“Hi, Mia. It’s nice meet you, Will has told me so much about you and I’ve seen your pictures all over. You’re even prettier in real life; I didn’t think that would be possible.” She reached out to hug me and I hugged her back awkwardly. Damn, she was nice! I couldn’t hate her or I’d for sure have the karma police on me. You know when someone just seems so put-together and kind, even their speaking voice has a nice sound to it, and you want to hate them or find a flaw but you can’t, so you have to like them, as painful as it is? That’s how I felt about Audrey.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. You’re very pretty yourself and Will is a good guy and great friend. Have a happy weekend,” I said. “I’ll see you Sunday, Will.” I gave him a curt nod; he was leaning back against the counter with his arms and feet crossed.
He flashed me a tiny, sympathetic smile and mouthed the word “bye.”
I ran dangerously fast down the stairs with Jackson in tow. When I got out to Jenny, she was giving me a dirty look. I opened the Jeep door and motioned for Jackson to jump in. “What the hell took so long?” she said. I held my finger up and said, “One more minute?” I slammed the door and ran across the street to the corner market.
Benton was still working. I set three tiny bottles of tequila on the counter. This time he smirked and said, “No chocolate?” I got out to the sidewalk and drank each bottle over a trashcan while I stared directly at Jenny, sitting in the Jeep. When I finally got in the passenger side, she didn’t say a word; she patted my leg and then blasted Cat Stevens. I cried all the way to South Hampton.
By the time Jenny and I arrived at her uncle’s cottage, it was late and we were both exhausted, so we called it a night. The next day, I woke up and decided that I wouldn’t talk about my terrible Friday while I was with Jenny. She was stressed about her wedding and I wanted to be a good friend. Her uncle’s cottage was mostly used for weekend getaways, so it needed a little sprucing up. It sat back from the street on a large piece of property overlooking a storybook pond, complete with a wooden dock and little white rowboat. The grounds around the house were meticulously kept so we were relieved that the brunt of our work that weekend would be just cleaning the inside of the cottage and meeting with the florist and caterer. We were completely consumed with wedding details until Sunday when we headed back home.
“Okay, Mia, talk to me,” Jenny said, her gaze never leaving the road.
I had a feeling Jenny already knew something by her reaction when I got into the car Friday.
“Did you know Will was seeing someone?”
“Yes. He brought her to Tyler’s on Thursday… He asked if he could bring her to the wedding.” She finally glanced over at me, gauging my reaction. I nodded. “I was going to tell you, but I wasn’t sure if you already knew… I mean after all, you live with him. What does it matter anyway?” There was hint of irritation in her tone.
“I walked in on him screwing her brains out in the shower.”
Jenny sucked in a breath and bit her lip as she looked over at me. Her expression was complete and utter pity, then it turned on a dime. Her face changed. I took a deep breath; I knew I was in for some tough love.
“You know what, Mia? You want to know something?” Her voice got strong and intimidating. “I swore I wouldn’t say anything, but I am through with the craziness between you and Will. He has not dated a single soul since he met you, he was holding out on some pathetic hope that you would break up with Robert to be with him. He had it bad for you, Mia. He wrote a goddamn song for you! But you decided to parade around with Banker Bob in your skivvies and rub it in his face.” She glanced over, eyebrows raised.
“I broke up with Robert ages ago!” I yelled before lowering my voice. “Will wrote a song for me?” I was sullen and shattered.
“You mean you broke up with Robert and didn’t tell anyone? Why, Mia? Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know, please stop yelling at me,” I whispered and focused my gaze out the window.
Jenny took a deep, long breath through her nose and lowered her voice to a more sympathetic tone. “Audrey met The Ivans at a show last year. I guess she was hounding Dustin to hook her up with Will for months. She seems nice.”
“Yes, she’s very nice. Perfect in fact.”
“He was torn, Mia. Will said you told him it was never going to happen between you two and that he should find someone else.”
“That’s not exactly what I said. It doesn’t matter, Will’s right, I don’t know what I want, but neither does he. He has record labels offering him deals and he’s just sitting on them. He wants to live on pennies and play music and screw around.” I knew there was no truth to what I was saying; my real fear was that I would fall in love with Will or that I already had and then he would just leave me alone, broken and pathetic.
“Is that what he told you?” she asked.
I knew what she was getting at, so I ignored her question. “Will wrote a song for me?” I whispered.
“Yes, he was going to play it that night in the café when you yelled out Ziggy Stardust.” As if I didn’t feel bad enough about that night. It didn’t matter; I’d blown any chance I had. Will was with Audrey, the beautiful sweetheart. I was just a bitter bitch, who would probably be alone forever, living in my father’s life with my sickly dog.