Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (51 page)

“Love you, too. But seriously, your favorite
place?”

Sean laughed and pointed her to the bar.
“Busted. But it has a mean steak. Go meet your friends while I
check in.”

It took a moment of confusion before Krista
spied Kate, Jasmine and Ben waiting by the bar. She found her way
to them quickly, was delighted to see they got her a drink without
her having to ask, and blurted out, “What are you guys doing here?”
She wiggled through the crowd to stand next to Kate. Between the
three of them, they’d only managed to procure two seats.

“Your man invited us, naturally. Marcus is
running late. Some boyfriend threw a tantrum so he had to deal with
it before he met us,” Kate replied.

Sean leaned up against Krista’s back. There
wasn’t enough room for him to get side-by-side. “Our table’s ready.
Marcus is on his way, you said?”

“Yeah, and Ray is in the bathroom. Mary
couldn’t come—their sitter was busy,” Jasmine informed them as she
finished her drink and swiveled her long legs around.

“Really, Jaz? Need any more space?” Kate
scoffed as she nearly fell off the stool. Ben staggered back,
pushed out of the way.

Ray met them with a large smile. He had on
jeans and a pressed, white suit shirt.

“Almost formal, huh Ray?” Krista asked with
a smile, putting her hand in Sean’s.

Ray just shrugged, “If I could work in
jeans, you bet I would!”

Everyone agreed, and they all filed up the
stairs behind the waitress.

When they were all seated and orders for
drinks were placed, Sean held up his glass, which was water. The
orders were placed, but they hadn’t arrived. “A toast.”

“Dude, wait for the wine,” Jasmine said.

“We’ll do another one. This is just to fill
the gap,” Sean answered.

They dutifully raised their glasses, “To the
new…”

“You can’t have a toast without me!” Marcus
interrupted as he pulled out a chair. He was looking sleek and
glamorous. Some guy probably tried to throw himself off a bridge
when Marcus broke up with him. “Who do you think you are?”

Sean laughed, waited patiently for Marcus to
take off his trendy jacket, sit his trendy butt in the chair, put
his trendy satchel under his feet, and stall with just enough
trendy goings-on for the waiter to show up with drinks.

“Okay, let’s try this again,” Sean raised
his glass of wine. Everyone followed suit. “I hate to see our team
splitting apart, but glad to see some of our members are moving on
to bigger and better things. To new opportunities.”

They all smiled as they clinked glasses. It
was a bittersweet toast, and judging by Sean’s slightly shaking
hand on Krista’s thigh, that was how he meant it.

“Great toast,” Marcus said, dismissing it.
“But let’s talk about important things, shall we? For example, the
new gossip that you two are doing the nasty!”

“Yeah!” Kate said, laughing. “I nearly shat
myself when that crone Louisa said you were a slut. That you
probably got the position on your back! I asked her if the job was
a down payment, since you waited until you were leaving to ensnare
the hot salesman. Sorry, Sean, but to them you’re just an
object.”

Sean laughed, “I didn’t get any warning,
either. She walked into the break room when Mable cornered me and
made a show of…our status.”

“Oh! You were going to say I made a show of
myself, weren’t you?” Krista said, slapping Sean’s arm.

Sean laughed and mock cowered from her, “I
didn’t know how far you planned to go.”

“They call that
improv
, honey,”
Marcus said with a wink at Sean.

Sean and Krista both went on point. No one
was supposed to know about Sean’s little acting secret. Krista had
never heard gossip on it, so it couldn’t have been around the
company. But one look at the mischievous twinkle in Marcus’s eye
was enough—he knew.

“How’d you find out?” Sean asked casually.
He didn’t seem perturbed.

Marcus gave his Cheshire Cat smile, “You
can’t act in my town and expect me not to find out.”

“Yeah, by the way, Sean,” Kate said,
finishing her wine. It looked like it was bound to be a drunken
affair. “That play was shit. Seriously. What the fuck?”

Sean looked at Krista. She raised her hands
in defense. “It wasn’t me. I swear it wasn’t. I didn’t tell
anyone.”

“Ray told me,” Kate said.

