31
Gisele
“Hey,I’m not one to call and complain, but where the hell are you? I’ve been waiting for half an hour now! Anyway, call me as soon as you can.” Ending my rant on Ginny’s voicemail, I paced around the kitchen as I anxiously placed my phone down on the polished white breakfast nooktable.
She had gone on a weekend trip with Kevin (Sir Lancelot). But our research paper was due in a few days, and we had barely even begun. Ginny normally updated me, but I hadn’t heard from her all morning. We had agreed that she would swing by my house after her shift at three. It was already half past, and it only took half the time to get from school to myhouse.
Pouring myself a half a glass of chocolate milk, I was about to take a sip when my phone shrilled with Ginny’s name flashing on thescreen.
“About time you call. Where the heck are you! We’re so going to fail if you don’t get here in the next hour,Ginny!”
There was a lengthy pause before she made a tiny gut-wrenching sound. “I don’t think I can make it. I don’t knowanymore…”
Screw the project—okay, maybe not, but I couldn’t care less about it now when my friend was obviously upset about something. “Ginny, talk to me…What’s happened? Did you and Kevin fight orsomething?”
“I,” she croaked out, sobbing. “I can’t talkaboutit.”
“I’m here. You can tell me anything. You know I’m your friend. I’m here for you.” I’d never met anyone as guarded as Ginny was. Whatever had happened, it had to be quite awful. She wasn’t one to invest in tears; she said as much before. Therefore, hearing her in such a distraught state, it distressed me because I didn’t know what to do or how to solve it for her. “Where are you? Can I come see you at least? I’ll bring some hot cocoa andwarmhugs.”
“I’m sorry, but I want to be alone. I left a folder at the shop. Everything’s there. Again, I’m sorry…I have to go,” she hurriedly said before the linewentdead.
Baffled, I sat there, frowning at the phone for a few seconds before expelling a longwinded sigh, standing up, and making way towards thegarage.
Once I got to the coffee shop, just as she had promised, I found Ginny had left a folder with paperwork attached with a USB drive. Lucky thing I brought in my laptopwithme.
Cradling a scalding cup of coffee, I chose my favorite spot with the girls and situated myself on the tattered leather before beginning to browse through Ginny’s notes. Funny how she couldn’t drop it off at my house. I knew she was upset, but why was she avoiding me? Did I do somethingwrong?
Too preoccupied with the work before, I didn’t realize the shadow hovering close behind up until someone cleared theirthroat.
“May I have a word with you? Gisele,isn’tit?”
I paused before looking up, astounded as the words got stuck in my throat, wondering why I was staring at a woman who closely resembled Paige, Jared’sdepartedwife.