Sweet Reunion (21 page)

“Well, then, I have a follow-up,” Lauren said, with a
wicked grin, “If you haven't had a great love – at least one who can give you
an orgasm not just an eargasm – who had at least been your greatest sex?”

“Wooo!” Amanda whooped, “Look at Lauren, bringing out
her naughty side!”

Karina laughed, “Are you kidding guys? It was my first
manager! Why else do you think he lasted two years? Although, I guess that
proves my point, because when I had the chance to leave him for a better
manager, I did it in a hot second. Music first!”

Amanda said, “Well, I pose that question back to you,
Lauren. Best sex. Ever.”

Lauren looked at the ceiling, searching her memory.
She laughed wryly, “Wow, I guess it couldn't have been that impressive if I had
to think this hard about it. But, I have to say, if you're going to nail me
down – pun intended – to just one person, then I think it would have to be my
college boyfriend, Tad.”

“Tad? Seriously?” Karina inquired.

“Yes, and he was exactly what you might expect someone
named Tad to be like. Old money family, huge Manhattan apartment, house in the
Hamptons...when I was with him, I felt like I was part of that world, I felt
like I belonged. I felt powerful, beautiful, rich.”

Lauren smiled slyly, “Let's just say that it
translated to the bedroom.”

Karina chuckled, “Why, Lauren, little material girl
you!”

Lauren threw her head back and laughed, “I know it! I
won't even deny it. I like the finer things. I've always known that about
myself. It just wasn't until college that I found out that they were actually
an aphrodisiac.”

“Sam, it's your turn,” Amanda said, “Who was your
best? The most unbelievable sex ever?”

“Well...” Sam started slowly and then trailed off,
“that's kind of hard to say.”

“Hmmm...” Karina said, tilting her head to one side
like a curious puppy, “Is that because all of your sex has been equally
mediocre, or because all of your sex has been equally mind blowing?”

“Well,” Sam said, burying her face in the pillow she
held in her lap, “That would be because all of my sex has been equally
nonexistent, actually.”

The other three looked puzzled.

“What do you mean, Sam?” asked Lauren, always the one
out of the four of them to strive to quantify things, to make them exact.

Sam sighed, “Well, I guess it was bound to come out
sooner or later. Yes, it's a little embarrassing at my age. But it's just, with
my training and everything – and seriously, you guys, my coach is so strict and
exacting – I've just never had the chance to develop a relationship.”

“So...you've never had a boyfriend?” Karina said, in
an attempt to clarify.

“Nope,” Sam affirmed, “Never had the time, never had
the freedom.”

“Sooo....” Karina asked, drawing out the syllable and
leaving Sam plenty of room to jump in. When she didn't, Karina finished,
“...you've never done the dirty?”

Sam shook her head ruefully.

“Whoa!” Karina exclaimed, “That's some serious
dedication to your sport, right there, folks!”

Sam laughed. “Believe me, it's not that. Or, I mean, I
guess that's at the root of it. But it's not like I ever intentionally decided
to make the trade. It's not like sports is the priesthood or something, you
don't have to take a vow of chastity. In fact, you should see Olympic village.
Hook up central!”

“Well, OK, then!” Karina interjected, “It's not like
you haven't had the opportunity!”

“Gross!” Sam exclaimed, “I'm not looking to lose my
virginity in some drunken one night stand! I want to fall in love. Shouldn't
that be the minimum requirement?”

Lauren and Karina both laughed skeptically, but Amanda
jumped to Sam's defense. “Of course it should be! Ignore these two!”

Lauren shrugged, “It's not that I don't understand
what you're saying Sam, I'm just worried that at this point, you may be putting
a lot of pressure and expectations on the experience that it most likely won't
live up to.”

Sam shrugged right back at her, “Agreed. I'm well
aware. But trust me, my expectations aren't even that high. I'd just like it to
be with someone I care about is all, and who cares about me.”

“As you should!” Amanda chimed in supportively.

“Agreed,” Karina said, “If I could, I'd probably take
back some of the sex I've had with people I didn't really care about,” she
grinned wickedly, “but only some of it.”

“OK, Amanda, now you,” Lauren broke in, “Who has been
the greatest, most mind-blowing sex of your entire life?”

