The Best Friend (8 page)

He was silent for a moment, then two. She swallowed and tapped her finger against her leg. Holy crap, he made her feel so unsettled, and he used to be her dear, sweet friend. Finally, he said softly, “I’d like to see that.”

“What? Me floundering like a beached whale trying to do a push-up? For that’s what I would, no doubt, look like. You know, I’ve never had an ounce of strength, agility or proper conditioning.”

“No, you haven’t. You were always the worst one in gym class. I used to pick you strictly out of pity. What I meant was, I’d like to see you on all fours before me.”

Her gaze shot up to his. Did he just say that? No. No way. And was that a damn grin now lurking in the corners of his mouth? She cleared her throat, but decided to ignore that.

“So, do you know where my purse is?”

He finally turned his gaze away from her face. Throwing some stuff off the couch, he soon raised it up in his hand.  She stepped forward to take it, but he didn’t let go. Surprised, she looked up, frowning.

“Why did you come here tonight?” he asked.

“We all care what happens to you.”

“We? Who Donny? Will? That’s why you came? For Will Hendricks?”

“No. Because I care that this happened to you.” She took in a slow breath. “Look, I handled this wrong from the first moment I saw you. I’m really sorry I acted like I never met you before. And I’m very sorry to learn this happened to you. I’m sorry you lost your arm. I should have said that right off when I saw you at the grocery store. Instead, I chatted on, like an airhead, who never met you. Anyone can see you had your arm amputated. I should have respected that and simply said so. Instead, it got all weird between us, when we’ve never been weird together. We were always such good friends. So… I’m sorry.”

His face remained glacial, but one eyebrow rose again. She swallowed and cleared her throat, trying to calm her nerves, and recapture the comfortable, friend-vibe they always shared.

But nothing. No response. Okay, this wasn’t the way to reach him. He still had her purse and she still held onto the other end of it. He tugged on it, drawing her toward him. He stared into her eyes, lowering his eyes to her mouth. What was going on? Where was this coming from? No. No way. They never experienced such an awkward moment between them. Why was he staring at her so strangely?

“I don’t want to be your friend, Gretchen.” His tone was quiet and intense. She felt like he became a magnet that was inexplicably attracting her towards him.

She licked her lips. “Wh-why not? Why don’t you even remotely want to be friends?”

“You’ve always mistaken my friendship and what I wanted to be.”

Her eyes widened and she took a step back.
No. No. No.
Donny was not right. He never had a thing for her. He—couldn’t mean this. He acted as if he didn’t even like her now.

He suddenly shoved the purse back at her, releasing the tension that was drawing her his way, and making her stumble backwards. “Go home.”

She regained her equilibrium, clutching her purse, as she smiled in forced politeness. It took all her courage to meet his gaze and pull it off, as if they were just bidding each other a pleasant, courteous goodbye. “I’ll see you this weekend then.”

He turned abruptly with his good arm towards her. “I highly doubt that.”

Then he walked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

She stared after him, feeling shocked. Turning on her heel, she fled from what suddenly became the most difficult person she ever had to deal with.

Chapter Five

Gretchen got home from work and stared in bewilderment at her closet. What the hell would she wear to a dance club, of all things? She hadn’t been out to one in years. Her wardrobe was full of conservative, dressy outfits. She had some casual jeans and shirts for weekends, but nothing that would have been suitable for a dance club. She sighed and pushed her garments around. Finally, she found some dressy black pants, which she paired with a red blouse. As she was shoving her feet into her black, three-inch heels, she heard the door.

She quickly let Vickie in before inserting hoops through her earlobes. Her sister followed her inside. “What are you wearing?”

She glanced up at her little sister. “What do you mean, what am I wearing?”

“Well, you look like you’re on your way to work.”

She lowered her hands from her ears and took in Vickie’s outfit. Okay, so Vickie won the best club outfit, hands down. She had on jeans with rips at the knees and sparkles on her firm, little ass. Her neon-colored bra showed through the cuts in her black top, and seemed like someone had taken tape and wrapped it around her. 