Sean looked at Ray with raised eyebrows. Ray
just shrugged. “She was peppering me for information on the girl
you were dating. Started recounting your schedule. I figured I’d
just tell her. She would have figured it out eventually anyway.
Krista did.”

“You knew!” Krista said, shocked.

“Yes, Krista, we knew you didn’t just happen
to stumble into an out-of-the-way play that Sean was acting in. We
thought it was cute.”

“You and Mary?” Ray nodded. “Oh, good, you
and Mary are talking about me.”

“Honey,
everyone’s
talking about
you!” Marcus said. “The girl that landed the big client
and
the big stud.”

“Big stud?” Sean asked. Marcus winked.

The waiter showed up and took all their
orders. It wasn’t a big menu, featuring steak, more steak, and a
chicken option. They all opted for steak.

“So, inquiring minds want to know,” Marcus
said as the waiter bustled away. “How are you going to work out the
distance gap? It’s a cheap flight, so long-distance until one of
you buckles and moves toward the other? Maybe meet in the
middle?”

Sean got uncomfortable and fiddled with his
napkin.

Apparently it was left to Krista to break
the news. “Clean cut.”

Five pairs of confused eyes looked at
Krista. One pair stared at his napkin.

Kate was the first to recover, “Wait, what
the fuck do you mean,
clean cut
?”

“Sean has to stay, I have to leave. Not much
else we can do.” It was Krista’s turn to look at her napkin—she
didn’t want to cry in front of everyone.

“That’s…”

“Not our business,” Ray cut Kate off.

Kate’s eyes got dangerous as she looked at
Ray. Then she shook her head, threw her napkin on the table, and
informed them all she was going to the bathroom.

“She gets that way,” Ben apologized to
Sean.

Sean just shrugged, not meeting anyone’s
eyes.

“Well, how about office sex?” Marcus said,
wiggling his eyebrows. “Or have you already?”

“Also not our business,” Ray said, failing
to hide a smile.

“No fun, Ray!” Marcus laughed.

“So tell us about your new home,” Ray said
to Krista kindly.

Krista couldn’t. Not without crying.
Instead, she changed the subject to something safe. “Actually, how
about I give ideas for drinks after dinner?”

“I’ll be too full,” Ben said.

Krista looked at him in warning—she was
great at peer pressure.

“Well? I’ve been here before. They give you
a lot of food, and it’s too good not to finish. Then you’re too
full to drink.”

“You’re going,” Jasmine said.

“But Jaz—“

“Shut up. You’re going.” Jasmine was pretty
good, too.

After dinner they hit a bar down the street.
It was the Marina, so all the boys looked about the same; spiky
hair, button-down shirt, slightly baggy jeans, and literally the
exact same watch. Originality must’ve been forbidden in that neck
of the woods.

“Marina boys,” Marcus said as he surveyed
his options. “They’re all gay at heart, but so far in the closet
they live in Narnia. Well chosen, though, Sean. No distractions for
me.”

Sean smiled as they reached a booth in the
back of the bar. Sean ushered Krista in, then slid in next to her.
“I know you too well.”

Marcus slid in the other side, everyone else
following suit.

“Why didn’t you tell the world about my
acting?” Sean asked when everyone was settled.

“You had enough rumors. Then there were the
problems with you and Krista. It just didn’t seem like you needed
any more distractions.”

“Well, thanks, man. I appreciate it. All of
you. It would have been embarrassing, to say the least.”

“Don’t worry, Sean,” Kate said, waving at
the waitress. “I am doing reconnaissance to launch a counter-attack
on the ol’ crones. I am currently digging up dirt. The gossip will
commence as soon as I have something solid.”

“I meant to do that in the beginning, but
then I got busy and never got around to it,” Krista admitted.

“I have plenty, honey,” Marcus said to Kate.
“You just come see me. I’ll give you something to work off of.”

“What’s your story, Ben?” Ray asked. “How
did Tory get you? We know he offered Marcus more money, but what
was your turning point?”

Ben, oddly quiet all night, shrugged, “Part
of the reason I went to Dexico was because of Krista. Sure, money
and resources were good, but I got there by working with Krista
from our dining room table. Now I am being offered
more
money, with more opportunity, with a tuition reimbursement
program—Krista seems to be my lucky penny. I figure I best stick
with her.”

