Page 25 of Chasing Fireflies

“Yeah, just stacked them too high,” she calls out. I walk over and see books surrounding the girl I now call my friend. Red hair falls into her face, and her green eyes look up at me. I laugh.

“Let me help you,” I offer. She picks up the fallen books, and I see a bruise on her arm. “Get that just now?”

She looks down at her arm and then back at the books in her hand. “I bruise so easily I have no idea where it came from.” I’d believe this except she always has bruises, and Lucas is a complete ass to her.

“Yeah, I bruise easily, too, but you always seem to have those.”

She looks up at me again and shrugs. “I’m careless.”

“And I don’t have manic depression,” I throw back at her. She sighs.

“You trying to get at something here?”

“Just worried, is all. If I was showing signs of being on a high, wouldn’t you call me out?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.”

“So, what’s your point?”

“My point is, that son of a bitch better not be putting his hands on you.” Maci blinks at me, and I instantly feel bad. “Look, I’m sorry. I just don’t like the way he talks to you, and it worries me. I know he is your husband—”

“That’s right. He is my husband and the man I love. Please don’t talk about him again.”

I bite my lip and look down. “I’m sorry. I won’t say another word about it.” I pick up the rest of the books and walk back over to the desk.

*

The summertime sun is high in the sky today, and I lie back on my float and lightly strum my fingertips over the pool water. A horsefly flies by, and I look up at the small amount of clouds.

“Have you read that book I was telling you about yet?” Leigh asks me as we float mindlessly and soak up some rays.

“I finished it last night. It was good.”

“It was,” she agrees as she grabs ahold of the end of my float so we stay connected. I look over at her.

“Do you think Lucas is beating Maci?” I ask. I haven’t spoken to anyone about this, not even Cash because I don’t want to put it out there. But I’m getting concerned for my friend, and I’m starting to wonder if he is the reason they lost their child.

“Sometimes that thought crosses my mind. Why do you ask, though?”

“It crosses mine, too.” I block the sun from my eyes. “I’ve implied it to her, and she got super defensive. Which I understand—that’s her husband, but I just think something more is going on there. He treats her like shit.”

“Well, no one can do anything unless she wants it done,” Leigh says, shaking her head. “It’s best to just not mention it unless she does.”

I sigh and rest my head back. “Guess I won’t again.”

*

I pull the string on my bikini top and let it fall to the floor. Looking at myself in the mirror, I see I got some sun today and now have a tan line. Cash walks in behind me and lifts his brow. “Got a severe tan line there.”

“That I do.” I turn the water on and wait for it to warm.

“How was your day?”

“Good,” he says, walking over to me. He kisses my mouth, and I smell beer.

“You and the boys go by Banner’s?”

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