Asking For A Friend

by Parker, Ali

  “She’s not that bad,” I argued playfully. The woman was a terror. Her husband was the client, but she acted like she was. She insisted on incorporating an ‘atrium of reflection’ and a ‘yoga-friendly’ studio in a building that would eventually house a firm of stockbrokers. There was no dissuading her from her outlandish ideas, though both Marissa and I gave it our best.

  “You’re right,” Marissa rolled her eyes. “She’s not that bad. She’s worse.”

  I laughed, stroking my fingers up and down Marissa’s leg. Ever since our conversation the other day when I had confessed to caring about her, it felt like we were always touching each other. Small, almost imperceptible touches, invisible to anyone who wasn’t paying close attention, but touches nonetheless.

  Marissa shivered and I used the excuse to hold her closer to me, which I could do now because we weren’t at the office. Deciding to change the topic away from Mrs. Linderman—in case it spoiled our appetites—I asked, “How’s Annie doing?”

  Almost as soon as I asked the question, Marissa tensed. Oh no, what now?

  Fully expecting something I didn’t want to hear once again, I was surprised when Marissa relaxed and said, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about her.”

  “Okay?” I lifted an eyebrow, unsure why talking to me about Annie would have triggered that response in her. “What’s up?”

  Marissa inhaled deeply, took a gulp of water and flashed me an unexpected, shy smile. “You said to talk to you next time I’m not sure about something, so please know that’s all I’m doing. If you’re uncomfortable with what I’m about to tell you, just let me know.”

  “Okay.” I shifted my weight, turning in the booth to face her. Our knees were still touching, but I missed the warmth of her next to my side almost immediately. “Shoot.”

  “Annie drew a picture of you the other day.” She started. When I frowned and dropped my chin in confusion about why this was such a big deal, Marissa sighed. “She drew a picture of me, you and her fishing when she was supposed to draw a picture of her family doing something they loved together.”

  Oh. Well, that explained it then. “Can I see it?”

  “The picture?” Marissa’s eyes clouded with surprise, but she fished her phone out of her purse and pulled up a picture of the drawing. “I thought you should know.”

  Holding two fingers on her screen, I zoomed in on various parts of the picture. “Is that an entire basket of fish we caught?”

  She nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess this is how she likes to imagine our day out going.”

  “You’re worried about this?” I questioned, though I could see she was.

  Shrugging, Marissa bounced her head from side to side. “I don’t know. Should I be? What do you think about it?”

  “Honestly?” I lifted both eyebrows, dropping my gaze to the picture one final time before the screen went black. “I love it.”

  “You do?”

  Closing my hand over her leg, I gave it a squeeze. “I do. It makes me miss her, actually. I think we need to spend more time together.”

  “So do I,” she agreed, smiling up at me as she leaned forward to press a kiss to my shoulder. “I think Annie would like that.”

  “How about tomorrow?” I asked. The strange thing was that I really did want to spend time with her and Annie again. If she said yes to tomorrow, it wouldn’t come soon enough. A lot of guys might have been freaked about the drawing of us as a ‘family’ but somehow I wasn’t. I was kind of honored by it.

  It was touching that Annie had chosen our day out to draw a picture of, even if she had taken artistic liberty like the rod in Marissa’s hand and the whole basket of fish we caught. I knew it meant something to her and that meant something to me.

  It didn’t bother me in the least and I wanted to prove it to Marissa. If I got some extra time with Annie out of the deal, that was good with me too.

  “Tomorrow should be fine,” Marissa agreed, and a warm, excited feeling flooded my insides. Despite what Craig had said about his mom never letting a man in again, there was no doubt that Marissa was letting me in. It felt like we were making progress on a daily basis now. “That’s a great idea. She’s going to be so excited when I tell her.”

  Our second order of tacos interrupted our conversation and we both dug in. Almost as soon as we were done eating, Marissa let out a little yelp when she saw the time and rushed back to the office to finish a report she promised to get over to one of the town planners today.