Krista’s eyes teared up, “But I’m moving
away.”

“So am I,” Ben said. “I have a year left in
school, but I think I’ll complete it online.”

There was a stunned silence. Ben shrugged
again. “If not for you, who’d do my finances?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Krista saw
Sean’s head bow again.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The month was a blur. Krista gave Abbey and
her job a month to find someone new. She packed everything up with
the help of a pissed-off Kate and a teary Jasmine. Krista had
finally met Tom Earnshaw, Mr. Montgomery’s boss, as he offered her
a bigger raise and her own office. She told them what she was
getting from Tory, and it turned out it was nearly what Mr.
Montgomery was making, so they in no way could match it without
causing some serious rifts within the department.

Since Ben would be moving, too, Abbey was
furious. She constantly bitched about the art and boxes. The boxes
because they were left everywhere. The art because the day after
the issue with Jim, Ben started on a new piece. It was a large one,
and again staged in the middle of the living room amid plastic
sheets to protect the furniture. It was mostly abstract, hinting at
a person in movement, except for a pair of liquid coal eyes so
hate-filled the painting immediately put the viewer on edge. It
managed to portray Jim’s danger, insanity, and all-around
nightmarish quality. The trick of the painting, and why it was his
best to date, was that the fear Ben was portraying—
his
fear—was not on the canvas. It was inspired by the work and felt by
the viewer.

Krista had thought it was just her; that the
painting reminded her of Jim. It turned out, though, when Marcus,
Sean and the girls came to view it, that that wasn’t the case at
all. Even Abbey stopped to stare at it, getting the shivers and
moving away.

Marcus was convinced Ben was exaggerating.
And to a certain extent he was, since Sean didn’t think of Jim with
the same amount of fear. But after Krista dug out a picture, and
explained Jim had added muscle and lost sanity, Marcus looked with
wide eyes at Sean.

“Why do you still have a picture of him?”
Ben asked with a subdued voice.

“In case I ever needed to show the cops what
he looked like. Also…to remember. To be smarter in the future.”

“Sean, you held your own against
that?
He’s a
monster.”

“In many ways,” Krista said. No one
commented after that. At least, not in her hearing, which was good
enough.

Even though the piece was unreal good,
Krista would not allow Sean to buy it. She didn’t want Jim’s
tarnish to be that close to Sean. She didn’t want those two pieces
of her life close to each other. Instead, Ben showed Tory a picture
of it in one of their meet-ups, and Tory got interested. He made a
special trip to view it, and bought it and two other pieces, on the
spot. The picture of Jim, properly entitled
Fear,
would go
in the sword room to inspire the same fear to those viewing weapons
of death.

Ben had to talk Tory down on price. It was
unanimously agreed that Ben should never go into sales.

All said, it was the saddest month of
Krista’s life. She spent every moment she could with Sean. They
rode in together and left together. They hung out with Kate and
Jasmine together. They went to Ray’s and watched sports together.
They went to bed and woke up together. As far as the relationship
went, it was the best month of her life. They got along so well it
was sickening. They talked and shared, reveling the most intimate
parts of their selves. Why not? Soon all they would have were
memories.

They agreed to not talk once Krista left.
Sean worried for her safety. Krista worried for her heart. She
convinced herself it was for the best. It would’ve been a
bittersweet pain, but it would also mean she could never move on.
She wanted to be with him. Forever. So if she was talking to him,
she wouldn’t want to talk to anyone else. She wouldn’t
want
to move on.

Even though they had sex almost every day,
Krista still often cried herself to sleep. Granted, it was in
Sean’s arms, but she couldn’t help herself. She dreaded the day she
had to say goodbye.

On Krista’s last day, the art department
threw her a giant farewell. And no one could do parties like the
art department. They got the
fiesta
catered and spent loads
of company money on banners. Funny things Krista had said,
memories, and all sorts of quips were posted in all available
space. Colorful paper was thrown around like confetti—yes, they
knew how much that drove her crazy. They thought it was hilarious.
Most of the people didn’t know her all that well, but they were so
used to seeing her and hearing about her from Marcus that they
included her as one of their own. Therefore, she got a big
send-off.