Free No Such Thing As True Love by A.M. Anderson Page A

hadn’t changed about her. She made sure Cassandra had pillows and blankets, and would be okay for the night. Assured, Maritess made her way to her room, closed the door and went to sleep.
    …
     

CHAPTER 14
                Maritess woke up the next morning excited for Cassandra’s moving day. She emerged, dressed and bushy-tailed from her room to find Cassandra still asleep. Maritess tried not to make much noise as she left to take Tike for a walk. When they got back upstairs, Maritess grabbed her keys and bag, and scribbled a note for Cassandra. She wrote that she was stopping by the club to set things up for the day, but would probably be back before Cassandra woke up. She instructed Tike to be on guard, and giggled her way down the hall.
                Maritess felt refreshed as she stepped outside. The trip to the club was pleasant, and so was the Zen feeling Maritess got as she opened up. She tacked the amended schedule in the break room, and met with her managers for a while. When everything was in order, Maritess walked out of the building. It had been a long time since she had taken any personal time off. Most of her managers had more free hours than she did, but Maritess thought that was only right. The club was her baby, and she never really liked leaving. Yet, when she boarded the bus to go back home that morning, she felt a sense of freedom and excitement that she realized had been missing from her life.
                She stopped at the corner store to grab some food for breakfast, as well as the chocolate bars she and Cassandra couldn’t live without as kids. When she unlocked her door, she wasn’t surprised to see her friend still passed out on the couch. Cassandra worked more typical business hours, so she wasn’t normally awake until about seven-thirty. Maritess opened the club every day at five am. It was only six now, and she knew that Cassandra had probably stayed up until way after midnight working on her contracts. Still, it was difficult being quiet. Maritess tried to busy herself with marketing work, but only held out for another hour. At seven, she was holding a candy bar in front of Cassandra’s face while she gently poked at her side with a banana. When Cassandra opened her eyes, she laughed.
                “Breakfast of champions,” Maritess joked. Cassandra stood up and went to the bathroom to get ready. The wrapper on the candy bar crinkled as she opened it when the two of them were both seated at the table. After all these years, Maritess still remembered all of her little favorites. Cassandra knew hers, too, and went to her bag and pulled out a gift. Maritess smiled as she held the package and instantly knew what it was.
                “In tradition,” Cassandra stated as Maritess carefully removed the artful wrapping paper. Some time in their early twenties, when they were both fully leaving the nest, they realized that each time they said goodbye, it could be their last. One time, Cassandra snapped a picture of them just before they parted ways. The next time she visited Maritess, she gave it to her in a frame. The picture Maritess now held in her hands was at least five years old. She remembered not even wanting to pose for the photo, but had swung her eyes towards the camera lens at the last moment; her face was a wash of sadness, pain and frustration. Cassandra’s expression wasn’t much better. Her brow was furrowed and she was obviously angry. The photo was perfectly framed in a sparkling array of stones. The phrase ‘No Matter What’ was attached to the bottom of the frame in a row of carved, wooden letters. Maritess smiled, and blinked away a tear. She hugged Cassandra, and was truly happy to have her friend close by again.
                Once Maritess had hung the picture on the wall and they had finished munching their breakfast, Cassandra brought up Markus. She told Maritess how impressed she had been by him.