Page 29 of Tied to Hope
“Liam wasnotyour fault. None of the bad things that happened had anything to do with you.” Brie stopped what she was doing. She felt it was important to enforce her words with a hug.
“How is your heart, my friend?” she whispered as she squeezed Lea, knowing that she struggled with having loved Liam before it all went crashing down in flames.
Lea let out a long sigh. “My heart is slowly healing.”
“Is there anything I can do to make it heal faster?”
“Yes, there is.”
Brie broke away to look her in the eye. “Name it, girlfriend.”
“Tell me a joke.”
“Lea…” she complained. “I’m being serious here.”
“I’m being serious, too. You don’t know the power a good joke has for me, Brie. And, for it to come from my best friend? I would love nothing more. Seriously.”
Brie wondered if Lea was teasing her, but the desperate look in her eyes spurred Brie on to try. “Let’s see…” She laughed uncomfortably after a moment. “I didn’t realize how hard this would be. Coming up with a joke bad enough to be Lea-worthy is not an easy task.”
“I believe in you, girl,” Lea encouraged her, giving two thumbs up.
Brie sifted through all the bad jokes she knew, trying to find one that Lea hadn’t already told her. “I think I have a good one.”
“Great!” Lea clapped her hands excitedly.
“It’s a clown joke.”
“Even better. I love clowns.”
“I have no idea why when they creep me out.” Brie shuddered. “But this one is totally you.”
“Hit me with it, sister.”
“What do you call a clown who gives his girlfriend flowers?”
Before Lea had time to think, Brie blurted out the punch line. “A romantic jester!”
“Aww…that’s so cute, Brie.”
“But it didn’t make you laugh,” she said sadly.
Lea patted her on the back. “It takes years of practice to be as talented as I am.”
Brie was disappointed. “I’m sorry it didn’t help, Lea.”
Lea answered her apology with a hug. “But it did help. You made a bad joke just for me. That’s what true friendship is all about.”
“Seriously, if you need anything, just let me know. I’m here for you one hundred percent, girlfriend.”
Lea’s smile was genuine when she told Brie, “I know, it means so much to me that you have my back.”
“Forever and always.”
“Same here.” After another squishy hug with those big boobs, she said, “Do you know what the title associate director really means?”
Brie felt another joke coming on and answered hesitantly, “No, what does the title associate director really mean?”
“He’s the only guy in Hollywood who will associate with the director.” Lea giggled, adding, “No matter what kind of fallout happens in life, Stinky Cheese, I’ll always be your associate director.”
