More Than Friends Read Online Free PDF Page B

middle school, she’d risen early, often before her parents began getting ready for work. She would shower and dress for school, then go downstairs and pack a lunch for her father. Later, she’d discovered that he didn’t even like peanut butter and jelly, but he had dutifully carried that brown paper sack out the door every morning, stopping to kiss her before he went.
    During high school, she joined the cross-country team and dedicated her mornings to training. No matter the weather, she logged several miles, followed by a quick session on the weight bench her father set up in the garage. She’d reached an age where time with her friends replaced time spent with her family. She wouldn’t have admitted it then, but she enjoyed the mornings when her father joined her for her workout.
    The current state of their relationship made the memory of those mornings even more valuable. She loved her father. But it had been many years since she’d been able to enjoy the simplicity of her childhood adoration. These days, her family and professional lives intertwined more often than she would like, and she and her father were always on opposite sides.
    Her morning ritual no longer included sloppily crafted PB and J. She lifted the protein shake from the counter beside the bathroom sink and took a large swallow. The thick, strawberry-flavored liquid washed away her nostalgia.
    She loosened the towel and tugged a brush through her damp hair. As she crossed toward the closet, she heard the doorbell. She grabbed some sweats and a T-shirt and pulled them on as she headed for the front door.
    She glanced through the peephole, then swung the door open. “Kendall? What are you doing up and about so early?”
    “I—I’ve been driving around.” Kendall’s monotone response and the unfocused look in her eyes caused Evelyn to study her more closely. Her hair was disheveled and her worn sweatshirt didn’t really go with her khaki slacks, as if she’d thrown on her clothes with little regard for style.
    “Come in.” She stepped back and waited until Kendall moved inside. She took her arm and steered her to the kitchen table. “Coffee?”
    Kendall nodded numbly.
    “Did you sleep last night?” Kendall looked ready to crash. Evelyn opened her single-serving machine and popped Kendall’s favorite-flavored coffee inside.
    “Not much.”
    “So, what’s going on?”
    “Melanie and I are splitting up.”
    “You had a fight? What about?”
    “We didn’t really fight. She just told me she wanted to break up.”
    “You should apologize, even if you don’t think you were wrong.”
    “I’m serious.”
    “Whatever it is you’ll work it out.” Melanie and Kendall didn’t have a tumultuous relationship, but any long-term couple had their little blowups.
    “It’s beyond that.”
    Evelyn studied her. The agony etched on Kendall’s face backed up her words. “What happened?”
    Kendall shrugged, but the nonchalant gesture contradicted the quiver in her chin. “She said it was time.”
    “What the hell does that mean? Something specific must have happened to spark this.”
    “No. Nothing.”
    “You fought—”
    “No.”
    “What was she pissed about?”
    “Evelyn, no,” Kendall barked, then took a deep breath. “She wasn’t pissed. She was—resigned. This has been coming on for some time now.”
    Shaking her head, she sank into the chair across from Kendall. Kendall and Melanie belonged together. Yet Kendall sat here telling her that Melanie had ended it.
    “When things settle down, you’ll talk to—”
    “She’s right, Evelyn. We’re basically roommates these days. It’s over.” Kendall’s eyes filled and immediately spilled over, as if saying the words pushed her across a boundary she’d been clinging to.
    Evelyn stood and circled the table. Kendall started to cry just as she put her arms around her. She couldn’t say anything to comfort Kendall, but her mind raced ahead to where she would seek answers