They’d had sex a handful of times, and it hadn’t been enough. Two weeks he’d wanted, but the broken leg had brought it forward, and now he didn’t know what to do.
His decision wasn’t a mistake.
He refused to believe that getting his life back was a mistake, and yet he didn’t find happiness or peace.
All that filled the place was deep, searing loneliness.
Chapter Eleven
Sipping some of the worst hot chocolate she had ever tasted, Temperance offered Lilah a smile. Her friend and roommate had come to the hospital to get her.
“So, are you going to tell me why you looked such a mess this morning?” Lilah asked.
Her face had been red with her eyes swollen and cheeks dry.
Biting her lip, Temperance stared at the mug of hot chocolate. She lay on the sofa in their sitting room. The doctor informed her that rest, along with regular physical therapy visits, would help see her recover quickly. She wanted to recover quickly. At least sitting down would give her the time to look for more work.
“I was … I’m…” She stopped and took a breath, feeling the pain building instead.
“I know you don’t usually talk about it. After a job you don’t ask me to collect you from the hospital, though.” Lilah sat on the end of the sofa, resting her head in her hand.
“It hurts right now. I can’t … he’s gone.”
“Who is?”
“Both of them. Timothy and Wayne. They’re both gone.”
“It was only for a couple of weeks.”
“I know, but they’re gone.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “He has no one, and Wayne, he doesn’t have anyone, either, and he did this without even warning me. He arranged for Timothy to be gone, and it’s all my fault.” She’d had all night to think about it. He intended for this to happen.
Wayne had given himself two weeks to enjoy the life of a family man with the intention of it all being taken from him.
She’d not seen that coming.
“It’s crazy of me to be like this.”
“No, it’s not. Did you fall in love with him?”
Temperance shook her head, lying. “Yes.”
Lilah smiled. “It will get easier. That I can promise you.”
She looked up at her friend. “Thank you for not judging me and for coming to get me.”
“You’ve never judged me, honey. I always felt that we had the kind of friendship that meant we didn’t have to talk every single day, but when we did or when we saw each other, the time between didn’t matter.” Lilah took her hand. “It still doesn’t matter.”
“Thank you.”
Lilah moved up behind Temperance, being careful not to jolt her leg. “So, we’re going to watch sad movies, and talk about how much we hate men, and then we’re going to have more hot chocolate. I’d offer you wine, but with your pain pills I’d be rushing you to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.”
“You’re the best.”
“I know it.”
Lilah stroked her head, and as the movie played, Temperance didn’t pay it much mind. She thought about Wayne, and wondered what he was doing. Had he packaged all of her stuff up? Thrown the items she got for Timothy out into the trash?
“Will you do a favor for me?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“Tomorrow will you go and get my things from Wayne’s home? I don’t want them to stay there.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ll warn you that Robert Thompson keeps coming ’round to the apartment. He’s a determined fella.”
“He loves his kids and wants the best for them.” She couldn’t fault Robert for that.
“What will you do now? Will you go back to being a nanny?” she asked. “You know, for Robert, or another family?”
“I don’t know what I’ll do.” She wiped the tears that had fallen down her face. Glancing up at her friend, she chuckled. “Are they hiring chunky porn stars?”
Lilah laughed. “You couldn’t be a porn star.”
“Why not?”
“You care too much. You’d be talking to the men about their problems, and some people can have really bad fucking attitudes,” Lilah said. “It was the biggest mistake I ever made. The scandal that hit the papers was the best thing that happened to me. I got several jobs because of it, and I’ve been able to stop screwing for a living.”
“Did you enjoy it?” Temperance asked.
“It was okay for a while, but I wanted to be an actress. I didn’t want to have to suck cock for a living.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
Snuggling against her friend, she tried to comfort Lilah even as her heart broke for what had happened.
Wayne had gotten underneath her skin and completely torn her apart. Now she had to figure out what to do with the rest of her life.
She didn’t want to go back to being a nanny, but with twelve years’ experience in that field, what else could she do?
Her thoughts kept drifted to Wayne, even as she fought them. She didn’t want to think of Wayne or Timothy, or anything that had happened. It hurt too damn much.