by Leela Ash
Chapter 4
Sue sat in her car for ages, parked outside the driveway of Gerard’s mansion. She kept the windows rolled up and tried to calm herself down. She hadn’t responded to his email or his secretary’s, but on Sunday evening, she suddenly decided to crash his dinner party. The black silk jumpsuit she was wearing fell gracefully around her figure, adding the illusion of a few pounds to her slight frame. She had even taken the time out to paint her nails a light coral. She adjusted the rear-view mirror so she could see her face in it. Her cheeks looked flushed and her coral lips contrasted her pale complexion. She had meticulously brushed out her hair and it fell elegantly in waves on her shoulders.
She dabbed her lipstick on again and smacked her lips, a welcome distraction from her racing heart. The magnetic lock on her small velvet black clutch snapped shut and she shoved the door open. Her heels clicked against the pavement as she stepped out of her car and walked towards the looming wrought-iron gates. She stood outside the gates for a few moments, till she found an electronic security screen and pressed the only button on it.
“Good evening. Your name please,” she heard the voice of a man boom through.
“Sue Lawson,” she squeaked.
“Please drive through, Mr. Tate is expecting you,” the man replied and she could hear the creaking of the gates as they slowly opened up. Sue felt stupid for having walked up to the gate and she went back to her car to drive in.
The driveway was short and she reached the front door of the mansion in a matter of minutes. She could see a few expensive cars parked as she climbed out of her car again.
“You made it!” Gerard’s voice caught her off guard as she noticed him standing on top of the few steps which led to the front door. A uniformed gentleman stood beside him and he immediately reached for her trench coat when she walked up the steps and stood beside them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t RSVP. I wasn’t sure of my schedule,” Sue said as she wriggled out of her coat and Gerard led her inside. He had placed his hand on the small of her back and his touch gave her goosebumps. He smelled of coffee still, even though he was in a three piece suit with a red handkerchief peeping out from his front pocket. Sue didn’t want to turn to look at him, the proximity to him was enough to make her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She felt like a young teenager with a crush on a senior.
“That’s all right. We’re glad you could make it,” Gerard said politely and she couldn’t stop from throwing him an utterly confused look. His house distracted her. It was gorgeously decorated, even though a bit too modern and minimalistic for her taste, but she couldn’t have expected anything different from a tech-genius.
White, silver and black was the color palette and everything that was not one of those, was made of glass. Sue looked around her in awe, hoping that her jaw hadn’t dropped as they walked across the entrance hallway towards an inner room. She could see a glass staircase leading up to the upper levels of the house and she had an incredible urge to run up the stairs.
“What do you mean by “we”?” She finally turned to him and he simply smiled.
“Sue Lawson!” she heard the shriek of a woman and Sue froze in her spot. It was…it couldn’t be! Mary Jenkins!
Mary ran towards her with arms outstretched as they entered the sprawling living room. Mary had aged, but Sue would have recognized that high-pitched singing voice anywhere.
“Sue!” she screeched again as she flung her arms around her and they both hugged.
“Mary! How are you?” Sue was fumbling with her words, but she couldn’t stop herself from grinning like she’d won the lottery. Mary had definitely aged, but aged gracefully. She was in a sleek black maxi dress and her platinum hair had thinned but still remained curly and unkempt as she brushed a few strands away from her face.
“When Gerard said he met you, we didn’t believe him for a moment,” she said in her usual, overly dramatic fashion as she kept a strong grip on Sue’s arm. Sue looked up to see the smiling face of Jake Milton, a few feet away from them.
“Sue!” he said when she caught his eye and he took a few steps forward to give her a hug as well. She couldn’t believe it. Mary Jenkins and Jake Milton. In the flesh!
“I’m here too,” she heard a voice and Sue whipped around to find Gerard’s best friend standing behind them, a glass of wine in his hands. “Carl!” Sue was the one who nearly shrieked now and she lunged towards him to give him a hug.
