Free Sweetest Salvation by Kacey Hammell

overwhelming urge to talk
to him flooded Andy. She needed to talk to him, figure things out.
    She put her arms around her
friend and squeezed. “Thank you. You don’t know how much you mean to me.”
    When they pulled apart, they
shared a smile.
    “I love when you come to
visit. I hope our talk has helped?”
    “I need to talk to Hunter.
Perhaps over the phone, things would be easier?”
    The other woman chuckled and
patted her shoulder when she stood. “Hmm, don’t trust yourself alone with him,
do you?”   She grinned at Andy over her
shoulder when she stood at the door. “I’ll see you later, my dear.”
    After the door closed, Andy
grinned. The old woman was coy and perceptive.
    She crossed to the bed,
pulled her cell phone from her purse and pushed the pillow up against the
headboard. She climbed onto the center of the bed and reclined on the pile
behind her.
    Thanks to Mrs. Morrow’s
words, she knew the best thing for her was to reach out to Hunter.
    She’d made the fast decision
to visit the B&B when she’d woken up beside Hunter on the couch at the club
five days ago. She’d panicked and needed to reconnect with something familiar
that had belonged solely to her and her husband.
    Guilt had flooded her. She’d
had sex with her husband’s best friend. Though it was ridiculous to feel as if
she’d betrayed Patrick, her heart had other ideas.
    She couldn’t allow herself to
speculate on what Patrick would think of her. She couldn’t regret it. She’d
wanted Hunter as much as he had her.
    After she’d slid off the
couch quietly as possible and gathered her clothing from the floor, she’d
quickly dressed, then looked down at Hunter, still sleeping.
    He looked so peaceful, face calm and relaxed in sleep. The absent tension in his
face after so long was nice to see. The sadness from the last year had eased,
and she realized how much pain he’d also been in.
    His relationship with Patrick
had been strong, without a doubt, and she was angry with herself for being so
absorbed in her own pain that she hadn’t helped him with his grief.
    She’d been such a bitch to
Hunter this last year. He’d needed her just as much as she did him. Once it
dawned on her how selfish and cold she’d been to him for so long, it was
essential to get away from him. How could he even look at her after how
horrible she’d been to him?
    Scrolling through the
contacts on her phone, she pulled up his, took a deep breath, then hit send.
    Tapping her fingers on her
thigh, she waited nervously for him to answer. After what seemed a dozen rings,
she was just about to hang up when she heard his voice. Butterflies fluttered
in her belly.
    “Hello,” she heard him say
again.
    “Hunter,” she said, voice
shaking.
    “Andy?”
    “Yeah, umm,
hi.”
    “Hey, how are you?” She heard
the note of concern in his soft voice.
    “I’m okay. Is this a bad
time?”
    “No not at all, I’m working
from home for a few days.”
    “Everything
all right at work?”   She didn’t want to talk about the club, but she didn’t know how to start
the conversation she knew they needed to have.
    “No problems there. Just
quieter here, and gives me time to think.”
    Here’s
your opening, take it.
    “Thinking is good.”   God, she was such an idiot. Her throat felt
tight and dry. The words were stuck in her throat.
    His chuckle wafted over the
line. “Sure. Listen, Andy, I can hear the nerves in your voice so I’m going to
cut right to the chase of things. I’ve left you dozens of messages over the
last few days, since I woke up to find you gone. Are you all right? Really?”
    She remembered the texts he’d
sent that she hit ignore on. He cared about her. She should have been a better
friend, if he considered her even that now, and let him know she was okay.
    “I’m sorry, I needed some
space. I should have replied.”
    “All right. I understand what you’re going through, too. He was my best friend. To be with
you like that wasn’t an