Cara knew she hadn’t been the best roommate to Zoe when she had first moved in. Cara never had a roommate before, except for Amara, and that had been at school. She was suddenly flooded with homesickness and regret. She had handled everything so badly, and now so much time had passed….
Cara slid the pans into the oven and set the timer. She wiped the counters and did the dishes, her thoughts returning again and again to the same thing.
Why not call Amara? What’s the worst that happens? She doesn’t answer?
No, the worst would be if Amara yelled at her, telling Cara how selfish she had been. And she would deserve it.
Blowing out a hard breath, Cara typed Amara’s number into her phone and added a simple “Hey, it’s Cara” text. The fact that she had to identify herself perfectly illustrated the status of their friendship.
The constant hang-ups Cara received after the photos were published forced her to change her phone number. It had been her choice at the time to only share it with her family. She didn’t want to talk to anyone from her old life, and that had included her best friend.
Cara hit send before she changed her mind and set the phone on the counter. It was a start. It gave Amara time to decide whether or not she wanted to respond. Cara didn’t even know where on the planet her friend was or what time zone she was in. She might not even…
She froze when her phone began to ring, Amara’s number dominant on the screen. Carahadto answer. She’d sent the text less than a minute ago. If she didn’t answer, then it would… Cara grabbed the phone.
“Hey, back!” Amara laughed, and a wave of relief washed over Cara.
“I was taking the coward’s way out,” Cara admitted.
“No kidding! I’m not letting you get away with it! How are you?”
On the surface, it was a normal question. The standard conversational opener when you hadn’t spoken to someone in almost a year. But Cara sensed the layer underneath it—the one that seriously wanted to know how she was after the scandal. Understandable since Cara had cut off contact with everyone, but she wasn’t ready to go there with Amara right now. Maybe she never would be.
“I’m good. I just moved actually. I have a new roommate, and it made me think of you.”
Amara was silent. She was well within her rights to lay into Cara, but after a beat, it appeared she was going to let it go in her typical carefree style.
“No one could possibly replace me. What’s her name? Where are you living?” The silent question was there. What have you been doing? As someone who had lived her life so openly on social media, Cara had essentially fallen off the edge of the world when she deleted all her accounts and holed up at Declan’s.
“I’m in Atlanta.”
“Are you living with your sexy ass brother? Tell him I said hi.”
Cara laughed. Amara never failed to flirt with Luke when she saw him, but it was harmless. It was more of a game at this point. “No, but I’ll tell him you were asking. Her name’s Melody.”
“Hmm. I refuse to be jealous of a newbie. What’s she like? Is she nice?”
Cara thought about it for a second. “I don’t really know. I only met her a couple times, and the day I moved in, I found out she left the country for a photo shoot.” Telling Amara the story made Cara realize how crazy it was.
“You’re living with a stranger?” Amara sounded concerned. “You couldn’t get a place of your own?”
“No.” Cara’s tone was sharp, and Amara got the message to back off. Amara still lived in the privileged world they had grown up in, where money was never an issue.
While she hadn’t gotten what she had expected in the will, her father had left her some money—a fortune by some standards. However, Cara had been oblivious to how much her lifestyle cost. She had run through almost a quarter of her inheritance in a month before she’d even realized it. She needed to save the rest to start her own business.
“It’s not all bad. She’s not here.”
“I guess that’s good.”
Cara hated the pity she heard in her friend’s voice and searched for something to change the subject. “I’m not alone, though. A friend of hers is staying here while he house hunts.”
“He?” Amara teased. “Is he cute?”
An image of Wes shirtless flashed in front of her. “Yeah, he’s hot. A little dorky, but seems nice enough.”
“Nice! Worse things in the world than having someone to make out with when you’re bored.”
Cara laughed. “I don’t think that’s in the cards. Even if it weren’t for the fact that I’d still have to live with him after, he has a thing for Melody. He told me straight away.”