It was strange for her to see them all in the same room again. She hadn’t seen any of them in twenty years, if not more, and the three years that they had spent together in college, they had spent it in each other’s company every day. Mary was her roommate, Jake was Mary’s boyfriend and the five of them were instantly drawn together as a group.
“You guys all kept in touch?” Sue was even more confused than before. What were they all doing in Gerard’s living room after all these years? The silence in the room answered her question and she could feel her heart sinking, a bitterness crawling up her skin as she eyed Mary’s embarrassed exchange of looks with Jake.
“Jake and I got married after college,” she screeched out instead and Sue gave her a forced polite smile.
“So you’ve been married for twenty years and been friends with Gerard all that time as well?” She couldn’t keep the sound of betrayal out of her voice as she said the words.
“I was the best-man at the wedding,” Gerard said as he passed her a glass of wine. Sue snatched it out of his hands and turned to glare at Carl.
“You too, Carl?” She walked towards him and he exchanged looks with Jake.
“Yeah, we all kept in touch,” he said nervously and took a sip of his wine.
“If hanging out twice a week is called keeping in touch.” Gerard came over and thumped Carl on the back. He gave Sue a winning smile and she turned away from them.
“Is this all true, Mary?” Sue asked her, her voice was shaking now.
“Why would I lie to you, Sue?” She heard Gerard’s voice behind her and she whipped around to face him. This was about enough. Her nerves were wrecked, her divorce was bitter, she was alone and lonely, and now she was finding out that her best friends had chosen her ex-boyfriend over her, and they had made that choice twenty years ago.
“I’m speaking to Mary, if you don’t mind,” she hissed at Gerard and she watched him raise an eyebrow.
“Is this true, Mary? You guys all hung out, every week, while I assumed we all went our separate ways?” Sue was the one shrieking now. Jake’s arm was on Mary’s back now and she could see the two of them exchange continuous nervous looks.
“Now, look here Sue,” Carl tried to interrupt her rage, but she would have none of it.
“Did you guys have a meeting and decide to vote me out? Did you have inside jokes and shared high-fives every time you heard some gossip about me?” She had inched closer towards Mary. She didn’t even want to begin to imagine what she looked like at that moment, but her appearance was no more her top priority.
“It wasn’t like that, Sue,” Mary finally spoke and her words broke her heart even more. She wished Mary would fight with her, yell at her and put her in her place, like all the other times she had done when they were still friends.
“You drifted away,” Jake added, only adding fuel to the fire.
“No. I broke up with Gerard. You guys chose to drift away,” Sue said and was sure she was going to break into tears.
“So what if they did?” Gerard’s voice interrupted her thoughts, but she didn’t turn to look at him. She couldn’t bear to look at him.
“You broke my heart. You deserved it,” he said quietly, in the stillness of the room. Sue turned to look at him slowly. He was standing next to an open window now, not looking at anybody in the room while he took a few sips of the wine from a glass in his hands.
“What did you say?” Sue’s anger had reached new heights. She was inches away from picking up the large Chinese vase on the floor next to her and fl
inging it at him.
“I said, you deserved it. You deserved to be alienated.” He met her eyes, but he didn’t look happy.
Chapter 5
“Sue, please don’t leave,” Mary implored her as she started walking out of the living room.
“I don’t understand why you invited me here tonight. You just wanted to embarrass me!” Sue screamed at Gerard instead. She stopped in her tracks to turn to him at the window again.
“I was trying to arrange a reunion. I didn’t expect you to react this way,” Gerard said quietly and his attitude angered her even more.
“You said I’ve changed. When did you turn into a selfish conniving bastard?” She said the words and could feel everyone immediately grow quiet. It was as though they were all afraid of what Gerard would do next. They turned to look at him, while Sue stood at the doorway with her lower lip trembling, clutching her small purse tightly to her chest.
“You’re blaming me for our friends feeling sorry for me?” he finally said, in a drawn out, exhausted voice.
