Home for Love (An Adult Contemporary Romance) (13 page)

Bree shrugged, “Okay, I like that Amber
can join in and we’ll get to see each other more often. So, yeah, let’s do
this.”

Moments later, gym membership cards in
their wallets, and feeling lighter of heart, they stepped into the hair salon.
“So, hun,” Shelly prompted, “you asked to come here so go forth and do.”

“Nope,” Bree grinned back wickedly.
“We’ll both go forth and do. You’ve always wanted to be a blonde and I’ve
always wanted your black hair, so that’s what we’re doing.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit drastic?”
Shelly asked.

“Sure,” Bree shrugged nonchalantly, “but
what good is a change without a kick-ass haircut.”

“Well, you said it,” Shelly caved and
they made their way to the waiting chairs of future hair-shocked bliss.

They had their hair done and despite the
denied trepidation that they’d felt, they admitted that they looked hot, in the
way that close girlfriends did. The black color predictably made Bree’s skin
look pale, but it also brought out the pink in her cheeks and blue in her eyes
so that the end result was ethereal rather than odd. Tall, bronzed Shelly
looked like an Amazon Goddess ready to crack a whip and break hearts while she
was at it.

Hair done and a mountain of shopping
bags filled with makeup and clothing, they merrily made their way to the diner
for a quick coffee and wild berry pie to end the day off with. After placing
their order, Shelly slid an envelope across the table to Bree. “Your
grandmother asked me to give this to you. And yes, it was all planned - her
taking Amber out, me taking you to Doctor Roz. You’re not mad, are you?”

“At you all meddling in my life?” Bree
asked, and then grinned. “No. I’m not mad. I should be, but I feel better today
than I have in months so I can’t be mad at you.”

Phew! Shelly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Okay, so open it,” she prompted. “I’ve been carrying that around with me all
afternoon and you know how much I hate waiting for surprises like you do.”

Giggling, Bree slit open the envelope
and took out a homemade card and a note. She read the note first and slid the
card to Shelly, thinking that Amber had made her a birthday card. The note
read:

“Our dearest Bree, Ever since you
came into our lives, you’ve given us nothing but joy. The hardest thing we’ve
had to do was watch you suffer as life continued to throw challenges at you.
But, we want you to know that you’ve done us proud in the way that you’ve met
those challenges head on. You’ve grown from our darling little girl into a
fine, strong woman with a beautiful heart. You’ve given us so much and for
that, we wanted to, in a small way, say thank you.

We’ve made arrangements at that
fancy place, The Lodge, for Shelly and you to spend the night. They’ll treat
you to a dinner and give you loads of those fancy spa things. Then, you girls
can go and gossip away in a room there for the night like you used to when you
had sleepovers. Tomorrow morning you’ll have a huge breakfast because you’re
getting a bit too skinny and we’re worried about that and we’ll see you later
for the town’s picnic.

I know it sounds like we’re
managing and if we’re honest, we’d admit that we are. But, we’ll use a
grandparent’s prerogative here and ask you to indulge us instead. Let us say
thank you and show you our love.

All our love and kisses,

Gran and Granddad

Both tearful, Bree and Shelly looked up
at each other, smiled tentatively, and swapped letters. The card that Amber
drew was beautiful, kind, and heart-breaking.

“Mom, Get better soon. See you
tomorrow. Love, Amber”

“I’ve already made up my mind to get
better, Shelly,” Bree said to her friend while they both touched tissues to the
corners of their eyes. “But, if I ever needed motivation to get my butt into
gear and get over myself, then Amber’s card was it.”

Hot heels, make-up, and killer dresses
on, Bree and Shelly stepped into the local bar cum night club, ready to
celebrate Shelly’s birthday and Bree’s metamorphosis, as they were referring to
it. Since the influx of tourists, the bar had turned, seeing a gap in the
market, transformed into a night club on Friday and Saturday nights during the
in-season. The change had become so popular with locals that the bar now
permanently functioned, on those two nights, as a place where locals could eat,
have a drink and socialize or dance to their heart’s content.

