The Best Friend (4 page)

Gretchen consulted first with her parents and then with Tracy for their advice. All of them knew Olivia, and all unconditionally encouraged her to do it.

Olivia first came on Gretchen’s radar when she was only a toddler. Helen brought her to Gretchen because her father had died recently, and she thought the counseling might help Olivia accept it more easily. And it did; while in the process, she and Helen became friendly. After Olivia was coping much better, they stayed in contact simply because they grew closer and Olivia soon became more of a friend than just a former patient. When Helen first noticed the lump in her breast two years previous, no one ever considered it might kill her. Gretchen remained there for Helen, first by babysitting Olivia, and later began accompanying Helen to her appointments while Tracy looked after Olivia.

But Gretchen
never
considered becoming Olivia’s adoptive mother. At first, the thought paralyzed her. But now, the appeal began to outweigh the fear, as well as the life changes and burdens. She’d had the knowledge for about two months, but it wasn’t long enough for her to go from thinking of herself as a single adult to accepting the care of a grief-stricken, young girl, which would, in only a matter of months, be solely in her hands.

However, due to the sensitivity of the issue, Helen and Gretchen had yet to include Vickie in on the plan. They didn’t trust her not to say something to Olivia. She might have known her grandmother was sick, and could be dying, but she couldn’t quite conceive all the gruesome details of it.

They stopped talking when Vickie stepped back into the living room, describing her latest attempt to get a job. Finishing their drinks, they soon left and Gretchen wandered out onto her patio to gaze out over the park as the sun dropped from sight. Calliston is a small town in California that spreads out well into the horizon, and is bordered by distant mountains and somewhat obscured by the countless treetops. It is a quiet, small town on the edge of the Oregon/California border. Gretchen was born and raised there. As were Tony and Will. Those two were best friends since kindergarten. And now… they weren’t. How could that happen? Why did it happen?

She turned and headed back inside. The August sun lingered forever at this time of year. It was Sunday night and she had to work tomorrow. Did she want to tackle that subject now? Yeah, she did. Will had no right to treat Tony like that.

****

“How could you not tell me?”

When Will answered the phone, Gretchen spoke with no preamble.

“Gretchen?”

“Yes, it’s Gretchen,” she said rudely. “Why didn’t you tell me about Tony?”

She could hear Will shuffling around and he paused when she said “Tony.”

“Tony? What are you talking about? Jesus, I haven’t talked to him in years.”

“I know that now. But why? Why haven’t you talked to him? And how could you not, at least, tell me he lost his arm? You owed me that much, Will Hendricks.”

“He what? What did you just say?” Will’s tone rose sharply.

She instantly regretted blurting the news out to Will and leaned her head into her hands. Finally, she whispered with audible regret, “You didn’t know?”

“No. Obviously. What the fuck, Gretchen? What? What happened?” Will’s tone became almost panicked.

She let out a long breath. It made her feel slightly better to know that Will wasn’t so heartless that he didn’t care about what happened to Tony or just forgot to tell her. There was more shuffling while Will obviously had his hand over the receiver, speaking in murmurs, and no doubt, updating his wife, Jessie. Gretchen waited until he came back. She had no problem with Jessie. Jessie showed up long after she and Will had already split and divorced. Who she did have a problem with was Will Hendricks. But no one really knew that. Not anymore, that is.

Will Hendricks stole her heart when she was only a girl. Thirteen years old, to be exact. She loved him from age thirteen until she was nearly thirty years old. They married when they were both twenty-three; and divorced when they were twenty-six. However, she still loved him for years after. Only recently had she totally, finally, and forever, gotten over him. She adored and cherished him, which ultimately resulted in her being crushed by him. All the while, Will never
really
knew what he’d done to her. Just as no one else really knew how very long she loved him. Seventeen years was quite a long time to love one person.

