by Sam Crescent
“No, you’ve just told me that the best friend I thought I had was going to kill me because her boyfriend had a picture of me.”
“I’m in love with you.”
“You don’t know what love is. When you love someone you don’t date another person who’s their best friend.”
“I did what I had to do to keep you in my life. You wouldn’t have let me be part of your life if I dumped Julia.”
She stared at him feeling her world crumble. “You shouldn’t have stayed with her, Henry. She thought you were going to pop the question.” She sobbed the words out. “Julia loved you so much that she was prepared to get rid of me.”
“I’d never let it happen.”
Staring past his shoulder at the grave April shook her head. “I need some space.”
“Don’t, April. Don’t cut me out.”
“You’ve just told me my best friend wanted me dead. This is too much. Please, give me space.”
She turned away and started walking away.
Henry didn’t let her get too far. He tugged her into his arms, spinning her to face him. His fingers sank into her hair as his mouth drew closer. She closed her eyes as his lips sealed over hers. Gasping, her body awakened under his touch.
The fire she missed with David was present all the time with Henry. Her emotions were in turmoil, and Henry had the ability to make her feel.
“I love you, April. I’m not going anywhere.”
This was more than she ever hoped for. She rested her head against his. “I need some time.”
Reluctantly she pulled away leaving the graveyard behind.
Julia, what the hell did you do?
There were no answers to her question. Henry loved her. He’d been in love with her from the first moment he saw her. How did she not see it? She always thought he hated her.
Entering her apartment she took a seat on the sofa and stared around the room with picture of Julia, Henry, and herself.
She quickly removed her coat and gathered all the pictures. With fresh eyes she started to look at them.
In one picture of Henry and Julia, she saw her friend looking at him adoringly, but he was smiling at the camera. She’d been the one taking the picture. His arm held Julia, but there was no real passion to the hold.
She moved onto the next photo, a Christmas one of her and Henry. April held up a novelty jumper to the camera. Henry was smiling down at her with his arm across her chest. At the time she thought he posed for the picture. She saw the need shining in his eyes. Each photo she picked showed Julia’s love while Henry paid attention elsewhere. There was not the same attention between the two.
Over and over she saw the same evidence in each picture. How did she not see this before? Julia hadn’t known, and when she did, she was willing to end April’s life. Getting up from the sofa she started to pace her living room. She couldn’t be here right now. April grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. She didn’t have any girlfriends she could talk to. The only person she knew was David.
It sucked. The guy she’d been dating was also the same guy she trusted with this kind of information. She knocked on his door and waited for him to answer.
The door opened, and he smiled at her.
“Baby, what’s the matter?”
“My best friend tried to kill me because she found out Henry was in love with me.” She blurted the words out without giving it much thought.
David paused, staring at her. “I take it I’m out of the picture.”
“I don’t know what to think right now. I wanted to come and see my friend. Could we be friends?” Was she asking too much?
He stared at her for several minutes. “Sure, we can be friends.” He let her inside his place, taking her jacket from her.
She followed him through to the kitchen, taking a seat at the counter.
“I take it you’re a little lost for words right now,” he said, grabbing a beer from the fridge. “And with what you just told me you can force yourself to have at least one drink.”
April took the bottle from his hands and took a sip. The horrid taste did nothing to relax her. Her emotions were all over the place with Henry’s revelations.
She’d also lied to him about the contraceptives. She wasn’t on any medication at all.
“You’ve disappeared again,” David said.
“Sorry, I’m just, I’m all over the place.”
“I’m not surprised. Are you going to tell me everything?”
Taking in a deep breath, she spilled it all out telling him everything. By the end of her talking she didn’t feel better. She felt worse.
“Wow, erm, you really didn’t see how he felt when looking at the pictures?” he asked.
“No, why should I?”
“Baby, I saw it every time I looked at them. The man is smitten with you and has been for a long time.”
“How did I not see this?”
David shrugged. “Your friend stopped you from seeing it. I bet you were the loyal friend and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks. “I had no idea.”
He rounded the counter and pulled her into his arms. “Julia didn’t deserve this kind of loyalty, and I see in your eyes that you feel like you shouldn’t love Henry. You’re wrong. This is not your fault.”
Chapter Five
The whiskey wasn’t helping his pain in any way. Henry took another swallow of the dark amber liquid, wishing for something to stop the pain rushing through him. Seconds after he promised himself that he wouldn’t tell her the truth of what happened, he’d already spilled the truth to her. Pressing the glass to his forehead he stared in front of him at the television screen. The movie playing was steaming up, but he wasn’t interested in seeing a couple with no emotional attachments getting it on.
He’d long grown out of watching porn. Henry liked the real deal, and seeing people on screen pretending did nothing for him. Getting to his feet, he threw the remote on the table not caring as the batteries spilled out of the back of the device.