“I couldn’t wear something like that and you know it.” A few years after her divorce, Gretchen had gone out quite a bit and there were lots of dates and a few casual sex partners. But she quit all that when she got closer to thirty and her career started to take off. It ate up all her spare time, and by the weekends, she was tired and looking forward to curling up with a glass of wine and a good book or a movie rather than a night out of getting drunk in a crowd.

“No. You can’t. But you can’t wear
that.
Don’t you have jeans or something that doesn’t broadcast you as a CEO?”

She sighed, following Vickie back into her room as Vickie started searching through her selection of pants. Finally, she held up a pair. “These will do. Put them on. Geez, and please let me take you shopping this weekend.”

“I don’t want to go shopping. I like the way I dress. I don’t want to change.”

Vickie snickered. “You don’t want to get laid either. But some of us do.”

Gretchen rolled her eyes as she kicked her heels off, then stripped down and pulled the jeans on. “Please don’t do it with Donny. Unless… you already did?”

Vickie sat on her bed and watched Gretchen changing pants. “No. He drove me home and walked me to the front door. It was so sweet, even chivalrous. He leaned in like he
wanted
to kiss me. Oh my God! Gretchen, this is
something
. I’m telling you, tonight is going to be epic. The start of something huge for me. I have this strange feeling.”

Gretchen nearly choked, keeping the laugh confined to her throat. Something huge always seemed to be starting for Vickie. Brushing her teeth in the morning evoked nearly the same response from her, so Gretchen didn’t put too much stock in her announcement. She glanced at her ass in the mirror, now wearing jeans. Not great. But not terrible. She wasn’t as slender as Vickie, but had long legs to help carry it off. She was more of an average weight, and worked to keep it that way. Vickie ate nothing but crap all day, yet never gained an ounce. Vickie was one of those strangely blessed people who did nothing the way she should have, and yet, almost everything she needed came easily to her in some way or another.

Gretchen flipped her blond hair back. The curls were now shoulder-length. After twenty years of having it long, and falling past her shoulder blades, she decided to cut it off above her ears shortly after the divorce. Now, she wore it in a stylish, reverse bob that ended at her shoulders. Dark streaks of brown contrasted in the bottom layer, creating a peek-a-boo effect of light and dark shades. It was Vickie’s idea and the only thing that Vickie considered remotely “cool” about Gretchen.

But it was good enough for meeting old friends from a previous life. From her youth.
For meeting Tony Lindstrom.
The odd tingling in her fingertips began again at the thought of Tony. Would he show up? It could go either way. Did she want him to? He was so rude. Gruff. Negative. But hot. Well, so what? Being hot, and even one-armed, did not give any person the right to be so terrible to those around him who were just trying to help. It didn’t excuse him or his behavior.

Still, Gretchen knew this tinge of excitement, in anticipation of tonight, wasn’t from just seeing Will, or Jessie, or Donny, or Vickie. She grabbed her purse and followed her sister outside.

****

Tony watched Gretchen walk into the club, completely oblivious to the effect she had on the people around her as she made her way through the crowd. All the men’s eyes trailed after her. And certainly not because of her ample display of skin. That was never Gretchen’s way, and not what captivated most of the guys around her. Quite simply, she attracted them, using her personality, her looks, and the rest of her persona. She was a tall, elegant woman, who kept her posture straight and erect. She walked with a unique confidence in her carriage, keeping her shoulders drawn back, and her hips aligned with them. Her rigid posture reflected her entire life. She had always been that kind of girl. The good one. The kind one. The responsible one. She never once skipped a class in high school, or missed an assignment. Meanwhile, Tony had always been a shit-ass student. Gretchen even tried to tutor him more than once.  She sat at his parents’ kitchen table, trying to explain his assignments, but he never cared much about schoolwork. Back then, he liked to have her tutoring him, not for the stupid grade improvement, but so he could try and peek down her shirt. That was never an easy feat as she usually dressed  modestly. She was always very prim and extra sweet, which went right along with her good grades and perfect attendance. She seemed like complete goodness and kindness to anyone and everyone she ever met. She became an extremely popular girl simply because there was no way for anyone to hate to her. She was nice to everyone. Always. Even those who didn’t deserve it.

