I nod and head back into the kitchen while she calls her brother. Major happily follows me. When I put the metal camping plate with the eggs, bacon and home fries down on the floor, he devours everything on it as I try not to eavesdrop too hard on Aspen’s conversation with Abbott.
I sip my coffee and hear her explain. “I’m at Jake’s. YesthatJake…. No we are not back together… No. I am not lying. I just… well my apartment building kind of almost burned down.”
I can hear him perfectly clearly. “WHAT THE HELL, ASPEN!”
“I didn’t burn it down,” she replies defensively and I try and stifle a chuckle because of course he thinks she did it. Aspen is the queen of getting herself into pickles. And pregnancies now, I guess. Oh man, if this kid is mine, Abbott is going to hunt me down and beat me with his hockey stick. He blames me for the heartbreak Aspen felt when we broke up. I felt it too, but he doesn’t get that and he wouldn’t care if he did. Because that’s what family does—they rally behind each other and protect each other at all costs. That’s why Terra Hawkins was off-limits way back when I was a lonely, struggling teenager. Because if things blew up with her, I would have lost all of them.
Aspen drops her voice to an angry and loud whisper. “Well, he offered and I had nowhere else to go. Did you want me to callthem?”
Them would be their parents. Both of them have been estranged from their parents since Aspen was eighteen. She has never, ever told me the exact reason why. But there are a lot of reasons I could guess at. They’re hardcore religious, cold, vicious people.
“What? No. Really? Okay, well I would be eternally grateful,” Aspen says and I know he’s just offered to pay for a new place for her to live while her dilemma gets sorted. “Thanks Abbott. Truly. Yeah I will call you when I get there. Bye.”
I walk back into the living room as she drops her phone on the air mattress. “He’s putting you up in a hotel?”
“Five Seasons,” Aspen replies.
“Fancy!”
“They take dogs,” Aspen says and pats the top of Major’s head because he’s moved to sit by her feet.
Then my doorbell rings not once, not twice, but three times in a row. Major goes berserk. His bark is beyond loud and super scary if you don’t know him. Aspen glances at me in confusion, which I’m sure is the look I’m also giving her. I walk through the apartment to the front door and fling it open, thinking my movers might have gotten here way early. Instead, I find Terra standing in front of my door.
She’s wearing a big cardigan, even though it’s warm out, and leggings with tall Uggs. “Did you get a dog?” she asks but then swings into a new subject without giving me a second to answer. “I need someone’s help tomorrow, and you’re the only one I could think of.”
“Umm…I’m flattered?” I scratch the back of my head and she lets those big, endless dark chocolate colored eyes sweep over me. Major comes bolting down the hall.
“Are you dog sitting Major? Aspy off on one of her stakeouts?” Terra scratches him behind the ears and then barges right by me into the front hall.
Oh fuck.
Before I can stop her she’s marched into the living room. Aspen is there next to the air mattress with the rumpled sleeping bag, still dressed in barely anything. She stares at Terra and Terra stares back. This is not going to go over well. Damnit.
“Aspen is just—”
Terra spins back around so fast she blurs and then she’s storming past me back to the door. I chase after her. “Wait! Stop!”
Major barks like he’s helping. I swear he’s saying, ‘Don’t leave! It’s not what you think!’
“This was a mistake,” she mutters and waves a hand in front of me. I reach out and grab it.
“Stop! The only mistake is the assumption you’re currently making. Aspen is here because her apartment burned down,” I blurt out. “Yesterday. Call Logan. He’ll confirm.”
“Sort of burned down. Mostly just got drowned by sprinklers.” Aspen adds, now standing at the end of the hall. I don’t think it’s all that helpful and my expression shows it. Terra glances between her and me but when her eyes stay on Aspen and take in her outfit, or lack thereof, I know she isn’t going to believe a word I say.
“Are you okay?” Aspen asks Terra and takes a couple steps closer. “You look like hell, Ter.”
Way to make a bad moment worse, Aspen.
“Thanks!” Terra exclaims so full of passive aggressive perkiness I can’t help but smile. “I wonder why we don’t hang out any more?”
She turns to me, placing Aspen at her back. Aspen slinks off into the kitchen with Major, hanging her head.
“Look, I just want to walk out that door and wipe this whole scene from my hard drive,” Terra announces and I bite back another smile because she’s dead serious but I love when she talks nerdy. It’s adorable. “But I need help.”
“You know I will help you with anything,” I sweep my eyes over her outfit again. I’m shirtless and not even close to chilled. She must be sweating under that cardigan. “Can I take your sweater? It’s warm in here.”
“No.” She glances over her shoulder again. “Can we talk outside?”
