Page 60 of Forecheck
“It’s Monday. What else would I be doing but studying?”
I laughed. “Okay, stupid question. So look, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay…” She sounded dubious.
“I know things have been really hard for you lately, and I haven’t been around much. So I wanted to whisk you away for the weekend if you can swing it.”
I didn’t tell her I’d already booked the Airbnb and planned everything. If I did, she’d throw a fit, and I didn’t want to guilt her into anything.
“Whisk me away to where? You don’t need to plan this fancy vacation and spend a bunch of money on me.”
“I want to take you to Frankenmuth. They have this winter festival this weekend. I thought it might be nice for us to go Saturday and stay overnight. We could get away, unplug, and relax, just the two of us.”
I held my breath while I waited for her to answer. I knew she was weighing whether she could get away with not studying for a few days against her desire for a break.
“When would we leave?”
“Early Saturday morning, and we can come back as early or as late as you want on Sunday. That’s all I’m asking, Berk. Forty-eight hours, tops.”
“Okay,” she said. “Forty-eight hours. I can do that.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank fuck. I already paid for everything. And I’m really looking forward to getting you into the hot tub at our Airbnb.”
“Brent!”
“Bye, babe!”
With a chuckle, I hung up before she could protest further.
I arrived at her apartment early on Saturday morning, surprised to, for once, not be greeted by the cavalry. When Berkley let me in, the first words out of my mouth were, “Where’s your posse?”
“Oh, uhm…” Berkley trailed off, waving a hand at me. “I’m not exactly on speaking terms with Kimber and Amelia right now.”
“What?”
“Yeah…we got in a big fight before I left for Christmas break and haven’t talked since. Actually, it was more me and Kimber fighting, but of course, Amelia took her side,” Berkley added wryly.
“But…why?”
“They refused to respect my boundaries.”
She said it so simply, brokering no room for argument, and I didn’t press for details. I figured she’d give me the whole story when she was ready.
Instead, I nodded at her suitcase and said, “You ready?”
“Yep!” she said brightly, wheeling it toward me.
The thing was half as tall as she was, dark green, and pocked with scratches and scrapes. When I hefted it off the floor, I was shocked by its weight. “What do you have in here?”
She huffed, blowing her hair out of her face as it got caught up in the collar of her coat. “Sweaters and boots are bulky.”
“We’re literally going for one night.”
She simply shrugged. “I know that. If it makes you feel better, I’d probably pack twice as much if it was summer.”
