by BJ Phillips
“Nah, my guy talks to her guy and they thrash it out. We don’t get into that personally very often. We decided a long time ago not to let business interfere with our friendship, and it’s worked for quite a while.”
“Must be nice to have a friend like that. Growing up, we moved around so much that I never had any friends that lasted very long. I knew I’d be leaving again and would never see them again. So I learned not to get close to anyone. It wasn’t till I went to college that I realized that was not a normal way to live. I had the same circle of friends, pretty much, for the four years I was there. After we all graduated and went our separate ways, with our very separate lives, that was pretty much that.”
“You didn’t try to stay in touch with any of them? Wasn’t there anyone special?” Shawn sipped her coffee.
“Well, there was one someone I was quite close to. We were even lovers for a while. But I realized after graduation that she was just ‘going through a phase’ as they say. You know, girls who want to try stuff just because they can. I think I was her experiment our senior year. She got married a few months later to a lawyer. I saw on Facebook that she’s happy raising her kids and being a wife.”
“It happens. Sorry about that.”
“That was a long time ago. I have friends here, now that I live in one place. Rich and his wife are practically family. Of course there’s Jess…” Carrie rolled her eyes as she said it, making them both laugh.
“What about your parents? Do they live here?”
“They used to. Dad had a heart attack and passed away a few years ago. Mom didn’t want to stay here anymore and moved up to Memphis to live near her sister. Since I’m an only child, I sort of adopted Rich and his family as my aunt and uncle, along with his kids as my cousins. They adopted me back. It works. They’re very nice people. I have to admit I envy you a bit having a friend for so long. Someone who ‘knew you when’ if you know what I mean.”
“I do. Someone who has stories about you as much as you do about them. I’d say that pretty much describes my relationship with AJ…and Kelly too, for that matter.”
Carrie picked up the two plates and took them to the sink. She turned and looked at Shawn. “I like being friends with you. I think we could be friends like that.”
“I like being friends with you as well.” Shawn picked up the two coffee mugs and carried them to the sink. She stood close to Carrie and put her arm around her shoulders. “I like you very much. Plus, you make a great chocolate pie.” She laughed. “I’ll be your friend forever if you keep plying me with any kind of pie, but especially chocolate.”
“Oh, you!” Carrie swatted Shawn with a dish towel. “Here I was being serious.”
“So was I. I love pie!”
“Do you have any idea how long you’ll be gone? Should I pick up your newspaper or something?” Carrie asked as they walked into the living room.
“Oh, no, that’s fine. I called today to tell them to interrupt the News-Press, and I went down to the Post Office already to ask them to hold my mail. I don’t expect anything exciting, so it can all wait.”
They sat down on the sofa, thighs touching. “I’ll miss you while you’re gone.”
“I’ll miss you, too.” Shawn reached for Carrie’s hand and held it briefly before kissing the back of it. “Very much,” she added, looking into Carrie’s brown eyes. Those beautiful eyes with tiny flecks of gold in them. And those long eyelashes. Oh, my God.
Shawn put her arm around Carrie and drew her closer. Carrie snuggled in, released a little sigh, and cuddled her head into that little spot on Shawn’s shoulder where it seemed to fit perfectly.
At the sound of Carrie’s sigh, Shawn’s heart rate quickened. Surely it was loud enough for Carrie to hear, too. “Carrie, I…”
“Shush.” Carrie silenced whatever Shawn was about to say, first with a finger to Shawn’s lips, and then with her lips on Shawn’s lips. Shawn yielded to those lips as they deepened the kiss, tasting the chocolate from the pie mixed with coffee still on her lips. She could feel Carrie pulling her closer, leaning back on the sofa. In no time, they were lying together on the sofa with Shawn on top.
