Falling For You (Love In All Seasons #2) - Frankie Love Page 0,89
clothes and our beds were claimed, Callie poured us glasses of Merlot.
Raising a glass, she offered a toast.
I got that she was attempting to make amends, and I let her. I wasn’t interested in starting some feud over her persistence about 401Ks and my refusal to admit that I was floundering as badly as she suspected.
“It’s all good, Callie,” I said, as she gave my shoulders a squeeze.
“I know, it’s just Courtney pointed out that I was pretty much a total bitch in the car today. I’m a control freak, and … I don’t know, maybe it affects the people I love more than I want to admit.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over Blaine,” I insisted. “He was a douchebag and a money grabber, and he would have kept taking advantage of you.”
“Except he got tired of me first,” she said, her bottom lip pouting.
“Okay, sure he broke up with you, but it’s not about you. It’s about him.” I believed that. Blaine had been a total ass-hat. I was glad he’d broken up with her, because she needed a real man.
As did I.
Well, not necessarily a real man so much as a night of passion—something that would create a spark. Something to make me to get excited about life again. Life, or love—or both.
We shared two bottles of Merlot over dinner. The deep red wine took the edge off the group dynamics.
I had met Courtney in college when we were in a class together, and she had introduced me to Callie. But things between us had changed since we graduated college, and the stress of real life had affected us a bit differently.
“What are you doing?” Callie asked, as she popped open a third bottle.
“I wanted to check out the sauna,” Courtney said, not extending an invite.
“Well, I want to stay here and get shitfaced; do you mind if I stay back?” I asked.
“No, no, not at all. I actually wouldn’t mind some down time,” Court said, holding up a black bikini in one hand and a neon pink one-piece in the other. “Which one you think?”
“Umm, the sauna and tubs are clothing optional,” I said, cracking a smile.
“Well, yeah, I read that online, but I’m wearing a swimsuit.”
“Okay,” I answered slowly.
“What, is that weird or something?” Court pursed her lips, looking uncomfortable.
“No, I just don’t think anyone wears them. If you insist, I’d go with the two piece. Stop hiding your curves.”
“Definitely the two piece,” Callie chimed in. “You’re in the best shape of your life.”
“Okay, I’ll just change then. Carry on,” she said, waving her hands toward our wine glasses and slipping in the bathroom.
A little while later Courtney left, and Callie began cleaning the kitchen. Sleepiness crept up on me fast, and I stifled a yawn.
“Do you mind if I take a bath?” Callie asked.
“No,” I said with my eyes half-closed.
“Get in bed, sleepy head,” she told me. “And thanks.”
“For what?”
“For being a friend, even when I make that hard.”
“Anytime, Mom.”
“Don’t say that,” she said, grabbing her toiletries bag. “I want to loosen up. I just don’t know how.”
“Do you ever watch porn? That loosens me up plenty,” I said, jokingly. I’d never had a real interest in watching videos. I wanted the real thing. Something visceral. Something alive, or nothing at all.
“Oh, shut up,” she yelled playfully as she shut the bathroom door.
“You know I love you,” I shouted, before crashing into bed.
I woke up in a pitch-dark cabin to the sound of my two friends snoring away. Looking at my phone, I saw it was two in the morning. Sitting up, I scrolled through my phone quickly before setting it back down. It was worthless here without Wi-Fi or 4G.
Knowing I wouldn’t fall back asleep, I quietly slipped on my booties and wrapped a chunky orange scarf around my neck. I pulled on an oversized, loose-knit cardigan that hit my knees.
Going into the kitchen, I poured a few inches of whiskey in a ceramic mug and headed outside, knowing the amber liquid would keep me warm.
The night air was cool, and as I walked toward the water’s edge my breath caught at the swollen moon hanging above me. It reflected over the still, dark water and lit the shore with its magic.
I had always been wooed by the moon, by the constant changing she underwent each month. Yet she always came back to where she started. She was grounded in her cycle, yet fluid in her daily transformation.