Not all long lasting marriages are
happy. But what do you do if divorce is not an option?
University friends, Stephanie and Nick,
meet again after twenty years. But life has not been easy or simple
for either of them. Will this friendship affair stand a chance
against reality?
CHAPTER 2
Stephanie reached out and touched his hand
for a moment.
“Are you happy?”
Nick slowly shook his head. “Not
really. Not that it would make a difference does it? It is not just
my marriage.”
He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of the coffee shop. It must have been one hell of a party; he wondered distractedly at the shoe prints.
He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of the coffee shop. It must have been one hell of a party; he wondered distractedly at the shoe prints.
He sat forward again and played with
the teaspoon.
She could see he was not the same
person she had met at university. They never had a relationship. It
was funny, thinking about it now.
“Why did we never go out?”
He gave a short laugh. “I don't know.
Maybe we are just meant to be friends.”
She smiled. “I know. We just never
had that chemistry.”
“Yeah,” he replied, also smiling
now.
Their smiles faded.
Their smiles faded.
“Then again chemistry is overrated,”
he muttered.
Thinking back at her own situation, she
had no counter argument to offer. There were the general opinions she
could mention, but it felt jaded, fake somehow, so she kept quiet.
They sat there staring at nothing for
long minutes. It was both awkward and yet not. The world around them
kept talking, drinking coffee, reading their mobile phones, typing
away on their computers.
Was this what their lives had become?
“It is sad isn't it?”
She looked up when he spoke. There it
was. The hopelessness of life sucking away at the happiness they were all
supposed to find after uni.
Instead of replying she nodded in the
general direction of the hotel where they ran into each other three days ago. “Does
she make you happy?”
He waved to the waiter, and they
ordered another round.
“How could she? How could anyone be
happy with a few hours of forgetting every month?”
“Then why?”
He shrugged. “Why do you do it?”
She shrugged too. “Forgetting, is a
good way to explain it. There is nothing else there for me. I doubt
that he feels anything either.”
Their coffee came. He added sugar.
She tore open the packet of sweetener.
He played with the miniature milk jug.
She watched his fingers make the
leftover milk bounce to the edges.
“How often?” he asked, avoiding her
eyes.
She didn't need clarification. “Once
a week. Sometimes more. You?”
“Standing arrangement. Twice a week.”
“Do you always go to a hotel?”
He shook his head. “No. She lives
alone.”
He shrugged again. “Hotels can be risky. People start remembering your face.”
He shrugged again. “Hotels can be risky. People start remembering your face.”
She nodded. “Yeah, he mentioned
that.”
To her right a couple were holding
hands and staring into each other's eyes. She didn't spot any rings.
Still dating then.
“He's married.”
“Lots of lonely people out there.”
She stirred the coffee and patiently
let the last drop fall from the teaspoon before putting it in the
saucer.
“He loves fucking around. Thrill
seeker I suppose.”
“Yeah, you get those too,” he
replied before lifting his cup to take a sip.
Somewhere behind him, there were bursts
of laughter. The kind sounding like students taking a break. It was
loud, yet short. Almost too much.
“You want to take a walk?”
She waved her hand for the bill.
“Can't. Have a meeting in half an hour.”
Holding her hand on the folder when he
wanted to take it. Their eyes met.
For a moment, there was life in the
battle of wills. It faded when her hand won.
“Next week?”
~Chapter 3: Next week