Shawn could feel every inch of Carrie’s soft but firm body beneath her as she continued her kissing exploration of Carrie’s neck and then down to the swell of Carrie’s breasts that were revealed by the open neckline of her shirt. She realized she was once again over her head, but this time her brain seemed to be turning off and her libido was ramping up. This was what she had dreamed about. This is what she had thought about when Tracy had been seducing her. Carrie was who she wanted. She could feel the ache between her legs. But then, the brain kicked back on again. She wanted Carrie in the worst way, but not now, not like this. She wanted…she wanted… She needed to step back.
She pulled away from Carrie slowly and kissed her softly on the lips. “I can’t do this yet. I’m still not ready.” She kissed Carrie on her forehead, like one would kiss a child. Shawn and Carrie both sat up and Shawn rubbed her face with her hands. “I’m very attracted to you, but I just can’t make love to you right now. I feel that’s what you want, and believe me, I’d love to sleep with you, but I just can’t yet.”
“Don’t worry, it’s okay.” Carrie took both of Shawn’s hands in hers. “Hey, I’m sorry, too. I'd love to have you here with me all night, making love into the early hours and sleeping in on Saturday morning. But I don’t want you to do something you aren’t ready for yet.” She put one hand on Shawn’s cheek, turning her face to look at her.
“Whatever you need to do, do it. I’ll still be here. I want you, I make no bones about that. But I want you as a friend as well. I’m not going anywhere and I’ll be right here when you get back.”
“Carrie, I…” Shawn felt her throat close up, her stomach clench. “I have to go. I’m sorry I keep doing this to you. I want you in the worst way, but I’m just not ready yet. I’m so sorry. I really need to go.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. I hope you can get whatever is bothering you resolved soon. Maybe we should just be friends until then.” She stood up, bringing Shawn to her feet as well.
“Goodnight, Carrie. See you when I get back?”
“Of course.” Carrie reached over and placed a soft kiss on Shawn’s cheek. “Have a safe trip.”
Chapter Twenty-three
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Shawn packed up her Jeep, locked the house, and hit I-75 North toward Atlanta. She stopped once outside Tampa near Brandon for a quick breakfast and a take-along Coke with extra ice. Since the regular radio kept going in and out, she switched to satellite for the rest of the ride. She needed the noise to help her keep her thoughts from constantly racing back to Carrie.
Carrie. She took a deep breath and shook her head. Carrie’s words last night still echoed in her mind. “I’ll be here when you get back. I want you.” She kept hearing it over and over. Especially the part about being just friends until Shawn could get herself straightened out. She felt like crap for treating Carrie like she had. Knowing Carrie cared for her was an amazing feeling. She heavily kicked her own ass every mile of the way to Atlanta for sleeping with Tracy. She just knew Carrie would never understand why she could do such a thing. Hell, she couldn’t understand it herself.
Too bad she couldn’t just crawl under a rock and stay there. How she could face Carrie last night and eat that chocolate pie at her house was beyond her. Her head ached. Her stomach churned. She couldn’t face Kelly either. She knew Kelly really liked Carrie and would’ve jumped all over her for what she had done. She needed someone outside the situation. She needed to get away. She needed to think or maybe she thought too much. She had no idea, but she knew she needed to deal with this soon. Talking it out with AJ would be just what she needed. AJ could kick her ass and tell her what to do about this.
She felt overwhelmed with guilt, but like a moth to a flame, she was so drawn to Carrie that she couldn’t stay away. It had taken her a year to get over Jen and she was still af
raid of making another mistake. She kept shaking her head, thinking maybe an idea would shake loose or the answer would come to her somehow. As the hours and the miles went by, she was only closer to one thing—Atlanta.
***
Carrie noticed Shawn’s Jeep was gone by the time she left for work. Safe trip, Shawn. Whatever it is you have to do, please come back. She had a feeling Shawn might be going away to try to sort things out, and she hoped fervently that her friend AJ was the person to help her do just that. During the day, she wondered how far along Shawn was in her trip and whether she might call her when she got there. They didn’t talk about anything like that, and Shawn probably wasn’t used to letting someone know when she arrived somewhere. But Carrie wished she would.
