Forgiving Patience (24 page)

Anna continued sitting on the kitchen
floor, not yet trusting her legs. She didn’t need Jake rushing to her side if
she just happened to do a face plant on the linoleum. Instead, she sat in place
until her breathing slowed and her eyesight cleared again.

“Jake, I’m going to get up now. If I
lose my balance and start falling to the floor, let me fall.” She sternly
looked him in the eye to emphasize her request. She knew he wouldn’t just let
her fall, but she wanted to make it clear to him that she didn’t want him near
her. His head gave a slight nod, so she inched her way up the wall until she
was standing up straight. She could see him watching her carefully, but he
didn’t flitch.

She left him sitting and went to the
bathroom. It was the only place where she could be alone at the moment. She
splashed cool water on her cheeks, staring at the face that looked back at her.
She could see the sadness in her own eyes. It resembled the same look in her
mother’s eyes all those years ago. “What am I doing here, mom?” she asked,
looking up at the ceiling as if her mother could see and give her the answer
she needed.

She stripped out of Jake’s clothes
and slipped back into her pants and tank top that smelled of Jesse’s homemade
punch. The smell brought back a night she just wanted to forget. She took out
her cell, seeing five missed calls—all from Liza. Being reminded that Jake was
trouble and that she needed to stay a county away from him was not what Anna
wanted to hear. Instead, she punched in
Em’s
number.

“Hey, Em, can you come pick me up at
my old house? Yes, everything is fine…Tommy’s truck is okay…see you in a few
minutes.” She closed the phone and pulled herself up on the counter, giving Em
enough time to get there. When she heard the SUV pulling down the driveway, she
headed out of the bathroom, past the kitchen. Jake was still sitting in the
chair. He gave her one last look, a look that told her he was desperately
sorry, but didn’t know what to do except let her walk out the door. She was
glad he didn’t try to stop her. Not even giving the house a last look, she
walked out the door.

Chapter Twelve

“So, what happened? Why couldn’t Jake
drive you back to my house? He has to bring Tommy’s truck back anyway.”

“Oh, he was still asleep. I didn’t
want to wake him.” Anna didn’t even dare look at her friend. Instead, she
stared out the passenger window. She never could lie and knew Em would see
straight through her story.

“Anna, Jake hasn’t slept past seven
since the day he started playing professional baseball. What’s really going
on?”

“It’s nothing, really. We stayed up
late watching television so he must have been tired.” She was partly telling
the truth, so that couldn’t exactly be telling a lie.

“Don’t tell me you two stayed up
watching old
Roseanne
episodes and not getting it on.”

“I didn’t come here to get it on with
anyone, so please drop it, all right?” She needed to change the subject quick.
“What do we need to do for your wedding this week?”

Em left the subject of her and Jake
alone to talk about her wedding that was coming up in less than a week.

For the next short minutes back to
Em’s
house, they talked about flowers, the cake, getting
with the photographer, and tons of other last minute details that Anna couldn’t
really focus on at the moment. She loved her friend and was happy for the
happiness she’d found with Tommy, but she just wasn’t up for wedding talk.

When they arrived at
Em’s
, she took her purse and shoes that Em had remembered
to bring with her. She gave her friend a hug and promised to call that
afternoon to discuss their plans for the week.

Alone at last.

The apartment was only a few blocks
away. Garrett wasn’t in the office so she didn’t have to worry about him
pestering her for information about where she’d been last night and why she was
just now getting home. He was a nice enough guy, but she didn’t want him to
start being nosy.

Anna walked into the studio apartment
and flopped on the bed. What a night…what a day. And it wasn’t even nine yet.
All she was wanting was a bath, but she was settling on a shower. She couldn’t
wait to go back home and take an hour-long bath. The thought made her want to
pack up and leave right then, and she might have if it wasn’t for the wedding
and her responsibility to her friend. She had to stay for the wedding, and then
she was out of Patience for good. She jumped in the shower long enough to wash
up. After putting on panties and a tank top, she crawled under the covers.
Sleep, that’s what she needed. And it just so happened that she had no problems
sleeping during the day.

* * * *

“Why did I let you talk me into this?
This is ridiculous. You’re about to get married, Em. Why do you want to be
here, again?” Anna didn’t like the idea of being at her old high school—at a
bachelor auction at that.

She wasn’t interested in having a
bachelor. If it wasn’t for Anna feeling bad because she’d missed out on some
girl-time over the past couple days, she wouldn’t have come out tonight.

She and Jake hadn’t talked since
their fight about something she couldn’t understand. It had to be about more
than just Bradley. Sitting on the kitchen floor, he’d sent her mind back to a
series of events where cigarette smoke filled the air, people were screaming,
and deodorant cans, dishes, or vases were hurled across the room, shattering
against the wall. She needed to concentrate on getting Jake out of her house,
mind, and dreams, so her healing process could begin. He was making things
impossible by dragging the damn dates out, and not letting her get the intense,
hot, tempting…dates out of the way.

“I told you, you need to get out and
have some fun. Plus, if you win us a bachelor, you might get out of helping
finish the bridesmaids’ bouquets.”

“Wait—you never said I have to bid.”

“Well, you can’t expect me to, can
ya? I’m getting married in a little over a week, hell, Anna, that will just
give the old woman at the hair shop something juicy to talk about.”

They were making their way through
the crowded room of single women, all ready with wads of cash and check books,
wanting to get the hottest male they could afford. Apparently, Em wanted to get
in the front row. They pushed and shoved through the fragrances of
White Diamonds
by Elizabeth Taylor and
Baby
Phat
Fabulosity
until Em was satisfied with the
perfect spot. The women ranged from their early twenties to her sixty-year-old
next door neighbor Ms. Edna. She wasn’t even going to bring it up. It was mind
boggling to think of Ms. Edna bidding along with others half her age.

