Briar's Champion (4 page)

Briar embraced her friend in a tight hug.
“
Thanks
.
I think
this
type of medicine is what I need.”
In that instant, s
he found herself jazzed at the prospect of
hanging out with her friends once more.

Time moved
on fast forward since her morning run
.
W
ith each
tick of the clock
,
Briar
panicked.
T
he hardest decision
s
he
had way too many
hours to
mak
e
,
was finding something
to wear
.
A
glass of merlot
finally helped
soothe her
frazzled
nerves
enough to let her choose
.

Silk caressed her
arms and back
as she pulled the
hot pink
blouse
o
ver
her shoulders and fastened the tiny pearl buttons.
She wriggled
into her
high-waisted
pin-
strip
ed
slacks
a
s fast as she could.
Eight-thirty
glared
back at her in big bold numbers from the
alarm
clock on her nightstand. “Damn,” she
muttered
while arranging black suspenders to rest on the sides of her breasts
.
In the full-length mirror, she took in her sophisticated, out-right sultry ensemble.
If she had a gun she’d resemble a hired hand for the mob. What
was
a Halloween costume one year turned into one of her favorite outfits…
d
ressed to kill.
With minimal time left, she stepped into her stilettos
, taking a few seconds to buckle the strap.
Grabb
ing the hat box out of her closet, she put on the final piece and swiped her finger over the brim.

Handbag in hand, she
practiced her saunter
toward
her
door
with a gentle sway of her hips
. The
ring of the bell startled her. She peered out the small
peephol
e
and
smil
ed
when Suzanne came into view. Unlocking the triple deadbolts
,
she swung the door open and
walked
out the door.

“Hey, thought I was going to meet you there
,” she greeted before stepping
out
and
lock
ing up
.

Suzanne beamed a smile at her.
“The girls thought you might back out, so I came for moral support.”

“I guess this means you’re driving
.
” Briar slid her handbag onto her shoulder
, trailing behind
Suzanne to her SUV.

“How else are we gonna get you set up with the perfect man?” Suzanne teased.

Briar liked the glimmer of amusement in her best friend
’
s eyes. Suzanne
’s energy
had a knack of
rubb
ing
off on others. While it exhausted her
most of the time
, she loved
the woman’s
personality
. She
wished she could feed off it like one of those emotional vampires she read about in novels
.
Stories like those
gave her a way to escape real life stressors.
The happy endings were nice to believe in for a little while, even though current circumstances have tainted her view of them.

“There is no such thing
as a perfect man
.
”
She clasped her seatbelt and flipped the radio onto her favorite station.
“
The very idea is
a trick of the mind
.
”

“Well
,
having someone
is better than
remaining alone
,
”
Suzanne
quipped
pulling
into traffic.

“Suz,
s
tarting
a new
business monopolize
d
my time.”
Briar
hoped the weak excuse would quiet her friend. Warmth filled the vehicle as
she flipped on its heater
.
Scroll
ing
the vent knob
s
down
to warm her feet
, she released a sigh
.
T
he heat felt good on her cold toes, so good she wiggled them.

“You should never be too weighed down to take time
for
yourself. We’ve
been worried
,
Bri. Being a recluse doesn’t work well with you. We want
to see the
spark of fire back in your eyes. We want our
girl
back
,
and we’re determined to help get
her—
”

“I don’t know if she exists anymore.
I invested so much emotionally, physically
,
financially
…
”
Bri
ar
shrugged
.
“
How can I go back to being naïvely trusting? Would you
?
”

“
I don’t have to walk a mile in your shoes to know what you’re going through. We’ve been friends for so long
,
you
’re
like an extension of my arm. Look at the situation a different way. Go in at this looking for a new start, not a promise of a beautiful ending. There’s plenty of road left for that. Along the way you can decide on how much you want to give of yourself. How soon is too soon.
Promise
to l
et loose for tonight
,
”
Suzanne
said as she turned the corner of
Vine Street
and pulled into a parking lot.

“Okay. I’ll have some drinks and loosen up, but I’m not leaving with anyone
you
drag over to
end my misery. If by some chanc
e someone is interested in me we’ll see what happens. Deal?

“
Deal. I have to warn you that
Carissa and
Darcy are
already
inside.”

“Still, not leaving with anyone
...
”
Bri
ar
reaffirmed to
most likely
deaf ears
.

“No, of course not, but we can hope you change your mind.”

Suzanne’s intense expression made her laugh
as she
unclasped her seatbelt
before getting out of the SUV
.
“Calm down. Let’s go have some
margaritas
and relax
.
”
S
he
rounded the vehicle and walked up the icy drive, careful not to slip.
Suzanne
locked arms with her keeping pace
.
Half melted r
ock salt littered the ground.
S
mall fragments crunched
under foot
with each step to the front door of O’Kell
e
y’s.
Suz
anne
’s wink of encouragement
helped as she tugged the handle
.

Chapter
T
wo

The familiar scent of beer, food and peanu
ts enveloped Briar
as she and Suzanne made their way inside
. Music played
through large speakers on stands eclips
ed
the sound of
pool balls being hit into pockets but not the low murmur of people chatting
or the
upbeat ambience.
Briar took her
ID
out for the doorman to scan through a machine
before
stand
ing
a
side so that Suz
anne
could
do the same
.
Once t
hey
got their cards back, the two
moved
past the foyer
.

“They’re in the back sitting at a table near the bar
,
” Suz
anne
said.

“How
do
you know that?” Briar asked as she navigated them through the occupants of the pub and grill. “Something smells good,” she commented on the aromas coming from the kitchen.
A waitress maneuvered around them carrying a sizzling platter.