The next morning, I heard a vibrating sound that almost startled me a bit.
“Hello?”
“Tess, where the hell are you," a tired voice demanded.
“Jill? What time is it?”
“It’s half past check your goddamn phone. You were supposed to be here two hours ago.”
“Sorry, Jill…”
“There anything else you forgot to tell me? Like the fact that you work at an fucking strip club? You lied to me, Tess.”
“Jill…”
“Look, you’re my best friend and I love you, but I’m tired of you lying to me and keeping secrets. That’s not my best friend. You’re better than that.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Stop apologizing, Tess. I’m done. I love you, but you’re not the girl I love to be around anymore. I’m done lying to Wendy, telling her things that I don’t even know for sure. When you get your shit together, then we’ll talk.”
“Jill, wait…”
She had already hung up before I could say more. I hated admitting it, but she was right. She had done everything for me and I just lied to her. Jill was the only friend that had always been there no matter what. I moved forward before seeing a muscular arm wrapped around my stomach. I felt as if my only option was to lie there and listen to the rain and Nick’s soft discombobulated whispers. I had lost my best friend within a few minutes and it felt like the world was going to swallow me into the shallow coldness. I slid out of Nick’s embrace and found my clothes strewn all over the wooden floor. I silently collected them and tip toed to the door. Then, I felt a certain punch in my chest.
I found a small blank card on the kitchen counter and scribbled something down quickly.
“We should do this again sometime.”
With that, I made my way back home. I left that place with a mission that I had no intention of giving up on. A mission to get my life back. I knew that this mission wouldn’t be resolved in a day, or even a month, but I knew I wasn’t giving up until I was on my deathbed. The first step to achieving my goal was getting my daughter back. I took a taxi to Jill’s apartment and knocked on the door. Jill raised her eyebrows as if she were waiting for an apology.
“I’m here to get my daughter.”
“I’ll go get her.”
“Great,” I mimicked, returning her cold glare.
She rolled her eyes and walked back into her apartment. I heard a squeal of glee that could only come from my daughter. She raced to the door and leaped into my arms.
“Mommy, me and Auntie Jill made cookies and we watched Toy Story all the way through!”
“That’s great! I missed you, baby.”
“So, you gonna tell me where you were that was so important that you had to show up two hours late or are you gonna lie about that too,” Jill growled, running her hands through her long brown hair.
“I overslept. Would you get off my case, Jill? I’m trying the best I can and all you can do is bitch about it like it’s my fault I feel like I have no control over my life anymore?”
“That’s been your excuse for a year now, Tess. I’m so done with listening to you whine about how much your life sucks. You think I don’t have problems of my own? I’ve done nothing but listen to you and your stupid ass problems for the last seven years, Tess. You never stop to think about anybody else, do you? You always come first no matter what.”
