Laying it Bare After a Loss Page 2

  About a half an hour later, I emerged, dried off, pulled on my clothes, and then brushed the nasty taste out of my mouth. After hanging up my towel and taking care of my dirty clothes, I walked down the short hallway to my tiny kitchen. My entire apartment was pretty small but it suited me just fine. I had a small table that sat four in my kitchen but I usually sat at the island, even when I had Charity over. On the other side of the island was a cozy living room. And in addition to my bedroom and the bathroom I had another small bedroom. The apartment fit my budget and it suited me perfectly. I sat down on one of the stools in front of the island. “Breakfast smells amazing. Although should we call it brunch since it’s after eleven?”

  “I’m going to call it ‘get you through your hangover’ food.” She scooped eggs, bacon, and pancakes onto two plates and slid them onto the counter. “Dig in.” Then she circled the island and sat down beside me. “You smell much better. I doubt you feel much better though.”

  “Not really. I feel more like myself but my head is a killer.” I grabbed two aspirin from the bottle sitting by the syrup and swallowed them with some orange juice. “Thank you again, for everything. I will try really hard to make you some fudge today.”

  “Get those sheets washed first.” She grinned at me like she was plotting something.

  I paused with a bite of pancake in front of my mouth. “What else happened in those sheets? Do I even want to know?”

  She snickered. “Nothing. Other than two gross girls soiling the sheets with their filth from the bar bathroom.”

  Definitely disgusting. “Then what’s the grin for?” She was up to something.

  “I have a date with Jace Tuesday evening. He’s taking me to dinner.”

  “That would explain a normal giddy ‘I’m over the moon’ smile not the one you are currently sporting.” I shoved the pancake into my mouth because I was starving and eyed my best friend suspiciously. “Wait, how did you have time to get his number with taking care of me?” I picked up a strip of bacon and bit off a huge bite.

  “I gave him my number when he came to pick up Mitch from your house. There was no way I was going to be able to haul you to bed so I had Mitch carry you in.” She smirked around her mouthful of eggs.

  Bad but not horrible; I wasn’t planning on seeing him again. “So he had to put me to bed. Ugh.” I rubbed my hand down my face. “I guess it could have been worse. And it’s not like I plan on seeing him again. I mean we frequent the same bar but I can avoid him.”

  “Actually.” She drew out the word.

  And I groaned. “Did you give him my number? He’s not going to call me. He was appalled at my behavior last night.” I vaguely remembered the disgust in his voice and his words. “Maybe he’ll send me a text telling me how pathetic I was. No, he won’t send anything because he wouldn’t want me to have his number.”

  “Stop being overdramatic. And no, I wouldn’t give him your number without your permission. You can give it to him yourself. Jace invited the two of us to join them at Shooters next Saturday. You can get to know Mitch then. You won’t be drinking so you can have an intelligent conversation. And I bet once he gets to know you, he’ll ask for your number.”

  “Ah the first impression I gave was not a good one. He probably doesn’t even want me to go and was only being polite because of Jace. You know, take one for the team and all.”

  “You need more food in your body. And I think it’s the alcohol leaving your system making you all depressing. When he sees you acting like the normal fun girl I know and love he’s going to forget about your bad night. We all have them, Trinity. Let’s finish eating so you can get to whatever it is you plan to do today. And you have almost a week. A lot can happen and change in a week. You can put this behind you and move on. I’m taking you with me on Saturday and we’re going to have a great time, both of us. Although I’ll be having more than just a little bit of fun on Tuesday.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

  I giggled despite my mood. “I’ll think about it.” I took another bite of my pancake.

  “If you need me anytime this week, call me or send a text. The schedule is busy this week at the garage but I’ll make time for you if needed. Just please don’t need me on Tuesday.”

  “I usually keep myself pretty busy during the week so I should be good.”

  We finished our breakfast and then I shooed her out the door, insisting I would be the one to clean up the mess since she was nice enough to make food for me. After she gave me a hug, she headed out to her car.

  Once I had the counters wiped off, I decided to continue my cleaning spree and ran the vacuum and scoured the bathroom. I had tossed my bed sheets into the wash and by the time I was done cleaning they were done so I made my bed; only to crawl into it to take a nap. I hadn’t really intended to take a nap because I worried it would make it difficult to fall asleep then that night, but my head still ached and I was pretty wiped out.

  But my thoughts kept drifting to Mitch while I had been cleaning. And I didn’t want to think about him. Even though he had beautiful sexy eyes, which was always the first thing I noticed on a guy, the way we had met didn’t sound like a great way to start out any type of relationship. So did I even want to try to start something? And wasn’t this all a moot point anyway because there was really no way he was interested in the passed out drunk girl from last night, who he either suspected had a huge drinking problem or a slew of problems she didn’t want to deal with so why would he. All of the unnecessary brain activity didn’t help my waning headache. And I didn’t want it to return with a vengeance. So I forced myself to shut off my thoughts.

