Best of my Love

Chapter Seventeen

"Linda's helping a friend for a while." Don said as we pulled onto North Beachwood Drive. "She's in a rough place right now so Linda's helping her get back on her feet... Christy, are you listening to me?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded, continuing to look out the window. 

"Christy," he gentley put his hand on my thigh, making me jump. 

"I'm fine!"

He looked at me, pulling his eyebrows together. "I didn't ask."

I huffed and put my gaze to the floorboard. 

"Baby, I know I haven't been around lately, and I feel like you're slipping away from me."

"I go through things like this sometimes." I insisted.

I don't know why I still felt like I had to lie to him. I wanted more than anything to tell him why James was after me. But I couldn't. I couldn't even bring myself to tell Glenn! I tell him everything. More than I tell Don, and I feel terrible for doing that.  

"How about I make it up to you?" He pleaded, pulling into the driveway of the apartment complex. "Tonight, it'll  just be you and me. I'll cancel every plan I know I have and we'll do whatever you want."

You're not the problem! I almost cried, but only choked out, "okay."

"Call me if you need me." He said as I opened the car door. "Okay?"

"Okay." I smiled weakly, leaning to him and getting a kiss. I reluctantly pulled away from his lips and got out of the car. 

"Tell Lin I said hi." 

"I will."

"M'kay. I love you." He said, putting the car in gear. 

"Love you too." 

I watched him drive away until I could only see waves of heat on the horizon. I slowly blinked and turned to the house. 

J.D. and Linda had taken it over from Warren Zevon and his girlfriend, Tule, who needed a bigger space for their kid. It was a nice Mediterranean-styled building built sometime in the 1920s. I looked up and watch the sun shine right through the Palladian windows, streaking through the lace curtains Linda and I had gotten. MGM Studios had a sale and we bought the curtains that had been on one of their movie sets. We hung them over the windows when they first moved in. 

I knocked on the door and waited a moment. 

No answer. 

I knocked a little harder this time, and within seconds, the door swung open. 

"Hey, Chris!" Linda's beautiful voice greeted me. 

"Hey, Lin." I sighed in happiness, holding her in the hug she started. 

"Come in!" She let me squeeze by her and she shut the door. "You're lucky I was down stairs. If Bill would have gotten the door, I wouldn't have seen you at all today."

Bill Martin was a comedy writer that lived right below Linda's apartment. He was a funny guy that hid his alert intelligence behind a half-lidded and slow-moving exterior. His apartment was filled with modern hippie essentials. Him and his wife had a thing for horticulture and grew their own incredibly strong marijuana that Glenn had come to love. 

"Don prob'ly already told you, but I've told a friend she could stay with me and J.D. for a while." Linda said as we started up the stairs. 

"He did." I replied quietly, only the echo of our voices on the concrete allowing her to hear me. 

"Emmy, I'm back!" She announced, closing the door behind me. 

I studied the battered hardwood floors that had a fresh yet dim shine from the wax coating Linda said she worked hard to maintain.