The drive to Atlanta was a long one. Carrie'd made that trip a few times, so she tried picturing in her mind where Shawn might be at any time—maybe stopping for lunch at a certain place or stretching her legs at one of the rest stops. She knew she was fooling herself to think she would hear from her tonight, but she let herself hope she might. Distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t notice when Rich seemingly appeared out of nowhere and waved his hand in front of her face. “Earth to Carrie…Earth to Carrie,” he called out in a fake computer–sounding voice.
Carrie blushed, mortified she had been caught daydreaming at work. “I’m sorry Rich. Did you need something?” She quickly reshuffled the papers in front of her.
“Not really. I was just walking by and noticed your mind appeared to be off in la-la land. Are you all right? Something bothering you? You aren’t sick are you?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine. I guess I just got distracted for a while there. By the way, I noticed the Richards house appears to be about done, at least from the outside.”
“Yes, we actually finished a couple of days ago. Shawn signed off on it after the final walk through.” He handed her a folder. “Here’s her file, ready for the final invoice.”
“Nice. I’m sure she’s very happy with it.”
“She seemed to be. We helped her move her bedroom furniture into the new addition and she now has her living room back and her nice new office that she had wanted. She didn’t have stuff for the office yet, but we installed the built-in bookshelves and added a nice window seat as part of her wish list. Practically every wall in that room is covered with bookshelves. She told me she has an extensive library, and now it should all have a nice home. You can send her the final invoice. She said to e-mail it to her.”
“She did? Well, that’s a good idea, since she said last night that she’s going to be out of town for a while.”
“Last night? You, uh, saw her last night, did you?” Rich cocked his head to the side and looked at her sideways, giving her a lopsided grin.
“Now, don’t you make anything more out of it than it was. I invited her over for dessert last night. We are neighbors, after all.”
“Oh really. It wasn’t some of your famous chocolate pie, now was it?” He grinned wider at her.
“As a matter of fact, it was. And guess what, there’s some for you in the fridge. Like I wouldn’t bring you some. Or did you already see it in there?”
“No, I didn’t, but I’ll head in there shortly and cut myself just a taste with morning coffee. So, you and Shawn have progressed to being friends?”
“Friends. Neighbors. We went out once or twice. That’s it.”
“You like her, don’t you? I can see it in your face. I knew she was just the type you would fall for—tall, good looking, and writes novels. Not to mention just happens to live right down the street. Handy, huh?”
“I do like her. We’re becoming good friends. But that’s it so far. Just friends.”
Rich sat on the side of Carrie’s desk. “Hey, I like her too. But I think the world of you. I’m not sure she’s who you think she is. I mean, she’s nice and all that. Funny as all get out. She joked around with the crew when they were there. But I don’t get the impression she’s the settling down type of person. You, my dear girl, are the settling down type.”
“I am, but I think somewhere inside her is the same type. She might just be the one I’ve been looking for.” Carrie turned around in her chair to face him. “I know you kind of look after me like family, especially after Dad died and I appreciate that. Right now, though, Shawn and I are just friends. That’s all.”
“Well, I just don’t want to see you get your heart broken. You’ve had a fair amount of unhappiness in the last few years, and I wouldn’t want to see more land on you.”
“I’m good, really. It’s nice having her as a friend. Don’t worry.”
“Fine, then. I won’t worry.” Rich stood and took a couple of steps back toward his office, then stopped. He turned around and looked at Carrie, head tilted. “I hope you didn’t think I was being too nosey. Karen and I do care about you. I know I’m not your dad or even your uncle, so just tell me to mind my own business if you like.”
Carrie grinned at him. “Rich, you know you’re the closest thing to family I have around here. But if you do get too nosey, I’ll definitely tell you to mind your own business and stick your nose somewhere else.” She chuckled. “But you aren’t there…yet.”
“Good, now, get back to work. Oh, and thanks for the pie.”
As Rich’s door closed, Carrie shook her head in amusement. She knew how lucky she was to work for someone as great as Rich. And she knew she was lucky again to meet someone like Shawn. She just hoped Shawn got her head straightened out up north, and came back soon.