As it was just before summer vacation,
tourists had begun to flock to the wild of Alaska. The place was packed. Moving
through the hordes of bodies standing around tables, sitting at the bar and
picking at baskets of fried delights, they made their way to a table in the
corner.

Hyped up in the hotel and buzzing after
an emotional roller-coaster of a day, the two of them decided to call a bunch
of friends of high school to meet them there. 

“Now I know what took you so long,”
Kristine drawled, “you both look sensational. Happy birthday, Shelly.” Kristine
had been in the cheerleading squad with them, along with Alice, Megan and
Kelly. They excitement was palpable. When they got together a good time was
guaranteed - just like in high school. Since then four out of the group of
friends had gotten married and had children, so a girls’ night out was a rare
occurrence. It took very little convincing from Bree and Shelly to get them out
of their homes and into the night club.

After rounds of hugs and a few rounds of
drinks - Bree remembered her one and only drunken night and stuck to soft
drinks - the group of girls made their way to the dance floor, merrily
oblivious to the admiring glances they were getting from other patrons. Shelly
had bribed the DJ to play a few tracks from their senior year and the women let
it rip, dancing their old moves, and not caring what anyone thought. They felt
the sense of freedom that only dancing without a care can give.

Before sitting back at the table with
the others, Bree offered to go fill their drinks; the bar was so packed that they
were having to wait at least a half an hour before a waitress could come and
take their order. She found a gap at the bar counter and squeezed herself into
it. Tapping her fingers against the bar counter, she waited for her turn to
give her order.

“Excuse me ma’am,” a familiar voice said
to the back of her head as he reached for the beer offered to him by the
barman.

“Todd,” she turned around and faced him.

She had the satisfaction of seeing Todd
do a double-take, give her a once-over (seemingly enjoying it) then look back
at her in shock. “Bree?” he asked.

“The one and the same,” she replied.

“Definitely Bree,” he said, his eyes
automatically exploring the curves hidden beneath the flaming hot, midnight
blue dress that made her eyes pop. “But not the same,” he added. “You dyed your
hair,” he stated the obvious.

“Yes,” she said, twirling her hair
around her fingers.

“Looks good on you,” he said sounding
less friendly and more forcibly polite, the shock of the change wearing off and
reality setting back into place. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow when
I pick Amber up for the picnic.”

“Actually,” Bree stopped him, “I won’t
be at home tomorrow morning. I’m staying over at The Lodge. But, I do need to
speak to you - it’s important.”

“Oh,” Todd looked at her in surprise for
the second time that night, “are you and Jack together then?” 

Bree shook her head in confusion. “What?
You think that…Jack and I?” She shook her head again to indicate no. “I’m not
staying over with Jack. Shelly and I are staying there because it’s her
birthday today. We’re celebrating. That’s why I'm back there with the girls.”

Todd swung his head around and waved at
the table of old high school friends. “I see,” he stated. “I thought that was
what you wanted to chat about - that you and Jack are an item. He does have the
hots for you - always did.”

“He so does not,” retorted Bree. “And,
even if he did, I’m not going down that road, not right now.”

“Ah, yes,” Todd nodded, “I recall having
this conversation with you before.” He tipped his head at her. “See you
tomorrow then.”

“Wait, Todd,” Bree stopped him with a
hand on his arm. “I really do need to speak with you and I’d rather you hear
what I’ve got to say from me directly and soon.”

 “Is something wrong?” He came closer,
looking worried. “Is Amber alright?”

“Amber’s fine,” she confirmed, “And
nothing’s wrong now. Something was, but it’s getting sorted out.”

He lifted a brow at the cryptic comment.
Bree clarified, “This isn’t the place to talk about it - sorry - that’s why I’m
not blurting it out.”

