by Liza Kline
“How’s it going?” I asked when he looked up from his phone.
“Same old, same old.” He responded with a shrug. “Anything new with you?”
“Still trying to find a date for Amber’s wedding. The dating app Kerri suggested was a dead end.” I said with a sigh as I remembered that my mother would be expecting my call this evening. My lack of a date would be sure to come up, repeatedly. If I focused on that particular problem I could easily forget all about Grant.
“You could always hire a date. David can always use the money.” Alex laughed as the waitress approached.
“Hysterical.” After placing our order, a burger for Alex and a BLT with fries for me, Alex changed the topic of our conversation.
“Did Grant get ahold of you last night?” I nearly spit my apple juice out. Well hell, there went avoiding that.
“He sent some texts while I was asleep.” A partial truth was better than an outright lie.
“He wasn’t doing so good when he left the bar. Said he was going to see you before he had to head back to base. Two of the men in his unit were ambushed and killed last week and he managed to get forty-eight hours of leave for their funerals.”
“Oh shit.” Brilliant response MacKenzie. Well at least that explained what Grant had been doing at my apartment in the middle of the night. The last time a member of Grant’s unit had been killed he’d spent his entire weekend leave hanging out on my couch. His drinking also explained the momentary lapse in judgement on his part, no matter how good it had been. I was going to have to check in on him and pretend like last night had never happened. He needed his best friend, not a needy female.
“Yea, David and I were hoping that he had crashed at your place for the night when we couldn’t get ahold of him.”
“Maybe he went straight back to base when I didn’t respond to his messages.” I was definitely going to hell. “I’ll check in with him later tonight.”
“Thanks Kenzie. Let me know when you hear from him.”
I didn’t have much of an appetite by the time our food arrived but I ate my sandwich anyway. I tossed a twenty on the table before Alex was done eating to cover the meal and leave a generous tip for the waitress. Telling him I’d catch up with him later I tried not to run out the door. Once I was outside I took my time walking back to my office. I hadn’t given myself time to process everything that had happened in the last twelve hours and I still wasn’t sure I was ready to think about what my actions would mean for my friendships.
There was a good chance that my relationship with Grant would never be the same, and if Alex and David ever found out that we had slept together they would look at me like I was another one of Grant’s bimbos on top of all the jokes they’d torture me with. It would be best for everyone if I just forgot about what it was like to make love to my best friend and try to pretend that it had never happened. Besides, it wasn’t like Grant had professed he’d secretly been in love with me for years. It had been an alcohol induced need for comfort, nothing more.
My home phone started to ring as I walked through my front door after work. I knew without looking that it was my mother, she was the only one that used that number. I managed to answer on the last ring before the answering machine picked up, as I mentally prepared myself for what was sure to be another long list of my faults. Just what I needed after getting stuck at work late to fix another programmer’s issue.
“Hi mom,” I answered trying to sound cheerful.
“Were you going to ignore your own mother?” Looked like she was already fired up.
“No, I just walked in the door. I got stuck at work late today.”
“Are they paying you overtime? They better be paying you time and a half for being there later than your scheduled shift. You need to speak up for yourself MacKenzie. I didn’t raise you to be a wallflower.”
She continued on before I could respond. “Amber had her final dress fitting today, she looked like a princess. You should have seen her, but no you’re too busy with your life to help your sister enjoy one of the most exciting periods of her life. You aren’t jealous that your younger sister is getting married before you, are you MacKenzie?”
“No, mother.”
“If you hadn’t insisted on acting like one of the boys you would have been married by now. Do you understand how hard I worked to befriend Mrs. MacDaniels? It took years to get her to warm up to the idea of being related and then you blew it by insisting on acting like a boy. Really MacKenzie, was it really that hard? I could have been a grandma by now.”
“I’m sorry mother. I’m sure Amber will produce beautiful grandchildren for you before you know it.”
“Do not change the subject young lady.” I had to stifle my sigh, here we go. She was going to bring up my lack of wedding date now. “Do you have a date for your sister’s wedding yet?”
“Not yet.” I hated to utter those words out loud. I really didn’t want to listen to another one of my mother’s lectures.
“What are you waiting for? Are you trying to make me the laughing stock of my bridge club? All of my friend’s daughters are married…” I tuned out the now familiar words as I grabbed a box of cereal from the cupboard for dinner. It was all I could do to stay awake, so a quick dinner would suffice. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, mom. I will not embarrass you further by showing up alone. I will have a date for Amber’s wedding. Listen, it’s getting late and I still need to make dinner before I call it a night. I love you and I’ll talk to you later.” I ended the call before she could protest.
I settled down on the sofa with my cereal and stared at my cell phone debating what I should say to Grant. I didn’t want to sound desperate or like a clingy one night stand. It shouldn’t be this hard to text my best friend. I’d been doing it for years and never thought twice about it. I needed to stop overthinking what had happened last night and just send the man a message. He was probably feeling just as awkward as I was. Suck it up buttercup and find out how your best friend is coping with his recent loss.
