“Beautiful, you guys need to come and stay again.”
“I don’t know if Miguel can take seeing us that often!” Jess giggled.
“Yeah true
, but the twins can handle you. They’re just as crazy. I always thought boys would be harder work, but I think I must have given birth to the wildest set of girls to grace planet Earth,” she chuckled.
“See, it all comes back around
. Mom said we would get a taste of our own medicine one day,” Jinnie added.
“Yeah, you’re right actually,” Erica chuckled.
“Right, I think it’s time for another film, whose pick is it?” Crystal asked.
“Mine,” Jess said, jumping up on her feet.
“OK, how about
Pretty Woman
?” Jess squealed as she pulled out the DVD from the pile.
“Oh my gosh, I love that film,” I replied.
“Yeah, Richard Gere could teach a lot of men a thing or two about how to treat a woman. I’m in!”
“Me
, too,” Erica added.
“Well, I guess I don’t have much choice,” Jinnie moaned.
“Oh, be quiet grumpy,” Crystal teased and we all got comfortable again.
This was going to be a long and fun night. I love my girls.
Chapter 17
: Monday, October 7
th
at 7:15pm
APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW
“I get it, OK? I get that you’re hurting, that he did that to you,” I said softly.
“You get it?”
she said with the slight sound of humor in her voice.
“Yes,” I whispered, keeping my eyes focused on her.
“OK,” she said and walked right up to me. She very slowly lowered her body until our eyes were at the exact same level. “You get it, hmm?”
I nodded my head slowly, nervous about what was coming next. She moved her head slowly, until her lips were right next to my ear. Then she began to speak.
“So you get what it’s like to feel your stomach drop every time your mom said she had to go to work? You understand how it feels to here the click of a door closing, and then the sound of footsteps that haunt you every time that you close your eyes? You get not being able to sleep all night, twitching every time you hear a sound because you know that at some point someone is going to open that door, close it behind them, and not leave for hours? You just
get
what it’s like to keep telling someone how much they are hurting you, and no matter how many times you say it, they just keep telling you to ‘be quiet’ and that ‘you’ll get used to it’?”
I could feel the warmth of her tears falling onto my shoulder blade
, but I didn’t dare move. “And I suppose you
get
it when you literally feel like you’re suffocating because your hands are too tiny to push away the person who is lying on top of you? I guess you understand what it’s like to have to steal your mom’s makeup so she doesn’t notice the bruises on your thighs or your arms? I suppose you completely get it when you spend half the night crying because your favorite Disney princess panties have been ripped to shreds? I guess you get what it feels like to spend hours in the shower scrubbing until you realize that you rubbed so hard you’re bleeding? And I bet you really get how terrified you are of telling anybody because that person keeps telling you that no one will ever believe you?” She suddenly took a deep breath and went on. “And I suppose you
get
it when the one person who finally...finally saves you and makes you feel safe, is taken away from you? I guess you really do get it all.”
“Leah, I
….”
“Shut up,
and don’t talk to me!” She backed away from me. “See the thing that you don’t get, is that I have
nothing
to lose anymore, April. I have
nothing
,” she said as more and more tears rolled down her face. “I can’t do this without him now. I feel so lonely, and I’m scared.”
“You don’t have to be scared
. He can’t hurt you anymore,” I said, calmly.
“No one can hurt me anymore because after tonight, I won’t exist,” she said picking up the bottle that she had brought in earlier. She started to
dump the contents of the bottle on the floor, and that’s when I smelled it. Fuel.
“Leah, no
!” I was utterly in shock and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “You don’t have to do this,” I begged.
“But I do
. It’s not just your fault, you see, it’s mine as well. I’m just as much to blame as you. We both are, and we both have to pay because we don’t deserve to be alive, April. Neither of us do. He sacrificed everything and now...now it’s our turn, OK?”
Chapter 18
: Present Day
APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW
“When did you become Team Aiden?” I asked Jess, sarcastically.
“When I reali
zed that he was one of the good ones, and that you’d be an idiot to let him go. OK, he made a mistake, but who doesn’t. He’s trying to make it right, and from what Ant tells me, he’s taking it pretty bad,” she replied.
“I know
, but he hurt me, Jess.”
“And I get that, I really do
, but you know that he worships the ground that you walk on. He may be stupid, but he didn’t do anything so terrible that you have to both have to be so miserable. Life’s too short. Look, Anthony’s a moron who makes about ten mistakes a day, but I can’t imagine my life without him.” She made me smile.
“She’s
right, sweetie. Bob’s no George Clooney, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world. When you find someone worth keeping, you don’t let them go that easily,” my mom added.
“I can hear you, you know,” Bob shouted from the kitchen.
“Well then, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping, you nosey little man,” she chuckled as she left the room.
“They are so adorable,” Jess said
, smiling.
“I know.”
“That could be you and Aiden if you would stop being so stubborn!” she exclaimed.
“O
K, I will go to him. Gosh, I do miss him Jess,” I said, sadly.
“I know you do
, and that’s why you guys need to work things out. How can there be an Anthony and Jess without an Aiden and April? We all belong together,” she chuckled.
