8 Weeks by Bethany Lopez Page B

the bakery early every morning, so I knew she’d already be at work. I had a better chance of catching Sasha.
    “Hello?” a male voice said over the line.
    I pulled the phone away from my ear to look at the display. It said Sasha.
    “Hello, is Sasha there?” I asked.
    “Uh … Yeah,” came the reply. The sound became muffled, so I assumed he placed his hand over the speaker.
    “You Sasha?” I heard him ask.
    I put my hand over my mouth to contain my laugh when I heard her reply, “You bet. Give me the phone, big guy.”
    “Shel?” Sasha said sleepily when she got her phone.
    “Hey, Sash, I hate to bother you,” I said with a barely repressed giggle. “But something’s wrong with my car. Do you think you could come get me?”
    “I’ll be there in ten,” she replied.
    I gave her the cross streets and hung up.
    I loved Sasha more than I could ever say, but I never understood how she could handle the casual relationships she had with men.
    I’d always been a one-man woman.
    Whereas Sasha made sure that no man was ever around long enough to matter. The only people she let in were Gaby, Cal, TJ, Scott, and me.
    She’d moved around a lot as a kid. Her parents were big in the world of fashion, so she’d spent her childhood all around the globe. Paris, Florence, England. When her parents divorced, she’d moved here with her father, and begged him to let her stay here to finish out high school. He had, but he’d never been around much. Sasha had been mostly left with the housekeepers, but at least she’d gotten to stay and graduate with us. Her dad moved soon after she graduated, but he’d bought her a townhouse, and she’d stayed.
    Although Gaby and I always envied the places Sasha had gotten to see, Sasha always envied the fact that we had been born and raised here.
    I was startled out of my thoughts by a knock on the window. Sasha managed to look fabulous, even with no makeup and her hair pulled back and covered by a hat.
    I opened the door and got out, grabbing her in a hug before pulling back to say, “Thank you!”
    “No problem, I needed that guy to hit the road anyway,” Sasha replied with a grin. “Hey, I knew you wouldn’t want me to call Cal, so I called TJ …”
    “You did?” I asked with a frown. TJ was just going to run and tell Cal. I wondered if he would be upset that I didn’t call him.
    “Yeah, I’m sorry, but you know I’m even more inept than you when it comes to cars. Do you want to wait for TJ, or do you want me to take you to work?”
    “I’ll wait,” I said with a sigh. “So, who was the guy?”
    “The guy I was telling you about the other day, the one I sold the house to,” Sasha said with a shrug.
    “Again?” I asked, surprised. “What’s his name?”
    “Sean,” Sasha replied. “But don’t get your hopes up, it’s no big deal.”
    I nodded, but I couldn’t help but get my hopes up a little bit. I wanted Sasha to settle down and be happy. I just wasn’t sure if she would allow herself to.
    At the sound of a car coming up the street, we both looked up. TJ’s latest salvage, a beat-up old El Camino, came rolling up to a stop behind us.
    “Where did you get that piece of shit?” Sasha asked when TJ got out of the car.
    “Woman, this fine piece of machinery is a classic,” TJ said with a grin, running his hand along the hood as he walked toward us. “When I get her fixed up, I’ll let you take her for a spin, and I guarantee you’ll eat your words.”
    Sasha didn’t reply, just watched him walk toward us with narrowed eyes.
    TJ stopped in front of us and pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head before giving Sasha a wicked grin. “Got an itch that needs scratchin’, Red?”
    “Nope,” Sasha said with a popping sound on the p. “I’ve already had a real man take care of that for me this mornin’.”
    TJ just gave her a wink, then turned to me, all traces of humor gone, and asked, “What seems to be the problem, babe?”
    “I don’t