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Chapter 16

When Azalea wokeup to the one word text, she didn’t know what to think. It didn’t answer her question at all. Then again, in her own weariness, she hadn’t exactly done a grand job at explaining what she was asking either. Azalea turned on the coffee pot, took a shower, and dressed for a casual day. She sat on her couch, sipping her coffee and watching the clock tick endlessly on the far wall. She loved Jewel, but there was no way she was awake at six in the morning on a weekend. The earliest Azalea would be able to go over would be eight, and even then, it was debatable how awake Jewel would be.

She started on her second cup of coffee by seven. By eight, she’d finished half her grading. By eight-thirty she struggled to focus on the rest of the grading, her mind spinning about how the conversation with Jewel was going to go. By nine, Azalea decided she couldn’t wait any longer. She cleaned up her desk and put everything in its proper place before she closed the door to her office.

With a light jacket on, she left her house and got into her car. There was a chill in the air she didn’t expect being so close to April, but the rain often brought that with it. And they’d had a good amount of rain that spring so far. It took less than five minutes for her to pull up in front of Jewel’s rental. Azalea’s heart thrummed steadily as anxiety and fear worked into her. She had no idea what she was doing or what she was going to say, but she did know they needed to talk.

Azalea fiddled with her phone, wondering if she should have texted or called first to make sure Jewel was even awake before she came over to visit, especially because she wanted to have an awake Jewel, not a half-asleep Jewel, for this conversation. They needed to be clear-headed. Azalea pulled her lip between her teeth as she debated whether to call or just show up later.

The knock on her window startled her. Turning suddenly, she stared at Jewel’s dark brown eyes pointedly giving her a look. Azalea lowered the window, and Jewel leaned halfway inside, her jammies quite visible under the blanket she’d wrapped herself in.

“Are you coming in or are you just going to sit out here like a creep?”

Azalea sighed but a smile lit her lips. “I’m coming in.”

“Good. It’s cold!”

“Last cold spell before summer starts to pick up.”

“I hope,” Jewel muttered as she turned back toward the house.

Azalea shook her head when she realized Jewel was barefoot. That girl was crazy sometimes. She turned her car off and followed Jewel’s trail into the warm house. Awkwardly, Azalea stood near the door as she shucked her shoes and her jacket. Why everything had become so strained between them was beyond her, but it was also incredibly annoying. She missed her best friend.

Jewel came back with a mug of coffee for her, which Azalea gladly accepted, although if she had more than the one she was going to be vibrating from the caffeine. While Jewel could easily drink an entire pot in one sitting, Azalea could not. They moved to the couch, silence louder than any words said between them.

“It’s been an insane week,” Jewel finally broke the quiet.

“Yes,” Azalea answered, not quite sure how to elaborate. When had this gotten so hard? Jewel raised an eyebrow at her in curiosity, and Azalea knew the strained tension hadn’t gotten past her. “While a week off was nice, coming back has been rough.”

“Agreed. Next time more work up front before we take a week off.”

Next time? That at least sounded promising. However, Azalea had made the reservations under the guise they were going as friends and then everything else had happened. They really needed to talk, but opening that conversation, saying the words, wasn’t working. Every time Azalea thought she’d figured out the words to say, they got caught in her throat, and the fear of losing her best friend over one night was too much. But was it really one night?

“I did love Indigo, though,” Jewel added.

“Good. Eli and Sarah showed up at my house last night with pizza.”

“Sarah?”

“Eli’s girlfriend, remember? Sadie Bade.”

“The country singer? No shit! She’s in town?”

Azalea gave a short nod. “But I get the feeling they don’t want to be disturbed.”

“You have to introduce me. I need to get her to come talk to the kids at some point. She would be great for that. They need someone who will pay attention to them, someone who matters.”

“You matter,” Azalea murmured, her eyes locking on Jewel’s face. In the five years they’d known each other, Jewel had changed so much. She’d grown in ways Azalea had only hoped. She was wiser, but not just that, she was settled. She loved it there as much as Azalea did.

Jewel cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, but I think the kids would vastly disagree with that statement.”

“They might, but they don’t know better right now.” Azalea stretched her legs out and leaned into the soft cushion of the couch. “Did you want to go shopping today?”

Jewel groaned. “Tomorrow?”

They both started at the realization that that had been Azalea’s singular text in the last forty-eight hours. Azalea nodded. “We can go after church.”

“Sure.” Jewel’s lip turned up like it normally did at the mention of church.