Oh, Gina.Flick stared at the floor, desperately hoping for a distraction. A lightning strike, an epileptic fit, a tornado. She wasn’t picky.
“Care to explain that, Felicity?”
Pippa was using her full name, which meant that she was beyond pissed and well on her way to being volcanically furious. “I can’t,” Flick whispered the words.
“What does that mean?”
Flick, thoroughly miserable, thought that her sentence was largely self-explanatory. “She told me something, and made me promise to keep it a secret.”
“But we don’t keep secrets from each other,” Pippa said, in a low, hard tone. “We don’t, Flick! Ever!”
Flick placed her fist underneath her ribs, trying to rub the burn away. “I know, Pips. But I don’t have a choice.”
“Tell me!” Pippa shouted and Flick closed her eyes.
She shook her head. “I can’t—not yet.”
Pippa walked up to her and gripped her shoulders, her fingernails digging into Flick’s shoulder blades. Flick, understanding how hurt and how angry Pippa was, didn’t resist. She just prayed that this argument wouldn’t rip their friendship apart.
“Is she sick? Sicker than we thought? Is she going to die?”
“God, no!” Flick grabbed Pippa’s face and held her cheeks so that she had to look at her. “I promise you, she’s not hurt. Or sick. Or dying. It’s not that bad.”
Pippa wrenched herself away and stepped back, her chest heaving. “But it’s not good news?”
“I can’t tell you!” Flick shouted, frustrated. “Don’t you think I want to? I’ve begged her, Pips, but she’s standing firm.”
“If you loved me you’d tell me,” Pippa stated, her face and tone steel-hard. The heat of her anger had burned away but it was hardening, solidifying. This wasn’t going to go away.
“I’m so sorry,” Flick brushed a tear off her cheek. “Please try to understand.”
“She’s my mother, not yours. You can’t just take her over because your own mother didn’t love you enough to stick around,” Pippa said. “She’s my mother!”
“I know, Pips.” Flick used both her hands to wipe away her tears, trying to push past the hurt to remind herself that Pippa was in pain, that she was lashing out, that she’d hate herself for being such a bitch in the morning. But her words still felt like acid in an open wound.
Your mother didn’t love you enough to stick around…
“Tell me and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.”
But it was happening, and they couldn’t go back. Flick wanted to, she wanted all this to go away. But Kai’s voice in her head told her that no matter how hard it was, she’d promised, and she had to stick to that promise. Because integrity was doing the right thing even when times got tough.
“I can’t,” Flick said, choking the words out between her sobs. “I promised.”
“I’ll never forgive you for this! I willnever, everforgive you,” Pippa said before running out of the living room and up the stairs. Flick heard the door to her bedroom slam closed and she slowly stood up.
She had to get out, she couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t breathe and she felt like the walls were closing in on her.
Damn you Gina, Flick thought as she walked out of the living room and into the hall and then out of the front door.You are selfish and stubborn, just like my mother was.I love you, Gina, but don’t really like you right now.
Chapter Ten
SawyersFutureWife:Missing Sawyer.
JasonSturgiss:I am selling my old treadmill. Will entertain offers. Find me at the Fire House.
MandyK:Jason, why haven’t you called me? You’re not answering your phone or replying to my messages. Why? What did I do wrong? I’m soooooo sad.
Kai stepped into the Smirking Fox and the combination of perfume, beer, and fried food made him sneeze. He’d been conscious of a low-grade headache all day and while he enjoyed Axl’s company, he wished that they were sitting on his porch in the fresh air. He really didn’t want to have to fight his way to the bar to get a drink, wasn’t interested in making small talk, and definitely didn’t want to bat off the subtle, and occasionally flat-out obvious invitations from the bar bunnies.