Page 47 of Crashing Into Me
A familiar feeling came over Paula at that point. Lana was spinning out of control, making poor decisions, and nearly put her life in danger last night. It reminded her of Kayden after Joel. She wouldn’t let her best friend go down that path. She stood from the couch and took a closer look at her friend’s place. She saw pictures of her family, her nursing degrees on the walls, then her eyes landed on the computer screen on the desk. It was the wedding announcement Kim had placed in Page Six.
She heard the shower turn off and closed the browser on the desktop computer. She sat back down on the couch when Lana came out of the bathroom, and she looked a hell of a lot better without the running mascara and eyeliner streaming down her face. She flopped down next to Paula and looked at her.
“How long have you been in Florida?” Lana asked.
“A couple of days. You wouldn’t answer my calls, Lana, and then you moved. I finally decided to check the hospitals, and there you were. I’m glad I checked when I did, or I’d have never found you!”
“That was a coincidence.”
“Yeah, a lot of that is going around lately.”
“I can’t go back to Hamby, Paula.”
“Yes, you can. You have to.”
Lana rose from the couch slowly and walked into the kitchen. She opened the cabinet above the stove and pulled down a box of hot chocolate. She turned to Paula.
“Want some?”
“In this heat, are you insane?” Lana smiled and turned back around.
She grabbed a mug from the counter and opened her microwave.
“What’s going on with you, Lana? And don’t bullshit me either.”
Lana knew it was useless, and fresh tears were already coming down her face.
“I don’t know how to move on, I guess,” she barely managed to say.
She put the mug in the microwave and hit the button.
Paula got up, walked to the small kitchen, and sat at the tiny breakfast table. When the microwave beeped, Lana sat next to her and sipped the chocolate.
“You shouldn’t have to move on, honey. What I saw on those tapes was beautiful, with the exception of the sex all over the house.”
Lana laughed a little.
“Sorry,” she replied, embarrassed.
“You didn’t know. I wish I had told you and savedmyselfsome serious therapy,” Paula replied.
Lana laughed, but they turned to tears, and Paula pushed her chair closer to Lana.
“I’m trying to move on, to be strong and forget him, but I can’t and I don’t know how to stop from dying inside,” she sobbed, leaning her head on Paula’s shoulder.
“It’s gonna be OK. It’s why I’m here, it’s all gonna be OK.”
Paula spent the rest of the night explaining to Lana the ramifications of what her mother had done. She had a lawyer prepare to serve her mother papers along with the video evidence of the blackmail. Lana sat up and shook her head.
“I don’t know what you have, but Kim threatened to show evidence in court of Maureen using her pull to get Kayden out of all his past legal trouble. She said she’d put him away if I showed my face there, Paula. I can’t risk that,” Lana replied.
“What a bitch!” Paula yelled. She grabbed her cellphone and started texting someone at lightning speed. “I’ll have Taylor look into it. We will just have to be extra careful when we get there. No worries.”
Paula reached into her expensive briefcase and pulled out an envelope.
“Take a look at this,” she said and slapped it down on the table.
Lana wasn’t sure what was in there and was kind of afraid to open it.
