Choosing Henley

by Anne Jolin

  “We’ve decided to keep the sex a surprise. Greyson says there are so few of those in life, and we want to wait to find out.” She smiles to herself, rubbing her stomach. She’s not showing yet, but it’s adorable the way they are both already so affectionate over her tummy.

  “I think that’s a great idea, Han.” I reach out to put my hand over hers. “You are going to be an amazing mom.”

  “What the fuck, Lennon?” she shouts, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand up to her face for inspection.

  “Oh, that.” I smirk. It’s only been two days since I clocked Kelsey in the face and my knuckles are a little banged up.

  “What do you mean ‘oh, that’? What happened?” Her eyes are darting back and forth between my face and my knuckles. “Does this have something to do with Jami?” She asks.

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes widen and anger settles into her pretty features.

  “Not like that. Easy, killer.” I wave my other hand sideways between us. “It was Malibu Barbie.”

  “No way!” Hannah covers her hand with her mouth. “Did you hit her?”

  “Yup,” I say.

  “Oh my god!” she squeals. “What happened?”

  It only takes me a couple of minutes to fill her in on the entire debacle that was our Friday night. She gasps in all the right places, and I have to work to calm myself down a few times as I relive the entire moment of seeing her there, naked.

  Hannah scowls. “I fucking hate her.”

  “You and me both,” I answer.

  “You should have hit her twice.”

  I roll my eyes dramatically. “I wasn’t really aiming for assault charges or anything, Han.”

  She cocks an eyebrow at me, nodding her head. “You’re right. You’re too pretty. You’d never do well in prison. You’d be some big lady named Helga’s bitch in less than two days.”

  I burst out laughing. “You’re probably right,” I gasp out.

  “The pretty ones never last long in Orange Is The New Black,” she deadpans. “Although, you have got a mean right hook. You can probably take that to the bank.”

  I can barely contain myself now. I’m bent over at the waist in a fit of laughter. Hannah’s resolve finally breaks and she joins me. This is just one of those things you do with your best friend. Laugh uncontrollably, until the point of tears, even if what’s happening isn’t really that funny. It’s even worse if you’re somewhere that you aren’t supposed to talk or be loud. Then everything seems like it’s hilarious. For instance, one time, we tried to take hot yoga together. That did not go well. We ended up getting kicked out of the class for disrupting others. We decided then that yoga probably wasn’t our thing. That and people you don’t know who are dripping sweat all over the place. Not my cup of tea. That’s for damn sure.

  We hear someone come through the front door and almost topple all over each other as we rush down the hallway to see Beth, only to find that it isn’t her.

  “My girls. Always so excited to see me.” Jay grins, scooping us up in a bear hug.

  “Watch it,” Greyson growls.

  “You’re my best friend. I don’t want to remove your limbs, but I will if I have to,” Jami says from behind him.

  “You too are so damn pussy-whipped.” Jay rolls his eyes and I punch him in the gut. “Oooof.”

  “Oh yeah. Watch out for fight club over here.” Hannah laughs, and Jami joins in.

  “Oh shut up, Hannah.” I glare at her before we all go sit in the living room.

  Jay is still standing in the same place, gaping at all of us. “Does no one care that I was just physically assaulted?”

  Jami drapes an arm over my shoulders. “Not really.” He kisses my cheek.

  “I’m traumatized,” he says, flopping down onto the couch. “You break my heart, John. You break my heart.” He puts a dramatic hand over his heart and pouts.

  When headlights pour into the living room, the tone immediately changes. Everyone’s nervous about meeting Beth’s new guy. It’s not that we aren’t happy for her, and if he’s great, we will support her of course. But something about the stories she tells us about him just seems off. We are all worried.

  A few minutes later, the front door opens and we hear them walk up the stairs.

  “Hey, guys,” Beth says, smiling at us. “This is Kyle.”

  The hulk of a man beside her looks less than impressed with our little group. He’s blond, clean-cut, and wearing what I assume is a suit that costs more than my car. His eyes seem completely empty, and he has an arm wrapped possessively around Beth’s waist.

