Love Simmers by Jules Deplume Read Free Book Online Page B

him and
he just walked out the door,” she hiccupped, “he said he’d met
someone that made him feel things he’d never felt with me! What
does that even mean? You shouldn’t say something like that to
someone without an explanation!”
    She tried to control her tears,
my own eyes starting to water. Maddie didn’t deserve to be hurt
like this, no one did.
    “ There’s
nothing I can say to make you feel better.” The words sounded lame
even to me. “Is there?”
    “ You can’t but
I know what can,” she wiped her eyes and stood up, running upstairs
before I could even process what she’d said.
    She came back down three
minutes later wearing a cute sundress and enough makeup that her
face was no longer red. She picked up her car keys.
    “ Where are we
going?” I said, ready to follow her anywhere.
    “ Get a drink,
down it and repeat.” She locked the door behind us, a determination
on her face I found unnerving. Maddie rarely drank. She wasn’t a
party girl. She was a homebody ready to have a house filled with
kids. I wasn’t sure what to think about the path she was about to
take.
    “ Sure.” I
didn’t point out I couldn’t drink with her thanks to my
painkillers. No one liked that person who sat sober staring while
you got smashed. Either neither of you remembered the night or you
both did. It was the proper lush etiquette.
    The local bar was surprisingly
busy for a weeknight, the pool tables were full and the TV was on
loud as people watched some hockey game or another. Maddie went
straight for the bartender. Before I had even reached her, she had
a Vodka raspberry cocktail in her hand and was seated on one of the
stools. I took a seat beside her.
    “ Drinking
through the pain’s never a good idea.”
    I knew it was futile to point
out but I wanted to be able to say I had warned her.
    “ You know, we
picked out our unborn children’s names when we were sixteen. By
nineteen we’d figured out what we were going to do when the kids
left home,” she took a big sip of her drink, “we were going to buy
an apple farm and brew ciders.”
    “ You can still
have that with someone else someday. Someone who will make you feel
things that Charlie never made you feel.”
    Her laughter was cynical. My
word choice had been poor considering what Charlie had said I
realized now.
    “ The sex had
been dull lately,” she admitted. “But there’s more to a
relationship then sex,” she tried to justify herself.
    “ Maybe, but
intense passion does compensate for a lot of crap that would
otherwise drive you insane.”
    I smiled as I thought about
Nate and me. With him, I felt more passion than with anyone else,
and in turn more anger. Bittersweet was the fruit of life.
    “ I hated his
pancakes!” She shouted as she downed her drink and gestured to the
bartender for another one. I hoped his pancake recipe wasn’t the
only thing she hated about him. I needed something a little more
substantial than that.
    “ I hated the
way he never supported your writing. You always supported his
professional goals. I mean, no one but you thought he would be a
great photographer,” I said, thinking back to the countless times
Charlie had laughed as Maddie outlined her newest plot. I always
believed in her ability, I wanted to see her finish something.
Charlie hadn’t thought she would ever make it as a
writer.
    “ I thought his
photos were stupid. Not artistic, just stupid.” She was getting
angry now, no doubt thinking of the times he had read her opening
chapters and picked them apart. Maybe that was why she had never
finished something.
    “ Yeah!” I
cheered her on, wanting her to see Charlie for who he was and not
who or what they had been together. Hopefully they didn’t ever want
to get back together or I would have a lot of backtracking to
do.
    “ I hated the
way he dressed. I mean, what type of man wears printed
shirts!”
    “ What was he
thinking when he got dressed in the morning?” I asked, thinking of
all