I roll my eyes and put a hand on my hip. “You’re going to tell me not to, but you’re on my doorstep in the middle of the night so I have you at an advantage.” I sigh. “Why do you let him screw with your life like this? Didn’t you have a real art studio there this time? Things were selling? You were booking shows and had other friends?”
At the sight of my concern, she smiles. “Nothing is permanent, Maeve. Things change in a split second. People change and plans change and the only thing we can know for sure is that nothing can be predicted. It was a season, and yes, things were going well, but maybe now it’s time for my season in the mountains with you. I miss you.” Her statement hits home and the pang in my chest flares. Her ride drives back down the winding driveway cut through the forest.
Ignoring the fact that she’d still be trifling with a seedy man if he didn’t cheat, I say a silent thank you to Stavros for sending my best friend back to me. “Your next season includes a dog, too? I guess it’s fitting for Colorado. It can’t stay here for long. You can stay here as long as you want. Everything inside my house is brand new. It still smells like new construction. What’s this thing going to do to my stuff?”
She trudges through the entrance, towing the cowering dog behind her. “I swear I’ll take care of everything. She just needs a chance. I know, I know. It’s insane. You know how I feel about dogs. I think this is the universe’s way of testing my patience when I’m hanging on by a shoestring. Here Ramona, one more task before you fall apart.” The dog whimpers and lays down at her feet, her snout on her sneaker. “She literally followed me into my cab.” Ramona softens when she peers down at the hairy, matted canine.
I pull her into an embrace and let the comfort of familiarity wash over me. “You have to give that thing a bath before you go to bed tonight. Can it stay in the garage?”
The contented feeling envelops Ramona too and she sighs as she leans out of the hug. “Do I get the corner room facing the mountains?” Her voice is quiet. “Could use some of that mountain healing. A little something of what you believe in.” I made a big deal of how Colorado was going to be a perfect, shiny start—that the mountains would fix the hole Rexy carved out.
Ramona and I go round and round every time she breaks up with her boyfriend. I tell her she deserves more, she argues he’ll come around eventually. Ramona was my dorm roommate in undergrad. We fought for a month over quiet hours. She’s an artist and keeps insane hours while painting or drawing, or whatever it is that captures her attention at each moment. After studying until my eyes bled, I wanted lights out to be lights out. I guess we got to know each other over that month and came to a loose agreement. Our friendship blossomed from arguing. It’s her love language, I guess. She’s been with Stavros since she was sixteen when he came to the U.S. as an exchange student from Italy. Even before Ramona learned Italian, their relationship was torrid and passionate. She told me stories that made me both jealous and shocked at the same time. There has to be some form of strong love there for a reign this long. Who knows, the bastard might actually come around.
Ramona puts the dog in the laundry room, closes the door, and follows me upstairs. “You could have called. I would have let you in. Dog and all,” I say, making my way to the kitchen to put a kettle on.
She sinks down at the island and lays her head down on her hands, letting her roller suitcase rest next to her. “I know. It was mostly because I didn’t have the energy to fight on the phone.”
“I never fight with you,” I fire back, going on my tiptoes to reach our favorite mugs in the frosted glass cabinet. It’s obvious she’s down and out more than usual. “If I didn’t say this, I wouldn’t be your best friend. You have to let him go. Like for good, not for a month. Set up roots here, there is a garage space down by my office that would be a fantastic studio space.”
Unlike me, Ramona did have parents that loved her. They died in a car accident when she was seven, leaving her a trust fund so large she was able to follow her artsy dreams without a care in the world. Her aunt raised her along with her cousin Doug—with whom she disagreed with about everything. She bounded into adulthood with minimal damage, finding me and giving me the first permanent bond. “I’ll help you. Whatever you need. Just don’t go back to Stavros when he calls. Tell him no. Be strong. You know you’re sick of feeling like this.” I nod at her. “That feeling in your chest. Your stomach turning as you imagine him and that waitress. The fear it will happen again. Or that he won’t come back, that this waitress has replaced you once and for all. There are men out there that you can trust one-hundred percent.” The shrill whistle from the kettle cuts me off. I pour water into her cup and set two boxes of tea in front of her. “You pick.”
“The thing with all the other men out there, the good ones. They aren’t him,” Ramona says.
I pick the sleepy time blend and dunk my tea bag in. “That’s the point.”
“You don’t get it. Which I’m thankful for. It’s like I’m chained to him. Regardless of