  Hannah is the first to speak—ever the perfect host. “Hi, Kyle. I’m Hannah, Beth’s sister.” She reaches out her hand towards him.

  When his voice fills the room, it sends chills down my spine—not the good kind. “I can see that good looks run in the family,” he purrs.

  I have to fight back my gag reflex.

  Hannah pulls her hand back, a fake laugh escaping from her mouth as Greyson comes up behind her.

  “Greyson Holt,” he clips out, and the bastard smirks.

  “Kyle Nathanial Davis the third,” he proclaims in response.

  The tension in the room is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

  When he turns his attention to me, I have to fight back the urge to cower under his stare. “And you might you be?” he asks, completely ignoring the fact that Jami’s arms are wrapped around my shoulders from behind.

  I cross my arms over my chest but don’t speak. This asshole gives me the creeps, and I’m not nearly as nice as Hannah is to pretend otherwise.

  “This is Lennon,” Beth says for me.

  “Mmm. Such a unique name you have, Lennon.”

  Everything about him is slimy. Even the gel in his hair makes him seem like a snake.

  Jami doesn’t bother reaching out to shake his hand. I only hear him speak from behind me. “Jamison Henley.”

  “Jayden King.” Jay says from beside me.

  All the guys have their backs up and the amount of testosterone in the room is starting to make everyone antsy.

  “Let’s eat!” Hannah declares, untangling herself from Greyson. “Girls, would you help me?”

  “Yup,” I clip out.

  Beth goes to answer, but Kyle cuts her off. “I’m certain two people is enough in the kitchen. Beth can stay here with me.” He’s not asking a question—it’s a statement.

  As Beth visibly shrinks beside him, I feel myself balling my hands into fists. We were right. Everything we had suspected was right. He is a fucking prick and he has Beth under his well-manicured thumb.

  I follow Hannah into the kitchen while the others go to sit at the dining room table and walk straight up to stand beside her. “What the fuck was that?” I whisper to her so no one else will hear us.

  She looks like she’s fighting back tears, so I rub her back. “He’s awful, Lennon. I know we thought he might be, but this is so much worse.” She schools her face, tilting her head back to stop any stray tears from coming out. “He doesn’t even seem like her.”

  I nod my head. It’s true. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Beth shrink for anyone before, and I never want her to again. “I know, Han, but I don’t know what we can do about it.”

  The timer on the oven sounds, and Hannah quickly snaps back into action. A few minutes later, we load up the plates and deliver them to the dining room. Greyson is sitting at the head of the table. There’s an empty seat on his left for Hannah and one on his right for me. Jami is sitting on the other side of me and Jay on the other side of Hannah. I have no doubt that they did that on purpose. Trying to keep the king of slime away from us. Kyle has dragged Beth’s chair around so they are both sitting on the same side of the table, only inches apart.

  “So where did you guys meet?” Hannah asks as we start in on dinner.

  “We met at—” Beth starts to say before Kyle cuts her off.

  “We met through work,” he answers shortly.

&
nbsp; Well, that was vague, especially considering that Beth just lost her job.

  The rest of dinner goes very much the same way. If anyone asks Beth a question, Kyle would answer it. Each answer he gives is vaguer than the last, and by the time he leaves, we are all battling a pit of unease in our stomachs. It isn’t even that he was awkward or just not well socialized. He is a controlling asshole who clearly thinks very little of us.

  “Well, he’s a real fucking piece of work,” Jay says seriously when the door closes behind them.

  It’s definitely bad if even Jayden can’t make light of the situation.

  “He’s a jackass,” Jami growls, pulling me onto his lap on the sofa.

  “I’m so scared for her,” Hannah whispers, tears falling down her face again. “I’m sorry.” She wipes her cheeks, but they just keep coming. “It’s the hormones, I think,” she confesses.

  “Shhh, sweetheart,” Greyson coos, scooping her up into his arms before sitting down on the other couch. “It will be okay. Your sister is a smart girl. She will figure it out,” he tells her, softly rubbing her back.

