Page 45 of Lush Curves

“If your past came crawling back,” Sam said. “YouknowI’d stand right next to you while you faced it, right?”

“I do know.”

“So…” Sam kissed the tip of her nose. “What do you think?”

“I think that I’ll brace myself for my past maybe becoming my present, maybe just for a little while.”

“I’m so proud you, honey. I know it can’t be easy.”

Annie nodded, accepted his hug, and reflected that she never,everthought that she’d actively go looking to bring Billy into her life – but here she was, preparing to maybe do just that. She held Sam tighter, already drawing strength from him for what she was afraid might be an ugly, awful fight.

In the end, though, and oddly enough, it wasn’therdead and buried past that came back to life and rose from the grave. It wasn’t the shadows ofheryesterday that came crawling out, blocking the sun of today. It wasn’therpast that set up residence in the present.

No. No, it was Sam’s. And it ended their lives as they knew them… and many, many other people’s lives too.

Chapter Nine

Sarah staggered off the dance floor at The Cave, the hottest, coolest bar in Denver, and collapsed at the VIP table. She grabbed her glass, drained it of all wine, then nodded as Maria held up the bottle, offering more.

“Yes, please,” Sarah said, slurring a bit. “I’m gonna besooooosorry tomorrow, but right now, I don’t care.”

“Aw, hell, it’syourHen Party night,” Mirrie said, cradling her glass of pineapple juice. “Enjoy yourself.”

“I’m gonna get totally drunk, then go home to Jax and attack him while he sleeps. And he’s gonnaloveit.”

Gabs whooped and raised her rum-and-coke. “I’m gonna do that Aidan too! After I brush my teeth, though, because I can’t kiss him with alcohol breath.”

Sarah hesitated, looked over at Naomi. She knew that Aidan and Mirrie and Naomi were all alcoholics in various stages of recovery, and she’d agonized about inviting the two women to a bar practically drowning in booze. They’d both calmly declared themselves fine with it, and Mirrie had added that if things got to be too much, they’d just duck out early, with apologies. Still, though, Sarah wanted to be sure they were alright.

Before she could speak, though, Naomi piped up.

“Sarah, I’m fine. Mirrie is fine. Really. If I weren’t, I’d tell her. She’s my AA sponsor, and she’d get me out of here and talk me down. Alright?”

“Alright.”

“And truthfully, I’mthrilledto be out in a dance club. It’s beenyears, and I’d forgotten how much I love dancing.” Naomi looked around, her short blonde hair shining in the lights. “I’m going to get Matt to take me dancing sometime.”

The other women stared at her, then burst out laughing.

“What?” Naomi asked, genuinely unnerved. “What’s funny?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” Tessa sputtered. “Just the thought of King busting a move on a packed dance floor.”

They laughed again.

“Firstof all,” Naomi said with great dignity.”I don’t think the youth of today call it ‘busting a move’ anymore, so you just aged us all, Tessa, thank you very much.”

Tessa grinned, raised her Margarita. “Long live the nineties!”

“Secondof all, Matt happens to be anamazingdancer.”

“Yeah?” Sarah said with healthy skepticism. “The mountain has the moves, huh?”

“Oh, honey.” Naomi grinned. “The mountain canshake. Rocks my world on the regular, I can tell you.”

“Argh! Stop with the sex talk!” Sarah said, clapping her hands over Annie’s ears. “My mother is here!”

Annie laughed, removed her daughter’s grip. “Idoknow a few things about sex, sweetheart. I mean –youdoknow where you and your brother came from?”

---