Free Beyond Control by Karice Bolton Page B

pretty clean. I’d have time to tidy up right before he got here. The week’s gossip magazines were piled on the coffee table, and there were our glasses on the end tables from the night before. There was a plate that had held my toast from morning, but there were no crazy disaster zones.
    “I’m gonna go change,” I hollered down the hall to Brandy.
    “Awesome,” she replied, popping her head out of her bedroom.
    I tossed the bags on my bed and dug through the one that had the two swimsuits I’d bought. Deciding on the lavender bikini, I closed my door and changed out of my skirt and blouse. I yanked the sticker out of the bikini bottom and pulled it on, tying the strings on the side. Glancing in the mirror as I tied the bikini top around my neck, I let out a large sigh. I’ve looked at myself with the scar for so long, I wasn’t sure I could even imagine my body without it. I wanted to act like it didn’t faze me any longer, but that wasn’t true. Every day when I had to take a mouthful of pills, I was reminded that my life wasn’t like everyone else’s.
    “I think I’ll chill out for a little bit with you before I take off,” Brandy said through the door, interrupting my thoughts.
    “Nice.” I opened the door and she was in one of her new suits too. It was a red string bikini with fringe along the top. “You look hot with all that fringe.”
    “There aren’t that many places to wear fringe. Gotta enjoy it when I can. That and sparkles.” She smiled and I followed her out to the balcony.
    Brandy lifted off the cover and flipped the jets on full blast. I had grabbed my iPhone and ear buds and scoped out a place to put them, settling on the chaise.
    “So you promise you won’t go for a ride alone tonight? I want to at least be around when you zoom off,” she said, her mothering qualities emerging.
    “You sound like Carla,” I laughed. “Only more annoying.”
    “It’s only because I love you.” She sat down in the bubbles, grinning, as I stepped into the hot tub.
    I looked through the balcony rails at the view of Puget Sound. The sunlight was dancing off the water, creating a brilliant sheen as the outbound ferries chugged toward the islands. I imagined myself on a ferry, heading to a home that was secluded enough to feel like a hideaway but close enough to the city for necessities. That must be so relaxing to ride a ferry everyday to commute, especially on a bike.
    “What are you daydreaming about?” Brandy asked.
    “Sometimes I think it would be really nice to live on one of the islands,” I mused.
    “You don’t think you’d feel trapped?” she asked, floating her hands atop the fizzing Jacuzzi water.
    “I don’t think so.”
    “I bet you’d miss me,” she chided.
    “Probably true,” I laughed.
    The jets were attempting to whoosh my bottoms off, so I scooted to a jet free area and resituated before looking back over the Sound.
    We both sat in the water, with a comfortable silence between us, as I felt the tension of the week slip away.
    “You okay over there?” she asked as I began to move around, adjusting.
    “I think my suit’s too big,” I said, laughing. “Things don’t want to stay put.”
    She grabbed my phone and glanced at the time. “Well, I should probably get going. I was only going to stay in ten minutes and it’s been fifteen.”
    “Have fun,” I told her. “Can you hand me the ear buds and scoot the chaise closer so I can listen to my music?”
    “Anything else you’d like Ms. Princess?” she teased, as she stepped out of the Jacuzzi.
    “Maybe a towel?”
    “I’ll drop one off before I take off,” she assured me as I secured the ear buds in my ears.
    “Thanks, doll,” I shouted over the music I amped into my ear buds as I settled into the jetted water. We didn’t turn up the heat in the hot tub when the weather was warm like this. We enjoyed dunking in the Jacuzzi to refresh or relax and that’s exactly what I intended to do, not necessarily