  “I know.” She hiccups. “He’s just so awful.” Then she puts her face in her hands.

  “I hate him,” I whisper coolly out loud. I know they say that hate is a strong word, but I absolutely cannot think of a better way to describe the way I feel about him.

  “Also, who the fuck introduces themselves using any form of number or their middle name? I mean, seriously,” Jay quips from the couch, which makes us all laugh.

  I snuggle into the crook of Jami’s neck while we all continue to talk about tonight’s events. We’re all exhausted from having dealt with Kyle Nathanial Davis III. As I watch all of my friends discuss someone we love, discuss how to help her and how worried they are for her, I am overwhelmed by the amount of love I feel in this room. Not just between the couples, but for everyone. We’d all do anything we could for one another.

  I realize in this moment that I’m ready. I’m going to tell Jami that I love him too. I won’t do it tonight though. I don’t want to taint the first time with everything that’s happened with Beth and Kyle, but I’m going to tell him tomorrow night. He’s going snowboarding during the day, which will give me enough time to head over to his house and make him dinner. I’m still not the greatest chef in the world, but my cooking has definitely improved since being with Jami.

  I’m so giddy with excitement from just thinking about it that I get hardly any sleep.

  “YOU SHOULD SEE them. The amount of energy they have for someone so small. It’s exhausting,” Mrs. Campbell says from the chair in front of me.

  “How many grandkids do you have now?” I ask her, checking the length of my cut against her shoulders.

  “Four. Can you believe it? Four grandkids and another one on the way,” she says proudly. Although she’s been telling me how exhausting they are for the past hour, I can tell how much she loves them.

  “My goodness, you do have your hands full, Mrs. Campbell,” I say, chuckling.

  “Oh dear. I’ve told you a million times. Call me Dora please. I don’t like to feel any older than I am,” she scolds me as I pick up the blow-dryer.

  “Of course, Dora.” I smile.

  She’s one of my favorite clients, so I’m happy that she’s who I’ll be ending my day with. She’s only in about her early sixties, but she’s hilarious and adorable. I start to blow-dry her hair and miss the sound of the door chiming. I’m working her hair with my round brush, making sure to get the roots of her curly hair when I hear Dora clear her throat.

  I leave the blow-dryer on but ask her, “Do you need something to drink?”

  When she doesn’t answer, I look up to meet her eyes in the mirror. They are wide and staring at someone else. Follow her gaze, I almost drop the dryer once I see what she’s looking at.

  Hannah’s standing a few feet in from the front door in her work clothes, tears pouring down her face, her makeup everywhere. She’s white as a ghost, and my stomach plummets. Beth.

  I run over to her as she starts to collapse onto the ground. I grab underneath her arms and slowly help her to sit. “What’s wrong, Hannah? What happened?”

  She sobs harder and my heart starts to pound. Whatever it is is really fucking bad.

  “Hannah, please. You’re scaring me. What happened?” I beg her, holding her head in my hands.

  “It’s… It’s…” Her words are cut off as another sob racks her body.

  “Is it Beth? Is Beth okay?” I question her frantically, trying to search her face for answers. When she shakes her head, I sigh in relief. “Is it Greyson?”

  She shakes her head again before finally looking up into my eyes. I can’t decipher the look behind her green eyes though.

  “It’s Jami,” she says softly.

  The blood drains from my face and all I can do is stare at her. What does she mean it’s Jami? “I don’t understand,” I tell her, panic creeping up my throat.

  “They can’t find him,” she gasps between breaths.

  “What do you mean they can’t find him?” I snap. I’m scared and confused.

  “He went snowboarding today, right?” she asks me, and I nod my head. Hannah sits up, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Lennon, they can’t find him. He was supposed to meet Jay at the bottom over four hours ago.”

  My body starts to shake as I absorb what she’s telling me.

  “Jay tried calling you, and when he couldn’t get through, he called me. I figured you were at work and probably didn’t have your phone,” she says, the tears stopping as she forms into the rock she knows I need her to be. “They are sending search and rescue now.”

