Quot;What am I going to do?" she breathed.

Quot;Take it a step at a time," Canton said softly, rubbing soothing circles on Randi's back.

Quot;I can't undo this now, can I?" she asked, walking over to her 4Runner and sitting on the bumper.

Quot;Do you want to?" Canton asked, standing nearby, offering her silent support.

Randi contemplated that question for a moment then finally shook her head, looking up at Canton. "No. I don't."

"Then we start at square one. Let's find you a job and a place to live."

Quot;Okay," Randi nodded. She pushed to her feet, headed back towards the cottage, but stopped suddenly as a wave of realization crashed over her. "I just asked my husband for a divorce!" Her eyes grew wide, hands covering her mouth.

Canton nodded. "Yes you did."

"Oh my god!" Suddenly it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted, even as fear and uncertainty poured in through the cracks. "Oh my god."

***

Randi pulled open the kitchen cabinets and looked in them, mentally tallying how much would be going in there and if there would be enough room. She could hear Anne wandering around the two-bedroom apartment, inspecting the new digs of her best friend.

Quot;Well, what do you think?" Randi asked, turning to face her friend, who had just shut the fridge door.

Anne scanned the empty kitchen one more time before facing the blonde. "Are you sure about this?"

Quot;With everything in me," Randi said, no doubt in her voice or in her heart. Truth be told, she felt like a teenager again, getting her very own place for the first time. That wasn't too far off the mark, for that matter.

"It'll be so strange," Anne said, hands tucked into the back pockets of her shorts. "Not having you guys over as a couple anymore. Movie dates. That sort of thing."

"I know. It'll be strange for me, too. I've been a 'we' for nearly twenty years and suddenly I'll be an 'I'." She gave her friend a blinding smile. "It's for the best, Anne. I'm happy."

Anne walked over to Randi and pulled her into a tight hug. "Then I'm happy, too." They parted and toured the rest of the apartment. Standing in the middle of the bare master bedroom, Anne grinned. "Sooooo, what does the good doctor think of your new place?"

"She hasn't seen it yet, Anne," Randi said, warning in her voice. "This has nothing to do with her. Besides, she's back in New York for a month"

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 680