It was Monday evening, but I hadn't heard anything from Blake. I'd been restless all day, and my mood shifted from anxious to cautious. I wasn't sure if it was because of the job at the Assessment Center or because Susie was sitting in front of me, pouring her heart out.

She called in the morning, and we agreed to meet at a cafe downtown. I didn't know what to expect because of our rough interactions in the past weeks. Her intention could be hard to read, but the exhausted smile on her face was a sign she didn't plan to throw another war. The sight reminded me of her situation when she broke up with Dean some time ago.

"I've been a shitty friend to you in the past few weeks." She sighed, playing with the straw of her iced coffee. "I just didn't know how to handle it, Jenny. Dean had been closing up and leaving me in the dark. That day, he went AWOL and sent me a text in the evening just to tell me he wasn't coming home, and that was it. He didn't tell me he was at your place, not even responding to my calls or texts for the rest of the evening. So, yeah, I was livid. I couldn't help it."

I stared at my empty glass. "He was gone when I woke up that morning. He must have realized what he did to you was unfair. I hope he gave you a good explanation."

"Yeah. He came home early and said sorry for being a dick. I thought he was at Katherine's, but a few days later, he told me he was at your place because he needed to think. I know that nothing is going on between you and Dean, but still, it would've been nice if he told me beforehand where he actually was. It felt like he deliberately left out the details for a reason."

I gulped and shifted uncomfortably as the scene at the dock rushed back into my head. Nothing happened between me and Dean, and never will, I said to myself.

"Yeah," I mumbled. At this point, I didn't know what to say. Dean was in the mess of trying to fix his mom's problem with my dad, but I had no idea how much he'd shared with Susie. For me personally, the topic was still too sore to touch. "I wish he had come clean earlier to avoid all the drama."

"I know." She tugged her brown hair behind her ears and forced a smile, but it didn't reach her hazel eyes, the eyes that reflected the same shade as mine. "Do you want to order more drinks?"

I nodded. "I'll have more iced cappuccino."

Susie waved to a server, who stood a few tables away. After ordering another round of drinks, she excused herself for a quick toilet break.

Once she disappeared from my sight, I sighed and retracted my phone out of my bag, curious if there was something from Blake. I didn't expect much since it was almost dinnertime. To my surprise, Dean's caller ID popped up on my notification instead.

He sent a picture of a sunset at the beach in Katherine's hometown. The sky was clear. Its blue color had turned into a darker shade, coated with magenta and purple streaks. A brilliant red-orange sun glowed lazily, half disappearing behind the horizon line, as if it was saying good night to the calm sea sprawling before its eyes. It was breathtaking.

Dean: Hey, the sunset at this place is amazing. Wish you could see it yourself here. You would've loved it :)

Dean and I had been communicating regularly since he left, which was weird because when he was still around, we didn't talk every day. Maybe the distance did this to us. And I shouldn't have read too much into this since our text exchange was all platonic and light. But I still found this a bit out of habit.

I turned off my screen and put my phone on the table when I saw Susie walking back from the ladies' room. Right behind her, the server came to bring our orders.

"So yeah, we were arguing that morning; the morning you called Dean. Quite a way to start the day," she continued after settling back into her chair, "Then your mom rang him. After they ended the talk, he said he needed to go and come back in an hour, and that I could use the time to calm down. God, the nerve he had. I was beyond pissed when he dropped me, just like that, after your mom needed him to do something for her."

The uneventful morning still left a scar judging from the icy glint in her eyes, and it made my skin crawl for some reason. "I'm so sorry that you guys fought because Mom asked Dean to look for me that morning. He shouldn't have left you like that."

"Look, it's not you. I know I said it otherwise back then. But" — she sighed —"I don't know, Jenny. We have some issues that we need to work on without blaming outsiders, not that you're an outsider. Well, you know what I mean." She glanced at me before clearing her throat. "So, I'm sorry I lashed out at you that morning. It was uncalled for. I didn't know that you were in the middle of a situation."

Oh. Dean told her about our parents. How much had he filled her in? I hoped it wasn't more than I was willing to share.

"Yeah, Dean told me everything," Susie confirmed my thought. "I'm sorry about your parents. I should've been there for you. I feel embarrassed now that I was blinded with jealousy for no reason."

"Don't be. You didn't know," I replied.

"Your mom is the one strong woman I've ever known in my life. I adore her very much. Too bad Katherine is now back in her hometown. She could've been a perfect companion for your mom since, well, she'd been through a divorce drama herself. I hope your mom is doing okay, though."

I blinked as my brain caught up with her lines. Dean didn't tell her everything. "Me, too," I said, nodding. After taking a sip of my drink, I cleared my throat. "So, any plan on visiting him?"

"Yeah! I wanted to go with Dean and Katherine last week, but I need to stay for a few charity galas. Dad wanted to start introducing me to his business connections this summer. Once it's over, I can go to see Dean in two weeks. I've bought the ticket already." Susie took another sip. "I hope we will have plenty of time for ourselves to talk, address our issues, and see what we can do about it to fix them. I'm a bit anxious about it."

"I hope you two can work it out," I said earnestly, despite the faint twist in my gut.

"I hope so, too." She nodded. "Sometimes it feels like there is a part of him that I haven't figured out yet, and that made me so nervous, but I really want to make this work, Jenny."

In truth, this situation threw me back to what Mom told me about her relationship with Dad at the beginning. She knew there was a blank spot about him that she couldn't figure out, and it triggered her insecurities. Was this what Susie was going through right now?

If Katherine wasn't in the picture, would Mom and Dad's relationship problems have never existed? Was the issue aroused merely because of the presence of my dad's female friend? Or would it eventually come up because of the accumulation of anxieties that my mom had been struggling with since before she met Dad?

My phone on the table vibrated, and the screen lit up. I glanced nervously at the screen, hoping it wasn't Dean sending me another message.

An unknown number blinked on my screen.