Edge of Glory excerpt, chapter 5

Obviously not the official cover, but the image I plan on using for advertising purposes until the cover is done

Lindsay’s phone ringing interrupted the conversation. She paused before looking at it. She had changed her number already but still worried. It was a text message from Jade.

“Are you guys still up? I need friend therapy like yesterday!”

“It’s Jade…she needs us,” Lindsay said worriedly.

“Tell her to come over. I’ll put coffee on,” Sarah said, shuffling to the kitchen as Lindsay followed, replying to Jade.

“Come over. Sarah has coffee on.”

The coffee gurgled to life with the morning, as Jade walked in the door about fifteen minutes later, tears down her face. She looked like she had been crying for a while.

“Jade, what’s wrong?” Lindsay asked, hugging her.

“Oh boy,” Sarah said as she watched them walk into the kitchen and sit down at the table while she poured coffee for three.

“He wants a divorce,” Jade said sadly, wiping tears from her face. “I know I said I didn’t care but…fuck, what hurts is that he doesn’t understand how much you two mean to me, that I would do anything for you guys. It’s not fair that he gets to go out with his friends to his little church functions and I can’t have a social life outside the church.”

“And considering we’re about the only ones outside of church you spend time with? You’re damn rights that isn’t fair,” Sarah stated.

Lindsay shook her head. “Fucking stupid. I’ve had it with stupid men.”

“I think we all have,” Jade shrugged, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug as though it comforted her somehow.

“Are Lindsay and I the reason he wants a divorce? That’s it?” Sarah questioned, perplexed.

“It’s that, it’s how I am not as religious as I used to be, I want my own life and career instead of being a house wife forever popping out babies, I want to get back into music, which means being part of the bar scene and he can’t handle that. He always said what he liked most about is that I’m not the average Mormon girl, but really, that’s all he wants. It just doesn’t make sense,” Jade explained tearfully.

“Nothing makes much sense anymore,” Lindsay remarked. “How relationships go from the most epic fucking thing you’ve ever experienced to pure hell in a few years is beyond me. How it all just gets destroyed…I don’t know.”

Sarah sat back in her chair contemplatively. She too looked tired and worn down. Lindsay glanced at her.

“You alright, Sarah? Something bothering you, too?” Lindsay asked. She and Jade looked at their friend quizzically.

Sarah shook her head. “I am just perplexed at how our lives all seem to fall apart at the same time.”

Lindsay frowned. “Why, is there something going on in your world you’re not telling us?”

Sarah sighed. “Oh, you guys. You know how I officially came out as a lesbian to my family a few weeks ago?”

“Yeah, why?” Jade wondered, her eyes wide.

“Well, my family disowned me,” Sarah said with a hint of spite. “Turned into a huge fight, my parents want me to go get ‘cured.’ Fuck that! I am who I am.”

Lindsay took a sip of her coffee, glancing at Sarah in disbelief. “Seriously? Fuck my life, Sarah. I’m sorry. Why the hell didn’t you say anything a few weeks ago?”

“Because you were dealing with Alex and Jade is having marital problems,” Sarah said casually. “I’m fine, really, girls, it just….it bugs me, you know? That your own family can let you go so quickly over something that really in the bigger picture just doesn’t matter. There are worse things I could do than kiss a girl.”

“Of course,” Jade replied. “Well, you know we love you and we don’t care who you fall in love with.”

“As long as you make better fucking choices than Jade and I did!” Lindsay told her, lighting a cigarette. All three girls laughed.

“Look at us,” Lindsay continued. “We’re like a fucking soap opera right now. Sarah’s family, Jade’s divorce, my ex is a psychopath…” ”

“Fuck me,” Sarah replied. “If this is adulthood, take me back to those pink picnic tables.”

“Yeah, really!” Jade agreed.

“When all else fails, start a rock band,” Lindsay repeated one of her favourite sayings.

They all looked at each other in surprise at the offhanded remark, each of them thinking the same thing.

“We totally fucking should!” Sarah exclaimed.

“That would be fun!” Jade said in delight.

“Win,” was all Lindsay said as they exchanged high fives around the table.

Lindsay sat quietly for a moment, feeling the first inklings of a song trickling into her head.

“Oh I close my eyes and see, pink picnic tables, our summer of love, wild and free…”