Chapter 2

Walking into Johnny’s I noticed that Mike Doyle was working the bar tonight. Mike was someone I went to high school with. He was two years ahead of me but he and Dustin were friends, so we had always hung out together. He was a good guy. A little on the immature side, thought himself a heartbreaker, but he has a good heart. I walked over to the bar first before finding everyone else. Good ole’ pineapple juice and Malibu to relieve the tension. As I reached the bar, Mike had my drink ready and was resting it on the empty stool ahead of me.

“Oh, you are my savior. What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you?” I teased. We would always joke around, but his heart and mine were never truly in it. We were just that comfortable with each other.

“Well love, it could be your dazzling personality. Or hey, maybe I’m trying to get lucky. So how about it beautiful?” he teased.

“Yeah, I’m sure Jenny would love that.” He was unofficially with Jenny. The problem was not that he wasn’t ready for the commitment but rather she wasn’t ready. She wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt her, so she kept him at arms’ length until she felt comfortable to make the next step. Mike was madly in love with her and would probably wait the rest of their lives for her. She just needed to realize that they were perfect for each other. She would come around sooner or later.

“Yeah, you’re right. So, what’s bothering you? Is there anything I can do to help; you know I am here for you.” That was one thing I always loved about Mike. No matter how immature he could act, he was always very perceptive of his friends and never failed to be there for them when they needed him.

“I received another prank call tonight. Right before I came in. This time the caller commented about me being here. The calls are starting to creep me out.” A shiver ran down my spine just mentioning the call.

“What else did the caller say? Did they threaten you? Why haven’t you called the police? Tara- “

“Seriously Mike it’s ok. I’m heading to the police department tomorrow. I will file a police report. Don’t go blowing a head gasket on me. There were no threats made. They just wanted to get to me.”

“Tara, I really think you should get an alarm system. I know we have talked about this before but now with these calls you really need to. You live alone in that old loft. You need to protect yourself. Seriously.” The concern on his face made me smile. My friends were always there. More like family to me than anything else. Mike was definitely in big brother mode right now.

“Mike, I can’t afford an alarm system right now. I will get one when I can. This caller is just messing with me. I really don’t think they are a threat. It just pisses me off more than anything.”

I knew he wanted to say more on the subject, but he got called to the other end of the bar for refills. I took that moment as my queue to leave the bar and find everyone else. I half waved at him on my way to the booths at the back of the bar. He gave me one quick look that threatened we were not done with the conversation, and I took my leave to the booths. On my way past the pool tables I noticed Dustin and Beth sitting in the corner booth near the rest rooms.

“Hey Tara!” bubbled Beth. “Bubbles” that’s what I will secretly call her, well when I am alone anyways. I had to make fun of the situation, or I was going to lose my mind.

“Hey Beth.” I plastered on that fake smile and slid into the booth across from the two love birds.

“Hey T.” Dustin smirked. “I’m glad you decided to join us.”

“Well, I didn’t really have a choice now did I?” I quipped.

“Don’t tell me he threatened to drag you out again.” Beth giggled. She always found it funny when we would get into these tiffs. She would always tell us we fight like brother and sister. Man, I just wanted to hate her for that comment alone.

“Oh yes, true to form your darling fiancé made a point to threaten me if I did not come tonight.” I glared at his smirk from across the table. Damn he looked hot when he looked at me like that. God, I need to get out and start dating again. I had always just gone out on one or two dates but as soon as the guy pushed for the first kiss, I would end it and move onto the next. Now was the time to get it over with and rid myself from childhood fantasies.

“You know I do it because I love you T. Seriously you would have been sitting at home alone with Max. Probably cursing him for getting into your things, cleaned up the mess, grabbed a tub of ice cream and plopped yourself in front of the television. Now tell me if I got that wrong.” He was enjoying the teasing tonight.

“Whatever. So why was it so important for me to come out tonight?”

“Well, Beth and I have some news that we wanted to share with you. We have decided to post pone the wedding. It’s not that we are not getting married, we just feel that we need a little time to work on some things and we need your help.”

That news would have knocked me on my ass if I hadn’t already been seated.

“Wait, what?” Was all I could manage to get out.

“Well, it’s because of me.” Beth commented shyly. “I have to go to Europe with my parents in a week. My grandmother passed away and there are some estate concerns that need to be handled. My parents asked me to take care of it with them.”

“Oh, Beth. I’m so sorry for your loss.” Now I felt like a bigger douche since I was just excited about the cancellation when in all reality the poor girl was going through so much right now. Normally I was a better friend than this.