He first asked her out in their freshman year of high school, in the hallway of the science building. Will soon became her boyfriend throughout her high school years. They shared friends, dates, dances, footballs games, and summers. He owned her entire youth, and there were few things he hadn’t been involved in. Will had no family to speak of, and consequently, spent most of his teenage years being a part of her household, or Tony’s. Her parents easily accepted him. He came home with her almost every single day after school, and was there most weekends. He also was invited to every family vacation they took. Her parents loved Will, and almost considered him the son they never had. They trusted him being with Gretchen far more than what most parents would.

Will and Gretchen started sleeping together in their junior year of high school. Until she divorced, Will was the one and only for her. And he was so good at it. She learned since the divorce that not all men were as satisfying or generous in their lovemaking as Will Hendricks.

Will and she were very different kinds of kids. He was physical and played at any and all sports he could find. He lifted weights every day, and was in an ideal shape that most high school boys envied. She, on the other hand, was quiet, scholastic, and shy even. She studied hard for all the honor and college-bound classes. She had every ambition to go onto college and beyond. And Will? He decided to enter the Army. He told her that when they were in seventh grade. The thing is: he never once waffled on it; even after they graduated and she begged him not to.

At nineteen, Will Hendricks and his best friend, Tony Lindstrom, joined the U.S. Army together. They enlisted barely a year after graduation, and didn’t tell anyone they were doing it. Not Tony’s family. Not their mutual friends. And certainly, not Gretchen.

She cried the night Will came over and admitted that he enlisted. When he left for basic training, she stayed in bed for days. She was terrified that Will might die. At only age nineteen, she didn’t know much about war, or life’s conflicts, or politics, or even what the hell one did in the Army. She only knew that he left her. He was physically gone, and could not return unless the Army allowed him to. And he could die. It was never something she chose to live with. She wished in vain for years that Will would simply come to college with her, or get a job around their hometown, and continue dating her. But no, he was destined for far more than just that.

After nearly four years, she managed to convince Will to marry her. She was finished with college and due to start her graduate work. At the time she’d needed to know which state to do it in. In order to move across the country to be near Will, she required Will’s full commitment to her. Perhaps she pressured him too much, but he did marry her, and throughout their brief union, Will was popping in and out of her life. She went with him to North Carolina and did her graduate work there. But by the time she started her doctorate, they were heading for a divorce and she moved home to California to finish it.

The baby was what finally broke them up. She was pregnant. It was unexpected, but okay, all the same. She soon become excited and cherished the idea of having Will’s baby. Unfortunately, she eventually miscarried. Will was gone on a mission when it happened. He tried to show more care and was ultra sensitive and kind to her, but to no avail. That was what did it for her: seeing how little the loss of the baby meant
to him.
He couldn’t even remotely understand or feel the emotional trauma of what she endured. Their baby was no more than an abstract concept to him because he was gone for the entire pregnancy. As he was gone for most of their married life. She never rated higher than his missions or training as far as his priorities were concerned. He was always, first and foremost, a soldier. And Gretchen never came first.

Although she filed for the divorce, it was her heart, and not Will’s, that broke into a million pieces, taking years to put back together. He just never knew that.

“Gretchen?”

She shook her head and zoned back into Will’s anxious tone. “I ran into him at the grocery store today. His arm is gone. His left arm was completely amputated. It’s been two years. Donny was with him. He spoke to me, but Tony barely did. He’s… different. You can’t even imagine how different. I thought… I thought you didn’t tell me on purpose.”

Will was silent. Then he said softly, “I would have told you, Gretchen. You have to know that. I would have told you if I’d known. I know how much he meant to you. To both of us.”

Us.
Sometimes, once in a great while, Will spoke to her as if he remembered all the years he spent as her husband. And lover. And best friend. And the love of her life. Sometimes, he acted like it really did happen between them. They had a shared history that nothing could obliterate, not even his new life and wife.

She let out a breath and shut her eyes as tears filled them. “Oh Will, he was
not
Tony. He was not
our
Tony. He was angry. And so rude. He was… awful, actually. Donny and he nearly came to blows. Whatever happened totally changed him. And what happened between you two? How could so much time pass without you knowing that about him? He was your best friend. How could you not know?”