“You’re so weird,” I laughed.
“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” she said, winking at me.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said, kissing Ella-May on the head and walking into the kitchen.
“Mom, Bob, I’m going now.”
“Are you going to sort things out with Aiden?”
my mom asked hopefully.
“Yes, Mother, I’m going to fix things with the beloved Aiden,
OK?”
“Great, now I’m a happy woman,” she
joked.
“Oh
, and here I am thinking I make you happy,” Bob snorted, making me laugh.
“That’s why I always tell you to stop thinking, darling,” she
teased.
On my way
out of the kitchen, I thought about how much I miss Aiden. I miss his touch, and the way he kisses me. Everything. I was hurt because he lied, but I knew why he did it. Leah still doesn’t make much sense to me. It was as if she blackmailing him, but she didn’t ask for anything. It was more like a calculated game for her. The question is, why? What makes someone so twisted they could enjoy destroying somebody else’s life?
All I wanted to do was get home and see Aiden. Turning up the dial on the radio in my car, I drove away to get my man back.
* * *
Jess called me
on my way home, talking about how Ella-May or
Em
had bitten her. I was trying my absolute best to not start laughing again. Jess was even more entertaining once Em had arrived. I thought she was funny during the pregnancy, but she really turned it up a notch after Em was born.
“This is not a joke, April. Why are you laughing?”
“I’m not,” I replied, trying to stifle my laughter.
“Yes, you are, and it is not funny. I am telling you, she bit me, OK? Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” Jess groaned as I got out of my car.
“Because she doesn’t have any teeth
, Jess. She’s only two weeks old.”
“It doesn’t matter if she was one day
old, she’s Anthony’s daughter. Does it surprise you that she bit me? Really?”
“No, no of course not,” I said,
humoring her.
“You know, I can’t wait until you and Aiden have a baby and you get bitten whil
e trying to do something as courageous as breast feeding. Let’s hope someone actually believes you,” Jess declared. As I giggled to myself, I happened to look up at my front door, and suddenly the smile on my face vanished.
“Great,” I mumbled.
“What’s up?” Jess asked.
“Leah is sitting outside of my house.” I could not believe she had the nerve.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I wish. L
ook, Jess, I’m going to have to go,” I said.
“OK,
call me later, and don’t forget.”
“I won’t
.” I ended my call with Jess and walked toward Leah. “What are you doing here?” I asked, softly.
“I know you probably don’t want to see me
, but I need to talk to you.”
“No, Leah
, I’ve done all the talking I can,” I said as we both stood outside my house. The lights were off so I knew Aiden wasn’t home, which meant I had just wasted my time.
“April, please
. I’m trying to make things right here….”
“Things were right before you
spent the night in a motel with my fiancé. I tried to be nice to you despite my friends’ warnings, but they were right.”
“
I know, I’m sorry,” she said sadly.
“Fine. Now I think you should leave,” I breathed.
“OK,” she whispered.
“Good,” I said
, standing there awkwardly.
“I guess I had better get going then,” she said
, bouncing slightly on her feet.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied
, guiltily.
“Bye, April.”
“Bye, Leah,” I said and then she walked by me. It was not that I wanted to be cruel, but things were getting complicated between Leah, Aiden, and me, and I wasn’t even sure what was happening anymore. She had been great in helping Aiden out, but there was something else going on with her, and until that was sorted out, we needed space.
“Oh, April?” she said
. I spun around and faced her.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I forgot to tell you that you don’t make the rules. I do.” By the time I saw the baseball bat in Leah’s hand, it was too late, and everything melted into darkness.
AIDEN’S POINT OF VIEW
“Aiden stop pacing up and down, you’re making me dizzy man!”Anthony growled.
“I’m sorry, I’m just thinking.”
“What’s there to think about? You love her, you want her back, so man the hell up, and get yourself over there!”
“You’re right
, but she said she needs space What if I go there, and I just make things worse?” I asked.
“What if you don’t go
, and she thinks you don’t care, and hooks up with someone who she thinks will care?” he said, in all seriousness.
“That kind of crap isn’t funny, Ant,” I said
, frustrated.
“It wasn’t meant to be, I’m jus
t being honest. And while we’re on the subject of honesty, I’m sick of you being a whiny little girl. Either man up and get her back, or shut the hell up about it,” he moaned.
Anthony was as straight talking as you could get
, well, excluding Murphy, who was a completely new species of straight- talker. I needed the honest truth right now. It has been days since I have seen or spoken to April, and it was driving me crazy. It didn’t feel right, and I sure as hell was not about to let another day pass without seeing her.
“O
K, you’re right. Let’s go.”
“Thank God for that,” he mumbled a
nd rose to his feet.
“You’re driving,” I chuckled
and we headed out the door.
“What the hell am I, your chauffeur?
Why can’t we take your car?”
“Because I need to practice what I’m going to say, that’s why.
Of course, unless you want me to crash and we both die?”
“Just get in the car and quit your whining,” he said
. I just laughed as I jumped in the passenger seat.