“How are you doing? Alex told me about your men. I’m sorry.” There, short and to the point. Now to wait for a response.
I waited two hours for a return text before finally giving up and going to bed. The morning light showed that Grant hadn’t responded to my text during the night which wasn’t surprising. If he had deployed as soon as he had gotten back to base it could be weeks before anyone heard from him. I wasn’t going to stress about not hearing back from him, I wasn’t. Well, not much. My best friend wouldn’t avoid me. I hoped.
Chapter 3
“I fold.” I said getting up from my scarred dining room table. I had inherited it from grandparents when they sold their house to move to Florida. I had fond memories of Sunday dinners seated around its wooden surface with my family, even if my mother drove me crazy. “Does anyone need another drink while I’m up?”
Alex and David were currently involved in a bidding war that had reached epic proportions, even by their standards, and if I were to hazard a guess neither one of them had anything more than a pair. Our weekly poker games weren’t about the money but more about the bragging rights that came with being the person that folded the least. Alex and I were tied with four folds a piece and David only had one. Alex was trying to get our curly haired friend to increase his count. Alex hated to lose.
“I’ll take another.” David called out as he raised Alex yet again.
“Me too.” Alex echoed as I left the room.
It had been three weeks since my night with Grant and I still hadn’t heard back from him. I was sure that he was just busy and not purposely avoiding contact with me. Maybe I’d send him a message through social media after the guys left tonight. It was possible that he had left his phone behind, it had happened before. I grabbed two bottles of beer from the fridge for the guys and sweet tea for myself. I had no desire to go into work in the morning hung over.
“Twos! I folded over a pair of lousy twos.” Ale
x yelled as I reentered the room throwing the offending cards across the table at a laughing David.
“Have a drink.” I said handing the guys their beers before taking my place at the table. “Who’s dealing?”
“Your turn, ma’am.” David responded sliding cards across the table to me.
“Stop calling me ma’am. I’ll make you regret it if you do it again.” I responded half-heartedly as I organized the cards into one neat pile.
“Anyone hear from Grant lately?” Alex asked taking a pull from his beer.
“Not me.” I was hoping David hadn’t either because it would mean that Grant wasn’t ignoring me.
“A couple texts since he left.” David responded after giving me a long look. I knew what he was thinking, it was unusual for me not to hear from Grant. Normally he’d have me pass messages on to him and Alex. “Said he’ll be out of the country for a couple months but then should be home for a while. He’s thinking about retiring.”
“What brought that on?” Alex asked taking a look at the cards I dealt him.
“Didn’t say. Maybe he met someone.” Way to dig the knife a little deeper David I wanted to shout. Calm down MacKenzie they don’t know anything happened and even if Grant did meet someone you should be happy for him. That night was a mistake and you know it.
“He say anything to you Kenz?” Alex asked while I pretended to study my cards.
“Nope, haven’t heard from him in weeks.” Which was the truth at this point. “If you ladies are done gossiping, place your bets.”
By the time our game wrapped up I was down twenty dollars but managed to win bragging rights for the week. I’d turned my focus away from thoughts of Grant and instead concentrated on making my friends fold, not giving them the chance to question my lack of contact with my best friend. It had worked better than I anticipated with both men more focused on trying to beat me.
“Well kids, it’s been fun but I need to be up early in the morning so I’m going to call it a night.” Alex said standing up from the table.
“That’s what all the losers say.” I responded with a smirk.
“Goodnight Mac.” Alex said as he hurried to the front door, closing it before I could find something to throw at him.
“I should get going too.” David said still chuckling at Alex’s fast escape. I walked him to the door so I could deadbolt it after he left. When we reached the door he turned to face me, running his fingers through his dark curls. David and Grant looked like they could be related, although David’s muscles weren’t as defined as Grant’s and he was my height. I waited for him to speak while trying not to think about the last time I had spent this long at my front door.
“If you need anything, anything at all let me know. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” He finally said with a small smile.
“Thanks David. I’m good.”
“It’s a standing offer MacKenzie, whenever you need it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said awkwardly wishing he had just left with Alex.
“Have a good night.”
“You too.”
After locking the door I returned to my dining room to clean up the cards and empty bottles that littered my table. I tried to ignore the niggling suspicion that David knew what had happened between Grant and myself, but there was no way Grant would have admitted that to him. Maybe he thought I would be upset over the possibility of Grant finally settling down with someone. His statement had caught me off guard and I had no idea what my face had revealed before I had been able to get it under control. That must be it. There was no possible way David had any idea of what had transpired while Grant was on leave. Feeling better about the reason behind David’s sudden concern I carried the empty bottles to the kitchen.
