Page 49 of Give Me Forever Love

I laugh out loud because, holy shit, she looks hilarious. She starts giggling, blinking to keep it from getting in her eye, but not without picking up the bowl of flour.

“No!” I say.

She quickly dumps it on me, and I grab the bottle of cream squirting it all over her. We’re a laughing work of mess. Flour is everywhere, and somewhere along the way, she grabbed leftover icing from the cinnamon buns she made yesterday, spreading it all over my arms. We giggle until our stomachs burn and our eyes leak tears of pure happiness. Clouds of flour float in the air, and cream and icing taste like having fun with my best friend.

The doors swing open and Austin comes through.

“What in the actual fuck?” he says, looking at us. We both stop in our tracks, glancing at him before looking back at each other and bursting out laughing.

Austin shakes his head before leaving us. “Aw, come back, baby,” Claire says in between fits of giggles. “Austin!” she calls out. I sink to the floor, holding my stomach because I can’t take it anymore. She flops down beside me, and we both exhale dramatically, trying to catch our breaths.

“Jesus,” she says, looking around the kitchen.

“Yeah, you’ve got a mess to clean up.” I grin over at her; she playfully slaps my arm.

“So, you’ll be gone a week?” she asks.

“Yeah. I caught up on some office work, so everything’s good until I get back.”

She reaches down and scrapes a glob of whipped cream from her shirt before sticking it into her mouth. “Has he told you where you’re going?”

“Nope,” I reply. “Says it’s a surprise.”

She gives a close-lipped smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She’s worried, like always.

I reach over and grab her hand. “Dude, I’m going to be okay. Stop worrying about things we can’t control. Bryce loves me. You know that yourself.”

“I know, I just have this bad feeling. I don’t know why.”

“Well, stop having these bad feelings.”

She exhales. “Okay.” She leans her head on my shoulder and I reach over and rub her stomach.

“How’s the little bean?”

“Growing.” I see her smile. “I’m so happy, Kat. I’m so unbelievably happy.”

“You should be. You have me as your best friend, after all.”

Her smile widens, but I know she rolls her eyes. “Yes. How lucky I am.”

“Ditto,” I reply. Truth is I’m the one who’s lucky to have her. She’s the constant in my crazy life. She’s always there, and I hope it never changes.

After babies and boyfriends and whatever else life throws at us, I hope this is the one thing that stays the same.

Our friendship.

Chapter Sixteen

Kathrine

I stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. My hair is pulled back; my makeup is nonexistent. I wear black Adidas running pants with black and white Adidas shoes.

With one hand in my pocket around a crumbled-up piece of paper, I watch the sun grace us with its presence, its orange-yellow light slipping between the high-rise buildings, gleaming off of fresh washed glass. A lonely tear rolls down my cheek, dripping from my chin to the black shirt I’m wearing. My face is tear-stained and I’m all but cried out.

The one thing I realize is you can run for a long time, but sooner or later, you’ll tire and everything you were running from will catch up.

I shouldn’t have opened this letter today. It’s the day we’re leaving for our trip, but I found it last night unpacking some of the boxes I still hadn’t unpacked from moving in here.

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