That didn’t stop Em, though. “Is that
Edna? We need to watch out for her. I’ve seen the tips she’s been getting. We
can’t let the old woman outbid us.”

“What? Let’s get back to the part
where I have to bid so you can get help for your wedding. Do you actually trust
a man—a single man at that—to make your bouquets?”

“I trust a single man more than a married
one. A single man has more experience at using his hands. I bet they are better
than Mrs. Lena at the Flower and Gift Shop…cheaper too.”

“Yuck, does Tommy know who he’s
marrying? All you talk about is sex, sex, and more sex.”

Em was scanning the crowd, pointing
out the competition, ignoring the little comment. She was serious about this?
Gesturing to her left, she said, “You see that slut Carly? Don’t let her get
any of the good ones. I refuse to lose to her, anybody else okay, but not her.
She’s always hitting on Tommy, along with any other available male, and I will
take that bitch down.”

Anna laughed. “Whoa, killer.”

She remembered seeing the five-foot
seven inches tall busty blonde at Ollie’s the other night. Every woman and man
for the matter could tell that Carly had her sights on Jake, and she looked
like a woman who was used to getting what she wanted. She agreed with Em—Carly
was not outbidding them.

Talking to her best friend was not
going to get her out of this stupid idea—one that would result in
embarrassment…or something worse. Not that she had anything better to do. She
just wished to be anywhere but there. If she wanted to think of hot, single
men, she would just pick up her current read—which provided as much excitement
as she needed at the moment. But…she had been a lousy friend lately with the
whole party incident and being MIA the past couple days. What the hell.

“Fine. I’ll do the bidding, but you
will do the buying. Deal?”

The two friends shook hands and
continued on with their game plan. They decided Jesse would be bidding on
Bradley, for what Em said was obvious reasons, and a few women who Em worked
with would be going for sexy firemen or cops. They had to worry about Carly,
Ms. Edna for some crazy reason, and Georgia. Anna actually was curious at who
the bubbly woman would bid on.

Em gave her three hundred dollars and
an extra two hundred in case they needed to outdo Carly.

“How much was Mrs. Lena charging,
anyway?”

“Eight hundred big ones. Crazy, huh?
I’ve known the batty woman all my life, and she can’t cut me a break. We went
with her for the bride and groom party so you would think I would get a
discount. Oh, no… Well, she lost my business. I will do it myself or get a hot
guy to do it before I pay her that much. It’s the principle of the thing, you
know?”

Anna had known some woman back in
Linden who paid over a thousand, but decided against bringing that up. Em had a
heated opinion, and Anna wasn’t going to worsen the situation. She would just
be the good friend who bid on a hot guy for her. Tommy was a good man to deal
with Em on a daily basis. It was interesting, but had to be exhausting at the
same time.

“Okay, it’s starting. Get ready to
find me a guy.”

The lights dimmed, woman squealed,
and the song,
I’m too Sexy for my Shirt
started to blast through the
speakers on both sides of the stage. Just then a dark-haired fireman came out
ripping his thin shirt off, leaving him in only jeans and flip-flops. Was it
just her, or were fireman supposed to come out only in uniform pants held up by
red suspenders? Maybe that was just a stereotype or something you only saw in
calendars. He was extremely attractive, but he just didn’t do it for her.

Baseball players were more her thing,
and eleven years ago she had been burned by one, so now she was left with
nothing that made her hot inside.

The casually dressed firefighter went
for two hundred dollars, while a few more men came out only going for one
hundred a piece. Two of them were a little pot-bellied, but would have made
good helpers. The other guy looked terrified. Anna was thankful Em passed,
because if the guy was scared of all these screaming women, he definitely would
have wanted to run from Em.

Oh, wait—not all women were coming
for just help around the house. They expected a night of full blown pleasure.
The thought made her mind jump to Jake, but before it could linger the next guy
was strutting his way out on the stage.

“…and this one runs a successful
business here in town. Garrett’s a catch, ladies. So get those checkbooks ready.
Let’s start the bidding at fifty dollars.” The principal was really trying to
sell the men. It was apparent the woman wanted money for the athletics
department, and she was willing to say anything good about each guy to get the
most money for them. She continued, “…do I hear a hundred?”

“Bid two hundred. Garrett is
perfect.”

Em was yanking Anna’s hand up, eager
to win the businessman who had caused Anna so much trouble.

“We, I mean, I bid two hundred,” she
yelled out.

Garrett was grinning like a possum at
seeing her bid for him. Great. Garrett was clearly going to take this the wrong
way. God, why did she let Em get her into the worst situations? It was as if
she were back in high school again, and Em was dragging her on a double date
with a pimple-faced boy, just so she could go out with the hot older brother.
This is where her strong backbone would come in handy.

“Two fifty,” some woman in the back
yelled, but Anna couldn’t make out her face through the crowd of people.
Garrett was going for some serious dough. “…sold to the woman in the back. Come
claim your man.” The principal, who was having too much fun, hit the podium
with her bare hand, excited over the amount of money they were making.

“Oh. My. God. Is that Georgia?” Anna
hadn’t expected that. “Why would Georgia want Garrett? She sees him every day.”

“Maybe there’s a little office
romance going on there.” Em elbowed her in the ribs, making her double over.

“Calm down. Jeez, you’ve probably
just bruised my ribs.”

“Quit being a baby and concentrate. We’ve
lost our first guy. We need to stay focused.”

“There have already been six or more
men who have strutted their stuff. Why haven’t you let me bid more?”