The doorbell snapped her out of another pity party she wasn’t willing to acknowledge. Ditching the camera on the entry table, she swung open the front door.
A paper bag filled with savory goodness filled her nose and stirred her tummy. Grabbing the bag, she tore into it, then paused. “Hey.” She threw her arms around her friend and then pulled the cheddar pastry from the bag. “I’ll fully acknowledge you in a moment. I missed your mother’s cooking. And the lovely woman, but…” She sunk her teeth into the gooey goodness and groaned as the flaky pastry melted in her mouth.
“How do you think I feel? I’m living with that smell every morning now.”
“I’m so sorry.” She wasn’t sorry at all. Not emotionally anyway, but this stuff would be hard to burn off.
“Okay, finish up and let’s get painting.” Trace gestured to her cute paint-friendly attire. Yoga pants, what must be her father’s t-shirt tied in a side knot, and a bandana over her strawberry blond wildness.
Haley gestured down to her own paint-stained overalls and Finn’s t-shirt with the ripped off sleeves that he’d used for her makeshift field bandage. She’d only slept in his shirts the first few nights without him for something cozy; she’d taken all her old nightgowns to the dump after filing for divorce. Today’s choice was entirely due to the fact that she didn’t have another old shirt available. “Ready.”
After giving Trace the tour of what she’d accomplished so far, they got to work. Haley had forgotten how easy it could be to chat with a good girlfriend that wanted nothing in return, just friendship. No phony compliments or hiding your real thoughts to avoid looking foolish. They spent the first hour talking about parents and Paris and the transition of moving from the chaos of big cities to laid-back Foothills.
The nautical gray she’d selected for her office upstairs was already looking better than she had anticipated; a bit dark until the paint dried, but was already bringing the crisp warmth she’d craved. Good thing she liked it, as her overalls were stained beyond repair, and she sported a tattoo-like stripe on her arm.
Not quite as messy of a painter, Trace had little more than a smudge on her yoga pants. Trace filled her in on the events of her busy summer as they tackled the sunny room.
When Haley could no longer avoid the topic anymore, Trace reloaded the roller and asked, “Okay, I’m done unloading. And you’re done hiding. Tell me, did you have your summer fling? With the sexy arms from your chandelier-holding model? Your foot snuggler in the hammock with you?”
Snorting, Haley wiped away the smudge she’d bumped onto the white window trim. Were they done, or giving each other space? How did one end a rebound? Wasn’t it supposed to be easier than the reason for the rebound? “Yes. I completed a successful summer rebound.”
“Aha,” Trace giggled. “And can you say your sex life has taken a positive turn?”
Tugging at the corner of her mouth, Haley couldn’t fight the smile. “That, I can absolutely say.”
Rolling on the seaside gray, casually allowing Haley the freedom from visual scrutiny of her expressions, Trace pushed a little further. “Yet you have a broody attitude. Can’t have been that great.”
Setting down her brush before she completely messed up the edges around the window trim, Haley answered, “The sex part was amazing. Mind-blowingly, epically spectacular. Honestly, I can’t figure out how Nate managed to sleep with so many people, yet didn’t seem to care about a single one. Not even his wife.”
Trace set down her roller and her face fell with guilt. “You fell for your rebound. My fault; I shouldn’t have assigned such a tough project.”
Haley scowled and shook her head. “No, it’s my own fault. I wouldn’t have rebounded if I wasn’t ready. I sort of fell into it, no effort required. Things were so incredible. Easy as breathing.”
“That sounds nice. But you’re speaking in the past tense. What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem?” Haley repeated, jamming her hands on her hips, not caring that she now had gray handprints on her overalls. “I fly down to San Francisco to finalize my divorcetomorrow. I’m still married. Ten years of living under someone’s thumb. Sure, I had a hell of a lot of fun with my rebound. But I was getting attached, and he was getting attached and… I’m still trying to navigateme, and I don’t have room to figure out anus.”
Looking out the window at the forest beyond, Trace sighed, “I’m sorry you lived through hell with Nate. When we were kids, you were this unstoppable force, always diving into the next adventure. I was a little jealous of your fearlessness. Sure, you never dared say no to whatever club and sport your mother pushed you into, but you did it all vibrantly. I know you say you lost all of that with Nate. But seeing you now, and it’s not just because we’ve been apart for so long, but I can see that fierce girl that wasn’t afraid of anything, and she’s found her way to the bright light of day. If falling for this guy truly scares you, I’m sorry. But is it a future with him that scares you, or something else?”
Haley couldn’t even answer that. She wanted to shout that she wasn’t afraid. Nothing about Finn was scary. He built her up unlike anyone she’d ever known. But she needed to stand on her own two feet. Without any support. “Not yet. That’s all.”
“I get that. You need time to recover. This is going to sound weird, but when I saw you six weeks ago, you were bright and happy and bouncy. Today, well, you seem blue. And not from the paint all over you. Getting over your rebound looks like it’s hitting you way harder than getting over Nate. Just saying.”
Shit. She was right. “Puh-hoo.”
“Okay. Let’s talk it through. Keep painting before your brush dries.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding. She didn’t really want to talk about it, but she couldn’t run away from it either.
Long pause. Trace picked up her roller. Following suit, Haley picked her brush back up and coated the tip with paint, gliding it along the edge.
Clearing her throat, Trace said, “I guess I’ll start. Sex was good?”
Haley chuckled, keeping her hand steady. “You keep landing on that. Yes. It was amazing. I got to try out all the fantasies I’ve been bottling up over the years.”
“Aw, I’m so jealous.” She cleared her throat again. “I mean, sorry, I ended things with someone right before you got back. Things were a bit vanilla, like going through the motions of the relationship. He had a lot on his mind, and I guess I wasn’t any more engaged inuseither.”
“Maybe you should try a rebound.” The corner of Haley’s mouth tugged up as she thought about the difference.