“Okay, but it sounds important,” he
acknowledged. “If you and Shelly are staying over at The Lodge then you’ll
probably have breakfast there. Why don’t I come around and we could grab a
coffee and chat. Will that work?”

“That’ll be fine,” she replied. “Thank
you.”

“No problem, Bree. See you tomorrow.”

xxx

“Oh honey,” Shelly said empathically
when they got back to the hotel room, “you got it bad?”

“Got what bad?” Bree asked.

Shelly didn’t respond, she just quirked
a brow before going into the bathroom to shower and change. Bree waited for
Shelly to shower, knowing from their shared childhood that she’d be quick.

Minutes later, Bree was joined by
Shelly. Sitting opposite each other, feet curled beneath their legs on the
over-sized sofas, ready for a good gossip of the night’s events. Shelly
approached the subject again. “How long have you been back in love with Todd?”

Bree knew that she couldn’t fool her
best friend and on this new journey of self-improvement, being honest with
Shelly but more importantly being honest with herself, had to start happening.
“I could say that I fell in love again once we started spending time with each
other. Or I could say that it happened when we first kissed again at the New
Year’s dance or when we made love again. But, if I had to be truthful, I’d say
that I don’t ever think that I’ve not been in love with him. It seems that I
may have left Devil’s Peak with a baby growing inside of me, but I left the
part of my heart that loved a man behind.”

“Oh, hun,” Shelly reached out and
squeezed Bree’s hand. “This calls for more wine. I noticed that you haven’t had
any tonight. Coffee?”

“No thanks, I’ll make some tea instead;
a good, soothing chamomile,” Bree replied. Beverages in hand, Shelly probed,
“So you guys slept together again?”

“Yes,” Bree nodded, “many times and just
before the fight that split us apart for good. Since then, we see each other
when he comes over to visit Amber, when I drop Amber off at his place or if we
pass each other by in town. That’s it. We’re polite and greet each other, but
we don’t speak, not really.”

“And I’m guessing that it hurts?” Shelly
asked.

“Like hell,” Bree chuckled through her
tears. “The thing is that we both stuffed up. That night, after we made love,
we had a huge fight. We said things, I think, to deliberately hurt each other.
Things about the past, about what we thought our future was going to be like
together.”

“Let me guess,” Shelly interjected. “You
raked him over the coals for not contacting him while he was gone after his
daddy’s death and leaving you alone to face your parents with an unexpected
pregnancy. And he blamed you for running away and leaving him.”

“How did you know?” asked Bree,
impressed by Shelly’s perceptiveness.

“Oh, I think it’s about time the two of
you got into an honest shouting match,” she explained. “What you guys went
through wasn’t great. It sucked. But, the way you both handled it sucked even
more.”

“I did the best that I could Shelly and
so did he,” Bree muttered in defense.

“I don’t doubt that you did, honey,”
Shelly said gently. “But, the truth is that there’s no recipe for handling
situations such as yours or Todd’s. And, that is what I think the problem is.
The two of you have always been so busy being strong - him because of his past
with his crappy parents and you because your own crappy parents forced you to
be strong - like a robot - so that you never made any mistakes. Then you go and
make one of the biggest mistakes of all, according to them, - a teenage pregnancy.
It was bound to cause waves. But, instead of crashing against them, you both
rode the waves that were sent your way.”

Shelly took a sip of wine, mulled over
it while studying her friend. Bree was listening, as evident by her chewing her
bottom lip - that was good. Shelly needed her to listen. “I’m saying that
you’re not robots but you acted like one. Now, I’m no Doctor Roz, but if people
go through things, they gotta cry, gotta rant and rave a bit and get it out of
their systems. That’s normal. You didn’t even cry and I’ve never seen Todd cry
and I’ve known him for as long as I’ve known you and nearly as well. You just
bury whatever is really brewing inside and get on with things. Eventually
though, things catch up to you. I reckon that the big fight, as you call it,
was things catching up to you both. And, look where you are now. Again, you’re
both moving on with things.”

