Exposed (Free Falling) (20 page)

I filled my spoon again and tried not to crunch in her ear while I chewed.  “Yeah, Terrell called before I had the chance.”

“Oh, ok.  How’re he and Maisha doing?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good.  Tell them I said ‘hi’ when you talk to him again.  When’re they coming to see the loft?” she asked.

I looked around at the bare…
everything
and chuckled.  “Probably when we have furniture, I imagine.”

She laughed.  “As soon as I get there, we’ll furnish the place.  It sucks that you have to live there like that, though.  I seriously wouldn’t mind if you got a few things without me.  I trust your sense of style,” she lied.

I shrugged.  “It’s not so bad.  The place is nice; it just has more of a frat house feeling to it right now.” I stared down at the half-empty garbage bag hanging on the cabinet instead of in a can and then at the stack of red SOLO cups beside the sink.

Kira sighed. 
“It’s been lonely at home without you.  I miss tripping over your shoes by the back door.” It sounded like she was smiling – something I missed seeing.  “I can’t wait ‘til you get here next week.”

“
Me either,” I yawned, turning to pitch my trash and then retracing my steps to the bedroom.

“You’ll be getting in Thursday
evening, right?”

I thought for a second. 
“Yep.  Then leaving right back out Friday night.”  That part sucked.  Judging by Kira’s initial silence, I guessed that she was probably thinking the same thing.

“How’
ve you been keeping busy there without me?” was her next question.

“
Work and the internet,” pretty much summed it up.

She giggled. 
“Poor baby.”

I didn’t respond beca
use I started drifting off lying there in the middle of the air mattress.

“I um…Reina and I have been talking quite a bit over the past couple weeks
,” Kira announced.

My eyes opened and I
didn’t speak, just waited for her to continue.

“Yeah
, apparently she’s bored being home on bed-rest with the pregnancy, so she calls me in the evening while Ben’s at work.  His job put him on midnights for a while.”

Kira rambled on about Reina and her husband and I couldn’t have cared les
s about how she was doing.  However, what I
was
interested in knowing was why she and Kira were so chummy all of a sudden.  As long as she wasn’t trying to weasel her way into the wedding, I didn’t care.  If Kira wanted to deal with her sister, that was her right.  But I sure as hell didn’t want any parts of it.

“
Kira…” I started cautiously.  “…This isn’t your way of bringing up her being invited to the wedding again, is it?”

Kira was silent.

I sighed.  “I knew it.”

“In all fairness, she’s my sister, AJ.  My
twin
sister,” she added, as if that meant Reina was entitled to some sort of a pass.  “I just think…the three of us would probably be a lot better off if we just had a sit down and sorted things out,” Kira suggested quietly.  “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately anyway.”

L
istening to her suddenly becoming defensive of her sister, I decided to wipe my hands clean of the situation.  I wouldn’t have Kira resenting me later for keeping her from Reina; however, I’d do what I could to keep her from attending on the wedding day.  In my opinion, that wasn’t a privilege Reina was owed.  If Kira wanted to fraternize with the devil at her leisure, that was all on her.

Kira fell silent for a bit.  “Are you mad?” she eventually asked.

I let out a breath.  “No.  I just want you to be careful.”

She snickered.  “Be careful? 
Reina’s bed-ridden and thousands of miles away.  I’m pretty sure she’s harmless.”

I scoffed at that.  Rei
na was anything but harmless, but still, I kept my mouth closed.  Kira mistook my silence, assuming I’d dozed off.  When she dismissed herself from the call, I let her, not having any desire to continue the conversation about her sister anyway. 

I lie there in the dark reminiscing
and thinking about the past and how different things might’ve been if Reina – and a host of
other
people and situations – hadn’t intervened.  When I imagined someone familiar, someone other than Kira, standing beside me at the altar, I forced the thought aside and drifted off. 

The second my alarm went off
the next morning, I hit ‘snooze’ and acknowledged what day of the week it was…
Wednesday
.

It wasn’t lost on me that, today, the nice old guy who ran the kiosk down on the street was supposed to be doing me what had to seem like a very strange favor.

What if he forgets to give Sam my message?

What if
she just chooses not to call?

I ignored the questions that came
, opting not to dwell on them while I showered.  I’d go about this day like it was any other day, because basically it was.  The only difference being that I’d set something in motion a week ago that would either sink or swim come noon today. 

While straightening my tie, I did all I could to ignore the guilt gnawing away at me.  On the one hand, I couldn’t figure out why
I was so pressed to talk to Sam, but on the other, I already knew the answer.

Every time my eyes drifted to the clock on the wall while I worked, I ca
lculated how much time until she would stop at Giuseppe’s for her ‘
usual’
, only to find that there was more waiting for her than just a smoothie this time.  The thought of putting myself out there like that made me both excited and sick at the same time.  I couldn’t seem to just leave well enough alone when it came to her.  Just like back in the day, it was like…like we
had
to have some sort of contact. 

Not knowing her…

Not talking to her…

This
simply wasn’t an option after she and I collided in the hallway our senior year.  This time, I swore I wasn’t after anything more than her friendship. 

At least…I was
pretty
sure that was all I wanted.

C
hapte
r
E
leven

Sam

My day started off so sucky that I was two seconds from calling Dr. Gill to cancel, instead opting to go back home and crawl into bed.  However, when I got to Giuseppe’s kiosk ready to hand over what I owed him for my drink, things took a very interesting turn.

