Fifteen Weekends

by Christy Pastore

  “The man I’m seeing, his name is Vince, he lives here, and he asked me to move in with him,” Amanda replied sharply.

  “Oh? I didn’t know you were involved with anyone,” Ashleigh quipped.

  The dislike these two women had for each other was quite obvious. There was an awkward silence—the tension hung in the air around them. Emily had introduced Ashleigh to Amanda a few years ago at a dinner party, Emily naively thought Ashleigh might be able to help Amanda make some connections that could to lead to a job opportunity, since Amanda had just been fired from the radio station. Although, Ashleigh quickly found out that Amanda had no intention of getting a job.

  Amanda told Ashleigh she had a plan to win her ex-husband back, and if not him she would find another rich guy. That worked out well for Amanda, as Ashleigh knew she had been working at the mall for the last few months and her only known sexual relationship was with her divorce lawyer. Ashleigh thought Amanda probably traded sex for legal representation.

  After Amanda had gone completely broke, she made everyone feel sorry for her to get free drinks and food, always playing the “help me I’m poor” card. Ashleigh never liked Amanda, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Emily. After all, Emily was a sucker for helping someone she thought had potential.

  Emily saw Amanda in a different light. She knew her back during the happier times. According to Emily, Amanda used to be pretty funny. Ashleigh didn’t see it, but what exactly did Amanda have to laugh about these past few years? Amanda and Emily had met at a charity event a few years ago, before Amanda lost everything. Now, she was divorced, lost her job, was publicly humiliated by a cheating scandal and her wealthy family disowned her.

  “Yes, I have been dating Vince for a while now, and he just bought me a Mercedes. Not to mention, he spoils me like crazy, buying me designer clothes, shoes and fabulous jewels.”

  Amanda was laying it on pretty thick for Ashleigh. Part of her wondered if Amanda was just lurking in the lobby to see if she could find a man with money, and this was all just a fabrication.

  A brittle smile crossed her lips. “Oh, that sounds amazing. I’d love to see your place, Amanda.” There was only one way to find out if Amanda was telling the truth or not, and that was to see if she actually had an apartment in the building.

  “Sure thing, Ashleigh. I’ll take you there now. Do you have the time?” Amanda said with a grin.

  “Yeah, just let me grab my mail first,” Ashleigh said as she took her key and unloaded her mailbox.

  Both women walked in silence to the elevator. Amanda pressed the up arrow, the doors immediately opened. Amanda pressed the button for the 20th floor.

  This should be good, Ashleigh thought to herself.

  Chapter Twenty-Two:

  Emily and Ashleigh

  Emily’s phone rang, it was an unknown number. Not recognizing the area code, thinking it could be someone from LA Business Design, she answered, “Hello, this is Emily Greene.”

  “Hello Emily. Are you having a good afternoon?” The gruff voice said. “Did you have a nice time in California?”

  “Hi. Yes I did have a nice time in California,” she said while walking to the kitchen.

  “Why are you with him, Emily? You know he’ll never love you.” The voice was now seething with anger.

  Emily replied, “I’m sorry, may I ask who this is?”

  “You don’t get to ask the questions. I do. Do you like games, Emily? What about surprises?”

  “Excuse me?” Emily inquired. All she heard was a faded laugh and then a click.

  On top of being annoying, these calls were downright harassing. A million things ran through Emily’s brain: Who is calling? Why are they calling? He’ll never love me? She thought about changing her number, but that would be more trouble than it’s worth.

  Emily grabbed her workout bag and headed for the gym. She needed to blow off some steam.

  After her workout she met Ashleigh for coffee at the Bagel Beanery. Despite her best efforts of switching gyms, Emily managed to run into Andy. He explained that he had a few clients he worked with at both locations. Even though he still made her uncomfortable, Emily maintained a polite conversation with Andy. Surprisingly, he didn’t pester her or make crude comments today. He actually left Emily alone as she finished the remainder of her workout session.