  I don’t know when I started to cry, but I watch as my tear drops hit the linoleum floor of the salon. “Wouldn’t someone see him?” I ask her even though I know I’m grasping at straws.

  “You know how he is, Lennon. He’s so adventurous. He told Jay he was trying out another one of those out-of-bounds runs on the mountain and it’s making it harder for them to locate him.”

  My vision starts to blur, sobs violently ripping through my body. “I didn’t tell him.” I choke on another cry.

  “You didn’t tell him what, Len?” Hannah asks softly, wrapping her arms tighter around me.

  “I didn’t tell him that I love him,” I whisper barely over a hush.

  We sit like this for a few minutes—Hannah’s small body is folded around mine on the floor of my work—before Hannah’s phone rings. She pulls it from her pocket before clicking connect. “Hello,” she says before someone starts talking on the other end. “Yes. I’m with her now.”

  I’m staring at the floor while she continues to talk. I waited too long. I was so scared to tell him that I love him, that I have for so long, and now, I might never get the chance.

  “I’ll bring her over. Yes, I’m okay to drive. We will be there soon. Bye.” She’s speaking softly to the person on the phone, the same way she’s been talking to me since she came in here. Then Hannah stands and I hear her talking to someone before she comes back to me. “Lennon?”

  I don’t answer. I don’t think I can. The tears have stopped, only to be replaced by shock.

  “Lennon, I have your things. We need to go.” She hooks her arms underneath mine, pulling me up until I stand on shaky feet.

  Wrapping an arm around my waist, she helps me out into the parking lot. Once we reach my SUV, she leans me up against the side, fumbling around in my purse for the keys. When she finally finds them, she deposits me in the front seat before turning on the car.

  “Do you have a key for Jami’s house?” she asks me, and I nod, pressing my forehead against the cool glass.

  Before long, we’re pulling up outside Jami’s house. Another round of sobs rack through me when she opens the door and I’m surrounded by him. His guitars on the walls, his smell, his muffins on the counter. What really does me in is seeing Martha. She runs down the hall to greet us and I fall to my knees again, wrapping her
strong, black body in a hug. She seems to know that something is wrong because she doesn’t pull away to greet Hannah. She simply sits there, letting me cry into her neck as I hug her.

  I hear Hannah moving around the house, but I don’t move from my spot by the door with Martha until someone picks me up. Strong arms pry mine off the dog and cradle me as they walk us to the couch. I’m crying so hard that my vision is blurry. I can’t even see who it is, but I recognize the voice when he speaks.

  “He’ll be okay, Lennon. Our boy will be okay. I’ve got you,” John Henley says into my hair before laying me down on the couch and pulling a blanket over my body. “Shhh, sweetheart. Try to breathe for me, okay?” he coos, stroking my hair affectionately.

  I feel the couch dip and Hannah curl in behind me, molding her body around me. “They’ll find him, Len,” she whispers into my ear as Martha jumps up, lying to rest at my feet.

  “I’m going to make a few calls, okay, girls?” Jami’s dad tells us, kissing me on the forehead.

  “Patti,” I whisper to him, my eyes closed tight.

  “She just flew up to see her sister yesterday. She’s on the next flight home. I’ll pick her up soon,” he explains, referring to his wife.

  My heart breaks for her. I couldn’t imagine finding out something like this while away from my family, away from my husband. I already feel stronger in John’s presence, and I wish she had that right now.

  “I’m so sorry,” I gasp out, finally looking at him for the first time. He looks so much like Jami. He has dark hair and chocolate eyes—although, now, I’m able to see the worry etched around them.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart. They will find him,” he says before walking into the kitchen to speak on the phone.

  I turn around to face Hannah on the couch. “I know they’ll find him, Han. I just...” I stop, blinking back tears. “It’s what they’ll find that scares me.”

  A tear falls down her cheek before she hugs me again. “I know.”

  We’ve both lived here all our lives. We know the kind of accidents that happen on our mountain ever year. People go missing, and they always find them—they just don’t always find them alive.