A Step Closer to Love

Arabella wanted to sleep but she saw the desperation in Everly’s eyes. It looked like the same one that she saw daily in her mother’s eyes. Her mother craved attention and it seemed the same with Everly.

“Well, it is nothing like what I am used to in Japan” Arabella starts taking one of the seats next to them.

Everly takes a seat too. ‘Final some conversation since morning’. When her husband used to work she knew he had to go out to work and she also went out to work and sometimes she met up with friends.

When her husband retired, she did also and then ended up having to do a surgical operation on her back. Her husband became distant. Or maybe it was because they never truly spent time together.

He barely spoke and stayed in his game room all day. Everly had to fight with him to at least get a word out of him. Her eyes sparkle under the night light switched on in the kitchen. While she waited patiently for her son and new daughter her husband played games instead of staying up and keeping her company.

“That’s understandable” Everly said touching her hand fondly.

“Well, it seems my boss has a crush on Kieran,” Arabella told her.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“Ryder has a crush on Kieran?” Everly asked shocked.

“No not Ryder” Arabella replied.

“Oh, then Aurora?” Everly asked.

Did Everly know all the people her son worked with?

“How do you know them?” Arabella asked shocked. The original matter of her being supposedly bullied is now buried in her mind.

“They used to be Kieran’s college buddies. I was so glad she was making friends so we always had them over for dinner. They were four….” Everly said trailing off.

“Four?” Arabella asked.

The method at which Everly trailed off it was obvious it was a juicy story. She would ask but not pry. It was her business to either tell her or not.

“So what did Aurora do?” Everly said openly changing the topic. It was clear that she did not want to talk about it and Arabella was going to respect her wishes.

“Well, one of my colleagues Chole thinks I’m being bullied because I know Kieran” Arabella tells her.

Everly gasp in shock. She thought the current generation would not do such things because they were modern. It sounded to her like something out of a nineties movie.

“Girls still do things like that?” Everly asked out loud expressing her shock.

“That’s what I thought too,” Arabella said giving out a yawn.

“So inconsiderate of me to keep you up till this late when you have work tomorrow,” Everly said with a sad expression.

She was enjoying the company but she would feel terrible if Arabella can not have a good sleep at night.

“Why don’t you get to bed early so that you can have a good night’s rest? also, Kieran told me you mixed up the time for resumption. Go with him tomorrow okay?” Everly said standing up and pulling Arabella too.

Everly had a faint idea of the reason why Arabella had left in the morning but she was going to ignore those ideas and still try to make sure her new daughter was comfortable. Arabella nodded.

There was no way she could escape it now. Her lie had been caught by both parties. She would ask Kieran to drop her a few blocks before the office and she would get to find her way there by herself.

“Good night Darling. Have a good night’s rest” Everly said urging her to go.

“Good night Everly” Arabella said and started to leave. She stopped at the door and turned to face Everly who was looking at her fondly.

“What do you say about shopping and brunch on Saturday?”

For the first time in a few years, Everly felt a warm feeling in her chest. Have a daughter they said. Maybe a daughter would truly prove to be better than a son to her.

“I would love to,” Everly said. She felt like crying but she decided she was not going to do so in front of Arabella.

“It’s a date then,” Arabella said before turning to leave.

Everly sat back down and she felt hot tears down her cheeks. Arabella had only been there for up to twenty-four hours plus but she was already making her feel comfortable and warm.

Everly sat in silence. She has never envied her friend. She has a nice house and her husband was still alive. Her son got to go to an Ivy League school but for the first time, Everly felt a jealous pang for Ava.

Ava may not have had it all but she had such a considerate kind and beautiful daughter. Her son and husband thought that the only thing she would appreciate would be money.

She barely got any interaction with people anymore and was slowly slipping into depression without them knowing about it. She has felt the sudden urge to run away and be by herself.

The house was deafening with silence even with three grown-ups living together there. She had often tomes felt suffocated and needed an escape route which she never got. She felt like Arabella was a breath of fresh air that her life needed.

“What are you doing sitting there crying?” Ethan asked standing by the frame of the door.

“Crying? I am not crying” Everly said standing up and wiping her face.

“I just saw you wipe your face from tears,” Ethan said back.

“And I already said I was not crying,” Everly said adjusting the chairs around the kitchen table.

“Come bring Kieran’s car to park it. We need to also take him up to his room. He had a little too much to drink” Everly said walking towards him.

“He drank again?” Ethan asked confused. He had warned his son against drinking toll the point that he passed out.

“Yes, he did,” Everly said with a huge smile on her face.

“Why is she smiling so much?” Ethan said murmuring as he went to bring his son’s car to the garage.

After a few minutes, Ethan came back in and shouted for Everly to help him move their so into his room. All the while Everly could not wipe the smile off her face.

“What is making you smile so much,” Ethan asked as they logged their sic foot plus son up the stairs to his room.

“I just received the best gift ever,” Everly said.

“What is it?” Ethan said. He saw her holding nothing how could she have received the best gift?

“I can’t tell you” Everly said the smile never leaving her face.

If she knew that sons would grow up to be so useless and daughters would grow up to be better than she imagines she would have tried with her husband while the love was still to have a daughter.

“It’s always one nonsense or the other” Ethan murmured.