They each sat in silence digesting what
was said, nursing their drinks. “Okay,” Bree said eventually, “that was deep.”

It was such a simple evaluation of what
Shelly had said that they both burst into laughter. After a few more minutes of
uncontrolled laughter, Bree continued, wiping tears evoked by their guffaws
from her eyes, “You’re right though. The more I think about it - what you said
and the conversation with Doctor Roz - the more I realize that while Todd and I
had to do what we had to, we both put ourselves on the back-burner and our
emotions were the first parts of us that went there.”

“Amen to that,” Shelly held up her glass
in salute. “So what are you going to do about how you feel for him?”

“What can I do?” Bree shrugged. “I may
have feelings for him, but I don’t think they’re returned.”

Shelly grunted in frustration. “For
Pete’s sake, Bree, how can someone so intelligent be so darned blind.”

“What do you mean?” Bree blinked at
Shelly, baffled.

“I saw him talking to you tonight,”
Shelly offered. “First there was lust - the guy couldn’t take his eyes off of
you. But, given that we’re looking pretty hot tonight, that was kinda
expected.”

Bree rolled her eyes and waved a hand to
indicate that Shelly should continue. Todd had lusted after her tonight? Darn,
she hadn’t even noticed that!

“But then,” Shelly went on, “I saw care
and concern. I don’t know what you guys were talking about, but the man looked
like he wanted to take you into his arms and keep you safe. I don’t know about
you, but that’s a good thing to have in a partner.”

“I didn’t notice that,” Bree stated.

Now it was Shelly’s turn to do an eye
roll, “Of course, you didn’t. You were too busy doing some lusting yourself.
And, I got an insecure, nervous vibe from you - like you didn’t know what to
expect.”

“Are you sure you’re not working with
Doctor Roz, Shelly?” Bree inquired. “I’m pretty impressed by your perceptiveness.”

“I sell expensive clothing to high-end
tourists mostly in rural Alaska,” Shelly stated factually. “How do you think I
manage to do that? It’s all about figuring out what people desire and giving it
to them.”

Bree held up her teacup in salute then
ventured, “So what do you think I should do?”

“Nope,” Shelly shook her head, “you’re
not getting off that easy. What do you think you should do about it? Do you
want to be with him?”

“Oh yes,” Bree answered.

“I’ve already established for you that
he’s giving off the same vibe,” Shelly responded. “So, now you gotta answer for
yourself, how do you get him back?”

“Okay, I get it,” Bree acknowledged her
friend’s advice. “I have some seducing to do, or courting first at least.”

“Yes,” agreed Shelly, “sort through your
crap with each other before hitting the sack this time around.”

Bree nodded, “Yes, like I told him the
night of the big fight, it’s not just about sex.”

“Honey,” Shelly chuckled, “you told him
that? After making love to him?”

Bree smiled sheepishly, “Five times.”

“Oh my word, no wonder the man was
furious,” Shelly chuckled. "You bruised his ego. Honey, when men sleep
with you, they think it’s just sex but you’re not allowed to. They think that
to you it must be the most earth-shattering, wonderful experience of your life
that elevates them to the level of a demi-God.”

Bree looked indulgently at Shelly. One
day, she was going to get Shelly to tell her what had made her become so
cynical. “It wasn’t just sex, though, Shelly. I don’t think for either of us
because he did get pretty angry at me when I said it. But, what I agree with
you about is that sex, lovemaking, whatever you want to call it, is not going
to solve our problems. I said as much that night and the words were right, are right
even now, but my intentions behind them are different.” At Shelly’s look of
confusion, she explained. “That night I said it because I’d panicked, because I
remembered what had happened after the last time we’d slept together. Now, I’m
saying it because I believe that we have to talk things through, agree to make
this work between us before we sleep together again.”