Free I Need You (Learning to Let Go) by Hazel St James

seem to be able to manage the boldness without a bit of booze flowing through her veins. Craig was working the bar tonight, as well as another tall, lanky college kid, so Sara assumed that he was the one providing the shots. Sara remembered thinking, Craig’s the owner. What harm could it do?
    Being poor wasn’t making her conscience any stronger at this point, so she had continued “working” until last call at two am. The girls had just finishing cleaning up the lounge area and were talking about how much money they had made that night, when Craig tried giving her another fifty dollars for wages as well. Sara just shook her head, and stepped back, answering “Oh no, I’ve broken enough laws tonight. I’m good with the two hundred in tips I made.” Craig just roared with laughter, giving her a one-armed hug before letting her know that she was welcome to work there again, but next time on the clock and stone-cold sober. After a cup of coffee with the girls, and a quick sobriety test from Craig, she drove home to her trailer north of town.
    It had been a while since Sara had slept in her own bed, between sleeping over at Bryn’s and occasionally crashing in Darrin’s bed after working at his office until late at night. Her trailer was a dump, but it was clean and it was all she had. After a long hot shower, Sara dressed in some comfortable, black shorty shorts and one of Darrin’s long white plain t-shirts. She planned on spending the entire day doing very little, maybe going out to Darrin’s house to make sure that the office was clean later this afternoon.
    Having some extra money right now, she also thought about going into town and splurging on a few groceries as well. Maybe not, she thought again as she realized that she better hold on to that money, since she wasn’t sure if Craig would really let her work there again. She still had plenty of bread and peanut butter left, plus she was heading over to Bryn’s apartment tonight to spend the night. Corey was in a wedding tonight, and Bryn had decided last night that she did not want to go along. So, he had asked Sara to spend the night at their apartment to keep Bryn company.
    Sara was happy that her sister was doing better, and even more so that they were able to be close friends, instead of the pathetic relationship they’d had most of their life. Not sure if Corey was asking her to stay with Bryn because he felt she needed a babysitter, or because he was trying to keep them from drifting apart again. Either way, she was happy to do it. Seeing the light return to Bryn’s eyes, even more than when she was dating the hot doctor, Sara was excited for her sister’s future. Now if she could just find a way to bring some hope to her own dire situation, she was golden.
    Her cell phone was buzzing on the charger in the kitchen when she came out to make herself a late breakfast. A quick glance at the time on the clock reminded her that she had slept until noon, so she could officially call it lunch. Checking her messages, she had two silly texts from Bryn, another one from Corey, and a third one from Darrin. Seeing his name on the list after no communication with him for over two weeks made her heart flutter, making her fingers fumble on the keypad before she finally could open the message to read the entire thing.
    On our way home early. Just got back in cell phone range. Will be home late tonight. I need you. Stay at my house tonight?
    Bryn kept reading the words “I need you” over and over, letting her mind make up what those words meant. It could mean that he physically needed her, or in other words, needed sex. Darrin had been very open in admitting that he and Sara had more sex in the two weeks they were dating, than he’d had in the last few years of his life put together. His words were more than likely just his libido speaking, but she imagined that just maybe, he really had missed her emotionally, too. Sara knew that she had definitely missed having