Decision made, I drove the short distance to Quinn’s parents’ place. Paola opened the door as soon as I walked up the path to their house.
“Bellisima, there you are,” she said and hugged me before kissing each of my cheeks. I had loved her from the moment we first met and counted my lucky stars to have her and her husband in my life.
Quinn lived in an apartment above their garage, and I often joked that I would stay close to my parents too if they were Paola and Alonso.
Paola ushered me inside. “Come in, come in.”
I took my jacket off and hung it on one of the many hooks on the wall next to the door. Paola led me through to the living room, where Alonso was watching a game on TV.
“There she is.” He got up to hug me.
“Hey, Alonso,” I greeted him and dropped down onto the couch, looking around the room. “Where’s Quinn?”
“She’s in her apartment. Said there was something weird going on with the website.” His eyes drifted back to the TV and I knew I wouldn’t get any more words out of him.
“And she didn’t call me?” I exclaimed, outraged. I’d put the website together. It was flawless. And if there was an issue, I should have been the first person she contacted.
I got back up and pointed to the back door. “I better see if I can help.”
“Dinner is ready in ten minutes,” Paola called out to me as I was about to slip outside.
“We’ll be here,” I replied and then hastened my steps to get to Quinn’s apartment.
“Quinn, you in there?” I called out when I made it to her door.She better have a damn good explanation as to why she didn’t tell me about the website.
The door opened an inch, and Quinn peeked out. “Are you alone?”
“Yes. Why are—”
Her hand shot out and she pulled me inside.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking around her apartment for her laptop. She usually had it on the table, but it wasn’t there. If this was such an emergency, surely she’d still be working on fixing it.
“Your dad said there’s something wrong with the website,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her, noticing how flushed she looked.
“I just needed an excuse not to have to go over there yet. But turns out I’m still not ready to go thirty minutes later.”
She was shifting her weight back and forth, looking uncomfortable.
I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “You better talk or I’ll assume the worst.”
“Whatever you assume, this is worse.”
“Okay, now I’m intrigued. What’s going on?”
She shifted again and winced. “So this might be one of those moments that either make or break our friendship.”
“The suspense is killing me. Just tell me,” I said, studying her.
She was dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt, and she looked like she’d been working out. Her hair was a sweaty mess, her eye makeup smudged.
“I need you to help me.”
Okay, now I’m worried.“Of course. What do you need?”
She walked to her bedroom, looking back at me. “Just know that I value our friendship and that you’ve become like a sister to me. And sisters stick together through sickness and health.”
“You’re like a sister to me too. And I don’t think anything you do or show me could make me feel any different.”
