“A little after eleven.”
“Can I help?”
Looking at him, I smile and say, “Yeah, could you turn the heat down on the sauce and stir it?”
I watch him as he walks over to the stove and fiddles with the knob. I laugh to myself because I can see that he isn’t comfortable in the kitchen.
Adding the oil to the tomatoes and onions, I look over at Mark and ask, “Will you go turn up the music?”
“Yeah, sure,” he says, and then comes back to the stove to stir the sauce again. I know he hasn’t a clue what the hell he is supposed to be doing, but I find it sweet that he’s trying to be helpful. I come up behind him and start nipping along his neck. When he turns in my arms, he looks over my shoulder and says, “Hey!”
I turn to see Candace standing in the middle of the living room and the look on her face tells me everything that I feared. She looks upset and starts walking to my bedroom. Leaning my hands against the counter, Mark slides his hand over my shoulder and says, “I’ll go talk to her.”
I want to say something, but it’s taking everything in me to keep myself in check. I hate seeing that look on her face. She tries to be so strong, and I could see that she was fighting hard not to cry.
I nod my head and Mark kisses the center of my neck before heading back to my room, and I try to keep myself busy by finishing up dinner.
They are back there for quite a while, but when they return, Candace is smiling. I walk straight to her and bring her in for a hug before kissing her. “Hey, sweetie. How was work?”
“Weird at first, but it wound up being a busy night, which was good,” she says as she picks out a bottle of wine and starts to open it.
I quickly slice up the baguette and set it on the bar with the bruschetta. Candace and Mark sit and eat while talking. It’s great that they have become friends. It makes me feel more content, knowing that Candace has him to lean on as well as me.
“Hey, didn’t your band have a show last night?” Candace asks Mark.
“Yeah, we played at Blur. It was a great gig; the place was packed.”
“I’ve never been there before.”
Looking over at her, I tease, “Candace, you haven’t been anywhere.” She scrunches her face at me, which causes me to laugh. “You should really hear them play sometime. You’d like their sound.”
There’s a knock at the door, and Mark hops off the barstool to go answer it. I rush to Candace’s side when I see Kimber walk in. Crap. Both Candace and I have been avoiding her calls and texts, and she looks pissed.
“What the hell is going on?” she barks. Fuck, she’s mad. “You two have been avoiding me all week, and I have no clue what I did to piss you guys off!”
“We’re not pissed at you,” I try and convince her. I know she doesn’t believe me, so I try to cover for Candace because I know she’s freaking out by the shock on her face. “Candace just wanted a little time away, that’s all.”
“From me? I’m supposed to be your best friend!” she says, looking at Candace. “Why won’t you talk to me?” she demands.
“I’m sorry,” Candace says, and Mark walks back into the kitchen. Candace looks scared as shit, and I would say just about anything to get Kimber to leave her alone, but when Candace sits on the couch, she starts talking. “Jack and I got into an argument at the party. I was upset, he was drunk, so I called Jase to come pick me up.”
I help her out by adding, “I suggested she stay here in case he showed up at your house. That’s all.”
“So why couldn’t you just call me and tell me?”
“I didn’t want you getting involved. You can sometimes overreact, and I just wanted everything to die down without any drama. It’s no big deal, and I haven’t heard from him. It’s over, so can we just drop it?” Candace says, and when I look down at her hands, I see that she’s shaking.
“Bullshit!” Kimber snaps and starts walking out.
“Kimber, wait. Please don’t be mad at me. I’m coming back home this week. It’s not a big deal, please don’t make it into one.”
She walks up to Candace, and I am back at her side, holding her hand when Kimber says, “You’re the one who made it such a big deal when you decided to avoid me all week. We have always been honest with each other, but if you really want me to believe your story, then fine. I believe you.”
Candace drops back down to the couch when the door slams shut and begins to cry.
“I don’t know what to do.” She looks up at me and pleads, “What do I do?”
Sitting down next to her, she falls into my arms and cries. Mark comes in and sits opposite her and rubs her back, trying to calm her down.
“She’s so mad at me. She’s never been mad at me.”
“Just give her some time,” I tell her. “We’ve both been avoiding her, so you can’t blame her for being upset.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Candace,” Mark assures her, and I listen as he continues. “It’s just the shit situation you were dealt, but it’s not your fault. You can’t blame yourself for this, for any of this.”
She pulls back from me and turns to face Mark.
“What do I do?” she asks him.
Wiping his thumbs across her cheeks, he tells her, “You do whatever you need to do to get through the day. You do what you need to do to protect yourself. That’s all you can do.”
“Even if it hurts her?”
“I don’t think you can do anything else, sweetheart, when you’re trying so hard to just hang on.”
Hearing them talk, hearing his words to her . . . it’s near perfect.
I’m supposed to take her back home tomorrow morning before her classes, but I can’t have her leave with Kimber so mad. “I want you to stay,” I tell her.
She leans back on the couch, Mark and I on either side of her. “I can’t stay.”
“You can. Give Kimber a few days to cool down at least.”
“But I feel like I’m just interfering with you guys.”
Letting out a sigh of irritation, I tell her, “You’re not. I already told you this the other day.”
She turns to look at Mark and eyes him for his input.
“Jase is right. You should give her a little time to calm down.”
You home?
Yeah. AutoCAD is going to be the death of my laptop.
I’ve been trying to get some work done on my project while Candace is in class. It’s her first day back, and I’ve been worried about her all day. My phone chimes again with another text from Mark.
Mind if I stop by?
Never.
Mark and I haven’t spent a whole lot of time together, just being alone, so I shut down my computer and pour a cup of coffee. I don’t have to wait very long before he gets here.
“Hey, what have you been up to?” he says as he walks up to me and gives me a hug.
I pull him in for a quick kiss before I respond. “Just trying to get some work done, but my computer is running slow as shit today.”
Mark seems a bit distracted as he nods and takes a seat on the couch. I walk over and sit next to him when he says, “Can we talk for a second?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Shifting to face me he asks, “Have you heard from Candace today?”
“No. She has her two-hour studio today and a lecture. But she should be back soon.”
“You worried?”
“Always,” I say as I kick my feet up on the coffee table and lean back into the couch. I watch Mark, and I can tell he wants to say something, and now I’m not worrying about Candace so much. “What’s up with you?” I ask him and when he looks at me, I can definitely tell he’s nervous.