Free Trade Off by Cheryl Douglas

weighin’ on your mind… like now. What is it, baby? You know you can tell me.”
    A soft knock on the door announced the waiter was returning with their appetizer.
    Aiden waited while he placed the salads in front of them and offered accoutrements before exiting the room. “Just tell me, whatever it is. I need to know.”
    “Neil and I were friends, just like you and Sharon were.” She smiled. “I know you went to see her, by the way.”
    He couldn’t say he was surprised Sela’s best friend had snitched on him. He knew the two women were as close as sisters and Sharon’s loyalty lay with her friend, first and foremost. He couldn’t blame her for that. “It was nice seein’ her again. It took me back.”
    “She said the same thing.” She ran her fork through the crisp greens covering her plate. “She always thought the world of you.”
    “The four of us were so tight back in high school. What the hell happened?”
    “Well, you know that Sharon met James when she went to visit her aunt in Oklahoma the summer after our senior year. He was working in his uncle’s garage, trying to save money to go to college here in Nashville, remember?”
    “Honey, everything was a blur back then. I was travelin’ everywhere, checkin’ out different cities, talkin’ to teams with my agent…” He shook his head. He didn’t want to waste any more time thinking it. “So Sharon broke up with Neil because she had feelings for James, right?”
    “Yeah.” She set her fork down and reached for her wine glass.
    “Do you mind?” he asked, raising his own glass.
    “Of course not.”
    “Here’s to traveling the course and ultimately finding your way home.”
    “Cheers,” she said quietly, touching her glass to his.
    “I remember Neil didn’t take the break-up too well. I’m ashamed to admit I wasn’t much of a friend when he needed me. I was too caught up in everything that was happening in my own life, tryin’ to figure out how you and I were gonna make things work when I had to leave Nashville.” He took a sip of the wine as he waited for her to comment.
    “Neil was devastated when Sharon broke up with him. You know how serious they were.”
    Almost as serious as he and Sela, which is why none of this made sense to him. “I remember. So, did Sharon ever tell you what it was about Neil that made her question their relationship?”
    “Yeah, she said he was too jealous, possessive, needy…” She looked down at her plate, as though she was battling with her conscience over the prospect of revealing too much. “We all know he has problems that stem from his messed-up childhood, but I think he thought Sharon could help him fix what was broken, ya know?”
    Aiden almost felt sorry for his old friend when he remembered how out of control he’d been during their senior year. He almost blew his shot at the big leagues when his drinking and reckless behavior made him a risk to the scouts interested in him. “So he dealt with his feelings for Sharon by marryin’ you? Why would you agree to that, knowin’ he still wanted your best friend?”
    “Neil and I were both kind of lost, to tell you the truth. He was trying to come to terms with Sharon finding someone else and I was trying to figure out how I was going to move on without you.”
    “Damn it, Sela. It wasn’t supposed to be that way and you know it.” He clenched his fork as he bit back a curse. “We were staying connected, and I was gonna spend the summers in Nashville. I thought we had it all figured out, then you call me up outta nowhere and tell me you married Neil. Do you know what that did to me?”
    He knew she could read the despair in his eyes, but he was past the point of caring. If they had been face-to-face when she broke the news to him eight years ago, she would have seen a side to him she never saw before because he never experienced despair like that in his life. Everything that meant anything to him was suddenly gone and he knew it was too