  I took my time getting back to the office, deciding to walk the two blocks despite the cold. It was windy, but not raining anymore. Pulling my coat tight around me, I shoved my hands in my pockets and took off knowing the walk would help me to clear my head.

  Thinking about Marissa and Annie, I was so lost in thought I nearly missed a call from Craig. My phone buzzed against my fingers in my pocket and when I finally realized what was going on, I pulled it out to speak to my best friend.

  “What’s going on down there?” I asked by way of greeting.

  There was a lot of background noise on Craig’s end. Banging and buzzing and grinding. The sounds muffled and I knew he had sought refuge somewhere less noisy. “We’re hard at work, as you can hear.”

  “Yeah,” I told him. There was something comforting about the sound of a job site in full swing. I loved being part of the hustle and bustle of it all, it was time for me to get down to the site again. “What’s the news? I’ll make a plan to come down sometime next week.”

  “That’ll be good,” Craig said, yelling instructions to someone who interrupted him before coming back on the line. “So listen, I wanted to talk to you about the finances. The guys are threatening to put down their tools if they don’t get an answer. I managed to smooth things over earlier this week so they haven’t done it yet, but they’re getting impatient.”

  Fuck. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about that. I had been busy with it first thing on Monday morning, but then Marissa came in and I closed the file and never opened it again. As a result, I hadn’t done the work I should have done.

  “I hear you,” I said. “I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back to you on that. I got sidetracked, but it’s no problem. Tell them its fine. I can pay the difference out of my own pocket if I need to.”

  “You’re willing to do that?” Craig asked disbelievingly. “That’s a huge risk, Layton.”

  I shrugged, though I knew he couldn’t see me. “It’s one I’m willing to take. The return should be way more than I put in, so it’s not really such a big risk at all. I’ll get it back.”

  Craig released a heavy breath. “You’ve got balls of steel, man. I’ll give you that. Okay, if you’re sure, I’ll let them know today that it’s been approved.”

  “Thanks,” I said, turning a corner and being blasted by an icy wind tunneling through the buildings on either side of me now. I almost wished I hadn’t decided on walking, but not even the freezing wind could completely kill my mood. “I’m sorry again for not getting back to you earlier on this.”

  “It happens,” Craig told me. “How are you? How are things going with Marissa?”

  “I’m good,” I replied. “She’s amazing. Things are going well.”

  “I’m glad,” he chuckled. “I’m happy you’ve got her in your life.”

  “Why?”

  He laughed. I could almost see his shoulders shaking with the strength of it. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I want you to be happy, but I’m happy she’s in your life right now because she makes you so much easier to deal with.”

  “Asshole,” I smirked, shaking my head. “But yeah, you’re right, I guess she has.”

  Chapter 47

  Marissa

  Getting home on Friday afternoon, I found Denise and Annie baking cookies in the kitchen. There was flour on every surface, a half melted block of butter next to the microwave, several mixing bowls filled with batter and a bag of chocolate chips on the counter.

  But it a
lso smelled divine in the house, so at least that was something. I grinned when I found them wearing the novelty aprons I got them for Christmas last year. Denise’s said ‘Queen of Everything’ and Annie’s read, ‘The Remix.’ The one I got for myself read ‘The Original.’ Annie’s and mine were meant to be worn together, so I immediately got mine out of the cupboard and joined in with making the mess.

  “How was your day, ladies?” I asked, tying the apron’s strings behind my back.

  Denise cast an eye across the kitchen and jerked her head in the direction of the oven. “We’ve been baking, so it’s been great. We’ve got bran muffins, chocolate chip cookies and oat-crunchies made so far.”

  “Who was hungry when you got home?” I joked. “You do know we have food in the house, so you don’t actually need to bake before you can have lunch.”

  Annie giggled, nodding at Denise, “She said she was in the mood to bake. I’m always in the mood to eat the stuff she bakes, so we baked.”

  Denise and I laughed as I leaned over to hug Annie hello. “How was school, sweet pea? Did you learn anything interesting?”

