CHAPTER 7
“Istill can’t believe McDreamy is dead.” A wistful sigh fell from Ali’s lips. “Even all these years later.”
“Damn you, Shonda Rhimes!” Jess said as she dramatically shook her fist in the air.
Ali chuckled as she stabbed her spoon into her carton of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked and snuggled into the large cushions on Jess’s sofa and watched Meredith Grey ‘dance it out.’
Today had been a day of indulgence. They’d brunched on the newly renovated patio at the haunted Stone Castle. They’d feasted on waffles and biscuits and gravy while drinking mimosas at a table that overlooked the lake. Then they’d set up camp at Jess’s house, where they’d done facials, painted their nails, and were now four episodes deep into a Grey’s Anatomy binge-watch session as the credits rolled.
It was one of the best days she’d had in a long time.
Jess shifted on the couch so she was facing her. “I still can’t believe McKnight-in-Shining-Armor rode back into town.”
“He’s not McKnight-in-Shining-Armor.”
Jess had called him that since her twenty-first birthday weekend. A weekend full of extravagance: from the hotel to the elaborate dinners to the full-VIP treatment they enjoyed wherever they went, all on his dime.
If Ali’s heart hadn’t already belonged to him, he would’ve stolen it that weekend. Not because of how much money he’d spent, but because of how special he’d made her feel.
Because of the way his shoulder had felt when she’d fallen asleep on it while her friends partied in the club.
And the way his smile sent her heart fluttering at one hundred miles per hour.
And the way he listened so intently to her, and the way his laugh warmed her more than any shots she’d taken.
It was because of the way he made her feel like she was the only person on the planet when they were surrounded by hundreds of other people.
“I’m not saying he deserves his armor just yet, but the man did risk life and limb texting me for help,” Jess not-so-helpfully pointed out.
The last thing Ali needed was another reason to melt the ice that she was stockpiling around her heart. Cold. Detached. That was what she was going for.
Ali dipped her spoon in the ice cream for another bite. “He said that it took him fifteen minutes of writing and rewriting the text before he sent it to you.”
“Good. I want him to fear me. I want them all to fear me. Mwah-ha-ha,” Jess evil laughed.
“Do you think Ethan fears you?”
Ali loved bringing the sheriff up with her friend. The man was clearly in love with Jess and had been since they were all in high school. Jess had always denied that she had any feelings for him, but Ali recognized sexual tension when she saw it. Those two put off so many sparks she needed a welder’s mask to look directly at them.
“Pshh.” Jess made a dismissive sound. “If he had any brains he’d be terrified. He thinks just because has a gun and the law on his side he’s safe…silly, boy.”
Jess talked a big game, but her bark was much worse than her bite. It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when the exact opposite was true.
She’d spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals due to a heart condition she’d been born with. Perhaps due to her scrawny stature, she learned to stand up for herself at a very young age. Starting in elementary school when kids picked on her, she was known for taking things to the extreme in the name of payback. Years of fighting for everything, including her life, had made her angry.
Ali’s grandad, who passed away when she was eight, used to say, “Hurting people, hurt people.”
That was Jess in a nut shell. She’d lash out at anyone she perceived was making fun of her or feeling sorry for her. By the time they reached middle school everyone was scared of her, everyone except Ali.
The second week of first grade, Ali had followed Jess into the bathroom after a group of girls had made fun of the scar she had on her chest on the playground. She hadn’t known it at the time, but in that moment she’d witnessed a side of Jess that most people never had and never would. The vulnerable side.
She’d watched helplessly as Jess sobbed, not sure how to support the girl that sat in front of her. When Jess noticed Ali standing there, she’d lashed out and yelled at her to go away, but little seven-year-old Ali stubbornly refused. She’d said, “No.” It was that simple. She stayed with her in the bathroom until Jess stopped crying and then the two of them walked back out onto the playground together. They’d been inseparable ever since.
She’d spent more nights than she could count in the hospital with Jess. And watched Dirty Dancing, Jess’s favorite movie, at least a thousand times when she was bedridden. There was a time in their mid-twenties when Ali prepared herself to lose her best friend, but then, two years ago, a miracle happened. Jess received a heart transplant after being on the list for over a decade. There’d been a few complications but now she had a clean bill of health. Ali believed her best friend was still settling into her new life, her new identity. She wasn’t the sick girl, or the mean girl anymore, or the girl who was living on borrowed time.
Ali had simultaneously been going through her own identity crisis. She’d lost her brother, became guardian of the twins and had to figure out how to be the head of a household and run a business. And through it all, her constant had been Jess.
In Grey’s Anatomy Cristina Yang and Meredith Grey called each other “my person.” That’s what Jess and Ali were. They were the other ones’ “person.”