Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“And then he had the nerve to email the bank documents and remind me to go sign them.” Jif shot back the last of her drink, glanced at her two friends, then waved for another round. “Come on, you’re falling behind.”
Britt shot Leticia a long glance.
Jif scowled. “What?”
“Nothing,” Britt replied serenely, then sipped her drink, shaking her head when the waitress offered her another.
“Can you believe him?” Jif demanded, arching an eyebrow at Leticia.
“Hmm, how dare he make good on his promise to take care of you, even when he’s moving across the country?”
It took a moment for Leticia’s deadpan tone to squirrel its way into Jif’s pleasantly hazy mind. She’d been a full drink up on her friends by the time they’d arrived, and she’d kept a steady pace since. Not even Britt’s biting comment about day drinking on a Monday could slow her down.
“Exactly.” Jif pointed at Leticia, then scowled. She’d agreed with her, right? She wasn’t quite sure anymore.
Britt’s bark of laughter interrupted her efforts to further decode Leticia’s comment. “Come on, Jif. Yeah, it sucks, but players get traded all the time. Jordan went to the Bengals, now Colton is going to San Francisco. This is part of the game. Colton’s hardly abandoning you.”
“Bet you’d be singing a different tune if Garrett got traded,” Jif snapped.
Britt’s shoulders heaved as she took a long breath in before replying. “This isn’t about me and Garrett. And, to answer your question, I’d go with him.”
“So, you think I should go with Colton?” Jif took her new drink from the waitress and gulped a swallow, then coughed when the alcohol burned her throat. “That’s a terrible idea.”
“So terrible,” Britt echoed. “And also, so not the point.”
“I shoulda gone with Jordan, then? He didn’t want me.” And why, no matter how much she played the fun-loving, easy, light girl, as soon as the cleats hit the turf, no one wanted to stick around?
She blinked hard, resisting the sting building in her eyes.
Not sad, nope! Today, I’m angry.
“Me and Garrett aren’t the point.” Britt wagged her finger at Jif.
“The point is: getting traded is normal. Colton’s incredibly lucky he’s had as long with the Raptors as he has!
Clemens changed teams six times in four years before the Raptors committed to a five-year contract, and it’ll be up next year. ”
“But he’s leaving.” Jif made the final word last about four seconds, her voice rising in a whine that, even as she heard it and winced, she couldn’t quite hold back.
Jif turned her attention to Leticia, hoping for more sympathy. “Would you go if Jimmy left?”
“Uh-uh.” Leticia shook her head. “I don’t have time for this, and I am not getting in the middle.”
“In the middle of what?” Jif demanded, crossing her arms.
“I’m gonna go settle my tab and get out of here. I promised Zuri I’d go by and check on her and the baby.” Leticia rose from the table and hustled toward the bar register, leaving Britt and Jif to stare at each other in silence.
“What’s her deal?” Jif groused.
Britt leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. “Oblivious isn’t a good look.”
Jif winced. Oblivious. Na?ve. Shallow.
She’d been working so hard.
“I’m trying, really I am.”
“Try harder.” The edge in Britt’s voice shocked her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You call us and demand we meet you, get sloshing drunk before we even arrive, complain for an hour about your brother—who, by the way, is leaving you with a very generous trust fund, which you’d appreciate if you could get your head out of your butt—and meanwhile you still haven’t apologized for being a bitch about my engagement or asked at all about our plans for the wedding, which is a pretty sucky thing to do as a friend, and you have no idea Leticia’s sister is in the hospital right now after she almost died giving birth to her new nephew.
..” Britt trailed off, shaking her head. “You can be really selfish sometimes.”
“I didn’t even know Leticia’s sister was pregnant,” Jif shot back, her own ignorance once again pricking uncomfortably. People kept expecting her to implicitly understand things they hadn’t said! “We’re not exactly besties.”
“Whose fault is that?” Britt scoffed.
“I have a best friend already, you!”
“Really? Because you haven’t exactly been acting like it.”
“I...” Jif began, but her friend cut her off.
“I get you’re hurting, and I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t at least try to understand. I get you’re heartbroken about Miles and angry at Colton, and you’re right to be both. Is that what you need to hear? You’re right?”
“No, I...”
Britt cut her off again. “But I’m heartbroken my best friend couldn’t find it in her to be happy for me when I got engaged to the man of my dreams, even if it came faster than she expected.
Leticia is heartbroken that her sister won’t be able to have the family she’s always dreamed of.
I bet Miles is pretty heartbroken, too, come to think of it.
And Colton. He got traded, after all. He’s the one the Raptors didn’t want.
And yes, Colton can be a dick at times, but he’s always been that way when things are out of his control.
Your dad leaving scarred you, but it scarred him, too, and accusing him of being exactly like the person he’s spent years proving he isn’t is also a dick move. ”
“Britt...”
“Why don’t you get this one, okay? You’re certainly good for it.” With those harsh words, Britt shot to her feet.
Jif’s mouth hung open as she stalked toward the door.
The waitress stopped by the table. “Need anything else?”
“No, I’m done.” Shaking her head, she took another long swig of her drink, then spat it back out when her roiling gut refused to let her swallow.
“You okay?”
“Sure.” Her eyes swam as she stood, so she wilted back into her seat. Maybe by the time the check came, she’d find her equilibrium.
“I can call someone for you. Or a cab. Might be better than driving.”
She shook her head, her brain sloshing as her stomach tumbled a slow churn. Fumbling for her phone, realization slammed into her: she had no one to call. Miles couldn’t rescue her, Colton wouldn’t, she refused to call her mother, and her best friend had just walked out the door.
“Screw her, too,” she muttered under her breath, but her heart wasn’t in it. She placed her phone face down on the table. “Maybe a cab, I guess.”
“Gotcha.” The waitress took her credit card and made her way behind the bar, leaving Jif to wallow in her misery and try to keep the contents of her stomach from emptying out on the table in front of her.