Amanda got a mischievous, conspiratorial look on her
face, and leaned in closer, causing the other girls to lean in as well. “I can
tell you who it almost was. Justin. This afternoon.”

All three of their jaws dropped, and Karina reached
behind her and grabbed the pillow she was leaning against, hitting Amanda over
the head with it.

“Hey, what was that for?” Amanda laughed.

Karina shrugged, “I don't know, I feel like I get hit
with it every time I say something shocking, and that definitely qualified. So
what happened? Spill!”

Amanda shook her head, but not to say that she wasn't
going to tell, but rather to clear the fogginess and bring herself back to
earth. “I'm still in a state of shock, honestly. Justin and I hiked up to Hope
Falls this afternoon...”

“Oooh La La!” Karina interjected.

“...to scatter my father's ashes.” Amanda finished her
sentence.

“OK, maybe I was premature with the sound effects,”
Karina said sheepishly.

“Anyway, things just got very heated and emotional. We
both ended up admitting that we had feelings for one another, and then all of a
sudden he was kissing me.”

“Yes!” Karina said, making a fist and pulling her
elbow in toward her waist in a gesture of victory, “What kind of kiss? Was
there tongue?” 

Karina hit herself in the head with a pillow and said,
“There. Timesaving measure.”

Amanda nodded emphatically, “Oh, heck, yeah, there was
tongue! And traveling hands, and migration down the neck, and all the things
that the best kisses have.”

“So what stopped you?”

“What do you mean?”

Karina snorted, “Well, that's not the kind of kiss
that just ends when both people sort of pull away and step apart, shake hands,
and say, 'oh, yes, thank you for that perfectly serviceable kiss.'  That's the
kind of kiss that's leading somewhere, unless something stops it. So what
stopped it?”

Amanda looked wistful. “I did,” she admitted, “because
of Geoffrey.”

Karina made a show of gagging, “Seriously? Because of
him? Why couldn't you have just told me it was because you both suddenly vomited
into each other's mouths so you could have grossed me out less.”

Amanda looked at Karina and laughed incredulously,
“OK, first of all, disgusting. Second of all, he is my boyfriend. I seem to
keep forgetting that fact, but it is, in fact, you know...a...fact,” she
finished lamely, trailing off.

Karina rolled her eyes, “Circular grammar aside, maybe
you need to consider the advisability of him continuing in that role if, as you
yourself freely admit, you keep forgetting about him. I mean, think about that
for a moment. You actually go for long stretches where the very fact of his
existence is completely lost on you. That's not normal girlfriend behavior,
particularly a girlfriend who is super into the relationship.”

Amanda sighed, “I know. But, I never thought of myself
as the kind of person who leaves their significant other for someone else, and
particularly not when I know that Justin is not 100% reliable!”

Lauren replied reasonably, “Look, take it beyond the
realm of either or. Stop thinking of it as leaving Geoffrey for Justin. Take
Justin out of the picture entirely. If this is how ambivalent you are about
Geoffrey under any circumstances, you need to think about leaving him.”

“Well,” Amanda said a mock petulant voice, “That's a
very decent point, damn you!”

“I do tend to make them at times,” Lauren teased back.

“Did you know that I kept the note?” Amanda asked.

“What note? The note he left on his bunk?” Sam
exclaimed incredulously, “Why would you torture yourself like that?”

Amanda shrugged, “It was the last thing he ever gave
me.”

Karina and Sam, in unison, chorused, “Awww....”

“Oh, no!” Lauren cut them off curtly, “We are not
going to be encouraging this unhealthy behavior with 'aaawww...'  Amanda, go
upstairs and get the note. Tonight is the night you set yourself free. You're
gonna burn that sucker.”

Amanda's eyes widened, “I don't think I can!”

“Sure you can,” Lauren said confidently, “It's simple.
You just go one step at a time. The first step is – go and get the note. Later,
we'll take the next step. Right now all you have to do is get it. You can do
that right?”

Amanda shook her head uncertainly.

Karina took this opportunity to say, “This is getting
heavy. Obviously, what we need is more liquor!”

As she filled each of their glasses anew, she remarked,
“I'd say this round of wine-fueled truth or dare is off to a fine start. Here's
the thing, though, girls – as many times as we've played this when we were
teenagers, have you never noticed that we never quite get around to the 'dare'
part? I think that's the answer to Amanda's problem.”

