Best Friend's Ex Box Set

We drove along in silence, but not an awkward silence, more of a contemplative and joining silence. We were happy to be with each other, to hold each other’s hands and just be together. It was calming and sweet, and I had never been with someone before that I felt that close to in the moments between the conversation. My mom always told me the measure of a true relationship was not in the words spoken, but the ones that never had to be spoken. I finally understood what she was trying to say. I understood why she and my father never had the conversation about divorce. It just happened one day, standing in the kitchen, staring at each other.

The drive into the country took about an hour, and then we finally stopped off at Elegant Farms. When we arrived, there were tons of families with little children running around with sticky hands and faces and chowing down on beautiful red apples. I giggled as we walked around, dodging a couple of kids chasing each other through the orchard. We paid for a bag and set out, using the long basket stick to get some really good apples from up high. We laughed and joked with each other the whole time, sneaking a kiss now and then between the trees. Once we filled a bag, we headed back over to their country store, where we walked around and looked at all the handmade crafts.

Ollie was obsessed with the fact that they had their famous country ham, so we picked some of that up and some cheese to go along with it. I figured if nothing else, we would be completely engorged by Sunday morning breakfast. From there, we drove a little bit farther into a small town where we stopped and ate lunch, looking out at the people as they passed. This was a really small town, like the kind where everyone knows each other, and visitors were welcomed with open arms. At one point, we were even able to stop and talk to the mayor, who was just doing some grocery shopping at the local market with his kids and wife. We wouldn’t have known it was the mayor, of course, except for the fact that we were greeted by everyone and introduced as visitors in town. I was completely smitten by the whole experience and was hoping to come back when the season got closer to Christmas.

We spent the whole day shopping, eating, laughing, and teasing each other, before stopping and eating some more. I was pretty sure I hadn’t eaten that much in a really long time. It had to have been one of the most fun days I’d ever had, and there wasn’t anything flashy or expensive about what we did. We were together, and that seemed to be the only thing that mattered to either of us at that moment. I was definitely finding myself falling deeply for Ollie, and I didn’t even care.

Chapter 27

Ollie

“I’ve got an idea,” I said as we drove back to the city.

“Uh oh,” she said, smiling.

“No, really. Let’s go back to your place, grab some food, and go have a sunset picnic,” I replied. “It just sounds like a real

ly good way to wind down at the end of such a perfect day.”

“I like that idea,” she said, smiling sweetly and grabbing my hand.

When we got back to her place, we went inside and unloaded the treasure trove of things that we bought. Both of us had managed to get every Christmas present that we needed for our families in one small trip to the country. Not to mention the fact that I actually scored Elegant Farms fresh ham while we were out. I used to eat it as a kid and didn’t even realize the place was so close to Madison. I knew my mom was going to freak out when she heard.

As Elana prepared the food for our picnic, I went upstairs and found her stash of blankets, pulling out a big quilt to sit on. We then slowly made our way down the street to the park. I rolled out the quilt and secured it with my backpack before helping her set down the basket of food. We sat down and spread our legs out in front of us, munching on fresh cheese, pieces of ham, and a pasta salad that she had whipped up quickly. She looked at me and handed over a tin camping mug, pouring some wine it and clinking her glass against mine.

“What are we toasting to?” I asked.

“An amazing day, of course,” she said with a smile.

It certainly was an amazing day. I watched the sun make its way to the horizon, its vibrant colors blanketing the sky, I couldn’t help but think about how far I had come since I moved back to Madison. I had tried so hard to keep myself from Elana, but in the end, she was the one that brought me back to life. I could feel a sense of peace radiating through my veins that I had never felt before. It was like everything that had happened over the last five years had finally moved itself from the forefront to just visions of the past. I still didn’t know everything that Elana had been through after I left, but I could tell being together helped her, too, and gave her a sense of purpose and clarity. It was an amazing journey to think about, almost forgetting what it felt like to be in so much pain and suffering.

I didn’t have to worry about any of that when I was with Elana. As soon as she was in my presence, I felt relaxed and ready to tackle the world. She calmed me down when I was all riled up and soothed me when I was hurting and in pain. Nothing and no one else in my life could give me those feelings. None of the alcohol did that for me, none of the therapy did that for me, and none of the self-loathing ever helped anywhere as much as Elana. She was like a drug, so addictive that I couldn’t imagine ever putting her down ever again. I had made the decision that I wanted to give it a shot, and I could now see that it was the best decision I had ever made.

After the sun dipped low behind the horizon and the air began to cool even more than it was, we decided to go back to her place. She packed the basket back up, and I folded up the quilt, putting it back in my backpack. We both took the last gulps of the wine in our cups before heading back, hand in hand. We walked through the door and without speaking, immediately went to work. Elana emptied the basket, putting away the uneaten food. I went upstairs to put away the quilt, and we met in the kitchen, looking at each other fondly. There was no longer that panicked need to pull her close because of my fear of losing her. I knew that she was there, and she wasn’t going anywhere.

We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. She immediately stretched out, pulling the throw over her and laying her head on a pillow in my lap. She reached forward and grabbed the remote, flipping on the television and looking up at me with a smile. I leaned over and kissed her lips gently before relaxing back on the couch, feeling completely at home, a feeling I hadn’t had since I was a child.

She flipped through the channels slowly, stopping on a couple of kid’s movies, a chick-flick, a murder mystery, and a handful of infomercials. Finally, she found a horror movie and stopped on that, sitting up straight on the couch and gawking at the screen. I raised my eyebrows as the opening scene started, the cameraman obviously not being given the budget to have a stabilizer on his equipment. I sat there silently watching the cliché scenes, wondering what in the world had gotten her so excited.

“This is Diabolical Dead,” she gasped. “When I was a kid, I was freaking obsessed with this movie.”

“You mean, more people than me and you have seen this?”

“It’s totally a cult classic,” she said, wide-eyed. “I went through this phase when I was like ten where I was obsessed with horror movies. Me and a couple of my friends started a little club, and we used to watch this religiously. Trust me, we thought it was just as bad then as I do now, but it was like our thing. My mom was actually getting worried about me because she thought there was something wrong with a girl being obsessed with slasher films. I swear, she thought I was a serial killer for like two years.”

“And all along, it was really me,” I said, acting like I was stabbing her with a knife.

She fake-screamed and laughed, laying back down in my lap. We continued to watch the movie, busting out laughing every time something was so fake that it looked like we could have made the movie ourselves. Elana ran to the kitchen and popped some popcorn really fast, coming back to sit down next to me.

“Wait, wait,” she said, pointing at the screen. “This is the part where this possessed hand comes back to life and tries to kill the main character.”

“Wow,” I said, shoving popcorn in my mouth. “Why wouldn’t he just trap it or like cut off its fingers?”

“Because then the movie would be over, duh,” she laughed.

“Holy crap,” I said, laughing. “Did that hand, not attached to anything, just pick up a chainsaw and cut his arm off?”

“Yep, and wait. Here it is. The terrible squirting blood scene. I’m pretty sure you can see the ketchup packets on the floor.”