed was Sarah, but I never saw her come back home. I went to go check on her and make sure the two of them were all right, but when I knocked on the door, no one answered. I was worried when I fell asleep and didn’t hear a car return. Had Amanda forgotten about coming to watch Lanie?
I woke up Monday morning and started making breakfast. If Amanda didn’t show up, then I would have to cancel the meeting. I couldn’t take Lanie with me, and I had no other backup. I would simply have to reschedule during a time when the nanny would be able to watch my niece.
And it would serve me right, trusting some young, bobble-headed girl. She was in over her head with that cabin, and it sounded like she was in over her head with her own life. Aspiring to be an artist and trying to paint her way through life. It was a child’s dream. I couldn’t believe I’d opened myself up to someone like that. Someone so frivolous and forgetful and—
A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. I set the scrambled eggs aside and went over to the door. I opened up, not really knowing who to expect on the other side. But the moment my eyes took in Amanda standing on my porch, guilt rushed over my body.
Until I started studying her.
She was in the same outfit as yesterday. Her hair was thrown up haphazardly, and her sunglasses hid her eyes. Where the hell had she been last night? Why had she not come home? Who in the fuck had she been with? Was there really a ‘Sarah’?”
My mind started running at a million miles a second, but I tried to shake the thoughts from my brain. She wasn’t any older than drinking age, so I didn’t know what I expected from her. She was still in her youth. Her prime. She had the right to go out with friends and get into trouble and have one-night stands and make memories. I had no right to lay any sort of claim to her, even though my body was thrumming with jealousy.
I wanted to know where she had been, but I didn’t hold that kind of position in her life.
“Morning,” Amanda said.
“Thanks for coming to watch Lanie,” I said as I stepped off to the side.
“It’s not a problem. I’m sorry I’m a few minutes late. Getting up the mountain this morning was rough without coffee in my system.”
She walked into the house, and my eyes lingered on her. She had a light stain on the back of her shirt. And there were only a few things a beautiful woman like herself could do to get stains on her back.