Chapter Twenty-four
SHAWN PULLED INTO AJ’S driveway as it started to get dark. A huge grin lit up her face as she got out of the Jeep when she saw AJ striding down the front walk.
“Hey, it’s my favorite author!” AJ called out and grabbed her in a big hug. She was as tall as Shawn’s five foot ten, but where Shawn was lanky, she was more substantial. They looked enough alike to be cousins, at least, with the same sandy hair and blue eyes.
“Hey, it’s my nemesis of a publisher who’s about to crush me,” Shawn said, just before AJ released her.
“Here, let me help you with your stuff. Come on in and let’s get caught up.” AJ grabbed Shawn’s bag out of the back of the Jeep as Shawn carried in her case with her laptop and her fishing gear. They stowed Shawn’s things in the guest room and headed to the living room where an open bottle of wine awaited them on a side table.
“What, no JB?” Shawn asked. “You turned into a wine drinker when I wasn’t looking?”
“Yeah, I’ve had to attend quite a few receptions in the last couple of years, and acquired a taste for it. Thought it might be just the thing after a long drive. There’s some JB in here if you’d rather have it, though.” AJ started to reach into the cabinet.
Shawn put her hand up to stop her. “Nah, a glass of wine is probably just what I need right now,” she said, yawning. “It took a couple of hours longer to get here than I’d planned due to that construction again on the interstate around Gainesville and again farther up toward the state line. I guess they try to get this stuff done before tourist season starts. Geez, it’s not even that late, but I’m drained.”
“This should get you relaxed enough to sleep, then,” AJ said, handing her a glass of chardonnay. “We can just enjoy a glass, and then you can head on off to bed if you like. There’s a television in your room, in case you want to go to sleep with it on like you used to when you were tired. I’m sure the Science Channel will show a documentary you’ve seen before that you can listen to and conk out.”
“Thanks. I might just do that,” Shawn said. “You aren’t prodding me with questions, yet?”
“Nope. I just now decided it can wait, even as nosey as I am. I figure I’ll do all the prodding tomorrow or up at the camp. Tonight, just relax. Unless you want to tell me something, I won’t grill you. I take that back, there’s one question: This does have something to do with a woman, doesn’t it?”
Shawn wordlessly glanced down at her wine
glass, and then looked back up at AJ.
“I kind of figured. No problem, that’s all I’ll ask tonight.”
“Thanks. I knew there was a reason I still liked you.” Shawn took a sip of the wine. “Sometimes I just don’t know what’s good for me. But right now, a nice hot shower and an early bedtime sound pretty damn good.”
“Look, we’ve been friends most of our adult lives, it feels like,” AJ examined her wine glass after a sip. “There’s nothing much we haven’t seen or been through that we couldn’t share with each other, when we needed someone to share it with. That means good and bad. The hard stuff and the great stuff.”
Shawn nodded. “That is very true, my friend. Very true. I do seem to share more of the hard or bad stuff with you, although you never seem to mind.”
“Of course not. Your stuff is always much more interesting than mine.” AJ laughed, causing Shawn to smile. “Aw, come on. You know that’s true. I’m supposed to be living the glamorous life of a publisher. Like my life is glamorous.” She rolled her eyes. “But you seem to wind up with the interesting problems, and they usually involve women. Maybe it’s time for you to think about settling down and getting out of the women-problems business.”
“Have you forgotten already that I tried that? It’s been a year since that ended, but it’s still in the back of my mind all the time. I guess I don’t want to go through that again.”
“Well, that’ll be for you to decide, won’t it? But not tonight. Tonight you relax and just sleep on it.”
“Good idea.” Shawn tipped her glass up and drained it. “Nice wine. But maybe tomorrow night or the next we could make some margaritas while you ply me with questions and we solve the problems of Shawn’s world. Or we could just have margaritas and solve the rest of the world’s problems.”
“Deal, but only if you make them. You always could make a killer margarita.”