Amanda wrinkled her forehead, puzzled, but Lauren
picked up on Karina's idea immediately.

“Ah, good point,” she said in triumph, “Amanda Jacobs,
I dare you – I double DOG dare you – to go upstairs and get that note.”

Amanda sighed, outmatched, and dragged herself up the
stairs to retrieve the note. She brought it back down, and unfolded it for the
other three to see.

It was crumpled, and well-worn. It had obviously been
handled many hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the years.

Lauren eyed the note suspiciously, “How often do you
take that out and look at it?”

Amanda hedged, “Sometimes.”

Lauren raised her eyebrows and stared her down. Amanda
sighed. “Fine. So, I guess I kind of....um....sleep with it under my pillow?”

Lauren's jaw dropped, “Is that a question?”

Amanda shook her head in defeat, “No. I sleep with it
under my pillow, OK? What do you want from me?”

Lauren sighed. “OK. Wow. I can see we have some
talking to do first.”

And they did talk, all of them, about anything and
everything, until the wee hours of the morning. Until they fell uncontrollably
into deep, wine-and-gossip soaked sleep, and never did get around to burning
the note.

In fact, when Justin came in to get a glass of water
at four in the morning, that's where he found them all, sprawled out in various
places on the floor and furniture of the den, the fire nearly burned out, the
room chilling over.

As he was crossing to the linen closet to get blankets
to cover them all up, he saw the slip of paper clutched in Amanda's hand, and
went over to her and gently grasped it. He pulled it out of her hand, held it
up to the meager light of the dying fire.

His eyes widened. It was the note that he had written
to Amanda on the night he had left ten years ago.

“Amanda. Forget about me. Justin.”

Wow. He hadn't remembered his 21-year-old self being
such a dick. He couldn't believe that he hadn't tempered those harsh words with
a little bit of kindness. He had been in so much pain himself, he guessed that
it had spilled out into the curtness of the message. He supposed age had
matured and mellowed him, and suddenly, he couldn't bear to look at the paper
for one more minute, and he didn't want Amanda looking at it either. He didn't
want to think about the fact that it had ever even existed.

He crumpled it up and shoved it into his pocket,
guiltily stealing back out the kitchen door.

Chapter 20

Saturday morning dawned bright and cheerful, and
Justin felt instinctively that this was a good morning for new beginnings. Today
was the day that he was going to be spending with Noah, getting to know him.
And this morning was also the morning, he decided, that he was going to see
just exactly how upset Amanda really was with him.

He crossed the expanse between the front door of the
bunkhouse and Amanda's back porch with a slight amount of trepidation, but his
overwhelming emotion was hope. When he thought back on that kiss – that
amazing, glorious kiss – it was confirmation that Amanda's romantic loyalties
were shifting away from Geoffrey and towards him.

It was almost too sweet to think about, so he didn't
allow the thoughts to linger in his head. God knows, he'd been wrong about what
she was thinking enough times in his life. He didn't want to take the chance
that he'd get attached to the idea that something could happen between them,
only to have to feel the bitter sting of rejection when she decided to stay
with Geoffrey.

Of course, to Justin's eyes, Geoffrey was a pompous
ass, a wimp, and an all around sleazy guy. But many times women saw these
things differently. Even Justin had to admit that Geoffrey's refined looks and
manners did hold a certain worldly appeal that Justin himself could never
offer. And obviously Amanda had seen something in him at one time, or they
would have never gotten together in the first place. Justin shrugged to
himself. No accounting for taste.

He knocked on Amanda's back door and waited for a
response, smelling the heavenly aromas of baking dough and frying bacon through
the wood and glass. The curtain which covered the window in the back door was
drawn aside, and there was Amanda's angelic visage. He could never get over his
first reaction to her beauty, every single time he saw her. The tousled cloud
of silky golden hair surrounding her head like a halo, her perfect milky
complexion, her startlingly large and clear sapphire eyes, and the pale pink
touch of rosiness which colored her cheeks and lips. Every time he saw her
lovely face, he was tempted to reach out and brush his fingertips along her jaw
line, because he just couldn't convince himself that she wasn't too gorgeous,
too perfect, to possibly be real.