  “Not really,” Annie replied somewhat dejectedly. “We carried on with reading and addition.”

  I frowned, wondering what was getting her down. Denise hadn’t mentioned anything to me, but I hadn’t really spoken to her much today. “What’s wrong? Did something happen at school?”

  “No,” she said vaguely, and carried on mixing the batter in the mixing bowl in front of her. She was pouting though, clearly not her usual bubbly self.

  I glanced at Denise, who shrugged and pointedly looked around the kitchen again. Right. That was why they were baking. Denise was trying to cheer Annie up. If they’d baked all that and she was still pouting, it had to be something big.

  “Hey hon, talk to me. What happened?” I asked, softening my voice as I looked at her intently.

  “There’s a party tomorrow,” she said, tears filling her eyes as she talked. “I wasn’t invited.”

  Ah, and there it was. “I’m sorry, baby. Who’s party?”

  “Adam’s,” she replied quietly, still refusing to meet my eyes. She kept hers firmly on the bowl and tried, but failed, to blink away the tears.

  I ran through my mental rolodex of her classmates, but I came up empty on an Adam. “Is Adam new in your class? I don’t remember hearing you talk about him before.”

  “He’s not in my class.,” she admitted. “But he invited Aisha and she’s in my class.”

  “Oh sweetheart. I’m sure he would have invited you if you were in his class. If he invited someone else in your class, he must know Aisha, even though she’s not in your class. Did we invite Adam to your birthday last year?”

  She shrugged her little shoulders. “No.”

  Despite not being classmates with the boy and obviously not being friends with him—since we hadn’t invited him to her birthday—it was clear she was bummed about not having been invited to the party.

  Luckily, I was pretty sure I had news that would cheer her up. Leaning with my elbows down on the counter, I cleared my throat until she eventually looked up at me. “Well, since you’re not going to be at a party tomorrow, I think I have something you might prefer doing anyway.”

  Her eyes still glistened, but I could see I had her attention. “You do?”

  I nodded, bending further over the counter as if I was about to share a secret with her. She cupped her ear and leaned in curiously. “Layton’s coming by to do something with us tomorrow.”

  Instantly, the sadness in her expression was replaced with excitement. The tears were nowhere to be seen and the wide smile took the place of the frown as she squealed, “Really? He is?”

  “Who’s what?” Denise asked, feigning confusion. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what I’d said to Annie. I whispered loudly enough that Denise might even have heard me. But I knew she would want Annie to tell her.

  “Layton’s coming to see us tomorrow,” Annie announced proudly, grinning like a cat who got both the canary and the cream.

  Denise clapped her hands excitedly and crooned, “That’s such good news. That will be way better than going to a party with people who aren’t even your friends.”

  “That’s true,” Annie agreed, taking up the spatula in her mixing bowl with renewed vigor. “Do you think he’ll take us fishing again?”

  “I don’t know, bug,” I told her. I’d been wondering the same thing, but I didn’t think so. It was freezing out this week and the weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t looking much better. “We’ll see, but whatever we do, it will be fun.”

  “I think so too,” Denise said, shooting me a wink. “I want to come—do you think he’ll mind?”

  I rolled my eyes at her innocent act. “I think after the inquisition you gave him last time, he’ll run for the hills if he thinks you’re coming too.”

  “I was just looking out for you,” she replied flippantly, still smiling. “Someone had to ask all those questions, I’m just glad it was me.”

  Annie giggled, “You’re always so curious, Aunty Dee.”

  “Some call it curious,” I joked. “Some call it nosy.”

  Denise stuck her tongue out at me when Annie wasn’t looking and pulled a tray of cookies out of the oven. While I transferred them to the cooling rack, she went to work getting the next batch in. “You know you were curious, too. Besides, I’ve asked him those questions now, I’m not going to ask them again.”

  “I can think of a few questions you haven’t covered yet,” I teased. Heaven knew, I shuddered to think what she would come up with given half a chance. His underwear size, current bank balance or the phone numbers of his best friends for references came to mind.

