Free Finding Her Way by Riley Jefferson

button to send the e-mail. Grabbing the screen on her laptop, she closed her computer. At one time in her life she had been in love with this woman. For the first time in a long time, she felt overwhelmed with life and wanted to cry. There were too many emotions coming at her all at once.
    Pressing the intercom to her assistant, Jerrica conveyed that she was not to be disturbed the rest of the day. She was going to lock herself in and get some important work finished.
    “We are still on for the Cape, right?” Lauren asked.
    “Yes, we are,” she answered before ending the call.

    †

    Lauren knew this was a pattern for Jerrica. She would bury herself in her work to avoid dealing with emotional issues. Even though she had seen this before, she had no idea what she was hiding from this time. There would have plenty of time to talk it out on the drive to the cottage, Lauren consoled herself.
    Lunch came and went but Lauren’s anxiety was increasing by each passing hour. As she repositioned herself in her office chair for the hundredth time, she tried to concentrate on her own computer work. Every so often she received an e-mail from Jerrica for a project or a folder that she might need later. At least Jerrica was keeping her mind busy. The day seemed to drag on, but as long as she heard from Jerrica periodically, she felt some kind of normalcy in her day. Mid-afternoon, Lauren glanced at Jaime who was focused on her work and oblivious of the events around her.
    I wish I could shut out the world as she does, Lauren thought.
    After closer observation she realized Jaime wasn’t focusing, she was softly crying behind her computer screen. Jaime turned her head as Lauren touched her shoulder, “Jaime, what’s wrong?”
    The tears that were few before, now flowed in abundance. In between tears and catching her breath, Jaime managed to answer. “This guy…I’ve been seeing for a few months just…broke up with me via…text message.”
    Lauren had been out of the dating game for quite a few years and found it hard to understand this blubbering girly stuff. “What happened?”
    “I don’t know. I thought we were serious.”
    “And,” Lauren pushed.
    “Well, we were finally…intimate and now he’s breaking up with me,” she explained as she wiped tears from her cheeks.
    Lauren wanted to tell her this was classic for young relationships but seeing the hurt in her eyes, see decided that wasn’t a good idea. “I’m sorry, Jaime,”
    She felt remorseful for the younger woman. “Listen…Jerrica and I are taking a trip down to my cottage on the Cape this weekend. Would you like to come? It’s not a total relaxation weekend, we are opening up for the season, but it would at least be time away.”
    She waited patiently as Jaime considered the proposal in between sniffles. “Are you sure I won’t be a third wheel?”
    “I wouldn’t have asked if I thought that would be the case. I asked you because it’s an all-girls weekend and honestly, I think it would be good for all of us to get to know one another better,” she added in her best stretching the truth voice.
    Jaime eyes seemed to search Lauren’s face for pity or embarrassment, but could only find caring. “I would like that a lot. But I don’t have anything packed. What am I going to do?”
    Lauren hadn’t fully pondered that. “Well, you live in the Newton area, correct?”
    Jaime nodded and Lauren continued, “I’ll let you borrow my car to go home. You have two hours to be back here by the time we need to leave. Do you think you can make it?”
    “You’re going to let me borrow your car? Shouldn’t we ask Ms. Kerrison if I can leave?”
    “First off if you’re going to spend the weekend with her, you need to start calling her Jerrica. Second, since she’s closed herself off from the world today, I am in charge and I say you can go. I can handle it here. I trust you driving my car.”
    She reached back on her desk and grabbed her keys. Tossing