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But I was scared—scared of what would happen to me when I confessed. Could I handle looking into eyes that held such love for me and watching as they changed to cold, hard anger?
I debated with myself for over an hour, lingering in the lobby as the afternoon grew dark and people’s shifts ended. Crowds would pass me by, either saying hi or too lost in conversation about Sawyer’s explosive argument to notice.
Just as I reached a decision and reasoned that enough time had passed for Sawyer to be calmer, my phone rang. Bianca’s name flashed up on the screen, and I debated answering. I would need her help afterward, though, so I decided to answer.
“Hey Bianca. You’ll never guess what?—.”
“Callie!” Bianca sobbed, ending my thought trail.
“Bianca? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“It’s awful,” Bianca sobbed brokenly. “It’s all gone to shit!”
27
CALLIE
“Bianca!”
Sprinting from the bus stop, I stopped just at the bottom of the steps to my apartment and gasped for breath. I’d run so far that my chest was aching, but the pain from the lack of air was nothing compared to the pain of seeing my Best Friend huddled at the top of my steps, leaning against my door with tears streaming down her face.
“Oh Bianca, are you alright?” I asked, taking the steps two at a time. “What’s happened?” Reaching her, I crouched down to her level and grasped her curled up hands that clutched at crumpled tissues.
“Callie,” Bianca whimpered, lifting her red-rimmed eyes to me. “Oh god, it’s so awful, chick.”
“What is? Tell me, what’s happened?”
“I’ve been fired!” Bianca gasped and a fresh wave of tears poured down her cheeks. “Someone— someone put in a complaint that I had abused their dog and that it wasn’t the first time it had happened. I was fired on the spot!”
Bianca pulled her hands away and buried her face in the crumpled tissues, sobbing loudly.
All thoughts of Sawyer and everyone else fled my mind. My focus became Bianca. How was this possible? Bianca was the sweetest, most genuine person I had ever met in my life. She could barely raise her voice, never mind even thinking about harming an animal. I didn’t even need to ask her if it was true because I knew her. That accusation was bullshit.
“Come on, let’s get you inside.” I embraced her and used that hold to slowly pick her up from the steps. Keeping Bianca close became a balancing act with my keys to get her inside. Soon, she was seated in my kitchen with a fresh pile of tissues to cry into while I hurried around making her some tea.
Tea without milk since my carton was well past the safe use-by date. Whoops.
“I’m sorry,” Bianca wept, tearing the tissues apart in her hands as she sat there.
“Don’t be,” I replied immediately, boiling the kettle and hunting out the sugar. “Just tell me what happened.
“Well, I arrived at work today, and everything was normal, y’know? I fed all the animals, sat in on a surgery on this adorable old dog like usual, and then took five of them for a walk. It was a regular day, and my boss was happy with me. I was worried about you, sure.”
Bianca glanced up at me and a twist of guilt pulled my heart south while I poured the hot water.
“But I didn’t hurt anyone. I love all the dogs there and I love my job so much. I would never do anything to hurt them. You have to believe me.” A fresh wave of hurt overtook Bianca and she sagged forward against the table.
“I do believe you,” I said firmly, slowly setting down a hot cup of tea in front of her and rubbing her back. There must be some kind of mistake because I know you. I know you would never hurt a soul.”
Bianca’s hands slid around the hot cup and she cradled it against herself, not caring when tears dripped from her chin and landed in the liquid.
“They named me,” Bianca whimpered, and she gazed up at me with shining eyes. “They said it was me specifically, and they had enough proof that my boss didn’t want to hear it. He fired me on the spot and didn’t care for anything I had to say.”
My heart broke for her. Sliding my hand from her back to her opposite shoulder, I hugged her close as another wave of fresh sobs overcame her.
“I’m so sorry, Bianca. We’ll fix this. I promise.”
Honestly, I had no idea how but I did know I wasn’t going to let her fight this alone. I kissed the top of her head, then stepped back to the counter to pick up my own cup. As my fingers closed around the hot porcelain, a call came through on my phone that I had every intention of ignoring until I saw the name on the screen.
