Lag (The boys of RDA #2)(34)
No. I’m most certainly not doing okay. I can’t tell her that, of course. Everyone expects your answer to be yes, so that’s what she gets.
“Thank you both for coming.” At least I get those words out without crying. If I attempt more, I’ll probably lose it from the unexpected kindness from both of them. Their presence might have caught me off guard, but Aspen warned me they’d be here when the time came. I just didn’t believe her.
When I wasn’t at girls’ brunch on Sunday, Aspen forced the truth out of Trey and immediately called me. She thought she was inviting me to brunch, and her first words something about not letting Trey keep me from good French toast. It made me laugh…… right before I broke down crying big angry sobs to her over the phone. Over time she worked the story out of me and when both our tears eased, Aspen told me about losing her own parents to a car accident at a young age.
Aspen didn’t fill me with platitudes without meaning or give me unrealistic hope my mom’s cancer would magically disappear. She shared and cried with me. It was what I needed at the time. If our friendship wasn’t cemented before, it was then.
After my cell phone died and I lacked the strength or concern to give a shit about finding a charger, she called on the house phone to talk to me every three days like clockwork. She always asked about my mom, but for the most part our conversations were light without talk of Trey or other heavy subjects. I haven’t asked how she found my parent's unlisted home number, and frankly, I’m not sure I want to know.
“Of course we’d both come. Amanda would be here too, but we couldn’t both get time off work on such short notice.”
My head scans the room. “Did Finn come with you?”
Aspen pats my knee. “No, all the guys stayed in San Francisco,” she answers my unasked question about Trey, “but Finn sends his sympathies.”
Before I stopped answering my phone Trey called a few times. Okay a dozen or so, but I couldn’t listen to any of the voicemails or text messages. I had bigger issues to deal with than one cheating f*ckwad.
“Can we help you at all? How long until you have to be back to California?” Marissa asks.
My father’s left the room to greet people as they make their way into our house, so I don’t whisper the secret I’ve kept him from discovering. "I don’t have to go back. I was fired.”
Aspen gasps at my admission. “Why?”
I sigh and lean back into the couch more, “Technically, for the no show on the day I flew here. I left messages, but when I was finally able to talk to my office manager, he demanded I fly back to San Francisco to fill out the paperwork and then wait two weeks for approval,” I snort as I remember his words. “That wasn’t going to happen so I gave him a few choice words and hung up.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. It’s possible I could’ve gotten a job back at the New York office, but my colorful language has probably ruined that."
Marissa stands from her place on the couch and paces for a moment in front of us. “Isn’t that illegal? We have rights in this country and you have a situation here.” Her arms fly up and span the living room area.
Losing my job is nothing compared to the loss of my mom, but I sniffle back some tears before they form. “I could sue I guess, maybe, but honestly I’m just too tired to care. I’ll fly back to San Francisco, pack up my apartment, and then come here for a while.” I don’t mention the mounds of debt I’m already facing or that I can't afford to get my stuff back to New York. I’ll have to tell my dad eventually and add even more stress on his already heavy shoulders.
Aspen jumps off the couch at my words and begins to pace next to Marissa. “You can’t leave the city. You belong in San Francisco.”
“Pen’s right.”
I refuse to admit leaving the city now feels a bit like defeat, but I don’t see another way. “Guys, I can’t pay the rent on my apartment." Again, not even going to mention the fact I’m now also two months behind on rent and they’ve already sent me a first notice of eviction.
Marissa stops and Aspen almost runs into her back. “You can live with me.” Her face lights up with the idea and she steps toward my place on the couch.
I throw my hands out in front of me. “No. I can’t do that.”
“Yeah. She can’t live with you, Marissa. You’re all the way out in Oakland. Your commute is one step above a daily march of death."
Marissa tilts her head at Aspen and purses her lips. “It’s true,” Aspen continues. “Amanda complains about her drive in every morning.”
Marissa sighs in defeat and Aspen keeps talking. “Plus, if you’re going to be job searching, you want to be in the city so you’re closer to companies there. Stay with me," Aspen sits on the couch beside me again, but there is a bounce in her posture this time. Her hands steeple together. “It’s perfect! I’m always with Finn anyway so you’ll have the place to yourself for the most part. The couch is a pull out. There are a few rules you’ll have to agree to, but it will work.”
Marissa scoffs. “Yeah a few rules,” but she doesn’t elaborate.
“Aspen.” I look for someone else in the living room to jump to my defense, but it’s just the three of us.