“I know. You are right.”
Carmen returned to the table. “One Stella Artois for the birthday girl and another Stella Artois on the house.” She didn’t make eye contact with Eden but gave a slight wink out of her left eye. She placed the rest of the drink order on the table. “Ladies, are you thinking of ordering appetizers or dinner tonight?”
They looked around at each other speaking almost telepathically. Charlene responded, “I think we’re interested in appetizers, especially the happy hour specials.”
“Yes!” Brooke chimed in and ordered for the table. Knowing what to order at restaurants was Brooke’s self-proclaimed superpower.
Carmen walked away from the table. A few seconds later, Eden received a text from her.
He left.
Eden responded with a thumbs up emoji.
“Phew. He left,” Eden shared with the table. There was a weight lifted from all of them. They immediately jumped into catching up. It had been almost a month since they last met for happy hour.
Kit shared that she met a guy online in a Star Wars fan forum. They’ve been chatting for two weeks and she’s thinking of inviting him to see the new Star Wars movie that comes out in next month.
Brooke was apprehensive to share what was going on with her but after her second drink she finally opened up. Her separation was moving toward divorce. Things were getting serious with Dave and they want to do right by one another. They both plan to file for divorce from their spouses at the end of the week.
Eden felt bad for Brooke. Even though Brooke seemed happier than she had been in a while, there was something that made Eden question whether part of it was forced. All of the ladies gave Brooke encouraging support, telling her to follow her heart, but there was something about Brooke’s situation that made Eden wonder if she and Rick were headed in the same direction.
Brooke had married her college sweetheart, Jim, right after graduation. They were close friends of Rick’s and Eden’s. Going on vacations together before the girls were born. When Brooke told Eden she was leaving Jim, Eden couldn’t help feeling bad for him. Jim adored Brooke or at least it appeared that way. Brooke described their relationship differently, even eluding to verbal abuse she endured.
“So, are we just not going to talk about it?” Kit was two drinks in and already braver than normal. “Who is Carlos?”
“We started dating the summer after I graduated high school and were together for almost two years.” Eden was rubbing the paper off her beer bottle, nervous to talk about Carlos. She hadn’t thought of him in almost 10 years.
Brooke interjected. “He’s a dick! Left my girl high and dry.” Brooke met Eden right after the breakup. They were in their third year of college, when Eden responded to an ad for a roommate. Brooke had just left the dorms and was ready for the real world. Brooke never met Carlos, but she knew all about him. Several of their first nights together involved various breakdowns and curse sessions. Eden didn’t take long to share with Brooke the situation she had just left.
“That’s a jerk move. What happened?” Kit was intrigued and making a serious effort to sound concerned versus too inquisitive.
“He just left. Without ever telling me he was leaving. He moved away. Never called, wrote or messaged me.” Eden looked over at Brooke trying to communicate with her eyes. Brooke gave a quick head shake from side to side, telling Eden not to go into further detail.
“Enough about that guy. Eden is happily married to Rick.” Brooke raised her glass. “Let’s toast to our birthday girl. Eden, may you have a great year full of happiness and many happy hours with us.”
They all clanked their glasses. “Thank you, ladies. I know I can always count on my girls.”
Eden returned home to a sleeping household with only the sound of fans. Most days she felt grateful for the life she and Rick had built together but lately it had been hard to feel grateful. There was something missing. The partnership between she and Rick had fallen apart so quickly.
She slipped into bed, hoping to go undetected. Knowing that Rick loves tipsy Eden, she expected him to make a move. No movement from his side of the bed and no snoring either. Worried, she glided out of bed and tip toed over to Rick’s side of the bed to see if he was breathing.
His arm lurches for hers as he screamed, “Arggg!” and pulled her onto him. Eden’s full weight was on Rick, planking out of discomfort.
“Let me go,” she pleaded. He kissed her neck and squeezed her butt to hold her in place. Eden wrestled with Rick until he finally got the hint that she was not game for any sort of touching.
Finally, free, Eden rolled over to her side of the bed and said, “Not tonight.”
It bugged Eden how easily Rick could detach his emotions from sex. They hadn’t talked about the miscarriage or even had sex since a month prior to the miscarriage and somehow Rick never stopped trying to get laid. She had played the “not tonight” game before. It usually resulted in Rick getting what he wanted, while allowing Eden to force him to work a little harder at it. Though lately, Rick stopped after Eden muttered, “not tonight.” He knew things weren’t the same.
Chapter 3
A pair of strong, rugged hands fanned over Eden’s leg making their way to her butt. She slowly shifted her hips back tempting the hands to keep moving up her backside. The hands travelled up her spine and stopped just between her shoulder blades.
She turned over and saw Carlos laying next to her with his big bright eyes. “Hey, Ed.” He said in a hushed tone. He lifted his hand to her face, pushing back a strand of hair. Just as he leaned in to kiss her, Eden’s alarm clock buzzed reminding her it was just a dream. She leaned over and tapped the snooze button, then rolled over to try and finish her dream. Closing her eyes, she imagined Carlos in bed next to her. Would he snore like Rick? Have horrible morning breath? Her mind wondered and was uncapable of continuing the dream.
She reached for her phone and tore off the covers. Since her brain is up, there wasn’t much use in delaying the inevitable. She put on her slippers and went to the front room. Making her way over to the couch, she finally looked at her phone. 48 unread text messages. Nothing surprising as she receives text messages every time CNN, or the White House sends a tweet. Her thumb waves over her phone past the text message app and clicks on Instagram. Three posts down in her feed is a post from Carmen – a selfie with Carlos. Captioned – “Big bro is back! #FavoriteBrother #OnlyBrother”
Eden saw that he was tagged in the photo. That must be new, Eden thought. In all of the posts Carmen has shared on social media, none of her posts ever included a tag for him. In fact, most of her posts were of her dog. Eden tapped on the tag, taking her to Carlos’ profile. His profile picture was so typically Carlos. A picture of him on a paddleboard over some piece of still water, shirtless and staring off in the distance.
Eden sat there scrolling through Carlos’ Instagram account. It was full of images like his profile picture, with posts of landscapes sprinkled between. If Eden didn’t know any better, she’d think he’s been single for the last 15 years. When it came to Carlos, Eden always felt the town was too small. She’d somehow hear a rumor about him from someone in the wine industry. Just before his father, Martin, passed away, Carlos’ family bought a vineyard. The Central Coast Times did a story on Martin Alonso, who talked about his legacy. To Martin, his legacy was his children, primarily Carlos. A sore subject with Carmen. Martin was old school in his thinking. He believed women were meant to be the silent backbone to men, a role his wife, Consuela, played all too well.