“Always,” she replies.
?
It’s tense on the way to the airport. Griff drives and Bebe sits behind him, leaving me in the front passenger seat. I feel like we catch every damn red light until we make it to the interstate, and then I relax a little as Griff pushes the limits of speed set in place by the great state of Pennsylvania.
“So dish,” Bebe says from the back.
I’m startled by the break in the silence and glance over my shoulder at her. “What?”
“Dish about Jessica,” she says, folding her arms over her chest. “And tell me why I’ve never heard of this woman, why you’ve let me believe you had a sugar mama in Florida for all your trips down there, and be honest… is she a better friend to you than I am?”
The tinge of jealousy I detect in those last words breaks through my irritation. I glance back at her again. “Jessica is complicated, but you are my best friend, Bebe.”
“Aha!” she exclaims, leaning forward and jabbing a finger my way. “She’s more than a friend. She’s a secret lover. No, that’s not right. You two love each other, but something is keeping you apart. No, that can’t—”
“Bebe,” I say in a low rumble. “Slow your roll, and I’ll tell you about her.”
Griff snorts, but Bebe settles back into the seat, prepared to listen.
“Jessica and I met at the University of Miami. We became really close friends, along with another guy named Chase. The three of us did everything together.”
“Oh God,” Bebe moans, shaking her head. “It’s a love triangle, isn’t it?”
“No,” I censure. “Now be quiet and listen, because the minute Griff pulls up to the private terminal, I’m out of here, and you get no more.”
She makes a motion as if zipping her lips and once again crosses her arms over her chest, as if to prevent any animation provoked by surprise.
“Jessica and Chase ended up dating and got serious, but it was still the three of us all the time. After college, things obviously changed. I went off to Hamburg for my master’s, Jessica stayed in Miami and started a master’s program—she’s an artist—and Chase joined the Air Force.”
“What did you go to Hamburg for?” Griff asks, interrupting.
I grace him with an answer, since this is the love of Bebe’s life and I know she wants us to be tight. He’s still learning about me.
“I was pursuing a master of science with a focus on intelligent adaptive systems.”
Bebe snorts. “Because two bachelor’s degrees—one in mathematics and one in computer sciences—weren’t enough.”
“Yes, we all know I’m fucking smart,” I reply dryly before returning to my story. “At any rate, we were all apart physically, but we kept in close contact. Jessica and Chase continued to see each other when he could get leave. He was stationed in California after basic training.”
“Jessica didn’t go there to be with him?” Bebe asks.
“He didn’t ask her to,” I reply, remembering precisely how shocked I was that he didn’t beg her to go.
I don’t want to be pinned down, he’d told me in confidence, although he didn’t have the guts to tell Jessica that.
But I knew that it wasn’t serious enough for the long run.
I shake my head. “Jessica was concentrating on school, and Chase was training. It wasn’t a good time. However, they saw each other when they could, and on one of those visits, Jessica got pregnant.”
“With your goddaughter,” Bebe murmurs.
“Thea,” I reply, a smile coming unbidden to my face as it does one hundred percent of the time when I think about her. I blink, noting the exit sign ahead for the airport. “There was loose talk of marriage. It was assumed after he finished basic training, or when she finished her master’s, but—”
“He didn’t propose to her?” Bebe asks, aghast.
“No, he didn’t.” Fool and asshole that he was. “I think Jessica wanted that, but it never came. She was still in school in Miami, and Chase was in California throughout the pregnancy. He flew in for the birth and was head over heels in love with his daughter. I thought that might be the push he needed to become a family man.”
“But?” Bebe prods.
“But,” I continue, the words sour on my tongue, “Chase returned to California with no proposal, no further talk of marriage, and then three weeks later, he was killed in a motorcycle accident.”
“Oh my God,” Bebe exclaims, clapping her hand over her mouth.
“So our group of three stayed three, but Chase was gone and Thea was there in his place.”
“And you go down to Miami to spend time with them,” Bebe concludes.
“It’s why I took the job with Jameson,” I explain, and she blinks in surprise.
She frowns. “I thought it was money.”
Laughing, I admit, “The money was a good inducement. Scientists aren’t paid shit, but I wanted to be back on the East Coast to be closer to Jessica and Thea.”