“No. Please. Don’t be sorry. My grandmother was a horrible woman that disowned my parents and I years ago. She had no other family, and we have to handle a few legal matters regarding her estate. It shouldn’t take too long, but Dustin cannot afford to take time out of work to go right now and I have to handle this before it becomes a bigger mess.”

“So, what do you need me to do?” I meant it as a sincere question but cringed at the harsh tone portrayed.

“Well, Tara, I actually need your help,” replied Dustin. “It’s just that all of the wedding arrangements have been made and I need you to help me cancel everything.”

“Yeah, I’ll help with whatever you both need.” God you are really testing my strength right now. Please help me through this.

“Thank you. Seriously Tara you are a life saver. I honestly won’t be able to handle all of it and the whole estate confusion with my parents. I really do appreciate this. If you ever need help with anything. You know that I would do anything for you. You have always been wonderful to me and treated me as one of you.”

“Seriously Beth, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing. But did you all really have to drag me here to say this. You could have just come over to my place. I would have agreed to help even if I wasn’t threatened to meet you somewhere.” I said trying to lighten the moment.

“Well,” Dustin grinned, “that’s not the only reason why we asked you to come. That was just the warmup of the night. We have a surprise for you. It should be here any moment.”

“What do you mean- “

“Hold that thought. Here he is.” Dustin interrupted signaling someone from behind me over to us.

Oh my god. He did not just set me up for a blind date. This is not happening!!

As soon as those thoughts came, I could hear a deep baritone clearing his throat. Great. Wonderful! Could my night get any worse?

Oh, how it could. As I started to turn, I smelled a familiar scent from a past that was long forgotten. Sam. My high school boyfriend and the boy who broke my heart my senior year.

I would love to have said that in the almost four years since I had seen Sam he had aged and look like shit. Nope. That was just my life, full of disappointments. He actually looked better if that was possible. He stood a towering 6’4” with wide line back shoulders and more muscle than ever before. The t-shirt he was donning tonight definitely accentuated his finer traits. What a body.

When I decided on turning away and looking around the table, I realized I must have been staring longer than I thought. Beth and Sam both were smiling at me, and Dustin had a look on him like the cat that ate the canary. Wonderful. Trying to get back some of my composure I turned back to face Sam.

“Hey, Sam.”

“Hey, Tara. It’s good to see you. How have you been?” he asked with trepidation in his voice. At least I wasn’t the only one rattled by the reunion.

“I’m good. How about you? It’s been a while.” I replied.

“Good. I just got back from Iraq. I ran into Dustin earlier at the pharmacy and he invited me out for drinks.” He stated. More I think to assure me that this was not his idea.

“Well, sit down. Relax. Tara, scoot over so the man can take a load off.” Oh yeah, Dustin was definitely on my shit list tonight.

“So, Tara, what have you been up to? I heard you opened up that clothing store you had always dreamed of.” He asked. Obviously trying to lend me an olive branch to make this night go a little smoother.

“Yeah. I opened it a few months after graduation.” I replied, not really in the mood for this whole scene.

At that point, the conversation turned to Dustin and Sam reminiscing old times and talking about the comings and goings of Cape Shore and our graduating class.

After a couple hours of drinking, I started to loosen up and join in the conversation. It felt almost normal sitting there with them and just babbling about nonsense. It helped get my mind off of everything else anyways. Around 12:45 I decided to call it a night. I said my goodbyes to Dustin and Beth and Sam decided on walking me out of the Bar.

“So, Tara, I had a really great time tonight. I would love to do it again sometime.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” And I meant it. Spending time with Sam was actually kind of enjoyable.

“Where are you parked? I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Actually, I walked here. I live a few blocks down and didn’t bother to drive.”

“Well then, I will walk you to your door.” He smiled shyly at me. It took me back at first. Sam was never shy. He had always been confident in himself.

“Okay.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we reached the front of my building, he whistled a long tone.

“Wow. Tara, this place is nice. You’ve really done well for yourself.” He stated. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

We stood there for a couple seconds just staring at each other. The moment became slightly awkward.

“Well, good night Sam. Thank you for walking me home. I’ll see you around”

“Good night, Tara.” He smiled and turned around to the direction we had come from.

I was relieved for the distance, though I must admit I did enjoy his company. Just more on a friend level than anything else. Who knows maybe Sam and I could be great friends, once the trust of friendship was built again.