Rubbing his temples, he started walking toward the kitchen. The headache throbbed making it hard for him to focus. He opened the cupboard where he kept the first aid kit, and he swallowed down two pills and poured the alcohol down the sink. He didn’t want to die and probably shouldn’t have taken the pills.
Henry filled his glass up with water then padded his way to his bedroom. On the bed lay the photo album Julia created that he hadn’t thrown away. Inside Julia’s smile stared back at him.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
When she’d seen the picture in his wallet, he hadn’t felt guilty. In fact, he felt relieved that she finally knew about his true feelings. Then April entered their home, and the guilt turned to fear. He couldn’t tell her not to go shopping with her friend. If only he’d opened his mouth and told April to go home while he dealt with Julia maybe none of this would have happened. Julia tried to murder her friend!
What were her thoughts when she swerved off the side of the road heading for the tree? None of his questions would get answered.
“I’d never love you, Julia. I cared about you, but I couldn’t love you. If you killed April, I’d have hated you and done everything in my power to make your life hell.” He knelt on the floor beside the bed, wishing something would clear his mind.
For months he’d tried to think of ways of getting out of his relationship with Julia that kept him close to April. Nothing worked, so he’d continued a relationship, having sex with a woman while imagining another woman underneath him.
Running fingers through his hair he let out a breath.
“What the hell am I going to do?”
Again, Julia smiled back at him. He slammed the photo album closed and shoved it away from him. The book offended him, and seeing Julia’s smiling face angered him.
He collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. April’s scent surrounded him, and he closed his eyes rememb
ering the feel of her.
Reaching for the pillow she slept on, he buried his head against the soft material. He’d made love to her throughout the night, never able to take his hands off her. Even with his need to possess her, she still pulled out of his arms without him realizing it. He always did sleep heavily.
Closing his eyes, he remembered the sweet sigh on her lips as he licked her pussy. The way she tightened around his cock as he slammed in deep making them both crave for more. He’d taken her three times that night without wearing a condom. The chance of her getting pregnant was high, yet there was no chance of getting her pregnant.
The very thought filled him with regret. April would look amazing swollen with his child.
Henry closed his eyes wishing for something to finally go right in his life when it came to his woman.
Sleep claimed him, and the following morning he woke up with the worst kind of headache. He took another couple of pills and made his way out of his apartment toward April’s. Henry needed to see her.
On the way toward her place he stopped by the graveyard to see Julia’s resting place. Sitting on the bench like April had done the day before, he stared at the stone, feeling the guilt start to claw its way back inside him.
Rubbing at his eyes, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Everything always seems worse than it is,” an elderly woman said, taking a seat beside him.
He looked up as she took a seat next to her. She lowered herself beside him and rested the trolley style bag beside her. “My Bertie is resting over there. I’ve seen you and your lady friend coming here often to see this girl. She must have been a special kind of girl to have a constant visit.”
Henry didn’t know what to say as the woman settled beside him. She let out a sigh.
“You look like you carry the weight of the world of the world on your shoulders. That’s not the way to be,” she said. “Life’s too short to worry about strange little things.”
She kept on talking, and Henry simply sat, listening to her.
“Well, are you going to tell me what’s troubling you?” she asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“Sweetheart, you’re precious. No one sits in a graveyard when they’ve got a fine looking woman. I saw your woman.”
He let out a sigh. There was no way to get this woman to leave him alone. He decided to settle on the truth.
“I fell in love with my girlfriend’s best friend. When she found out the truth of my feelings—I didn’t cheat—she was going to kill her, only the accident she caused killed herself instead.”
“Nasty business, jealousy. I’ve never been one to like it myself.” She scrunched her face up and shook her head. “So, the girl you keep coming to see is also the woman who tried to kill the woman you love? Wow, she’s getting way more attention than she deserves.”
Henry started chuckling. He couldn’t help himself. The woman beside him made sense.
“Your feelings of guilt are understandable. You fell in love with a woman but continued to deceive your girlfriend.”
“I told April the truth yesterday. She didn’t know what happened on the day of the accident. I told her the truth.”
“Then I don’t see what the problem is. Guilt will eat away your soul, son. This guilt has got to stop. She’s gone, and whatever happened isn’t going to repair itself. At least you and April are still alive.” The older woman let out a sigh. “I’d trade anything to have my Bertie back. He was my other half, my heart, and soul. We had the most amazing life together. We were lucky. We met when we were young and didn’t stop there.” She smiled. “We were married within three weeks of meeting, and then the rest of our lives were our own. His dying hurt. We had all our lives together, and you know what it taught me?” she asked.
“What?”
“Life, no matter how long we have on this little round ball, is too short to let guilt take over. You’re free, son, and so is your girl. The business that went on is nasty, but you’re alive. Don’t waste a moment just because you feel guilty about your feelings.” She patted his knee. “Think about that while you’re wasting the minutes or hours staring at her grave.” She stood ready to leave. “Ask yourself something, son. If it had been April there, would Julia be sitting beside you or would she be in a prison cell for what she did?”
