AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh,” she exhaled, “not serious at all, but I’m still not sure you won’t kill me.”
“Keegan,” Julia’s voice was a warning as she narrowed her eyes.
Keegan opened her mouth, eyes wide with part anxiety and part amusement. Before she could get out a syllable, the doorbell rang. Julia looked surprised by the foreign sound. It echoed through the vaulted ceilings and left a humming in her ears. No one ever came to her house and used the formality of that doorbell.
As she contemplated the last time she actually heard that ring reverberate off the wall, she found herself getting lost in the memory. It was the day a stout man with a five o’clock shadow in a cheap suit knocked on her door. He gripped a manilla envelope in his sweaty palms. In a gravelly voice, he asked for Mrs. Julia Jenner.
It was three months after Marin left, and she hadn’t heard anything from her. She never came back for anything. Not her scrunchies in the coffee table drawer. Not her favorite yellow dress hanging on the door in the closet. Not her hairbrush that clung to shining strands of fire. Not her dented travel tea cup she used every morning.
Nothing. She wanted nothing. Not even Julia.
She remembered knowing what it was. She remembered the feeling of a thousand rocks sinking through her chest as forcefully as hail beating on concrete. The calm before the storm. The way the sky turns such beautiful shades of pink and purple just before the destruction. She remembered nodding and taking that envelope as the man turned and left without another word.
She thought Marin would’ve reached out; never in a million years did Julia think the last time she saw her would truly be the last time. But no one ever thinks the last time will be.
If we knew there would be no second chance to fix everything or take back what was said or done, would we still risk it all? Would it make a difference if Julia knew what she did now? Would the finality of it all sink in fast enough for her to bar the door and drop to her knees begging?
Somehow, no matter what she could or should have done, Julia knew she’d still end up right where she was. She’d still be the last one standing, the last one with enough will left to still try.
She looked back at her guilty friend. Keegan’s brown eyes doubled in size, her lips pulled into a thin line. That was the look of a toddler with chocolate around her mouth as she claimed she wasn’t the one who ate all the frosting off the cake.
“Who’s at my door, Keegan?”
She didn’t say a word as Julia stood and began inching towards the entryway. Keegan turned her attention back to her wine and the shrimp on the table, murmuring mmm as she chewed. Incorrigible.
She didn’t know who she expected to be on the other side of that stained-glass door. With Keegan and her spontaneity, it could have been anyone short of a rainbow clown in a string bikini holding heart shaped balloons. One time she got one of those mail-order strippers to entertain three of their other friends. He sang Tom Petty and danced around in a sparkling pink leotard. It wasn’t pretty.
As she opened the door and cold air wrapped around her, she found Erin standing before her with a bottle of red wine gripped in her hand. A black jacket was loosely tied around her pale pink sweatshirt, the wind tugging at the corners. With one hand, she brushed a curl escaping her tightly pulled ponytail. It was the first time Julia saw her without brown curls bouncing in her face and she was speechless.
Chapter Eleven
Oh. Shit.
Erin had a smile that slowly faded when she realized that Julia’s face was full of surprise and wide-eyed panic. She and Erin both opened their mouths at the same time to diffuse whatever was occurring without their permission.
“Erin!” Keegan appeared behind Julia. “Come in! So happy you found the place. We were just about to start the game.”
Julia stepped aside as Keegan graciously took the bottle of wine. She always went for the alcohol. Julia held the door open, thankful for the cold air to wipe the sweat off her forehead.
“Yes, please come in! I can take your coat.” Julia held out her hand as she pulled a hanger from the closet.
“Thank you,” Erin said, her lips barely pulling at the corners, awkwardness taking its hold.
“Keegan, I can help you get that on the chiller. Erin,” she turned and tried to give her most genuine smile, “make yourself at home.”
Keegan skillfully retrieved another glass from the cupboard while Julia focused on unscrewing the cork beside her. Erin hovered in the hallway, observing the time capsule she stepped into. Julia didn’t want to think about what ran through her head as she studied each photograph.
“What the hell,” Julia whispered. She never picked her eyes up from the bottle, too afraid she might throttle Keegan if she met her smug expression.
“She doesn’t know anyone in the area, and I figured we could get a better sense of what she plans on putting in her reports far,” she whispered back, still not making eye contact.
“Oh?” Julia nonchalantly looked up. “That’s why you invited her here?”
“Mhm,” she said as she nodded, the weight of unspoken intentions hanging between them.
“Keegan, I literally sign off on her reports.” Julia’s jaw tightened as her coarse voice floated between them. “No hidden agenda?”
“Me?” gasped Keegan, just a little too loud. “Never.”
