Dress Me in Wildflowers by Trish Milburn Read Free Book Online Page B

distance could mask the mortification she’d felt or the desperate need to run away. She had run away then, and she’d almost done it again. She refused to let memories of Janie Carlisle make her backslide into the person she used to be. She was bigger than that. This time, she was in control.
    Farrin sighed so deeply, it felt as if she’d expelled all the breath from her body. And then she turned around and walked back toward the restroom. Janie looked genuinely ill, and Farrin hoped someone would help her if she found herself in a similar situation — even if she was a bitch. She placed the palm of her hand against the bathroom door, resentment surging through her. Why, of all the people at this reunion tonight, had she crossed paths with Janie and found herself in a situation where she was the most logical person to help out her former classmate?
    When she stepped back inside the room, Janie was sitting against the wall, the tall metal trashcan tipped over. She looked utterly and totally spent and evidently hadn’t even made the effort to pick herself up. Was she drunk?
    Janie looked up, but her eyes didn’t hold the same huge look of surprise of a few moments before.
    “Are you okay?”
    Janie lifted herself from the floor. A wave of embarrassment flashed across her pale face. “Yeah. Got a bit dizzy and slipped.” Her words came out breathless, as if she needed every ounce of oxygen within her to push them past her lips.
    If Janie had been anyone else, Farrin would have helped her from the floor. As it was, she stood still and watched as Janie grabbed onto the side of the sink and steadied herself. Janie looked like she could heave what was left of her dinner at any moment, not something Farrin wanted to witness. She’d no doubt toss her own cookies and felt swirly at the thought.
    “Have you been drinking?” Farrin asked.
    Janie looked over at her, a light-headed expression on her face. “No. I’ve just . . . been sick today. I shouldn’t have come.”
    That would have certainly made Farrin’s evening better. Ironic that they should meet up again so close to the gym, where Janie had stung her like the queen bee she’d been. Well, Janie didn’t look like the queen of much now.
    ”Well, if you’re okay, I’ll get back to dinner.” Farrin turned and headed for the door a second time.
    “Actually, could I ask you a favor?”
    Farrin suppressed the urge to yell “No” at the top of her lungs. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What?” The word cut the air with its frosty, hateful edge. So much for being detached and devoid of emotion.
    “I need to go home, but I’m not sure I can make it to my car.”
    “Who did you come with? I’ll go get him.” And let whoever that unfortunate soul was deal with the situation.
    “I came by myself.”
    Farrin thought it strange that Janie had come alone and that she didn’t look embarrassed by the fact. Of course, she could be too busy being sick.
    “Brittany or Amber then?”
    “No.” The urgency in the word caught Farrin off guard and winded Janie so much that she sucked in air.
    So, all was not well within the Terrible Trio. A flush of pure pleasure made Farrin smile.
    Without a word, she stepped next to Janie. Best to get this over with. The quicker she got Janie to her car, the sooner she didn’t have to look at her anymore.
    Janie either understood her need to avoid conversation or was too weak to speak because she simply held onto Farrin’s shoulder to brace herself as they exited and headed out the side door rather than parade back through the gym.
    The trek across the parking lot took an eternity. “Which car is yours?”
    Janie looked up, squeezed Farrin’s shoulder harder as if her head was swimming for a moment, then pointed at a little Subaru wagon. If Farrin had picked a car out of the parking lot to be Janie’s, this would have been the last one. A wagon. But it’d been fifteen years. Janie likely had kids. Another