  “Okay, so tell me about Amanda. I want all the gory details, Ash.”

  Ashleigh explained all she knew about Amanda’s current living situation and what little she knew about the man she was cohabitating with at the River House.

  “Vince Everett,” Emily commented. “Yeah, I’ve heard of Everett Sterling Airlines. I read a recent article about the company in the Lakeshore Press. They’re hosting some big event in a few weeks, a dedication for the new Aviation building at Graysen College.”

  “Amanda seemed pretty happy, Emily,” Ashleigh remarked.

  “Are you sure it wasn’t an act?” Emily’s tone was sharp.

  “Honestly, for once she didn’t seem to be faking the happiness. I saw a real spark in her eye when she talked about this guy. It could be love.”

  Emily remembered when she had first met Amanda at a fundraiser for the Phillip Cooper Foundation, the Cooper of Cooper Bentley. Amanda’s then husband Brandon’s law firm handled all of Cooper Bentley’s legal matters, and they still do to this day. At the fundraiser Emily and Amanda were seated at the same table. Finding themselves a little bored at the event, the two women were able to bond over fashion and travel while sharing a bottle of chardonnay. Emily ran into Amanda at another event for the Foundation later that summer, and it was apparent they were going to be good friends.

  Today, it was like she didn’t even know Amanda. Since Amanda lost her job, her husband, her family and her lifestyle she had become a bitter person. For the last several months Amanda’s ugliness had festered into a cancer that was draining Emily to the point where she didn’t seem to care about Amanda’s well-being in the least.

  “Can we change the subject please?” Emily wailed.

  Ashleigh laughed, agreeing another topic would be much more pleasant. She told Emily about her trip to New York and her time spent with Liam.

  “So you told Liam about Nick, had sex with him and then left his bed?” Emily interjected. “That’s kind of cold, don’t you think?”

  Ashleigh looked away from Emily’s biting gaze. She swallowed the lump in her throat feeling a twinge of guilt. The guilt was because Ashleigh knew it was shady to have snuck out in the early morning hours, leaving Liam to question why she’d gone back to her room and possibly feeling used. Although he never asked her directly, Ashleigh could only assume those were Liam’s thoughts. Also, Ashleigh might have used Liam for sex as an escape that night, like drugs or booze, to dull the stinging pain she was left with upon recounting her memories. That didn’t mean that Ashleigh didn’t enjoy it, but it probably wasn’t the best time for sex.

  “We usually sleep together, yes,” Ashleigh corrected.

  “Sleeping together means you actually sleep next to him and wake up with him after you’ve had your way with him,” Emily scoffed.

  She shot her friend an irritated glare, “Are you lecturing me about Liam, Emily?”

  Truth of the matter is that Ashleigh has never stayed the night with Liam. She always ends up back in her hotel room. She never invites Liam to her room. It would break her heart to kick him out. Continuing to have sex with Liam might be confusing for him. It’s definitely confusing for her. But the rules have been established— they are good friends who have occasional casual sex. But, it’s been two years. Suddenly, Emily’s haunting words from their previous conversation came screeching back. Was Liam waiting for her? Was she waiting for him? Why hadn’t they engaged in relationships with other people?
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  Emily sighed, “I’m sorry Ash. I just think you and Liam could have something really great. I just want you to be happy.”

  “What makes you think I’m not happy?”

  Emily felt the tension in her body tightening. She took a sip of her latte and said, “You’re right Ashleigh, I have no right to question you or your relationship with Liam.” She paused then continued, “It’s your life, and it’s not fair for me to lecture you.”

  Ashleigh leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She was defensive because she knew there was a hint of truth to Emily’s words.

  Ashleigh bowed her head, sighing, “No, Emily, you bring up some good points. I need to talk to Liam or better yet just stop having sex with him.”

  Emily shifted the conversation asking, “So where are you off to next?”

  “California, Big Sur actually,” Ashleigh replied then took a sip of her tea. “Speaking of California, why don’t you fill me on your time with Ethan and your big campaign?”