  When I awoke two hours later, my headache was only a dull throb so I decided to whip up a batch of fudge because then I could indulge a bit too. Although I really didn’t think Charity deserved any since she was going to try to make me hang out with that group next weekend. But when I gave it a little more thought, I figured maybe there was a chance I could become friends with the crew and Charity could date Jace. And if it didn’t work out for me, she could still date Jace and we’d just have to find somewhere else to hang out on Saturdays.

  Two

  ~Mitch~

  I had a hard time banishing Trinity from my thoughts. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate on something else, she found a way to invade my mind. There was just something about her that piqued my interest. Which was incredibly odd considering I had seen her at the bar numerous times since we frequented the place but I had never made a move to meet her before. So was it only because of the situation I had inadvertently found myself thrust into with her? That now it was merely curiosity? Or was I interested because of something I had felt on a deeper level? And was that even possible considering the state she had been in?

  But did I really want to get involved with someone who drank like that? Although her best friend assured me she only drank on Saturday nights and that she had never gotten that bad before. And she also alluded to the fact there was more to Trinity’s story but I would have to ask her myself. Did I really want to start a relationship with someone who had baggage too? The fact that here it was midweek and I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since I had met her on Saturday signaled at least part of me was drawn to her and liked the idea of pursuing her.

  She wasn’t like the typical girl who was usually on my radar. It wasn’t that she was unattractive; she was cute in the girl next door way. But I normally gravitated to big breasted blondes and unfortunately sassy red heads. A frown tugged at my lips. It had been over a year since the dynamics of our small group had transformed. The first change dealt me a huge blow. I had lost the girl I had been in love with for years. She was still a part of our tight group but she was now married with a daughter. My initial reaction had been appalling to say the least and it was difficult coming to terms with the loss, but I did, sort of. There were still many days I felt the ache deep in my soul. The only consolation: she was incredibly happy with Flynn and she would have never loved me like I did her
and I deserved more than that. So I moved on the best I could, happy she was still a huge part of my life.

  And then my thoughts drifted back to Trinity. Brown wild hair that looked good on her. And her hazel eyes held a depth I hadn’t noticed in many girls who had caught my eye. There was something to her, I couldn’t deny that, but did I want to explore it more? Jace had taken her friend Charity out on a date yesterday and apparently had a really good time. He had asked her out on Saturday when he had come to pick me up at Trinity’s and then he had invited both girls to hang out with us this Saturday. Would Trinity even come? Did I want her to? If she showed up, we could see if there was anything between us worth exploring. And other than witnessing her at one of her lowest points, I didn’t know that much about her and had never been the judgmental type. She hadn’t driven to the bar that night, so she was responsible, even if she had been so intoxicated she had passed out cold. But we all hit lows in our life at one point or another. And we all do incredibly stupid things. I was well aware of that.

  “Yo, dude. Did you run out and now are brewing the stuff?” Jace popped into my kitchen. “Plus I came in for a refill on snacks.”

  “Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. And don’t even snicker and tell me I’m such a girl.” I closed the refrigerator door. Shit, how long had I had that opened? Then I pointed one of the bottles of beer I held in my hand at him. “Actually you can’t give me any shit because you’re now in lovy dovy land too. Jeez, first Flynn falls, then Sawyer, and now you.”

  Jace’s lips curled into a huge cocky grin. “Charity is amazing. She’s hot and a mechanic. Like holy shit, perfect. And if she were into girls too, I’d have hit the jackpot.” He grabbed the two bottles I held out to him.

  Then I grabbed two more for me. “The ultimate dream. I think I have another bag of that spicy nacho party mix in that drawer.” I gestured with my bottles.

  Jace shifted his beers to one hand so he could grab more snacks with the other. “What do you think of her friend? I mean I don’t even know if she’s interested but that would be cool, you know. The four of us?” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

  And I laughed despite the absurdity of his idea. But I couldn’t deny the fact that it did intrigue me. What could I say: I was a guy.

  “I don’t know.” I nodded my head to the doorway so the two of us headed back down the hall to the sliding glass door that led to my patio. Once outside I dropped down on one of the wicker chairs in front of my glass table. “She was cute but as far as first impressions go, not a good way to start out.”

  Jace plopped down in the chair across from me. “No, but I don’t think that’s quite her norm. Charity didn’t say much about it, not that I would expect her to betray her friend’s trust and Trinity didn’t strike me as the type to go on ‘all weekend long’ binges or anything.”

  “No, I didn’t think so either. And I figure if she shows up on Saturday and we get to talking, I’ll see how things progress.” I took a long pull on my beer.

  “Maybe she’ll end up being something different from the girls you’ve been picking up lately. I’m not going to open up old wounds but you should start looking for something serious. It will help, I’m sure. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.” He tossed a few pieces of the party mix into his mouth.

  As far as the others were concerned I was completely fine with Flynn and Apryl. I mean I had been his best man for his wedding – he wasn’t close to his brothers and although I had been a bit surprised when he had asked I had figured it would show I was trying – and I had been out with the group at every one of our gatherings. So it wasn’t like I was home sulking. But Jace and I had talked a lot in the months following their engagement. And I had drunk a lot of beer in those months. Maybe Trinity and I had some things in common. I actually welcomed her invading my mind again because it distracted me from what I couldn’t have. Jace was well aware of how much my heart had ached over learning I would never have her. But even though I was not perfect, the one thing I was not was a homewrecker. Apryl was too important to me and Flynn really was a great guy. “Yeah, old news. And you are probably right. But could I fall in love again? And no, I’m not being sappy. I don’t want to hurt her. She’s seems like she’s been through enough already.”