“They weren’t sorry for you. I was the bitch they wanted to stay away from.” Sue gritted her teeth, unsure, by now, who she was really mad at.
“We didn’t think that, Sue.” Carl was the one who spoke up now.
“Why the pretense, Carl? You guys managed well without me for twenty years. Why invite me here and put me through all of this?” Sue was almost as exhausted as Gerard sounded before.
“I told them you needed support.” Gerard’s voice broke the silence again and Sue glared at him with rounded teary eyes now.
“I needed support? Why? What for, after all this time?” she asked, and even as she said the words, she knew what the reason was. “Because of Vincent? You guys think I need support because I’m going through a divorce? You told them that?” Her attention flitted around the room, from Mary, to Jake, to Carl, to Gerard again.
“You were not yourself that day, Sue. You are clearly depressed. You need your friends.” Gerard was sipping his wine again and she strode over to him with fury in each step.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can simply pry my friends away from me and then fling them at me at your will?” Sue’s breath was ragged, her nostrils were flaring. She didn’t know what to do, how to control her rage.
“Sue. Stop this madness.” Mary’s voice distracted her, even though she continued glaring at Gerard.
“Sue. Look at me,” she begged and Sue turned to look at Mary, who stood a few inches away from her. “We were all genuinely worried. Gerard most of all,” she said and placed a hand on Sue’s shoulder. She felt like she was going to break down in uncontrollable sobs that very instant.
“There is no shame in being upset and needing your friends around you. No matter the time that has passed,” Carl spoke up and joined Mary by Sue’s side. Sue’s lips were trembling again, she hadn’t realized how much she had missed them all these years.
“You had no right.” Sue turned to Gerard again, but her voice had broken now and she couldn’t pretend to be angry with them anymore.
“Have a drink, Sue. Say hello to your friends,” Gerard said with a smile and patted her on her shoulder before walking away from her.
•••
“His prose is as agreeable as a sweaty armpit,” Sue said and the room broke out in loud laughter.
“No way!” Mary screeched as she passed a salad bowl over to Jake who sat beside her.
“They wrote that in The Times and Vincent broke a couple of bottles of wine that night,” Sue said, trying to suppress a giggle.
“Well, I read his third novel and I have to say, I agree,” Carl said and passed her a wink.
“I did as well, but I had to be a supportive wife to him,” Sue said and rolled her eyes. She caught Gerard’s eye, who was sitting at the other end of the table. He was grinning, but also studying her keenly. She smiled at him and turned her attention to Jake.
“So you both are bankers now?” Sue asked and Mary, as expected, nodded for the two of them.
“And we have two gorgeous kids. Carla is fifteen and was named after our pal here who drove me to the hospital when my water broke. Jake was away in London,” Mary said and rolled her eyes. They all laughed.
“And Rose is going to be nine in March,” Jake added.
“I’m dying to meet them,” Sue said, accepting the salad bowl from Carl. “What about you, Carl?” She turned to him and he shook his head vigorously.
“I was married, and that lasted for about a few seconds, approximately,” he said and everybody laughed again. “No, well, we have a four year old son, Michael. He lives with his mother.” Carl was chewing on a big chunk of salmon.
“Look at you guys! All grown up,” Sue commented and stabbed a cherry tomato with her fork before popping it into her mouth.
“If only we could convince Gerard here to settle down. He couldn’t do it after you,” Mary said, still smiling but her grin immediately dropped when she noticed the expression on Sue’s face. The room fell silent and the scraping of Gerard’s chair against the floor ended the awkward moment.
“Mary’s had too much wine for one night,” Gerard said and walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“I didn’t mean that,” Mary said and looked up at him.
“Of course you didn’t. I’ll go check on dessert,” Gerard said curtly and gave her shoulders a squeeze. Sue watched Jake, from the corner of her eye, as he slid Mary’s glass of wine away from her and towards him.
