Page 38 of Serenity

ChapterSixteen

Faith

“Hey,stranger.”

I looked up from the magazine I’d been reading in Mrs. Crabtree’s waiting room and found a familiar face I hadn’t seen in a while. My old roommate was standing in frontofme.

“Christine!” I stood and gave her a quick hug. All of Dillon’s public displays of affection must’ve rubbed off on me. That and it was nice to see her after so long. “How’veyoubeen?”

“Good.” She paused and looked around the empty room. “Well, maybe notgoodgood since I’m here, but you know what I mean. Things could be, and have been, a hell of a lot worse. So I’ll survive this setback just like I have all theothers.”

“Is it anything I can helpyouwith?”

“Nah, I’ve got it covered.” She dropped down on the couch and patted the spot where I’d been sitting. “But you can cheer me up by letting me know that things are still going strong between you and your hottie. I don’t think I could handle it if you told me you’re here because the two of youbrokeup.”

“We didn’t break up.” I laughed softly, shaking my head. I’d really missed how funny Christine could be. We’d had more than our fair share of crazy conversations in the years we’d lived together, and they were some of my favorite memories from college. “Dillon’s appointment was after mine, so I’m just waiting for him tofinishup.”

“You aren’t broken up, but you’re already at the point where you need couple’s therapy?” She glanced at the door to the therapist’s office. “Or pair’s therapy or whatever it’d be called when you have back-to-back appointments instead of talking shit outtogether.”

“Relationship wise, we’re good. We’ve just had some other challenges we needed to deal with.” Her eyes grew huge when I gave her a quick run-down of what’dhappened.

“Whoa. I’ve heard and seen some crazy shit in my life, but that’s a lot even by my standards. Like telenovela levelstuff.”

Back in our junior year, she’d gotten addicted to watching telenovelas when her Spanish professor had suggested it as a way for his students to work on their language skills. It’d just about driven me insane because she had them on practically non-stop, but in the end her professor had been right. I’d even picked up a fair amount of Spanish, and I’d taken French in high school. And sadly, she was right. What’d happened with Dillon and me was a truth that was even stranger than the craziestfiction.

“Yeah, you’d think after the shit I’d gone through during my childhood that the universe could cut me a break and let Dillon and I be happy. But nope. That’s not how life works, Iguess.”

“But you said you guys were good,right?”

“Yeah, things could be better between Dillon and his parents but I think he’s getting there. It took him about a month before he went back to work for his dad and since school doesn’t start back up for me until next week, it meant we got to spend all that time together. Between that and the work we’ve been doing with Mrs. Crabtree, both alone and together, I think we’re even better than before. We faced our challenges and came out stronger for it intheend.”

“Maybe the universe does know what it’s doing then,” she sighed. “Even though it’s hard to see when we’re in the thick ofthings.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. But I still would’ve preferred to have not had everything thrown at us the way ithadbeen.

“I miss our middle of the night chats.” She bounced on the cushion. “I know! You guys should get married so I can throw you a bachelorette party. It’d be the perfect excuse for asleep-over.”

“Dillon and I don’t need to get married for you to come over and spend the night. We have a spare bedroom, you know.” Or at least it was kind of an extra now that Dillon’s best friend, Corey, had stopped crashing in it offandon.

“C’mon. Haven’t you ever thought about doing the whole marriage and kids thing withDillon?”

Shockingly enough, I had. That’s how much I loved him. Enough to get past my fear of abandonment and consider a future that included being his wife and having his children. “Yeah,Ihave.”

“And judging by that dreamy look on your face, I’m expecting to get a call in the near future telling me you’re engaged and want me to be the maid of honor. If I know your hottie at all, he’s dying to put a huge rock on your finger to warn offotherguys.”

“If we get married, will you stop calling him myhottie?”

“Nope. Never.” Her eyes lit up when she looked towards the door. “’Cause that’s exactly what he is. Hot and yours.” Then she stood up and walked over to Dillon to give him a hug. “Long time, no see. We all need to do a better job of not beingstrangers.”

“Yeah.” Dillon flashed her a grin, and any tension I’d felt about how his appointment had gone, or if he’d overheard my conversation with Christine, disappeared. He looked happy, and it was exactly how I liked him to be. “We need to have you over for dinner or something. Maybe throw a party before classes start up again forFaith.”

“Oooh! A party! Yes, that!” Christine clapped her hands together. Mrs. Crabtree came up behind Dillon and cleared her throat, causing Christine’s excitement to dim. “Like a perfectly innocent dinner party, since we’re all adults now and don’t party like we’re in collegeanymore.”

I wasn’t sure what that was all about, but I didn’t get the chance to ask. Christine waved goodbye before she stepped into Mrs. Crabtree’s office and shut the doorbehindher.

Dillon quickly took her place at my side. “I wasn’t expecting to seeChristinehere.”

“Neither was I, but it makes sense I guess. Sarah was her case worker too, so she probably recommended Christine talk to Mrs. Crabtree at some pointintime.”

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