Friends Like These

What had begun as treachery had morphed into something else. She had been through fire and was stronger for it. Forged in the flame of a New York summer. And what have I learned? she asked herself. That no one friend could give you everything. That complex friends came with complex agendas. That liars tell the best stories

Occasionally, she wondered if it might be she who was wrong. She who, by virtue of her wrongness would never inspire the right sort of love.

By the time they reached West Street, they were soaked through and laughing, and Beth felt nostalgia for the friendship that, for awhile, had always felt like this.

Beth went over the tally sheet in her head, trying to make it add up. What had begun as treachery had morphed into something else. She had been through fire and was stronger for it. Forged in the flame of a New York summer. And what have I learned? she asked herself. That no one friend could give you everything. That complex friends came with complex agendas. That liars tell the best stories.

It seemed odd how incredibly intense every encounter had felt, every personal and professional event etched on the surface of her brain. But only on her brain. Not theirs.