[Happy Holidays All! This chapter has been a tough one to write, and I hope it's worth the wait. Thanks again for the continuing emails and encouragement. I hope it doesn't take as long to get the next chapter out to you. All the best for the holidays and the new year. Cheers! ~firstkiss]
"Life's like that though, isn't it?" Adele stated as she, Rhiannon, and I convened for an emergency lunch date. "Just when you think things are going along just swimmingly, BOOM! The bottom falls out of it."
"I still say he's way too cute," Rhi offered with a casual wave of her long fingers. "Who cares if he's on parole? That's in the past."
I sat in numbed silence, staring unseeingly into my iced tea.
"He's good in bed, isn't he?" Rhi asked.
I nodded automatically in response.
"So then what's the problem? You like him, he's a good fuck, and he's hot. Give the man a chance, Lil."
"You did take him home to meet your family, didn't you? And you said that all worked out fine, everyone liked him, even your Dad. And don't go telling me that was just a freak chance thing, bringing him home. We both know there are no co-incidences in life. It was meant to happen. I think it's very unlikely that he's a bad person. People make mistakes, Lilly," Adele said. She reached across the table and patted my hand. "Have you called him yet?"
My head shot up and I couldn't hide the disgust on my face. "How's that supposed to go, Adele? 'Hey Adam, thanks for the great weekend and the amazing sex. I think we really connected and you're the nicest guy I've ever met. Oh, and by the way... how was prison?' Yeah, I can see it now!"
Adele looked hurt, Rhiannon amused. Neither expression sweetened my mood. Uncomfortable silence descended heavily on us. I squirmed in my seat, unsure of what to say, of what I needed to hear from my best friends. I'd called them in a panic and like always they'd responded. I just wasn't sure how they could help.
"You know," Adele said with a soft sigh. "It's so funny how one tiny thing can change your relationship. It's such a delicate balance, what you have with another person, the tenuous threads that bind you together. All you have to do is have a little ripple in the balance and everything can come crashing down. Nothing can ever be the same after something like that happens. The strong move on, tighten their grip; and the weak..." her eyes met mine and her smile was so sad that my own tears mirrored hers. "The weak get thrashed against the rocks."
She snapped her fingers, the sound echoed loudly in the dead silence which lay between us all. "Relationship shipwreck. Most of us never see it coming."
I let my exhaustion pool into weary tears which I couldn't stem. Rhiannon sat in awkward silence, Adele in comforting sympathy.
"Don't mourn what never was," Rhiannon offered after a time. "Don't play the 'what-if' game with yourself. If you can't handle this - move on." There was a sharp edge to her voice which years of experience taught me she didn't intend. Emotional conversations just weren't Rhi's thing. Dear God, how I loved her for it, because at that moment I felt emotional enough for the three of us.
"Call him," Adele prompted gently. "He's a nice guy; he deserves a chance to explain."
"Explain what? Assault with a deadly weapon, Adele! What is there to explain?" My hands trembled against the cold, hard surface of the table. "He beat a guy up badly enough to go to jail for it! What the hell sort of person do you have to be to do that?"
"You like him, don't you?" Rhi interrupted before Adele could speak. "He made you happy, didn't he? If you think he's worth the fight, the grief, then call him. If you don't care enough to let him explain it to you, then now's the time to cut your losses and move on."
Everything seemed so blunt in Rhiannon's terms. My own brain didn't allow for such black and white explanations of things, but I had to admit her idea had merit. It wouldn't hurt me much more to hear his side of the story. He'd put up with a lot from me and my family over the past weekend, I could grudgingly admit that perhaps I owed him the opportunity to be honest.
-------
The doorman at
La Langoustine Fâchée
was all smiles, although it was difficult for me to tell whether that was because he worked at the most exclusive restaurant on the Island or because of what I was wearing.
Rhiannon had dressed me, and everything from my lace bustier and matching garters to my ridiculously low-cut gown and killer stilettos were jet black. Manicured, pedicured, waxed, and stylishly coiffed, I'd never had so many aestheticians fuss over me in my life, never mind at one time. It took more than three hours of preparation before Rhi declared me suitably outfitted for my fateful date.
Upon parting with Adam the day before we'd agreed to meet at the restaurant. Rhiannon and Adele had argued so loud and long about which of them was going to drop me off that eventually I'd stepped in and suggested they both do it, which is how I found myself standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant with the maitre d' grinning at me and my two best friends loudly giving me suggestions from Adele's car.
"Give him a chance to explain," Adele said first in her most encouraging tone. "I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds."
I wasn't sure how assault with a deadly weapon could be anything less than "bad", but I was determined to hide my hurt and try to be as open-minded as possible.
