Chapter 22 #2
“Harlow!” Cathrine’s voice pitches up. “Oh, my word, I can’t believe it’s you! How are you? When are you coming home? Are you back?” Why does she sound nervous rather than excited?
“No, I’m not back.”
She huffs out a breath that sounds like relief. “Soon, I hope.” She’s smiling now. “We miss you.”
“Ummmm…hopefully, soon. I’m not sure yet,” I say carefully. “Where’s Miles? Why are you answering his phone?”
There’s a beat of silence. “Um…a…um…couple of us got together. We’re having a barbecue at Miles’ place.”
“On a Wednesday evening?” I frown, pressing the receiver closer to my ear. “That’s unusual.”
I can’t hear anything in the background. No music, no laughter, no sounds of people talking. Just silence.
“Yep!” Cathrine says too brightly. “It was an impromptu thing. You know how it is. Sam and Alley are here, as well as—”
“That’s nice,” I tell her, getting an uneasy feeling in my gut. “Where’s Miles? Can I talk to him?”
“He’s…um…he left to go fetch more beer.”
“Without his phone?” I ask, my suspicion growing.
“He forgot it.” Cathrine’s voice gets defensive. “Why the twenty questions, Harlow? It’s me, your bestie for life. You sound stressed. Is everything okay? You’re worrying me.”
That sounds like the Cath who has indeed been my best friend for years.
Guilt washes over me. I’m acting like I can’t trust them, but of course I can.
She’d never… We’ve known each other since high school.
She’s like a sister to me. Miles is first and foremost my friend, as well.
I’ve known him forever. At least, it feels that way.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I’m tired, and yes, stressed. You know me so well. How are you doing? How’s work?”
“Work is good,” Cathrine starts, launching into something about her job at the marketing firm, but then a voice sounds in the background.
“Who is that, babe?”
I freeze. It’s Miles. I’d recognize his voice anywhere.
Babe. He called Cathrine babe.
I feel myself go hot and cold in the same instant.
The sound gets muffled, like Cathrine has covered the phone with her hand. I can hear voices but can’t make out what they’re saying. My heart pounds so hard I’m surprised Jordyn can’t hear it.
I glance at her. She’s frowning hard.
“Everything okay?” she mouths.
I shake my head.
“Sorry about that,” Cathrine says when she comes back on the line. “I’m seeing someone new. That was him now.”
My throat feels tight, but I force the words out. “Is it Miles?” I try to sound fine, casual, like my world isn’t crumbling. “If it is, I don’t mind at all. We never made any promises to each other. He’s not my boyfriend. We’re not even dating.” I laugh, and it sounds forced because it is.
“Um…it…”
“You can tell me.” I laugh again. “I really don’t mind. I swear. I’ve changed so much in the last few months. There’s this guy I have my eye on. I know how it goes.” Surprisingly, I manage to sound like I mean it. Like I’m totally fine.
“Harlow, I’m so sorry,” Cathrine says in a rush, and now I can hear genuine emotion in her voice.
“It just happened. It wasn’t planned at all.
We were starting to think you weren’t coming back, and I didn’t even think I liked Miles in that way, but then…
” She trails off. “It happened three weeks ago. We’d both had too much to drink.
We were talking about you…missing you. Then…
it…we hugged and…one thing led to… Please forgive me.
I never meant to hurt you. Miles also feels terr—”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” I tell her, my voice sounding distant to my own ears. “Like I said, Miles and I weren’t together. Now that I think about it, you guys are so much better suited than we would have been. It’s absolutely fine.”
“Are you sure? Because—”
“Yes, I mean it, Cath. I wish you guys all the best.”
“When are you coming back?”
Never.
Just thinking it shocks me to my core. I’m shocked at how I mean it, but that’s my hurt talking. I’m sure I’ll feel differently soon enough.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“Is it nice there? Have you seen any dragons?”
“Not even one,” I lie.
“The island is supposed to be crawling with them,” she says.
“Tell me about your job. About your promotion. Is it going well?”
“So well,” she gushes. Cathrine tells me about a new campaign she’s working on.
“What about you? Is it true that Draig Island is a tropical paradise?”
“Yes, that’s all true,” I tell her. “Just got hired for a new position – PA and HR manager. Things are going really well.” Like hell they are. “The island is beautiful. Very tropical, lots of palm trees and beaches. I’m glad I brought my bikini.”
“You lucky fish. That sounds amazing,” Cathrine says, and I can’t tell if she actually means it or if she’s just relieved that I’m not there to complicate things with Miles. “Don’t forget us here on the Mainland.”
What? Like they never forgot me?
I don’t say it.
“I would never.” My voice hitches. I need this call to end now. “I might be here for a while. I can’t say when I’ll make it back home.”
“Oh.” There’s a pause. “Well, I miss you. We all miss you.”
Yeah, right. Somehow, I don’t quite believe that.
“Tell Miles I say hi,” I manage to get out.
“Do you want to talk to him?”
“No!” I bark the word. “Um…I need to be somewhere in a few minutes. Just say hi for me, please.”
“Of course I will.”
“I wish you both all the best. Really.”
“Thank you for being so understanding,” Cathrine says, her voice thick with relief. “You’re an amazing friend, Harlow. I don’t deserve you.”
No, she does not.
“Goodbye.” I barely wait for her to answer before I put the phone down.
The moment I hang up, something inside me breaks. I sink down onto the desk chair, and tears start streaming down my face. Big, ugly, gasping sobs that I can’t control.
Jordyn is there immediately, wrapping her arms around me.
“I heard enough,” she says softly, rubbing my back. “I’m so sorry, Harlow. I can’t believe they did that to you.”
I cry harder, my body shaking with the force of it.
“Who is Cathrine?” Jordyn asks gently after a few moments.
“My best friend,” I choke out, and that just makes me cry harder.
Jordyn holds me tighter, making soothing sounds as she strokes my hair. We stay like that for what feels like hours, but is probably only minutes. Eventually, my sobs subside into hiccups, and I pull back, wiping the tears from my face.
“The weird thing is,” I say, my voice rough, “I don’t think I actually have real feelings for Miles.
” I let out a shaky laugh. “Part of my fear with making that call was that I was going to come to that realization, and…I have.” I shake my head.
“Miles and I would never have worked. We were better as friends. But I feel so betrayed, especially by Cathrine. I thought she was like a sister to me. Am I being silly?”
“Not at all! A best friend would never do that to you,” Jordyn says firmly.
“Ever. That’s not how you treat a best friend…
any friend, for that matter.” She takes both my hands in hers.
“I’m here for you, Harlow. I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I’m not going anywhere.
I’ve got your back. I’m even more determined than ever to make this partial bond with Grim work. ”
Fresh tears well up in my eyes, but these feel different. Cleaner, somehow.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Jordyn pulls me into another hug, and this time when I cry, it’s not just from the betrayal. It’s from relief, too. Relief that I’m not completely alone in this mess. That I have at least one person I can count on.
When we finally pull apart, Jordyn gives me a watery smile. “You know what? Screw them. They’re back on the Mainland, living their boring lives, and we’re on a tropical island learning to ride dragons. Who got the better deal?”
Despite everything, I find myself laughing. “We did?”
“Damn right we did,” Jordyn says. “Now come on, let’s get you cleaned up. We need to find the canteen and get some dinner.”
I nod, grateful for her take-charge attitude. As I stand and head to the bathroom to wash my face, I catch a glimpse of myself in the small mirror. My eyes are red and puffy from all the crying.
But underneath all that, I see something else. Something that wasn’t there before.
Determination.
I’m still here. I’m still standing.
I’m sure that’s enough for now.