A Wifey for the Bad Boy(195)

“Yeah, it's...I don't have much a life to be honest. I get so wrapped up in calls and e-mails that it's easy to forget about the world outside. The only reason I came this weekend is because I knew these guys would kill me,” I laughed a little. So did Clara.

“You should be glad you did. Have you ever been camping before?” she asked. I was about to answer but before I could do so Lisa snorted.

“Ha, Andrea go camping? Part of the reason why I'm looking forward to this weekend is to see how you cope,” she said, looking at me.

“I'm sure I'll be fine,” I said, meeting the challenge.

“I am too, there's nothing too complicated about it. You might even like it more than you expect. It's good to be disconnected from the regular world sometimes, gives you a chance to really get to know the people you're camping with.” As Clara said this she lowered her eyelids at me, only at me, and my heart flipped inside. I gulped. Was I just imagining things? There were so many things that were unknown about Clara and about life that I wasn't sure if I was hoping too hard or for too much.

During the ride we all spoke. There were five of us. Three too many. I kept glancing at Clara, hoping to glimpse some sign of truth in her eyes about whether she was on the same wavelength as me but I never managed to catch her gaze. Lisa led the conversation and told Clara about the adventures we'd been on. Simone and Kira laughed as they added in details, and Clara was the perfect audience, sitting back and listening to the storytellers unfurl their stories like grand tapestries. Meanwhile, I remained in the corner of the car, creating a story of my own, with just me and Clara.

“It's unlike you to be so quiet,” Kira remarked.

“Huh?” I said, jerked from my haven of private thoughts. “Oh, I'm just trying to get into the holiday mode. I spend so much time speaking on the phone that it's nice to give my voice a rest, and I was enjoying listening to all the stories of yesteryear.”

“Well I'm sure we'll be creating more than a few stories this weekend!” Kira whooped, “I'm so glad to be away from work. It's so stressful at the moment.”

“Well no wonder if you surround yourself with children,” Simone said.

“Yeah, I couldn't do that,” I added.

“You may have one more child to be around before too long,” Lisa said.

“You're not?!” Simone asked, looking back at us in the rear view mirror.

“Not yet,” Lisa replied, “but pretty much as soon as we're married we're going to try. We've got everything else ticked off so the baby is the only thing,” she said. I pursed my lips and offered my hollow congratulations. Lisa was getting further away from us. She was setting herself up for a life without us in it. We would be invited to the birthday parties for the child, and maybe we would even be called aunts but soon enough we'd drift away, perhaps we'd send a card every Christmas, and we'd receive one with updates about the child, about the baby we once bounced upon our knee, but I wouldn't have a child to have a playdate. Lisa would have other friends. New friends. Mom friends. I was happy for her, but sorry for the girls who had promised each other that they would be friends forever because life changes and we have to change with it.





Chapter 5

I got out of the car and stretched my back, groaning a little as I did so. I was only in my early twenties and yet I felt much older. I saw Clara do the same but hers were practiced and they didn't take any strain at all. We all heaved our bags out of the trunk and looked out at the world before us. It was a big park with trees for as far as the eye could see. Other people were camping as well, and maybe it wasn't as secluded as we first thought but it was still different than the city. The air was fresh and sweet and it tasted good as I took in deep lungfuls of it. The green trees were standing like soldiers, welcoming us to their real. The ground was soft under our feet and as we walked through the forest area I lost myself in all the different colors of the flowers around us. Clara was walking behind us all, taking her time as she stopped and smelled the flowers. I slowed my pace to walk alongside her.

“I love being out in the world like this,” she said. I got the feeling that she would have said it even had I not been standing there. “

“I can't remember the last time I was away from the city. My life is a constant stream of texts, e-mails, and phone calls.”

“Sounds pretty stressful. Do you ever get time to relax?” We fell into the same rhythm as we walked. I second-guessed everything I said but I was determined not to fall into the same trap of silence that had seized me earlier.

“I do when I remember, but it's fine, I like working. I always have. My parents always told me that I'd need to work hard for my dreams so this is a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. Eventually at some point it'll tail off and I'll be able to take it easy, once the business gets established. Until then I'll just carry on.”