“No worries, Miss.  Someone’s already paid for
it,” Giuseppe said with a grin.

Confusion crosse
d my face as I looked around for whoever this mystery person was who’d covered my tab.  When I didn’t see anyone standing nearby, I turned back to Giuseppe.  “Huh?”

He laughed a little and pulled out a napkin from beneath the register.  “
The man who paid for your beverage also asked me to give you this.”

Okay, this is weird.

I accepted the napkin and had to read the name written across the top twice.  Words came to my mind and left again so quickly that I was rendered speechless.

Giuseppe smiled when he saw
my face.  “You know him, yes?”

It took me a moment to snap out of my daze. 
“Uh….yeah.  I do, actually.”  I moved closer to the booth.  “Where…I mean, how…?”  I had to stop and laugh a little because none of this was making sense.  “How did you get this?”

“Last week, after you paid me and walked off down the street, a gentleman rushed down f
rom this building like it was on fire.” Giuseppe paused to laugh again while pointing toward the red, brick building behind me.  “He tried to catch you, but you were gone already.  When I told him that you’re here every Wednesday at this time, he paid for your smoothie and then asked me to give you this,” Giuseppe said, gesturing toward the napkin again.

I stood there with my mouth open, reading the digits, and the name written across top, over and over again.
  My heart fluttered like only AJ had ever been able to make it flutter.  A burst of heat crawled up my back, ending with a smile on my lips that I hadn’t invited to take up residency there.  Finally lifting my eyes to Giuseppe, I thanked him.

“No pro
blem, sweetheart.  Let me know how it works out.”

I smiled at him again and continued down the street to Dr. Gill’s office.  I’d never been late to one of my appointments before, but I was on this day.  The extra push that it usually took to get me through her door at exactly noon wasn’t in me today.  I walked as if time itself was going to stand still for me.  All I could think about was
him.

“Ok, let’s start with whatever has you on cloud nine,” Dr. Gill said with a smile
while I sat dazed on her couch.

I looked down at
AJ’s name written in blue ink and shook my head.  “I um….” When words escaped me, I handed the napkin over to Dr. Gill.

She examined it and read the name she’d heard me mention at nearly every session we’d had to date.  When she met my gaze again, I tried to straighten my expression, but I couldn’t.

What were the odds that AJ would find me here?  And without Terrell or anyone else pushing us….he found me.  My heart did that fluttery thing again and I looked down when I felt my cheeks burn hot.

“Did you run into him somewhere?” She asked, handing the napkin back so I could place it in my purse.

I shook my head.  “No, we just…this just always seems to happen with us.”

Dr.
Gill was so silent that I had to look at her again to see why.  She smiled.  “What is it?” I asked.

She shook her head at my naivety. 
“
Now
will you talk to the guy?”

I laughed a little and then nodded
, letting what felt like a lifetime of emotions flood my mind and body like a dam had broken. 

“Yes, Dr. Gill,” I smiled.  “
…I think I will.”

*****

I paced back and forth in front of the living room window – AJ’s number in one hand, cell phone in the other.  I blew all the air from my lungs and looked at the clock. 
10:00…I’d already let another hour slip past me
. 

When I first got home, I
managed to talk myself out of thinking that I was ready to do this.  I showered, cleaned out my closet, and changed my bedding before accepting the fact that I really,
really
wanted to call him.  Yes, I was stalling, but who could blame me?  It felt like forever ago since AJ and I were close enough to bother talking on the phone and I hadn’t forgotten about the whole…
’fiancé’
thing.

I blew out a breath and kept reminding myself that Dr. Gill was thoroughly convinced that this was a good idea.  That was the push I needed to dial the last digit. 

I sat while it rang, then stood, then sat again.  I was in the middle of deciding that I was most comfortable pacing when he answered.

“Hello?”
  He sounded unsure too, probably realizing that it was me by the area code that came up on the ID.

…
that voice, though.

“Uh…hey,” was what tumbled from my mouth in response.

Smooth, Sam…real smooth
.

There was silence on the other end and my heart thundered against my ribcage while I wai
ted for him to speak.  Maybe I was calling too late.

“Oh my god;
you weren’t asleep were you?” I started apologizing instantly, scolding myself for taking so long to grow a pair and actually make the call.  I did a face palm and bit my lip when embarrassment froze me in place.

“No, I’m up.  It’s fine,” he replied
casually.  “I just…wasn’t sure if you’d call.”

I didn’t know wh
at to say.  I couldn’t exactly admit that these doggone nerves of mine were the reason it took me so long.  “I had a few loose ends to tie up first,” I lied.  “Time just got away from me.”

He chuckled knowingly, but didn’t respond right away. 
A lull in conversation made me break out into a cool sweat. 

“It’s fine.  It’s
just good to talk to you again,” he finally replied after a few seconds passed.

I
shifted on the couch, anxiously.  “You too.”

“I hope it wasn’t too weird having that guy
give you my number.  I uh…I saw you out at his stand the other day, but by the time I got down there to speak, he said you were gone.”

In my head I imagined AJ flying out the door like Giuseppe explained it –
‘like the building was on fire’
.  I smiled to myself, feeling some kind of way about him doing all that to get to me.

“
No, it wasn’t weird at all,” I blushed.  “You live in that building by his stand?”