Page 18 of The Best of Friends

“No. You?”

“I fell asleep on the sofa. Sorry. I wanted to stay up and keep you company, but I guess the jet lag got me.”

“I appreciate the effort.”

“Did I snore?”

“Even if you had, you would have been elegant.”

Rebecca laughed and pointed to the kitchen. “I made coffee. Oh, and there are those nasty frozen pastry things you like.” She shuddered.

Jayne crossed to the kitchen and opened the freezer. There was a box of toaster pastries—blueberry with extra icing. She laughed. “You sure you don’t want one?”

“Positive.”

Jayne put one in the toaster Rebecca had left out on the counter, then poured herself coffee. As she sipped it, she leaned against the counter.

Jayne had first met Rebecca on the second day of her sophomore year of high school. Jayne’s mother had taken a job as a housekeeper to a very wealthy family living close to the Wordens. The job came with a steady paycheck, benefits, and a small cottage at the rear of the property. After years of living in cheap motels and sometimes in shelters, the accommodations had been like a palace. Jayne’s mother had found the work easy enough, and while Jayne appreciated not having to worry about things like having money for meals and being able to go to the same school, she’d dreaded having to deal with über-rich teenagers.

Complicating the situation were her clothes. Elizabeth Worden had donated three boxes of barely used clothes her daughter no longer wanted. Even Jayne had heard of the Wordens and their fancy jewelry stores. She had a feeling their daughter would be happy to inform the entire school that Jayne was wearing her castoffs. Not that she had any choice. There weren’t other clothes to be had.

So Jayne had braced herself for taunts and ridicule. But when she’d come face-to-face with Rebecca Worden, the beautiful seventeen-year-old had only wrinkled her nose and said, “Thank God that skirt looks good on you. It looked hideous on me.” Then Rebecca had invited Jayne to sit with her at lunch.

The previous year of partying and stealing her friends’ boyfriends had come back to haunt Rebecca. The Worden princess had not only been forced to repeat her junior year, she’d found herself ostracized from her popular girl clique. Both alone and not able to fit in, they’d become friends, awkwardly at first, since they had little in common. Then Rebecca had discovered that beneath her quiet exterior, Jayne was funny and smart. Jayne figured out there was a heart behind Rebecca’s perfect facade. They discovered they both loved gossip magazines and thought math was just as easy for girls as for boys. Jayne had talked Rebecca down during her frequent rants about her mother, and Rebecca had shown Jayne that every family had its problems.

“It’s Elizabeth’s loss,” she said now, watching as Rebecca sat at the glass-topped dining table.

Rebecca shrugged. “Fuck her and the horse she rode in on. What do you want to do today?”

“Go home. I have to talk to my boss, and go fill out paperwork explaining why I’m on disability for the next few weeks. You probably have a million things to do. Why don’t I call a cab so you don’t have to bother?”

Rebecca stared at her. “What? This is L.A. Do we even have cabs? Don’t be silly. I’ll drive you.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Just give me a second to get dressed.” She twirled in her nightshirt. “Unless you think I can wear this and convince everyone it’s the next big thing.”

“If anyone can, it’s you.”

Rebecca laughed.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the car, Jayne wishing she’d taken a pain pill instead of waiting until she got home. It was early—before seven—and they were in the thick of rush hour. Even so, they made good time, and Jayne found herself digging for her condo key a mere forty minutes later.

She found it and opened the door. Rebecca followed her inside.

“Do you have food?” her friend asked. “Should I have a grocery store deliver?”

“I’m fine,” Jayne said, sinking onto the sofa and closing her eyes. “Plenty of food. I just want to sleep.” Assuming the pain backed off enough that she could.

“I could get you a latte,” Rebecca said, sounding doubtful. “Except you probably don’t want coffee, right?”

Jayne shook her head, then forced her eyes open. Rebecca would need direction. Gently telling her to take off would give her friend permission to start her own day and leave Jayne blissfully alone.

“You don’t have to—” she began, only to stop when someone knocked on the open door. She glanced up and saw Katie stepping into her condo. Her friend from the breast center carried two grocery bags.

“I called and said I was coming in a couple of hours late,” Katie told Jayne. “I wanted to check on you.” Katie looked at Rebecca. “Hi, I’m Katie. I work with Jayne.”

Rebecca glanced between them. “I’m Rebecca.”

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