Her words rang in his head as he stared at the inscription on Julia’s grave. It was time for him to move on, not only from Julia but also from the guilt. He didn’t cheat or even flirt with April while he was with Julia.
Being guilty for the woman he craved no longer mattered.
He stood up and said a final goodbye to Julia.
****
April woke up to the scent of coffee and bacon filling the apartment. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and saw it was a little after ten. Last night she’d stayed at David’s not wanting to return home after the confession she made. Wearing one of his old ratty shirts that went to her knees, she used his spare bedroom to sleep.
Pushing hair off her face, she climbed out of the bed and walked toward the smell.
“You’re awake?” David said.
“Yeah, it seems it.” Her head pounded. “How much did I have to drink last night?” she asked.
“Four bottles of beer, and that’s stuff’s light. You really don’t drink?”
“No, and if this is any sign of what happens the day afterward, I’m not drinking again.” She moaned at the throbbing in her temples. “Man, it hurts.”
“I’ve got the perfect cure.” David placed two white painkillers in front of her with a cup of coffee, black. “Strong coffee, two painkillers, and one decent breakfast of bacon, eggs, and bread, lots of bread.”
The smell of the food made her stomach growl. “Yeah, I think breakfast sounds pretty good.”
He chuckled.
She took a sip of the coffee, wincing at the strong, bitter taste.
“I know it tastes awful, but trust the master. You add milk or cream and that stuff will turn nasty.”
“Thankfully I’ve got all my memories of last night. I’ve heard people forget what happens the night before.”
David laughed. “Yeah, I’ve had that mistake. Your memories shouldn’t be affected. You had so little alcohol I’m surprised you’ve even got a headache.”
She watched him flip the bacon then go back to a glass bowl with lots of eggs. “We’re having a large breakfast?” she asked.
“Trust me, baby. Eggs and bacon is the cure for all ills.”
April drank her coffee and thought about last night.
“David, about last night—”
He held his hand up, turning to face her. “Don’t worry about it, April. We’re friends, and with the way you were talking about Henry, I get it. We’re going to remain friends.” He smiled at her. “I’m pleased you didn’t lead me on or anything. The last month had been amazing, but I also knew you were not all there with our kisses. Some things are not meant to be.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. We’re not in love with each other. I wanted it to be more, but we can’t have everything we want.” He went back to cooking breakfast.
“We’re still friends?”
“Always. Besides, you’ve got to find some way of getting me a hot date. That’s your payback.”
April laughed. “Sure, I’ll do my best to get you a hot date.”
They shared a nice breakfast together before she dressed in the clothes she’d worn last night.
“I’m going to walk you home,” he said.
“No, you don’t need to worry about taking me home. I can walk on my own.”
“We’re walking home, April. I need to know you got home safely.” He followed her out of the door. The headache she’d had earlier had all but disappeared. “So about this date, I expect to hear your call soon.”
“I’ll do my best. I don’t know many people. Your request means that I’m going to have to talk to the girls at work.�
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“Whatever you do, I leave my love life in your capable hands.”
She couldn’t stop laughing as David did everything to cheer her up. The smile died the moment she saw Henry sitting on the steps outside of her apartment building.
If looks could kill, the one he shot David would have.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Henry said.
April turned to David. “Thank you for walking me home.”
“Don’t forget our deal,” David said, tapping her shoulder. He left her alone with Henry seconds later.
“You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday.”
“I spent the night with David.”
The fire in his eyes blazed. “I never took you for the kind of woman to jump from one man’s bed to another.”
April recoiled as he spat the words at her. “How dare you? I didn’t sleep with David. After everything you told me yesterday I needed to talk to someone, anyone who’d listen.” She ran fingers through her hair, staring at him. “I wouldn’t do that. David knows the truth.”
Henry looked remorseful. “Shit, I’m sorry. I saw him and you, and you’re wearing the same clothes. I jumped to conclusions.”
“Then don’t. I’m not like other women you’ve dated. I can’t just jump from one bed to another.” She brushed past him, opening the door to her building with the key.
He stayed close behind her as she went to her apartment.
“I’m sorry. I was jealous, okay? I saw him and I knew you were dating him.”
“I didn’t sleep with him. It takes a lot for me to jump into bed with a guy.” She bit her lip, knowing she’d jumped into bed with him quickly. “It’s different with you.”
“April, we’ve known each other a long time.”
“Still, it was different.” She closed the door, throwing her jacket onto the chair. “I’ve eaten breakfast. Have you eaten?”
He shook his head.
“I’ll make you something.”
In the doorway between the sitting room and kitchen she turned back to look at him. “David is my friend. I’ve also agreed to find him another date.”
She didn’t give him a chance to respond before she entered the kitchen and set about making something for him to eat.