Page 19 of Peter

ChapterTen

Peter

I stand and offer my hand to Lennox, and she takes it. I help her to her feet and begin walking us to the outdoor dining room.

“Peter the dishes,” she begins.

“Leave them,” I tell her. When we get outside not only has Jaasiel set up desert he has started the fire-pit and fireplace. He has music going and he’s brought out blankets just in case it gets too cool. The lights are going he has music going out here too. For dessert, he has made espresso panna cotta, warm butter cake, hummingbird cake, and salted caramel crème brûlée. They are all two-person servings, he also has a dessert wine, water, tea, and coffee with all the accompaniments. Yeah, I am not sure what I am going to do for him, but it will be amazing I think as an idea begins to form in my mind.

Lennox grabs the warm butter cake and takes a seat on the sofa instead of at the table. I grab my portion of hummingbird cake and sit next to her. We take a bite and we both moan at the same time and laugh.

“He’s amazing,” Lennox says.

“Yes, he is,” I agree.

“Where do we start Lenny?” I ask her.

“I guess I’ll start,” she says. “After we said goodbye at the graduation ceremony, my family and I left for Alabama but when I came back you were gone. When I questioned your mom, Emma, and Brad, no one would give me real answers. Emma was mad at me for some reason, hell I had been gone for weeks so I do not know why she was so mad at me. Anyways, I waited and waited for you to come back but you never did so I chose a college and moved. Still, I came home every holiday and every summer, and you never came home. When I got the call about your parents, I came home immediately to be with you but once again you were already gone. Richie and I stayed in touch and by senior year we began to date seriously. He proposed at my graduation party, you know the one you didn’t come to because no one knew how to reach you, and I accepted his proposal. We got married before we went on to get our medical degrees. Richie became an internal medicine doctor and eventually became the chief of staff at the hospital. We decided to hold off having kids until we got established in our career and before we knew it thirty years has passed. Seven years ago, he was driving home from work had an aneurysm and died instantly. I lost my best friend and partner that day. I have continued to push forward because I knew that is what he would have wanted me to do but I was lost for a really long time. I had given up on finding anyone else or being in another relationship, that is until I ran into you.”

I have her feet in my lap as she talks. I took her shoes off and massage her feet. I feel like shit listening to her tell me she waited for me and came for me and my anger and stubbornness cheated me from having Lennox in my life.

“I’m sorry, Lenny, I was so mad and hurt there wasn’t room in my life for anything else. Were you at least happy with Richie?” I ask.

“I had an amazing life and marriage with Richie. He was a remarkable husband. We had such an amazing life together; I was so happy with him and it damn near destroyed me when he died. There were more days than not that I wanted to go be with him, but I pushed through and allowed myself to feel like shit when I needed to and be a rockstar when I wanted to. I was very blessed to have had him as a husband.”

I am happy to hear she has been happy all these years.

“What happened, Peter?” she asks me.

I take a breath and begin to tell Lennox a story I have not told anyone else.

“Graduation day after you left, Brad, Emma, and I had our combined graduation party. I had given Brad my car keys off my key ring earlier to go home and change clothes while I stayed with Emma since the party was at her house. So later that night when the party was over, I realized I left my house keys in Emma’s room. I turn around to get them but since it was so late, I decided to go around to the back door since it was closest to Emma’s room. I didn’t want to wake her parents and she usually keeps the door unlocked since that is the door she sneaks out of. But when I get to her bedroom window I look in because the light was on, and I see her and Brad fucking. I stood there frozen for a second, and then I headed into the house. Just like I hoped the door was unlocked and I walked right into Emma’s room and had a seat on her settee that faces her bed. They were so into each other neither of them realized I was in the room. So, I sit there and watch my girlfriend, I mean my fiancé’ since I had proposed to her earlier at the party, fuck my best friend. Once they were done, they still didn’t notice me, so I clapped my hands, their performance was amazing and deserved the recognition. It was almost comical how they jumped and tried to cover up and convince me I did not just sit there for the past ten minutes watching them have sex. Once they realized they were truly busted Emma turned angry and mean.”

Graduation night

“What are you doing here, Peter? I am surprised you even remembered I existed. You’ve been walking around here all-day moping because your precious Lenny is gone. Oops, that’s right no one can call her that but you. No one can say anything to your precious Lenny while you are around. I am surprised Richie could even take her to the senior ball, but did it matter? You spent more time on the dance floor with her than you did with me. You have never danced in public with me, but you did for her! When are you going to admit you’re in love with her!” she practically screams at me.

“So, you fuck my best friend? And if I didn’t love you, why would I propose?” I ask her.

“Because that’s what’s been expected of you Peter that’s why. Before Lennox came, I would have argued anyone down that you loved me, but once I saw how you were with Lennox I knew I have been living in a fantasy world.”

“You’re delusional, Emma! I have never done anything but be a friend to Lennox. I loved you, I asked you to marry me not Lennox, she is like a little sister to me,” I say.

“Then you’re into incest because you are in love with your little sister. The sooner you admit it the better off you’ll be. Oh, by the way since we, well since I am being honest tonight, your best friend Brad here has been in love with Lennox too, but he knew you would never let him be with her. A fucking mess,” she says, laughing. I look over at Brad and he won’t meet my eyes. I stand up and walk out of Emma’s house.

I look at Lennox and she has her hand covering her mouth in shock.

“I jumped in my car and headed straight to your house only to remember you were already gone. So, I went home. When I walked in my mom was still up and could tell I was upset. I told her what happened with Emma and Brad, and she encouraged me to travel before it was time to go off to college, so that’s what I did. I flew out the next day to Europe. While I was over there, I decided to go to university there. I snuck in to visit my mom every chance I could get, before heading back to Europe, and she would also sneak over to Europe to visit me when she needed to get away from my father.

I did that until my senior year. It was the middle of the school year when I got the call to come home right away. My mom had finally had enough of my father’s cheating, drinking, and spending money. She had found out he had been embezzling money from the newspaper and she finally decided to get a divorce and press charges against my father since the paper was in her name.

When my dad found out he knew he would be going to prison, probably for the rest of his life. So, he came home that day shot my mother to death and killed himself. When I got there, I ran the story of a home invasion and paid the right people in the police department to make that the official story. My parents’ marriage had already been the talk of the town since my father made no attempt to hide his cheating, and I did not want them to have more to talk about.

I cremated my mother the next day and had her remains put in the Fairchild family mausoleum since I had no family to call and no friends here to be with me. Besides I wanted to get the hell back out of that little God-forsaken town as soon as I could.

The next day I contacted the lawyer and gave my instructions to sell everything and got back on the plane and returned to Europe. I left my dad at the city morgue; I didn’t care what they did with his body. I was so angry with him. My mom and I had been talking about her moving here and starting over and he took that from me.

I couldn’t face you because I still couldn’t admit what I have come to accept since seeing you again, I am in love with you, and I probably have been since the day when Ms. Burrell called me out in that hall to meet you. I was supposed to be your friend and protect you and instead I was in love with you. I was selfish in my dealings with you, keeping you to myself and hiding behind protecting you from other boys. I was a coward, and I was selfish Lennox.” I finish.

---