Page 79 of Meet Me in the Vines
Don’t you fucking cry right now.
I lift my gaze and face her. I guess shopping can wait. After all, I did say no more secrets. We sit in silence for a moment before Tia cuts the tension.
“How about we grab a coffee and then talk?” she suggests, and I’m thankful she can read my mind right now. Coffee sounds great. After shutting her door, she rounds the front of Jules and loops her arm through mine, her free hand rubbing my forearm. We don’t talk the whole way, but the silence is deafening.
Will she judge me for staying with Kellan for so long? Will she think I’m stupid for thinking that he’s out to get me? So many questions thunder inside my brain, I want the noise to come to a halt.
Tia leads us into Sip & Savor, and Josie pops her head out from behind the espresso machine. “Hey Audrey! Good to see you! I’ll be with you in just a sec!” she shouts out over the machine, preparing a coffee order for a woman standing by the pickup counter with a little girl.
“Hey Josie. No problem at all,” I reply, not being able to take my eyes away from the mother and her daughter. She looks about three or four, her little chubby fingers tightly wrap around her mother’s hand. They both share the same ice-blonde hair, the little girl a mirror image of her mom.Just like me.A rush of envy and sadness seeps out of my heart, wondering if my mom would have taken me into town while she picked up coffee, holding my hand.
“Ugh, she’s so cute,” Tia sings, giving the little girl a tiny finger wave. The little girl smiles back at her shyly, burying herface in her mom’s skirt. The woman looks down at her daughter, smiling and stroking her hair.
I wish my mom were here.
Josie hands the woman her coffee before greeting us with her bright smile and pink-streaked hair at the register. My eyes follow the little girl as she passes me, giving me a tiny finger wave like Tia had given her earlier. I give her a wink, a soft grin forming on my face as I turn my attention back to Josie.
“Sorry about the wait. We’ve been busy today,” she sighs, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. I glimpse a music note tattoo on the underside of her wrist.
“Hi! I’m Tia. Cool hair,” Tia gushes while Josie runs a hand through her hair. Tia’s arm stays linked in mine as she scans Josie up and down.
“Thanks! I’m Josie. Nice to meet you. What can I get you guys?” she asks.
“I’ll have a cappuccino with oat milk, please. Auds?” Tia asks. “I’ll have a caramel macchiato upside down non-fat, please,” I reply. Tia gives me the side-eye and I slip my arm from her, squaring my shoulders toward her as I cock up an eyebrow.
“I see you haven’t changed your coffee order since we were old enough to drink it,” she teases. I roll my eyes and give Josie some cash, and we snag a table in the far corner of the shop. There’s a busy chatter all around, but no one looks familiar. I scan my eyes around the room one last time before looking back at Tia, her arms crossed in front of her, leaning on the table.
“Okay, enough stalling. Talk to me, Auds. What the hell was that out there?”
Take a deep breath, count backward from five.
“Listen, what if we just like, shop and go to the winery and laugh and drink? This conver—” Her hand covers mine and her eyes are stern on me. She’s not letting me get away with this. I letout a heavy sigh and rub my temples, trying to figure out where to even start.
“Okay, okay. I’ll talk,” I sigh. “Well, you know about Kellan and how we were together for a really long time.” I place my hands under my thighs to keep them from shaking.
This is Tia for Christ’s sake. Just be honest, Audrey. Let it go.
We spend the next hour sitting at the table, sipping our coffee while I lay out every painful detail of my last nine years with Kellan, Donovan’s trip to New York, and the black SUV. She never interrupts, she just holds my hands and her eyes go wide from time to time when I share graphic details of everything that has gone down.
“So, he would hit me, call me a whore, and tell me I was a piece of shit,” I say dryly. She winces and closes her eyes, like she can’t bear to see me in that kind of pain. “And then the next day, he would bring me roses, tell me how sorry he was and how much he loved me,” I utter, keeping my eyes down. I hear Tia sniffle. As much as it hurts me to share the gory details, it feels like a huge weight lifted.
Once I had told Pop, it felt like the last person who needed to know what I had suffered was Tia. I kept her in the dark for years, claiming I was living a lavish, happy life in the city. Seeing her cry for me breaks me into a million pieces but brings me so much peace knowing that the secrets are out.
“Fuck, Auds. I’ll fucking kill that guy, I swear,” she seethes. That gets a laugh out of me. The situation is not funny by any means, but knowing that Tia would burn the world for me makes me happy.
“No wonder I love you. Donovan said the same thing,” I reply, giggling. She smiles at me, her eyes red from crying. She leans in closer on the table, gripping my hands. “First, thank you for telling me. Second, I’m so fucking sorry that was what youwere going through all this time,” she murmurs. I shake my head to deny her.
“Audrey, you haven’t had an easy life. I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore, but let’s focus on today. Look at you now, babe. You are glowing, and beautiful, and…” Her eyes shimmer as she looks at me, tilting her head like she needs to find the right words.
“In love?” I whisper, a genuine smile forming on my lips.
“Yeah, Auds. In love,” she beams. “And damn, does he love you right back.”
My heart squeezes knowing that my best friend can see that radiating from me. It’s validation that I didn’t ask for, didn’t know I needed. Tia’s eyes suddenly shift to concern, pursing her lips tight together.
“But don’t you think we should talk to Chief Harper? I mean, if you think you’re being followed?—”
“No, Tia. No police. I know Logan is your best friend, but please promise me you won’t say anything,” I plead. She looks at me with worry, nibbling her bottom lip as if she wants to tell me something that I won’t like. But she doesn’t. Her sigh is loud and clear, telling me she doesn’t approve, but she nods in agreement, anyway.
