Love Simmers by Jules Deplume Read Free Book Online Page A

have
been there with my chequebook. I believed in their business, I
believed in them.
    “ I wanted to
ask-“
    My phone interrupted whatever
it was Ollie had been about to say.
    “ Charlie walked
out,” Maddie whispered when I answered and my heart broke for
her.
    “ I’m on my
way,” I hung up and turned to Ollie and Nate.
    “ Charlie’s
gone.”
    “ I’ll drive you
to her place.” Nate wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
    “ Why do you
think he left her?” I asked Nate as he drove, he hung out with
Charlie regularly.
    “ He’s an idiot
who’s afraid there’s better out there for him than Maddie. Probably
got it in his head that unless you play the field a bit you’ll
regret what could have been.” Nate’s words hurt. I felt like they
were directed at me as much as Charlie.
    “ Is that what
you think that about me?” I asked a stupid question. You never
asked questions you didn’t want to hear an answer to. Better yet,
you never asked a man a question when the answer could hurt you
badly.
    “ I think you
didn’t want to settle down with the first guy you kissed, the first
guy you had sex with because you thought it was dull.” He pulled up
in front of Maddie’s house, watching as I reacted to his
words.
    “ I didn’t want
to settle down with you because I wanted to leave Chester, to live
in the city. You didn’t,” I knew there was an element of truth in
those words. But I also knew there had been an element of truth in
his.
    “ Cause we
talked about future plans together so much back then,” he said
sarcastically. I grimaced at the implications of what he was
saying.
    “ Go comfort
Maddie. She needs you,” he silenced me before I could say anything
more.
    I left the car, without saying
goodbye.

Chapter Nine
     
    “ I’m sorry I
didn’t come to the hospital,” Maddie said, grabbing another tissue
to dab her red, puffy eyes with. We sat on her couch in her
beautifully decorated living room. The house that she had created
for her and Charlie appeared empty now that he was gone. I looked
around and noticed pieces of furniture were missing. I guess he’d
taken them with him. It all seemed so abrupt. Six years packed away
in two days.
    “ Don’t worry
about it. I wasn’t there long.” I didn’t really know how to comfort
her. I had never gone through what she was going through mostly
because I steered clear of long-term relationships. The only man
who had ever brought me to tears or fits of rage or bursts of love
I hadn’t stayed with long enough to allow him to hurt me. I had
thought I was being smart and brave. On hindsight, maybe I was just
being…dull. I was doing what was safe thinking I was being
adventurous. But it took courage to start something that could
ultimately end in so much heartbreak.
    “ I thought we
were happy. Were we happy?” She looked to me for an answer. I
didn’t have the answers to my own life problems let alone hers but
I wanted to help.
    “ You were so
happy that he freaked out and began to question it, and doubt it.”
I believed what I said. Charlie was so happy with Maddie he’d
decided it was boring. That he needed to add some color into his
life by destroying it and starting a fresh one. Some people found
happiness boring.
    “ Six years
together. I don’t know what life is like as an adult without him,”
she cried, and I moved closer to wrap my arm around her sobbing
frame.
    “ You’ll find
out and you’ll thrive and you’ll realise that you can do great on
your own.” And then you’ll realise that
you’d rather be thriving with him than thriving on your own, I thought to myself but refrained from saying it
aloud. Maybe, Nate and I would be where Maddie and Charlie were if
we’d started dating in High School. Wondering whether we were
missing out on the single, wild life experiences because we were in
a steady relationship so young. The differences between Charlie and
Nate formed in my mind and I knew that it was unlikely.
    “ I love