Page 100 of When I Come Home

The ringing of my apartment's intercom startles me out of my pit of depression. Dragging myself out of bed and into the hallway, I press the button that connects me with the front desk downstairs in the lobby.

“Miss Althea?” It's the voice of the concierge crackling through the speaker.

“Yeah?” I breathe, too tired to use my voice.

“There's a woman down here to see you. Says her name is Leighton. Should I send her up?”

Furrowing my brow in confusion, I take several moments to respond. What the hell is Leighton doing in California?

“Yeah, go ahead,” I tell him finally and pad down the hall to wait by the front door.

It's only minutes later that my best friend stands before me in my living room, casting concerned eyes over the mess of my apartment for a moment before finally settling on me.

“Hey, babe.” She smiles, though it's a sad one.

“What are you doing here?”

She laughs at the bluntness of my question, helping herself to one of the stools around my kitchen island. “Cole said you needed me, so we used some of Conan's air miles to get me a flight.”

“You came all the way here on your own?” I ask, the shock clear in my voice. “But you've never been on a plane before.”

She waves me off like the fact is inconsequential. “It ain't no big deal. You needed me.” She shrugs like it's the most casual thing in the world. “So I'm here.”

Leaning against the kitchen wall, I rub a hand over my heart. There's a funny feeling blooming there like an iris in winter, a tiny fleck of beauty forcing its way through the frost.

He knew I needed someone, even if that someone couldn't be him. So, he sent me Leigh.

And here she is.

She showed up for me.

“I had to pop a sedative to get me through the flight, because my sweet fucking Jesus Christ, that shit is scary. But we got here. It's all good.” She beams at me. “I lived to tell the tale.”

Unable to stop myself, I fly at her, wrapping my arms around her and clutching her to me. “I can't believe you're here,” I sob into her chunky knit sweater. “Thank you, Leigh. Thank you so much.”

She smoothes her hand up and down my back, letting me cry for just a few brief moments before pulling back and looking me dead in the eye.

“Okay, real talk,” she says. “Are you ready for it?”

Nodding, I dab at the few escaped tears on my cheeks with my fingers and shake myself off.

“I ain't here for a pity party. I'm here to make shit better and that doesn't mean sitting around and crying over Cole and what's happened with the photo online. It means coming up with a plan to tackle this shit, yeah?”

“What?”

“We've got a fuck-ton to cover, so why don't you get some coffee brewing and we can get started.” She leans over to pull a folder, notebook and an assortment of colorful stationary out of her tote she's left laying on the floor beside the stool.

I look down at myself, Cole's old flannel falling ragged around my knees that smells of days'-old must and is stained with tears. “Right now?” I ask.

“Ain't no time like the present.” But then she pauses and seems to reconsider, her nose scrunching in something that looks a lot like repulsion. “Actually no, you fucking stink. Go take a shower and put some of your own damn clothes on, then we can start.”

I nod silently at her instruction, though still a little bemused by the entire situation. Spinning on my heel, I make my way back through my apartment to the bathroom, my dirty bare feet sticking to the tiled floor with every footstep.

“I better not see you for at least half an hour,” Leighton calls out after me. Then quieter, but not so quiet that I can't hear her, she adds, “Best believe you need as long as you can get in there to sort out that rancid stench. Haven’t ever smelled a thing like it in my life.”

And for the first time in weeks, I smile.

It turns out,Leighton has already done a lot of the planning herself. For what, I'm still not sure. But as she sits across the table from me with her folder open, tapping the end of her ballpoint pen on the hardwood, I realize with dawning clarity that, for the first time in a long time, I actually have someone in my corner.

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