After wiping down the dining room table and kitchen counters with a damp cloth I turned out the lights and headed for the shower, hoping it would help me relax enough to sleep. Now that it was just me alone with my thoughts all I could think about was David’s theory that Grant had met someone, someone he was willing to give up his career for. I couldn’t picture him doing that for any of the bimbos he’d dated in the past and I knew it sure as hell wasn’t me. He couldn’t even respond to a text message to let me know he was alive. So who was the mystery woman that had enthralled him? And why the hell had he slept with me if there was another woman? Maybe she didn’t exist at all and David’s speculation was just that, a theory because none of us had an answer.
Chapter 4
Grant
I stared at the offending phone in disgust as I paced the small confines of my tent. Four days without a single bar, four! How was I supposed to apologize for being a coward? For sneaking away at first light instead of waking her and telling her the truth. I sure as hell hadn’t been acting like a Marine lately. And what did I do when I finally had reception, I texted David and asked him to look out for Mac for me. I knew he wouldn’t ask a million questions like Alex would and he wouldn’t go around running his mouth about what I told him either.
The wind rattled the tarp walls of my tent as I glared at the phone I had picked up while I was on leave. My old phone had been left behind in my hurry to get home for the funerals and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to return for it. It was the reason I backed up all my photos and contacts to the cloud, so I could see her whenever I had a moment to myself. I was getting too old to keep lying to myself about my feelings. I needed to talk to Mac before I made any permanent decisions. She always seemed to know what to say when I was conflicted to help me make the right choice, but this was a conversation that needed to happen face to face. I couldn’t take the chance that one of my texts wouldn’t get delivered or I’d lose reception in the middle of the conversation.
My apology and the ensuing conversation would just have to wait two more months until I was home again. Maybe by then I’d know the right words to say.
* * *
MacKenzie
It had been six weeks and still not a single word from Grant, what the hell? Was he really planning on ignoring me forever? I had been sure that he would have gotten over any awkwardness by now. I had sent a couple of texts to check in with him and now I was just annoyed that he was being so childish and ignoring me. I knew that he was, in fact, ignoring me because both Alex and David had heard from him. Screw him, when he was ready to talk he could contact me. I was done trying to smooth things over. I wasn’t the one who had initiated things. I had nothing to be sorry for. The more I thought about Grant’s blatant refusal to respond to a single text message the angrier I became.
I glanced down at my phone to confirm that my mother was now twenty minutes late for the Sunday brunch she insisted we have today. If the situation had been reversed I’d have received at least ten calls by now. I knew it was punishment for still not having a date for my sister’s wedding which was now a mere six weeks away. It wasn’t my fault the fish in my dating pool were all slime suckers. I flicked my screen down to see what notifications it was hiding. I was notoriously bad at not paying attention to my phone if it wasn’t a text message or phone call. I had several notifications from the one game I played telling me that my lives had refilled, a couple about sales I had missed, app updates, and one that caught my attention. My period was sixteen days late.
Normally it wouldn’t have been a cause for concern, my cycles were unpredictable at best, but my night with Grant immediately flashed to my mind’s eye and for the life of me I couldn’t remember if we had used a condom or not. There was nothing to worry about until after I took a test. It was probably nothing. Knowing my mother I had plenty of time to run across the street to the pharmacy and pick up a test before she decided to grace me with her presence. Just as I started to gather my belongings my mother slid into the booth across from me.
“Were there no tables available?” My mother huffed in place of a greeting.
“Hello mother, how are you?” I ignored her question hoping to get through this meal as quickly as possible. My mind
was spinning with the possibility that I was pregnant with Grant’s baby.
“Traffic was terrible. Why did you insist we meet here?”
“It was your choice. You said they had the best French toast.”
The waitress that had been hovering nearby approached our booth, giving me a momentary reprieve. After taking our orders, French toast for my mother and a western omelet with a side of bacon for me, she rushed off to the kitchen. I couldn’t blame her, I’d like to rush away from my mother as well.
“Well?” My mother asked looking at me expectantly. I knew what her question was and debated pretending I didn’t know what she was asking for a few moments before deciding it wasn’t worth the lecture.
“I’m working on it. I have a date this week.” I lied to my mother. Well, it was only partially a lie. I was meeting David for dinner Thursday night in place of our poker game. Alex was going out of town for work and we didn’t see the point on playing with just the two of us.
“Is he marriage material?”
“Good lord mother! How am I supposed to determine that before we’ve even had our first date? I thought you just wanted me to have a date for Amber’s wedding not a fiancé.”
“You aren’t getting any younger or smaller.” She said with a pointed look at the plate of bacon the waitress set down in front of me. Just to spite her I grabbed a piece and took a big bite. “Now you’re just being childish MacKenzie.”
“Can we please just enjoy our meal? I’m trying to find a date for the wedding. I have high hopes for my date this week. I will let you know how it goes when I call you on Saturday.” I said taking a sip of orange juice to wash down my bacon.