Free Wash by Lexy Timms

came over and held a Pepsi out to
me. “Still your favorite, I presume.”
    I nodded. “I’m surprised you remember.
Thank you.”
    “ I remember more than you
know,” he said, sitting down next to me.
    I gave him a fake smile and went back
to my laptop.
    “ I see you’re taking your
work with us.”
    “ I’ve got a business to
run.”
    “ Yeah. Are those
reports?”
    I looked up from my computer. “You’re
bored. You’ve always wanted to talk whenever you get
bored.”
    He inched closer and whispered in my
ear, “Remember what we used to do to make time fly?”
    I gazed up into his eyes. “You mean
when we used to tangle up the sheets?” I said without even
flinching and not caring who could hear us; I had no problem
embarrassing him in public after the way he’d humiliated me in
front of all of the most important people in my life.
    “ No. It was more than sex.
We made beautiful love, and then I’d hold you all night
and—”
    I stood. “I’m gonna go sit somewhere
else,” I said, then hurried to a different seat without even
looking back.
    As I expected he would, Jake followed
me. “You forgot your Pepsi…and I’m sorry if I offended you in any
way, shape, or form.” He shifted his stance. “We’re not strangers
though, Ashly. We were best friends, and I loved you more than I’ve
ever loved anyone.”
    My lips pressed into a flat line.
“Hmm. And you show it by being a no-show at our wedding?
Interesting.”
    The intense pain in his face was
evident. “I know. I was such an idiot, and that dumb decision cost
me the best thing that ever happened to me. What hurt the most was
losing my best friend.”
    When they called for our flight to
board, I felt relieved. I hurried onto the plane, settled down in
my seat, and began to flip through a magazine someone had left
behind.
    “ We get to ride donkeys
down into the Grand Canyon,” Jake said, “just like the Brady Bunch on that one
episode.”
    I chuckled softly.
    “ What’s so
funny?”
    “ It’s ironic that my mother
has us riding down on jackasses?” I said. “I’m sure it’s some kind
of symbolism from the grave.”
    “ And what would that
be?”
    “ Think really hard about
what a jackass is. It can be a Rocky Mountain canary, burro,
donkey, he-ass, jack, male ass, neddy, or, my personal favorite…a
Jake,” I muttered under my breath.
    “ What? Did you just call me
a jackass?”
    The flight attendant’s voice cut into
our conversation. “I have your drink, miss.”
    I pointed to an empty seat at the
front of the first-class section. “Is there any way I can move up
there?” I asked. “I could use a little more privacy.”
    “ Is everything
okay?”
    I reached for the drink she handed me.
“I just can’t sit next to this gentleman for such a long flight…and
calling him a gentleman is putting it nicely.”
    She smiled widely. “Okay. If you’d
like to move, it’s no problem.”
    “ Thank you,” I
said.
    “ Ashly…” Jake
started.
    My gaze narrowed. “Listen, my mother’s
will doesn’t require me to ride next to you on the
plane.”
    He flashed a smile. “Right, but it
does stipulate that we have to share a one-bedroom whenever that’s
a possibility.”
    I shot sharp daggers at him with my
eyes. “The room, maybe, but not the bed. Wherever we have to stay,
I hope the floor is as cold and hard for you as you were to
me!”
    With that, I turned and
headed for the front seat, not even bothering to look back to see
his expression. I was still too mad and bitter to be out on some
personal Amazing Race with him. I’d never considered myself an ice-cold bitch, and I
didn’t want to be, but around him, I just couldn’t help it. The
truth was, I would need years of therapy to get over what Jake had
done to me, if I could ever get over it at all. In some way, shape,
or form, I knew I’d always think about him and would forever wonder
where we’d be if he hadn’t left me high and dry. Where would five years of