1
“How was the vacation?”
Amy Wells and I left Texas Roadhouse and walked over to
the Cinemark movie theatre. It was August, and evening temperatures weren’t
dropping off yet. It was still close to seventy degrees.
Amy and I have known each other since we both wore
diapers. At this point, she’s more like a sister than a friend.
“Fun,” I said. “It was a lot of fun.”
She eyed me as we walked, her caramel brown eyes seeing
right through me, as they usually did. “I sense a but coming. Did
something happen at the wedding?”
My boyfriend, Alex Ellmann, and I had been in Malibu
for his father’s wedding. We’d stayed several days after the wedding, and spent
the time playing on the beach. Our relationship had started under stressful
circumstances, and we’d had more than our fair share of stress since. It had
been really nice to spend the time together doing nothing more serious than
guarding against sunburns.
“No, the wedding went fine. Vince actually looked
happy.”
She tucked a strand of light brown hair behind her ear.
She’d chopped it to shoulder length for summer, but I’d always liked it longer.
I didn’t tell her this, though, because she wouldn’t have cared.
“Then what gives?”
I sighed. “It’s Ellmann. He . . .”
She nodded. “He’s perfect, I know. How troubling.”
I glared at her. “Ha ha. This is serious, Amy.”