  Denise seemed to know where my thoughts had gone, because she nodded her agreement. “I could be more subtle with the next round of questions.”

  “Unfortunately,” I winked at Annie. “We’re keeping my dear boss all to ourselves tomorrow. Sorry. We’re going to have our own party with only the three of us being invited.”

  Annie cheered at that, abandoning her cookie batter in favor of coming to hug me. “I think that’s a fabulous idea, mommy.”

  “Fabulous?” I choked back a laugh, ruffling her hair. “You’ve been spending too much time with Denise.”

  “Fabulous is a much better word to use than good or great,” Denise retorted, her olive green eyes crinkling with laughter. “You’re just jealous.”

  I frowned, the corners of my mouth tipping up. “Jealous of what?”

  “My extraordinary mastery of superior language use,” she quipped, throwing her fiery curls back as she laughed.

  Along with Annie’s and now Layton’s, Denise’s laughter was one of my favorite sounds in the world. She laughed from her belly, cracking up genuinely with no inhibitions about what she looked or sounded like while doing it.

  “How long have you been saving that sentence?” I teased. “Because it doesn’t even really make sense.”

  “It makes sense if I say it does,” Denise rolled her eyes, busting out laughing again when she saw the frown Annie was giving the both of us.

  In a much better mood now that she knew her weekend wasn’t doomed, my little girl smiled and shook her head. “You’re both weird. I’m going to go build a puzzle.”

  “You’re weird,” Denise called out after her, but Annie didn’t respond. We heard the television going on and boxes being moved around in the cupboard as Annie searched for the next puzzle she wanted to build.

  Finally alone and able to speak freely, Denise came over and gave my shoulders a squeeze. “I’m glad he’s coming over again.”

  “So am I,” I admitted, releasing a dreamy sigh. “I never thought it would get this good between us, if I’m being honest. To know that he likes both me and Annie enough to want to spend time with us together, and that she likes him too feels like a gift I should treasure.”

  “You’re both fabulous girls,” Denise drawled,
winking as she put unnecessary emphasis on the word fabulous. “See, it’s much better than good or great. Anyway, he would be crazy not to like you. As for Annie liking him, he took her fishing, bought her ice cream and makes her mom happy. Of course she likes him.”

  “She doesn’t know he makes me happy,” I objected, but Denise silenced any further protests I might have had with a look.

  “Maybe she doesn’t know exactly what’s going on between you, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re so obviously happy when he’s around,” she told me. “Trust me, you’d have to be blind not to see it. Annie’s not blind, she just doesn’t have the context of why he makes you so happy.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed.

  “What makes me happy is that you found someone like him,” she said. “He’s good for you. I know you two have had your ups and downs, but you’re different since you’ve been with him. Different in the best way possible. You’re lighter, happier and even friendlier than usual. I’m glad he’s in your life.”

  I thought about what she said. When I was with Layton, I did feel different. He was a good guy who truly did make me happy. Despite everything that had happened between us, he hadn’t let me down a single time.

  He was always there for me, always willing to listen. With the single exception of the time I had to hold his blueprints hostage to get him to listen because he was so angry with me, but that was largely on me anyway. Now, he just made me feel like he adored both me and Annie.

  Finally, I nodded in response to Denise’s statement. “I’m glad he’s in my life too.”

  Chapter 48

  Layton

  Whistling cheerfully, I stepped out of the shower. I was due to leave for Marissa’s in twenty minutes and I couldn’t wait to see her and spend some more time with her and Annie.

  As unlikely as it seemed, I was more excited for the day than I had been for anything in a long time. It sucked that I wouldn’t get to kiss or hold Marissa, or really even touch her while Annie was around, but I was willing to suffer through that particular brand of torture if it meant getting to spend time with them. I told myself there would be plenty of time for all the touching I wanted to do later on. Eventually, I was sure Marissa would feel more comfortable with telling Annie about the true nature of our relationship. All I had to do was be patient.