Sighing heavily into her ear, when he finally spoke, she could tell he was muffling his voice so no one else could hear him. Most likely, Jessie. “To be honest? Jessie happened. I got so entrenched with her, I inadvertently let things go with Tony. He didn’t know most of what I was up against with her. And didn’t understand what I was doing. When I quit the Army, he lost his fucking mind with his resentment toward me. I don’t quite know why he got so mad. Honestly, I just kind of let it go then and didn’t pursue him. He was so pissed off at me, I didn’t even try to argue him out of it. Time just passed. And suddenly, years went by. I had no idea he’d even gotten hurt, let alone, so catastrophically.”

She slid down and sat on her bed, feeling despondent. “I’m sorry I attacked you. I was just so furious and thought you deliberately didn’t tell me.”

“I know. I get it. I do. Look, it’ll take me a few days to get things squared away here, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She jerked to attention. “You’re coming? Here?”

He chuckled. “Well, not to your condo. But yeah, to Calliston.  It’s way overdue that I saw him. Way too long overdue.”

She exhaled. It was nice to know not all of Will’s life was so easily replaced with his new one. “That’s good. That’s really good.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you for calling, Gretchen.” His tone returned to normal. The brief moment of a shared past was over.

“Yeah, sure. See you soon then.”

She hung up and threw the phone across the bed, then stared at it in frustrated silence. Her entire condo was silent. She sighed wearily.
Tony. Will. Her.
Things did not turn out for any of them like she foresaw. She shook her head and got up to seek a distraction. How could she feel sorry for herself? It wasn’t like
she’d
lost a limb.

Chapter Three

Tony shook the shirt around his shoulder and flipped the collar up before quickly buttoning the front row of buttons with deft, expert, one-handed ease. He had become pretty proficient at doing almost everything without needing another hand. It was just so fucking irritating, he sometimes pretended he couldn’t in front of others. He quickly pinned the empty sleeve to his chest. He hated seeing the fucker hanging down and flopping all around. It got caught on things, and dipped into food or got stuck in car doors. So he pinned it.

He messed around for a while with prosthetics the first few months at home. He even used a body-powered one, but hated how conspicuous it made him feel and how uncomfortable wearing the harness over his trunk felt. He also tried a cosmetic one, but decided it wasn’t even remotely worth wearing. It did nothing, except give the appearance of being “normal.” It didn’t take more than a minute before most people realized it was a fake arm. It wasn’t worth the trouble. None of them were. After several skin infections, and numerous uncomfortable fittings, he decided to screw the whole thing. No prosthetics for him. The amount of his arm that was missing went almost to his shoulder, which didn’t leave much to attach the prosthetics to.

Throwing the towel he used into the laundry, which his mother continued to do for him, he ran his hand through his long hair. Hot beads of water flew off around him. Running his hand over his chin, he felt the beard pricking his palm. Deftly grabbing a rubber band, he swiftly tied it around his hair. That wasn’t as easy as buttoning a shirt. Frustratingly, the hair didn’t usually stay when he pulled the band around and looped it twice. That’s why it always looked like crap. Half of the strands stuck out, or got caught in a ratty mess around the band. Good thing he didn’t care.

The doorbell pealed through the house. He paused and waited a moment, listening for some sounds. Nothing. No footsteps overhead. His parents might not have been home. He sighed.
Damn.
Who would show up at two o’clock on a Wednesday? Most people were at work.

Where was his mother? He should have listened harder when she hollered downstairs earlier while he was playing X-box. Double points should have been given to him no matter what he played, as he did it one-handedly. Again, no easy feat.

He now occupied the basement of his parents’ two-story house. It was equipped with a small kitchen, half-sized fridge/stove/sink, and maybe a three-foot counter space. His bed was five feet from the couch that was front and center from his TV. It was just enough space. It had the original nineteen-eighties carpet and could have used a major updating. But it was cheap and easy. Besides, his mother did most of the cooking and laundry anyway.