Andrew. Of course they do.”
He sat up and looked down at me. “Well, I don’t.”
It was next to nothing. And, yet, it was everything. The knot in my stomach uncoiled, just like that.
“How about this?” Andrew added. “What if we figure it out as we go along?”
He was right. One step at a time. He assured me so well. I panicked again as I realized that I was developing real feelings for him—and I knew I needed to break the intensity of the moment. So I jumped out of bed and raced to the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around me. I grabbed the whipped cream, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and two spoons, and raced back.
When he saw me, he said, “I can’t imagine life ever, ever getting mundane with you.”
I don’t know if it was the words, Andrew, Ben, or Jerry, but I know for sure that, of all the nights in my life, that was one of the sweetest.
diana: trailer trash orphan
When I was developing the photos down at Meds and More, I realized right off that people only take pictures of the good times. But I say we’d all be a darn sight better off if we’d take pictures of the bad stuff too, so we wouldn’t keep making the same mistakes over and over.
As I tried to pick up that margarita glass with my hands shaking, I wasn’t sure if this moment would fall into the category of “take a picture so you can remember” or “take a picture so you’ll learn your lesson once and for all.” My mouth was so dry I couldn’t talk.
“We couldn’t believe it,” Cheyenne whispered, as if Frank would be able to hear her across the crowded bar.
“Ain’t seen hide nor hair of him since…” Robin trailed off.
She didn’t have to finish that sentence. I knew better than anybody when the last time we saw him was.
“Di,” Janet said softly, which was when I realized that I was staring into my margarita glass. “You okay?”
She reached over and touched my hand. Janet had been there with me that day, the only one who had the stomach for it, I guess. Cheyenne and Robin, they’d been there waiting when we got home, and every last one of them, they worked real hard to make sure I was okay. We were in it together, in a way. But in a much, much bigger way, I was the only one who had to live it over and over, and I was the only one who realized that maybe, in a situation like that, you can’t ever truly be okay again.
And Frank? Well, Frank had got off pretty much scot-free. Frank had been wandering around all these years not knowing one damn thing I’d been going through. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing here now. I felt pretty sure that he had some beautiful wife and a bunch of kids and a big house. His momma and daddy were probably real proud. He’d found himself a suitable woman, not a trailer trash orphan like me. It almost embarrassed me how fresh the wound felt, remembering his momma calling me that—and knowing she wasn’t wrong.
I looked up at Janet long enough to say, “Oh yeah. You know me. I’m gonna be fine. Just surprised to see him here, is all.”
It couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes that had passed, but it felt like it had been an hour, me sitting there frozen in my seat. “What are you going to do?” Robin asked.
I glanced over just in time to see Frank setting his money on the bar, getting up off the stool. Before I could answer, before I had time to think about it, I bolted right up out of my chair and, with the ladies calling after me, I was out that door, quick as a wink. It took me about until I got to my car to realize I’d left my purse on the table inside the Beach Pub. “Shit,” I said under my breath.
“Diana,” I heard that strong, deep voice say. Oh God, that voice. Even after all of it, after how he hurt me, after all the history we had together, that voice still made me weak in the knees. Don’t look at him, I thought. If you just don’t look at him, he’ll go away and it’ll be like this never happened.
Then I felt his hand on mine, that prickle on my skin,