Chapter 9 – Old friends, new looks

Kendra was now deeply unhappy and hardly ever smiled, not that Ernest really noticed.

 

 She was  so unhappy she was considering whether or not to give up on their marriage. It was on a shopping trip to try and forget her troubles that she ran into an old friend. Shane and her went back a long way, they had dated when she was eighteen and then they had stayed friends for a long time after that. She was delighted to see a friendly face, with the business being so busy she hardly saw anyone anymore and was starting to feel quite isolated. They got a coffee together and started to catch up.

 

Shane had also got married and was happy to tell Kendra all about his new wife. “You would love her, I know. I met her through a friend, she so intelligent, funny and caring.” Kendra smiled to hear him so happy and a thought occurred to her “How about you and your wife come over to ours for dinner? We would love to have you, does Thursday evening sound okay?” Shane smiled and agreed. 

 

At work Kendra rearranged the work schedule so her and Ernest could have the night off, she didn’t want him coming up with any excuses as to why they couldn’t have her friend over. Ernest was still not that comfortable in social situations and so she knew he would want to avoid it if he could. He had made strides whilst at university, but now he spent most days stuck in the kitchen all by himself hardly speaking to anyone.

When Thursday night came , Shane arrived early and Kendra was in the shower and so Ernest after a quick check of his dinner went to answer the door. “Hello you must be Shane and you must be……” he stopped as Shane stepped to one side to show Ernest his wife.

 

He was so shocked to see her, her hair was different and then his eyes travelled downwards, her stomach her huge. He stood there with his mouth open and Vyn came to his rescue. “Hello Ernest, It is good to see you, did you not know that I was coming?” Shane looked over to his wife “You know each other?” “Yes we were in the same halls at university, but we drifted apart.” At the end of the sentence she looked down at the floor slightly embarrassed that they had last spoken on such bad terms. By now Ernest had recovered himself and invited them both in. The evening was very pleasant and Ernest fell into easy conversation with Vyn, he had forgotten just how easy it was to talk to her. The evening ended with a return dinner invitation for Ernest and Kendra, whenever a convenient evening could be found.

Once they were gone, Kendra dealt with the dishes whilst Ernest sat on the sofa thinking. It had been so good to see Vyn, but again it made him wonder what had happened all that time ago when she had stopped speaking to him. Kendra came into collect the after dinner coffee mugs and saw Ernest’s perplexed expression.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked “I was wondering why Vyn and I lost touch in the first place, she seemed so angry at me and I never found out why.” Kendra smiled and replied “Ernest you really are dense at times, she was in love with you and you started dating me that’s why she stopped speaking to you.” Kendra left the room to finish the washing up and Ernest sat in stunned silence. In love with him? Why had she never said? It had never occurred to him to consider her in that way and yet she had been his best friend and wouldn’t that have a good basis for love? He started to review their conversations in light of this revelation and now it all made so much sense. She had been urging him to ask her out no wonder she was put out when he told her all about Kendra. Ernest sighed, it was all to late now anyway both he and her were now married, anything that could have been, could now not be.

https://wintersmith.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/chapter-10-%e2%80%93-vyn-comes-to-the-rescue/