Fall from Love

sure he’s busy spending time with his family. And three, we’re going home tomorrow. I’ll just see him when we get back.”
    “You’re right. It’s just…” her voice trails off. “Never mind. I mean, I probably should tell you, but I won’t because it’s really none of my business.”
    Okay, now I know what she’s trying to do; she’s dying to tell me something, but she wants me to ask for it and I’ll be a damned liar if I said it wasn’t working.
    I turn onto my side, fully facing her. “Okay, I’ll bite.”
    “Okay, so before I tell you anything you’re going to have to swear yourself to secrecy.”
    I roll my eyes, mark a cross on my heart, and then let my arm fall back on the bed.
    She nods once. “Okay, so Carter’s trying to protect you and he doesn’t want you to know anything about what’s going on in his life, which I think is really sweet, but also kind of sad. I know the two of us got off on the wrong foot, but I think he’s a really nice guy, Holly, and he’s—”
    “Jenna,” I interrupt her, “take a deep breath and talk a little slower, please.”
    She takes a deep breath in and blows it out. “Josh would kill me if he knew I was telling you all of this, but Carter’s going through a rough time right now.” She swallows hard and chews on her bottom lip, something she only does when she’s really nervous. “His mom is sick and she’s not doing very well. They’ve moved her home and his sister has been stopping by a few times a week to watch over her,” she pauses and swallows hard, “but it doesn’t look good.”
    A sick feeling forces its way up my throat. Why wouldn’t he tell me this? “I—I had no idea. That’s awful,” I whisper.
    “Yeah.” She shakes her head and scoots herself backwards so she can lean back against the headboard. “I can’t believe it, either, bad shit keeps happening to his family. After all they’ve been through over the last few years, it’s like life keeps handing them shit for luck. I guess you never know how fortunate you are until you see how bad other people have it.”
    I sit up now, fully engrossed in what she’s saying. “What are you talking about Jenna?”
    Her head falls to the side and she rolls her eyes. “Do you not know anything about his family? Man, what do the two of you talk about when you’re up all night on the phone together?”
    My stomach clenches. “Wait, how do you know we talk at night?” I never told her about our late night calls, knowing she would bug me about them ruthlessly.
    She rolls her eyes again. “Well, first of all, I’m not stupid. Second, our walls are paper thin, and third, I may have been a little nosy one night.” She grins guiltily.
    My mouth falls open as she laughs nervously. “Don’t be mad. It took me forever to figure it out. It wasn’t until Josh mentioned that Carter had been talking on the phone at night, too, that I finally put two and two together.”
    “I can’t believe you spied on me,” I scoff.
    “Well, what was I supposed to do?” She frowns. “I’ve been trying to get you to talk to me for months… months, Holly. I was kind of hurt that you were talking to someone else. One night, I was curious to know who my best friend was telling all of her secrets to, if it wasn’t me.”
    My eyes scan over her face and it’s clear that she’s being honest, she really is hurt.
    “Sorry, I guess I didn’t think about it that way,” I apologize. “The only reason I didn’t say anything was because I knew you would read too much into it. He’s just really easy to talk to, maybe it’s because he was there that night at the hospital and I feel connected to him in a certain way.”
    Her mouth drops open and it looks like she’s about to cry. At first I’m confused by her expression, but then I realize what I just said. “Oh no, Jenna that was not a dig at you. I swear. That came out way wrong.”
    She shakes her head. “No, I get it. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. At first I was jealous that you were talking to someone else, but then, the more I thought about it, I was just happy that you were at least talking to someone. Josh felt the same way. I think he wanted Carter to come to him with his problems, but when he found out it was you, he was just happy that the two of you had each other.”
    “We don’t talk about anything serious, though, so you don’t have to be that jealous.” I smile.
    “So what do you guys talk about?” Her