Page 23 of Embracing Trust

I drag myself out of bed and catch a peek at the clock while I slip on my robe. Oh man, it’s after ten o’clock already? I never sleep this late. Who rings a doorbell on Sunday morning anyway?

I pad down my hallway, through the living room, and peek out the front window. I smile as I open the front door and Merilee steps inside with her hands full—barely handling a pastry sack and two cups of what I can only assume is hot coffee.

“Sorry,” she says as she carefully sets the treasures on my coffee table. “It looks like I got you out of bed. I would’ve done my normal barging in thing, but my hands were full.” She laughs. “I rang the doorbell with my elbow.” She looks around the living room. “What time did Ryan slip out of bed this morning?”

I snicker. “I see you had time to change clothes afteryourown walk of shame this morning.”

“Not funny.”

“Hey, you started it,” I say as I flop down on the couch. I point to the pastry sack. “There better be glazed in there.”

“Duh.” Merilee rolls her eyes and plops down next to me.

“Caramel latte?”

Merilee hands me the cup. “Of course.”

Coffee. Wonderful coffee. I love the stuff. Black, espresso, latte, cappuccino. I started drinking it in college when I was up late studying and then it stuck. Merilee knows I can’t start my day without my mojo.

I reach for the pastry sack, peek inside, and let out a dramatic moan. “You’re the best.”

Merilee smirks. “Is that what you sounded like last night?”

I snag the warm, glazed donut and take a bite. “Ahhhh.” I chew as the donut literally melts in my mouth. I toss the sack to Merilee, and she grabs a glazed donut and takes a bite.

Merilee and I have spent so much time together throughout the years. We are content to just chat about our day-to-day stuff. Sometimes our talks are a lot more intense. Merilee and I have always been there for one another. I remember going through a rough time after my dad died—we had just moved to the neighborhood. It turned out, she lived only blocks away from the house I moved into with my mother and younger sister. We spent that summer together—practically inseparable and started Claremont High School that fall.

I sip my latte and smile at Merilee. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

“How does it feel to have two guys interested in you now?”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Seriously?”

“You’ve been seeing Luke and it sounds like Ryan wants to see—”

“But I’m seeing Luke right now,” I say and take a sip of my latte.

Merilee throws her head back and laughs. “You aredelusionalif you think Ryan’s just going to sit back and watch you dating Luke.”

I shrug even as I think about my kiss with Ryan.

“You know how competitive he—”

“Exactly. And that’s what scares me. What if he’s just trying to win? What if he’s not actually that interested in me, but doesn’t like the idea of me seeing someone else?”

Merilee wrinkles her nose. “I don’t think so.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Merilee taps on the plastic lid with her manicured nail and her features soften. “First of all, he was flirting with you way before he knew you had a boyfriend. He was flirting at the bar after the rehearsal. I was watching him, and I know what I saw.” Merilee takes a drink of coffee. “What are you going to do?”

I shrug.

What am I going to do?

Merilee sets her empty cup on the table and studies me. “And with you, it’s still the whole trust thing. Am I right?”

I laugh. “Let’s face it. I don’t have the best record for being able to trust men.”

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