“Yeah, he was a tool, Kimmie. But he was so pretty.”
“And he abused it.”
“I know.” It was more sigh than voice. “Truth is, we’d been living separate lives for months. Hannah was just the catalyst.”
I almost laughed. “Ah, yes. My evil twin.”
That at least got a quick giggle out of her. Hannah and I were always being mistaken for sisters. It amazed me that Wade had been fucking her. He’d always made it clear he thought she was both stupid and annoying. Then again, guys are weird in matters of the heart. Well, matters of the cock, anyway.
Like when he’d kissed me. I think I’m in love with you, Kim. Ha! Drunk, my ass. He knew what he was doing. I figured he’d gone after Hannah because she looked so much like me.
My knuckles were white against the steering wheel as I rolled the memory across my mind. I blew out a quick breath.
“I’ve never understood guys. He has you…you…and he wants a scrawny little chicken like Hannah?” Like me. “She can’t hold a conversation unless it’s about either herself or a Kardashian!”
“Oh, Kimmie. He’s a guy. He never cared what came out of my mouth. Just what went in.”
“Ewww. Come on, girlie. I can’t block my ears when I’m driving.”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Ha!”
“Okay, I didn’t only mean that. He was always at me to eat less, get some exercise. He stopped taking me to work functions. Like the size of my ass was embarrassing to him.”
My knuckles actually cracked a little this time. “I wish I had your ass. Hell, I wish I had an ass.”
“You’re being silly. Stop it.”
“Whatever you ask, your majesty.”
We managed a few moments of silence, but I could sense the pressure of the words inside her. We’d been like strangers for months. Ever since Wade had stuck his tongue in my mouth and I’d kept it secret. I’d wanted them to break up, but I didn’t want to make them break up.
“Plus he saw a couple of grey hairs last time I…last time he had a close look at the top of my head.”
“No way! He didn’t say it…during?”
She began toying with the tan line on her finger again.
“Serena, I found my first greys four years ago.”
“Kimmie, you’re not Italian. It doesn’t show in your hair like it does in mine.”
That was true. You could lose your car keys in my frizzy mane.
“Besides, your grey hairs didn’t matter to Wade. Only mine.”
“Oh, god, Serena. What did you ever see in him?”
“Whatever it was, he was lying about it.”
We cruised the freeway in silence for a while. Then, in a little-girl voice, Serena asked a question which felt heavy with age.
“So how long is it since you’ve had a boyfriend?”
Since I fell in love with you. “Oh, about a year…maybe a little longer.”
“We’re not getting any younger.”
“We’re 24!”
“Still…we can’t afford to be too picky.”
“I’m not picky. I ask for nothing more than perfection.”
“Perfection, huh? And how exactly would you define that?”
Five foot eight, hair like wine, laugh like a song, wit like rubber bullets, eyes like stained oak, lips like a sofa, throat like caramel, hands like hummingbirds, breasts like mangoes, hips like traffic, ass in the seat right beside me.
“Oh, I guess I’ll just know it when it makes me come.”
“I thought I told you to stop being naughty.”
“You said ‘silly’.”
I didn’t have to look. I could feel her smile all over me. We sat in silence for a moment before she pulled on my arm, drawing my hand off the steering wheel. She curled her perpetually warm fingers into mine, and I felt like it was a signal. Maybe it was time to come clean. Tell her why boyfriends were no longer an option for me. I took a deep breath, but she beat me to it.
“Thanks, Kimmie.”
“For what?”
“Just being here, taking me with you. Just for being you.” She squeezed my hand and I caught my breath. “You’re my best friend, you know?”
Friend was good. Best friend was better. But neither was enough for me. I had to fight the urge to bring her hand up to my lips. Instead I squeezed back, a show of solidarity. “I know.”
“Is this our road?”
“Shit!”
Lost in my thoughts I almost missed the turn-off. Serena giggled at me as I fought across the three lanes to make the exit. It was so wonderful to hear her laughing again I didn’t even mind the near-death experience.
We pulled into the main street of the small town.
“Ah, crap.” It was so old-fashioned they still had on-street angle parking. I pulled the car up on the street and gave Serena my puppy-dog eyes.
She ruffled my fringe and shook her head. “Why the hell do you drive this tank if you can’t park it?”
“It’s big. Which means it’s safe.”
“Not with you at the wheel.”
“Poo-head.”
“We wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t helped you push start this whale.”
“Did I already say poo-head?”
She shucked her ass across the bench seat and shooed me out the driver’s door. It’s always been this way. The whole trip had been my idea, and I’d driven all the way. Then, when it got complicated, I couldn’t bring it home. Always been my trouble. Like our little greeting card business. My idea. But all I ever seem to have is ideas. Serena’s the one who makes stuff happen.
In seconds, she had the car slotted home and had thrown the keys to me.
“Ow!”
“Slipped through your fingers again?”
I couldn’t read her smile, but it gave me ideas. Dirty ideas.
We cruised the main street for a couple of hours, undermining the quiet charm of the town with a constant stream of chatter about, basically, nothing.
As if choreographed, we both spotted the thrift shop at the same time. I looked at her, and she at me.
“No prisoners?”
“No prisoners.”
We hit that place like a sledgehammer. I don’t think the locals had ever seen such a display. These small towns have such great retro fashions and kitsch. Serena simply glowed as I dressed her in a skin-tight jumpsuit straight out of the 70s.
“Oh, god, Serena. I’d kill for just one of your boobs.”
“Well, I’d love to go jogging without putting myself in a coma, so shut up.”
I handed her a pair of tan aviator sunglasses. “Try these on.”
“What do you think?”
“I think Sophia Loren just got jealous.”
“I believe I told you to stop being silly.”
“Momentary lapse, your majesty.”
The septuagenarian lady behind the counter smiled at us as if we had concealed weapons. It felt like it had at school when the principal busted us for smoking and it was all we could do not to laugh out loud.
“Now, Kimmie…you need me to drive?”
“Bitch. I can drive just fine. Forwards. Besides, I need you to read the map.”
We drove in easy silence, broken only by Serena’s assured directions, each of which was accompanied by a little pat on the arm. Every touch gave me a shiver at the base of my belly.
The cabin we’d rented couldn’t be seen from the road, which was perfect. Not that it really mattered, since we hadn’t seen a car since we left town.
It finally felt like we’d escaped. The driving, the shopping, they were things we did every day. This — the cabin, the beach, the isolation — this was a world apart. For all we knew, civilisation had ended.
The back of the cabin was practically on the beach. I tore open the sliding glass door and the fresh tang of salt air buffeted the musty smell out of the place.
Serena moved right up beside me and draped her arm over my shoulder. The smell of her hair mingled with the ocean scent. She pulled in a deep breath and let it back out, humming the very word I was thinking.
“Heaven…”
“Uh-huh.”