  “You talk like she’s going to like you.” Smirking, he took a swig of his beer.

  “I never have a problem getting the girl to like me.”

  He raised his brow at me.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Okay, so it happened once in my twenty four years of life. But seriously, those are great odds.” I shoved a few nachos into my mouth.

  “Well, Charity is pretty freaking awesome and since they are best friends, Trinity is probably pretty amazing too. We’ll find out soon enough.” He leaned back in his chair. “Are you taking anything to Flynn’s tomorrow night? I never know what to take since Apryl takes care of everything when she cooks for us.”

  “I might grab a nice bouquet of flowers. The last time I took a small case of beer so did you and Sawyer. I’ll leave that for you two.”

  After Jace left, I grabbed our empty bottles and walked down the few steps that led into my back yard to toss them into the garbage can that sat along the rear wall of my place. On my way into the house, I snatched the bag of what was left of the party mix off of the table. Once I dropped the bag onto the kitchen bar, I strolled into my living room. The load of clean unfolded laundry still sat in a basket under the flat screen on the other side of the room. It would continue to sit there until I did something about it. So I folded the clothes and then put them away.

  Since I was already in the back part of the house I decided to grab a shower. I stripped out of my clothes, dropped them into the laundry, and then stepped into my connecting bathroom. Once I got the water temperature adjusted, I hopped into the shower. When I was finished, I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked back into my room. My eyes landed on the comforter covering my king sized bed. It was plain navy blue just like the one covering Trinity’s bed. Annnd she was back in my thoughts. I just wished the memory of her bed had been a more pleasant one. Not one of me dumping her onto it after her best friend had pulled her shoes off because she had been passed out cold and couldn’t do it for herself.

  Sighing, I strolled over to my dresser to pull out a gray pair of sweat pants and a gray t-shirt. Then I headed back out to the living room and snatched the remote from the coffee table in front of my black leather couch and plopped down. I clicked on the set and surfed the channels until I found a baseball game. And while the game played on the screen, my thoughts drifted to wondering if Trinity liked baseball and would want to go to a game. Jeez, slow your roll. There was a slim chance she wouldn’t be interested in you, period. And I wasn’t sure if that made me relieved or bummed.

  The next day after work, I stopped at the floral shop for a bunch of roses and carnations before heading in the direction of Flynn’s place. After pulling around to the back of the complex, I parked my truck and hopped out. Then I circled around to the front and into his building. His apartment was on the first floor and on the side which housed the larger residences, so it was a no-brainer as to why Apryl moved in with him rather than him moving in with her. Any time she had had us over for dinner at her place, it was pretty tight for eating since she only had a small kitchen table and an island. When we retreated to her living room afterward it wasn’t bad because we sat all over the place and talked. But to have a sit down meal took a bit of ingenuity. Although we never complained because Apryl was a great cook.

  On my way down the hallway, the delicious aroma of her incredible lasagna drifted toward me. My stomach growled in anticipation. A few moments after I knocked, Flynn opened the door.

  “These definitely are not for you.” I held out the bouquet. “But you could be a gentleman and place them in some water for your wife.” Smirking, I stepped inside.

  “That’s okay, I’m hoping Sawyer or Jace bring beer. But I’m sure my wife
will love these.” He chuckled as he strolled in the direction of the kitchen. “Callie is in the living room with Apryl and Amber. The other two will be here in less than five minutes.”

  I joined the girls in the living room and plopped down on the recliner by the door. “She is getting so big. What the hell are you feeding her?” Flynn and Apryl’s daughter Amber was the spitting image of Apryl with the fiery red hair and beautiful blue eyes. Flynn was going to have his hands full in about ten years or so. I smirked to myself. Maybe even sooner.

  “She eats from my boob but we might start trying cereal soon. She will be turning four months next week.” Apryl kissed her daughter’s cheek before handing her off to Callie.

  “She is the cutest baby every. I knew you were going to have a beautiful baby but OMG she is freaking adorable.” Callie gave Amber an Eskimo kiss, making her giggle. “And her giggle is so precious.”

  When I had gotten the call that Amber was born, a stab of envy and depression speared me right in my heart. But when I walked into the hospital room twenty minutes later and was greeted with the picture of the three of them together, pure joy radiating off of them in huge waves, I started to really heal that day. Yes, I still got a twinge of sadness once in a while about the entire situation but I had wanted that happiness for Apryl and hopefully someday I got the chance to experience my own slice.

  And maybe I would get the opportunity with the new girl I sort of met. Why did my thoughts drift back to her when I considered finding what Flynn and Apryl have? I had no idea but they had been filtering in since I had met her.

  Commotion at the door brought me out of my thoughts.