Apple Martinis

Chapter 1

Piper

“Istill can’t believe he did you that way. That’s so fucked up.” Bianca says from the other side of the table.

I shrug as I look around the restaurant hoping to not run into any of Ben’s friends while out for lunch with the girls.

“So where are you staying if you’ve left the house?” Rose asks, bringing my attention back to our table.

“She’s been sleeping on my couch since the day it happened.” Faye answers before I do.

“I won’t be there long. I promise, it’s just taking a few extra days to find something that isn’t rat or bug infested.” I shiver when I remember the last one I visited yesterday.

“Oh, nonsense. You can stay however long you need to.” She smiles but I still feel bad that I need to rely on my friend for a place to stay.

“What she needs is a long holiday to not only forget about Ben but to celebrate getting her real estate license.” Rose says.

“We all should go!” Bianca says quickly with wide excited eyes.

“What? We can’t all go.” Faye argues.

“Oh yes we can! We all have vacation time saved up.” Rose injects with a grin.

“All four of us are single at the same time.” Bianca shakes her head dramatically. “They better look out!” We all giggle.

“A vacation sounds nice right about now, I have to admit.” I chuckle the more I think about it.

“Where would we go?” Faye asks, looking a little more interested.

“The beach!” We all say at the exact same time making us laugh hysterically.

“The earliest I could possibly take off would be later next week. What about all of you?” Faye asks a few minutes later after looking at her schedule on her phone.

After everyone looks at their phones, it seems they all could leave next week but I don’t want to wait that long. I want out of here as soon as possible.

Ben has been ringing my phone off the hook for the last couple of days as well as putting his friends up to doing so. Why the hell is he making this so hard anyway? He’s the asshole who cheated on our relationship.

“The prick.” I say through gritted teeth then realize I said it out loud when the girls all look at me with a grin. “Sorry. My mind was wondering again. Look, how about I go on down and find us an amazing rental. You three can come on down later next week when you get off.”

“Will Mrs. Stewart let you have that much time off?” Faye asks.

“Yeah. She suggested I take a month off after passing the exam to give me time to be ready for my new life.” I say with air quotes.

“That woman is so weird.” Faye mumbles and the other girls agree.

“She’s just eccentric.” I laugh at their expressions.

“She’s definitely something. She still have all of those cats at her house?” Rose asks.

“She does still have a lot of cats but that’s not really her fault. People started throwing cats out there years ago. She just makes sure they all get fixed and are fed regularly. The humane society even started putting up cameras to try to catch people putting out strays there. Think they’ve been able to find several people that way.” I explain.

“Well she does have a big heart, she took you under her wing when your mom passed.” Faye says with a small smile.

“You just called her weird and now you say she has a big heart?” Bianca raises her brow.

“People can be both at the same time. Besides, she used to purposely scare the shit outta us kids when we were in school, remember?” Faye demands.

“We deserved it though.” Rose says as we all laugh at the memories.

“So when are you thinking about leaving?” Faye turns the conversation back to our little vacation.

An hour later we all leave the restaurant with a clear plan that includes me taking off for Flora-Bama on my own and for them to join me later next week. My steps feel lighter now knowing that I can forget, at least for a little while, the bad memories of the past year.