Sue cleared her throat. “I know we’ve not been friends for years, but I would like you all to be honest with me. You know me,” she said, turning her gaze from Mary to Carl. She knew she would never be able to break Jake.
“He’ll never admit it. At least not anymore, but he was devastated. He probably still is,” Mary said and Jake kicked her feet under the table.
“It’s all right, Jake. I’m not going to go to the Press with this,” Sue said, but Jake appeared unconvinced.
“It’s not our place to tell you these things, Sue. He’ll tell you himself if he wants to or if it’s required,” Jake said and stood up from his chair as well. “I don’t think I want to stay for dessert,” he said and rubbed a hand on his belly.
“Excuse him, Sue. Jake has always been a bit of a non-meddler as you know,” Mary said with a laugh.
“No, Mary is right,” Carl spoke up and Sue turned to look at him. “If you thought he was a bit of a recluse while you dated, he got even worse when you left. He couldn’t get over it,” Carl said just as Gerard entered the room.
“It’ll be ten more minutes, guys. Janine has made your favorite Meringue,” Gerard told Jake.
“I’m afraid we’re heading home. The kids and all that,” Jake said as he gently pulled Mary up from her chair.
“It was a lovely dinner, Gerard. It was so good to see you, Sue. Call me later and we’ll fix up a coffee date, just the two of us,” Mary said and Sue nodded her head with a broad smile on her face.
“I should head out as well” Carl stood up from his chair.
“None of you are staying for dessert?” Gerard seemed to be genuinely surprised. “You guys always stay for dessert.” He sounded like his old self again and Sue couldn’t help but smile as the others laughed.
“Next time,” Carl said and thumped Gerard on his back before following the other two out of the room.
Sue remained seated while Gerard stood at the door of the dining room.
“I’ll stay for dessert” she said meekly and he walked over to his seat at the end of the table.
“I hope you like Meringue,” he said and held her gaze firmly. In the dim light of the dining room, after having spent the evening in the company of their old friends, Gerard finally reminded Sue of the boy she had dated in college. The same boyish grin on his face, the inquisitive sparkling eyes, the same pink tongue darting out to moisten the same plump lips.
“I love Meringue,” Sue said and sat back comfor
tably in the chair upholstered with white fabric. “I absolutely love Meringue”.
Chapter 6
“You know, whatever Mary tells you, none of this would have been possible if you hadn’t broken up with me,” Gerard said and looked around the room.
“So you’re thanking me for breaking your heart?” Sue said with a laugh and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“In a way. It became a mission for me to succeed and win you back,” Gerard said and was interrupted by the same uniformed gentleman who appeared with a plate of stacked Meringues.
“Thank you Luke,” Gerard said as he placed the plate on the table. “That’ll be all, Luke. And you can tell Janine to retire as well,” he added with an authoritative but gentle voice.
“You have a butler now?” Sue raised her eyebrow after Luke left the room.
“He’s the housekeeper. I can’t have the house go to ruins while I’m busy with my work,” Gerard said and pulled himself closer to the table.
“Back up a minute. You wanted to win me back?” Sue bit down on her lip. She was trying to make a lighthearted joke, but his face darkened.
“I was young and believed true love lasts forever and all that. Until I heard you married a novelist.” Gerard was picking at the meringues, a habit with food that she well remembered. It was endearing as ever.
“I’m sorry, Gerard,” she said quietly and their eyes met. His eyes were weary and downcast, while hers were pleading with him to forgive her. Now more than ever, she knew exactly what it felt like to be discarded and abandoned.
“Why did you leave me, Sue?” he asked her. He wasn’t the same over-confident man she had met at the cafe a few days before. He was now the Gerard she had met at the Fresher’s party, awkward and fresh-faced.
“I don’t know.” Sue looked away from him and he stood up from his chair.
“Look at me. I deserve to know. It’s been twenty years and I still don’t know what I did wrong.” He had walked over to where she was sitting and was looming over her now. His big frame cast a dark shadow around her in the dim light and Sue hung her head low.
