Read A Killer Column for Free Online

workload.”
    “Seriously, I can afford to pay you.”
    She mentioned her current hourly billing, and I whistled under my breath. “Okay, I might have to do it in installments, but I can still handle it.”
    Jenny frowned, and then suddenly brightened. “Do you remember back in school that you loaned me money whenever I needed it without a word about me ever paying it back?”
    “You were on scholarships and student loans. Anything I had was yours, and I was glad to do it.”
    “Well, consider this return payment in full.”
    I stood and approached her. “Jenny, we both know it couldn’t have been more than five hundred dollars altogether.”
    “So, think of it as compound interest. It might not sound like much now, but it saved me back then. Let me do this, Savannah.”
    I grinned at her. “Well, if you insist.”
    She hugged me, and then said, “I’ve really missed you.”
    “I’ve missed you, too.”
    “Before we get started, I’ve got something you’re going to want to see,” she said as she reached into one of the drawers of an end table.
    “What is it?”
    She produced a photo album, and the second I saw the cover, I knew what it held. “You still have that?”
    “Are you kidding? The photographic chronicles of the two musketeers is never far from my side.”
    We moved to the couch and started leafing through the past, amazed that the two silly girls in the pictures were now the women sitting side by side reliving cherished segments of their lives.

    T HE DOORBELL RANG, AND JENNY LEFT ME TO GET IT. A troubled look crossed her face for just an instant, and it was gone so quickly I wasn’t even sure I’d really seen it. “I hope that’s our pizza.”
    “I can’t wait. I’m starving,” I said.
    She came back a minute later, but there was no box in her hands.
    “Where’s the food?”
    “I’ve got something better,” she said with a smile, and Zach suddenly appeared. Without a word between us, we rushed together, and he wrapped me up in his arms. I held onto him a great deal longer than I usually did. It was as if I were pulling strength from him for my soul. I couldn’t explain it if I had to, but I could swear his energy transferred to me, and I felt myself growing stronger, calmer, and more able to deal with what I was going to have to face.
    “I’m so glad you’re here,” I said softly.
    “There’s no other place I’d want to be,” he answered. The doorbell rang again, but I barely noticed as Jenny left the room.
    “I’m sorry I’ve gotten myself into this jam,” I said.
    “Don’t worry,” Zach replied as he brushed a little lock of hair from my face. “We’ll fix it.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    “You’ve got me on your side, and having Jenny in your corner will help, too. It’s going to be all right.”
    “I hope that’s true, but forgive me if I don’t fully believe it just quite yet.”
    He laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Leave the faith part up to me.”
    Jenny came back into the room and said, “I hate to interrupt, but the pizza’s here.”
    “Never apologize for feeding me,” Zach said. He spied the large size of the box, and then asked, “There is enough to share, isn’t there?”
    “We were hoping you’d make it in time to eat,” I said.
    “Excellent. I’m so hungry I could eat the box.”
    “Then if you’re good, we’ll let you,” Jenny said.
    As we sat down at the table and got started, Zach asked Jenny, “Do you mind a little shoptalk while we eat?”
    “I don’t, if Savannah doesn’t,” she said.
    “I can hardly complain since you two are trying to keep me out of jail, now can I?”
    Zach nodded. “Tell me everything then, and try not to leave anything out, no matter how mundane it might seem.”
    I took a bite of pizza, added a sip of Coke, and then began to relay everything that had happened that day. The pizza was soon forgotten as my husband and my old college roommate started listening, and soon began taking notes.