Kind of like how she was still. With him. And he sure as shit didn’t deserve it. He tried not to deserve it.

Tony tapped his finger against the table. Donny sat next to Tony, and Will and Jessie were across from them. They were all talking over the loud music. Taking a gulp of beer for courage, Tony knew he should not have come. Despite Donny’s pressure to include him, that wasn’t why he chose to. He knew that. It was because he wanted to see
her
again, no matter how stupid the urge was. She felt sorry for him. She was only there because of him losing his fucking arm. If he had been whole and fine, she would have just smiled and kissed his cheek in the grocery store, carrying on with her life as she had for the last eight years. She would have never felt any kind of obligation to see him, or his family again. As always, she retained a kind, warm, generous friend thing for him.

And fuck. Did he detest that about her. She was always that way towards him. He was the nice friend and Will’s sidekick. The puppy dog she could pat as she passed by. He was never the one she looked at, or was attracted to. So, he damn well knew it was merely her pity over his empty sleeve that brought Gretchen Moore there.
Hendricks. Gretchen Hendricks
. Even after all these years with his best friend’s last name, his brain refused to accept that she was truly Gretchen Hendricks.

Vickie and Gretchen came over to the table and smiled and greeted everyone. Vickie slid in next to his brother, leaving Gretchen standing there, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The only spot was beside Tony. He slid the chair out with his foot and a careless nod. She darted a glance at him before slowly and elegantly lowering her ass into the chair and scooting it closer to the table.

She was seated on the side of his amputated arm. He should have anticipated that and sat on the other side. She peeked at him from corners of her eyes and smiled slightly, just a small, sweet tilt of her lips. “Hello Tony. I’m glad you came.”

He shifted and leaned forward. “Oh yeah? So you can keep trying to nurse me back to health and happiness again?”

She tugged on her lower lip with her front teeth. He utterly puzzled and intimidated her. She was too fucking nice to tell him to go to hell like she wanted to, which was what he certainly deserved.

The waitress was passing by and he flagged her down to intercept Gretchen’s, no doubt, angry retort to his surly response and demeanor. “Hey, can my friends here get some drinks?”

She smiled at him and returned to take down Gretchen and Vickie’s orders. Gretchen faced forward so she could talk to the rest of the table and avoid Tony’s eyes. He leaned back and barely listened. She was discussing something about what she did for work. He stared around, feeling bored. The dance floor was surprisingly packed. The crowd was not just for the young. There were middle-aged couples on dates that were dancing. That was primarily because there was simply no other place to go in Calliston. Tony should never have settled back there. But then again, anywhere else and he’d be doing his own damn laundry and having to pay his own bills.

He observed the conversation as if he were far away from there. When Gretchen’s drink came, she took several quick nips, as if fortifying herself. He was pretty sure it was a natural reaction to how uncomfortable he made her. She fiddled with the glass and poked the straw up and down as she talked to Will about her clients. Something about schools and special consultations, and some other rather impressive shit. She never ceased to impress him. Her talents and intelligence were obvious from the time she ran for freshman class president. Not a surprise to him that she remained so remarkable.  She was articulate, well spoken, and kept her voice well modulated.

He was never remarkable to anyone. Not in school. Not even, particularly, in the military. Sure as fuck not now, living at home while his mommy washed his clothes and cut his food for him. His only hope for escaping tedious mediocrity was his fucking amputated arm.  

Jessie rose, pulling Will’s arm, before heading to the dance floor to join the thrashing bodies and the loud, fun music and bouncing lights. Donny stood up and invited Vickie to dance. She nearly jumped out of her black, heeled boots in her eagerness to do so.

Leaving them alone, Tony couldn’t even cross his arms over his chest to show his discomfort. He missed doing that. He missed how comfy it used to feel when he held his arms over his chest. One arm across his chest looked stupid, but he sometimes got tired of letting it just hang next to him. Instead, he leaned further into the table and clutched his drink. After several long, tense moments, he nodded towards Will and Jessie.