  Emily explained how she and the rest of the advertising team were able to come up with some creative strategies for the impending campaign. Ethan even sat in on a couple of the brainstorming sessions and offered some helpful suggestions for promotion. She and Ethan will need to return to Los Angeles when they begin shooting the commercials, but that is still a few weeks away.

  “We had a wonderful time. Ethan introduced me to his family and took me to their winery.”

  Ashleigh’s eyebrows lifted, “Really? Seems kind of soon.”

  “Tell me about it. I was pretty ticked with him at first, but it was very casual. His family made me feel right at home like I’d known them forever. We stayed the night on Friday then Ethan took me to this amazing resort and spa in Santa Barbara. We drank wine, ate delicious food, and Ethan booked me a spa treatment. I had the most amazing seaweed facial and deep tissue massage.”

  Emily’s phone began to buzz, the caller ID said private. She answered, but there was no one there. A few seconds later a text message then appeared: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE GAME? MINE’S WATCHING YOU, EMILY.

  Knots twisted in Emily’s stomach. Her heart began to race, and she just stared at her phone. Emily slowly scanned her surroundings. She didn’t notice anyone suspicious. All the message did was leave her feeling freaked out.

  “Emily, you okay?” Ashleigh asked. “You’re as white as a sheet.”

  Emily passed her phone to Ashleigh so she could view the message. Emily began to tell her about all the strange phone calls she’d been receiving. A shiver moved through Ashleigh.

  “Are you going to talk to Ethan about these creepy messages and phone calls?”

  “Things are going so well between us, I’m not sure our relationship is ready for this kind of drama.”

  Ashleigh scoffed and said, “That’s ridiculous, Emily.”

  Emily shot Ashleigh an irritated look.

  Ashleigh strummed her fingers on the side of her cup, then said, “Hey…what about that former Assistant of yours, could she be involved?”

  “That’s an interesting thought,” Emily pondered. “This is exactly the kind of shit she’d pull. Next time the phone rings, Morgan’s getting a piece of my mind.”

  “If you engage her though, she will know it bothers you. It’s probably best to just ignore every unknown call and force it to voicemail. She will eventually tire out,” Ashleigh advised.

  Emily felt better knowing that Morgan was most likely the pest behind the calls. Emily recalled time and time again how Morgan tried to capture Ethan’s attention in the break room or shamelessly flirt with him at company events. It was entirely possible that Morgan found out that Emily was dating Ethan and it sparked jealously.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance. Ashleigh hurriedly grabbed her purse and said, “I gotta go Emily. I don’t want to be caught in this rain storm.”

  Ashleigh gave Emily a quick hug and darted to her car. Emily waved as Ashleigh peeled out of the parking lot. I hope you get over your fear of storms someday soon Ashleigh

  Chapter Twenty-Three:

  Amanda

  Amanda found herself feeling restless and bored on a Saturday afternoon. Should she go shopping? Hit the gym for a workout? Vince had been in his study for most of the morning and had scheduled a round of golf at the club that afternoon. He invited Amanda to accompany him to the club where he thought she might want to work on her tennis game or have a spa day, but she declined. Amanda had spent the previous day at the spa and was apprehensive about picking up a tennis racket again. It had been so long that she was sure her game was more than a little rusty.

  Amanda’s feelings for Vince were growing stronger with each day. However, things with Vince had yet to reach a physical level, and she was beginning to think either he was not attracted to her or that he was impotent. Vince was a hard man to read at times. Through all the gifts, dinners and even the surprise overnight trips she was still unclear of his feelings for her. He had yet to introduce her to his kids, not that she minded, but it did seem odd. The more she thought about it, she wondered if Vince had even seen his kids at all this summer.

  Maybe his ex-wife was a bitch, or crazy, or both. Amanda didn’t know much about his kids, his ex-wife, what their marriage was like or even why they were divorced. Amanda thought maybe she should be grateful that the wife and kids were not a distraction or worse, a problem. She would welcome the idea of coordinating schedules for school activities, weekends and basically step-parenting business in general, if Vince wanted her too.

