Splintered Memory - By Natascha Holloway Page 0,114
She even drew an invisible cross over her heart with her finger.
“Fine,” she said too exhausted to argue and she held the door open for Charlie to come in.
Charlie walked inside and went and sat down on the sofa.
“I had sex with your husband there,” Emily said cruelly. She also felt the immediate gratification of seeing Charlie flinch at the image that must have formed in her mind.
“I hope he was good,” Charlie said smiling.
“He was,” she said.
Charlie smiled again, but Emily was irritated to see that it wasn’t a cold smile or a sarcastic smile. It was instead the smile of a wiser older sister, who was looking fondly at a younger sister and knowing that she was being immature and deciding to ignore it.
“I’m not going to stay long. So if you want to punish me for trying to talk to you by responding with constant appraisals of my husband’s sexual prowess,” Charlie said; “well then I guess that’s your prerogative.”
Emily felt embarrassed, and she hated that Charlie had made her feel like a small child.
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said making Emily look at her in surprise. “I shouldn’t have said that, it’s just I’ve been struggling with a lot of things in the past few months since I discovered everything that Matt did after I left. I’m so sorry that you’ve gotten hurt by everything, but I just wanted you to know,” she paused and Emily saw her take a deep breath. “That is what I need you to know is, I’m more grateful to you than I’ll ever be able to properly say for you having looked after him.”
“I didn’t look after him for you. I looked after him for me,” she said and she was annoyed at hearing her own voice shake. She could also feel tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.
“I know,” Charlie said. “I’m glad you loved him enough so that you could save him from himself.”
“Love,” she retorted; “not loved.”
“I know,” Charlie said again. “I wouldn’t have come between you, and you should know that. You were my friend, and I’d never threaten another friend’s happiness. I walked away when I first found out, did you know that? I left you to be together. I wanted you to both have a chance at happiness.”
“Friend,” Emily said sceptically.
“I haven’t known you as long as my other friends, but I did consider you to be a friend. I certainly never meant for you to get hurt. I never intended to trade your happiness for mine,” Charlie said.
“Your friend hurt me,” Emily said.
“She did,” Charlie conceded knowing that Emily was referring to Claire. “But then Claire’s loyalty was always to me. I’m not going to condemn what she did because it led to Matt finding out the truth, which led him back to me. I just wanted you to know that I miss our friendship, and that I’m sorry that you’ve been so badly hurt in all of this. If it was anyone other than my husband that had hurt you this way, I’d threaten to kill or castrate him for you,” she added smiling.
Emily felt her tears overwhelm her, and the months of pain and loneliness were all finally too much for her to bear. “I really love him,” she said.
Charlie held her hand with both of hers and said; “I know. I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head embarrassedly, and to her absolute amazement Charlie pulled her into a hug. Her first reaction was to pull away, but she didn’t. The sincerity of Charlie’s gesture and hug made her cry even more, which in turn made Charlie hold her more tightly. Yet she was mortified when she did pull herself off Charlie’s shoulder a few minutes later and saw that Charlie’s top was sodden.
“Sorry about your top,” she said blowing her nose.
“Who cares,” Charlie said not even looking at it. “Feel better?”
“A little,” she said honestly.
“Sometimes you just need a good cry. Sometimes it’s just a good drink,” Charlie said.
“Did he use me?” She asked.
“No,” Charlie said.
“Was I a rebound?” She asked.
“No,” Charlie said again. “The other women were. He used them as a distraction, but with you I think it was different. He needed you. He trusted you, and I think – and this isn’t a particularly easy thing for me to admit or say to you, he fell in love with you.”
Emily looked shocked, and she stared at Charlie with a bewildered expression on her face.