Love comes knocking

Christine to the rescue

Christine was my best friend since primary school. She answered almost as soon as the call went through.

“Sally? Sally are you OK?” She sounded terrified.

“Um, well…” I was not sure how to explain everything.

“Carl has called 11 times looking for you! No, make that 12, he’s trying to call me now. I thought there was an accident or something. Please tell me you’re OK!” Christine was clearly frightened and it made her talk 3 times faster than usual.

“Carl called you? Oh, so now he’s not only worried about me; he thinks that you could be of use to him? Hell must have frozen over,” I blurted out sarcastically. Carl was not known to be a fan of Christine, rather the opposite: He wanted me to cut all contact with her as she “made me stupid” in his words.

I could hear Christine sucking in her breath and hesitating to answer. Of course, she did not know what this was all about.

“Listen, Christine, I’ll explain everything as soon as I get there. You’re home, right?”

“I’m sitting in my office waiting for you! Please hurry,” was the prompt reply. Christine was a writer and her office, so to speak, was in the spare room of the apartment she shared with her boyfriend Luke. I said goodbye, hung up, and looked back at Ryan.

 Ryan was eagerly waiting for me to explain. He looked at me like a puppy waiting for his food. I smiled and explained: “I’m going to my friend Christine. She’ll help me get a grip on life again. Many thanks for hiding me!”

He smiled at me again, reaching for a paper bag and tossed some pastries into it. He gave me the bag. “Here’s some packed brunch for you and your friend. I really hope you can sort out whatever happened.”

I bit my lip. Did I owe him an explanation? No, probably not, but he had been really kind to me. “Listen, Ryan, I can’t explain right now, but please don’t let my so-called fiancé know that I’ve been here.”

“Of course not! But you will be back to explain everything?”

“Yes. Yes, I will let you know what’s going on.”

He gave me a big smile and led me through the kitchen to the back door. He opened it for me and said: “Just go right here and you’ll get to the main road.”

“Thanks,” I said, flashing him a smile and holding onto the pastry bag.

I snuck down to the main road, found the bus stop, and got on the bus. As we drove past The Corner Coffee I could see Carl on his way into the coffee shop again. He was not going to give up searching for me in the area. Luckily, he did not notice the bus passing by. I let out a sigh of relief yet felt paranoid all the way across town to Christine’s. What if he suddenly realized I could be on the bus?

Well, dear reader, the bus ride was uneventful, and Carl was nowhere to be seen. He did try to call me, though, and I could see several texts ticking in. I chose to ignore my phone for the time being.

Christine was standing at her door, eagerly waiting for me as I came to her apartment. “Sally! I’m almost dying of curiosity here,” she exclaimed and ushered me in. I gave her a big hug and was so relieved to see hear that I started crying uncontrollably.

Sally held me for what seemed like hours and let me cry my feelings out. Then she led me to the living room and helped me sit down on the couch.

“You don’t look great. Do you need to lie down for a bit,” she asked, with a worried frown over her deep brown eyes.

“No, thanks, I just need a moment,” was my quiet answer.

“What about a nice not cup of tea?” Sally was not about to give up on caring for me.

“Oh, that sounds amazing, thanks! I even have pastries to go with it,” I said, holding up the brown bag from The Corner Coffee.

Sally took the bag and went into the kitchen to make some tea. I could hear her bustling around to find cups and the kettle boiling. She came back with two cups of tea on a tray, the pastry bag unopened between them.

“Let’s open your bag and see what treasures you bring.”

We opened the bag to find two croissants and two pain du chocolate. Christine licked her lips, tucked her dark curly hair behind her ear, and dug into the one croissant. She had a weakness for pastry and could eat several in one sitting. It was a mystery how she still kept her slim body with perfect curves.

The croissants were delicious, however, and we concentrated on eating for a few minutes. I was more hungry than I thought and sent happy thoughts to Ryan for gifting me the food. I should give him a big tip next time I got my coffee!

Christine finally broke the silence. “So, did you just feel like dropping in with pastry? Or is there a reason Carl is blowing up my phone?”

There was no reason to hide the story from her, who I trusted with my life. I told her everything that had happened this morning as I watched her get more and more upset on my behalf.

First for the coffee in the computer: “What kind of loser fires someone for an accident? He KNOWS that you’re the only one who knows the routines in that office, right? I would like to see whats-her-face, with the painted face and nails?”

“Ava,” I interrupted, “her name is Ava.”

“Yeah, what kind of name is that? More importantly, she’s spent all her brain cells on makeup and has no room for learning filing systems!”

I giggled. It was true; Ava had no time or interest in learning how to do even simple stuff at work.

Next, I told her about Carl pleasuring that other woman. I thought Christine’s eyes would explode as I told her the story. When I got to the part where I stormed out, she could no longer contain herself.

“That little piece of unworthy s**t. I KNOW that you have been frustrated with his lack of service in bed, and then to find out he was dishing it to someone else. This is just too much! AND IN YOUR BED? Douchebag!”

I giggled again. “Christine, can I stay here for a few days to think this through?”

“Of course you can! I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

And that’s when we heard the loud banging on her apartment door…