  Picking up a bottle of lotion, she poured some in her hand and began rubbing it onto her legs. In that moment she wondered how everyone at The Bath Shop was doing, which was weird because Amanda never imagined she would ever think of her former co-workers again. These were a bunch of people who she never much cared about.

  Earlier in the week, she had gone to lunch with Daniel and he filled her in on the new guy in his life. The relationship was still blossoming— they had been dating for about two weeks. Stephen was a Pediatric Speech and Language Pathologist. Daniel said work was positively boring since she had left the company, and he had transferred to the Woodfield Mall to take over Amanda’s position. It was a shorter commute, for which he expressed his gratefulness many times as he knocked back a few martinis.

  Amanda checked her phone for the time and noticed she had missed a few things. She saw Emily had checked in on Foursquare to the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market, and Ashleigh had a Facebook status that said she just had a great workout and was ready for her trip tomorrow.

  Her boredom, along with thinking about Vince’s ex-wife, led her to do something she hadn’t done in a long time—social media stalking of her ex-husband, Brandon. But first, she needed some liquid courage. She walked to the bar and poured herself a vodka on the rocks. She was starting to feel quite anxious, so she retrieved two pills from her medicine cabinet and washed them down with a swig of the cocktail.

  Amanda had Julie’s Facebook login information, which allowed her to look at Brandon’s page. Julie was one of the last ties to her old life. If there was anything she needed to know, Julie was the one who kept her in the loop. It was nice to see Julie still maintained a friendship with Brandon despite the divorce. Last update she heard from her sister, Brandon was so busy with his case load at the law firm he had no time for a social life. Although, looking at his Facebook page, Amanda saw a much different story

  It looked like Brandon had found a new girlfriend and recently taken a trip to Costa Rica. He and Erica Hamilton spent a lovely vacation at the Four Seasons at Peninsula Papagayo. Erica was very pretty, but quite the opposite of Amanda. Erica had short dark hair, bronzed skin, basically no curves, except for an all too apparent chest enhancement, and brilliant blue eyes. Amanda studied the photos of the two of them. Brandon looked happy,
like over the moon elated. She was glad for Brandon. He deserved to be with someone who made him smile so genuinely.

  She stumbled upon something else of interest, Andrew Langston’s profile. Why is Jules friends with Andrew Langston? Amanda couldn’t imagine that their father would allow this friendship. Amanda searched Julie’s messages for a conversation between the two of them and found nothing. She clicked on Andrew’s page. It seems he had graduated from college and was living in Chicago working at Alpha Street Partners, a private equities firm.

  Amanda decided to leave Julie a message. It was a code they had worked out when they wanted to see each other. Amanda pulled up the inbox and created a new message to Julie Richards and simply typed “TEST”. Julie would see that message, read it and delete it. Then she would get her disposable phone and use it to call Amanda. It could be hours or days, but when Julie had the time she would find a way to contact her sister.

  Amanda logged off of Facebook and decided she needed to work up a good sweat. The best way for her to do that was to run, since sex apparently was not an option at this point. If Vince didn’t try to fuck her soon, Amanda’s BOB was going to have a meltdown from overuse. Amanda heard the door to the apartment open as she was putting her running shoes on.

  “Amanda? Are you around?”

  “Hey, Alex, I’m getting ready to go to the gym.”

  “Would you like some company? I’m feeling like a run, too.”

  Amanda opened the door of her bedroom and saw Alex looking a bit flustered.

  “Yes, that would be fun. You okay, Alex?” Amanda approached him gently placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. His entire body became stiff, and Amanda drew in a sharp breath. His gaze caught hers, and she dropped her hand back to her side. That was weird.

  Alex cleared his throat and said, “I will be. I just had a fight with my sister about our dad’s birthday party next weekend. My sister is impossible.”