"Bren Baby, I'm home." Roger called out entering the loft looking around. "Brenda, are you here?" he asked going into the bedroom when he didn't get a response. As he looked around the bedroom, he noticed somethings missing. Brenda's favorite pair of pajamas wasn't at the foot of the bed and there were pictures of them missing from the mirror in the corner of the room. He opened the dresser drawers and noticed that Brenda's clothes were missing. He rushed out to the kitchen to look around to see what else was missing. When he looked around he noticed a piece of paper sitting on the window seat. He rushed over to the window to pick it up. It was Brenda's handwriting.

Dear Roger,

Baby, I'm so sorry. I have been having a really hard time these last few months and I just need to get out of the city for a while. I'll call you when I get a chance. To let you know where I am and that I'm OK. I'm really sorry I couldn't talk to you right now. Things are really complicated. I'll try to explain it all to you when I figure out how. I love you more than anything in the world and I will always love you. Marrying you was the best thing I ever could have done, but I just need time. I will come back to you, I just need to get things sorted out. Please forgive me.

I love you always and forever,

B

"No. How could you do this to me Brenda?" he called out before starting to cry. He looked out the window and just stared out. How could the love of his life, his wife leave him just like that? What was going on that she couldn't talk to him about? He looked around at the pictures of him and Brenda that were all around the living room and cried more. He called Mrs. Durlach to see if she went home, but she didn't. Mrs. Durlach didn't know where she was. He told her about them getting married on Brenda's 18th birthday and their son being still born. She said she would help Roger as much as she could, but it was difficult for both of them. Neither one of them knew where she would have gone.

"Bren, why?" he asked crying into his hands as he sat on the floor by the phone. Just then, Collins walked in.

"Roger, what happened? Is it Brenda? What happened to Brenda?" he asked rushing over to him.

"She's gone. She left." he cried handing him the note she left.

"No, this can't be right. She would never leave you. She would never leave us." he said dropping to his knees in front of him reading the letter.

"She did. She left me. The only woman I ever loved and she left me." she cried as Collins leaned up to put his arms around him crying himself.

"She'll be back Roger. She says it in the letter. She just needs time. She'll be back when she gets her head together." he told him looking down at him.

"What am I gonna do Collins? She's my life." he asked looking up at him.

"We're gonna be OK Roger. We'll take care of each other until she gets back." he told him rocking him back and forth as they both cried.


It had been almost a year since Brenda left and he hadn't heard a word from her. He threw himself into performing. It was where he felt the closest to her. One night while he was performing, he met a young man with a camera. He was filming the show. When he finished his set, he took his guitar off and jumped off the stage to go to him."Hey, you've been filming in here before, right?" he asked looking down at him.

"Um... yeah. I'm filming different things. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it, but I want it just in case." he smiled looking up at him.

"I'm Roger. Roger Davis." he smiled holding his hand out to him.

"Mark Cohen.It's nice to meet you." he smiled shaking his hand.

"Listen, me and a couple of friends are hanging out after the show. Do you want to join us? We don't usually do much, we just drink a little and listen to music at my place." he smiled looking at him.

"Yeah, that sounds cool. Thanks Roger." he smiled looking up at him.

"Don't thank me. I'm gonna need a cameraman for my first music video. I'm just trying to snag you before you're too expensive for me to afford." he smiled before going back on stage for his next set. He, Collins and Mark hung out for the next couple of weeks. Mark's parents had stopped helping him pay his rent because he didn't want to go back to school, so he moved in with Roger and Collins.

"Collins, what's the deal with the girl in all those pictures with Roger." he asked looking up at the living room walls.

"That's his wife Brenda. She left about a year and a half ago." he told him quietly looking up at the pictures.

"His wife? How come he never mentioned anything about her?" he asked looking over at him.

"It's too painful for him to talk about. He still loves her." he said looking over at him.

"What happened between them?" he asked looking over at him.

"Their son was still born and it took it's toll on her. She needed to get away." he said as Roger came into the loft from work. "Hey Roger, how was work?" he asked looking up at him.

"Work was work. I'm gonna go get ready for the show. Benny said he would meet us there." he said going into his room to get changed for the show.

"He seems to be moving on." Mark said looking over at Collins.

"Don't let him fool you. It's killing him not having her here. You should have seen them. These pictures don't do them justice. They were so good together." he smiled looking up at the picture.

"I should go get ready for the club too. Thanks for telling me about her Collins. It explains a lot about Roger." he smiled getting up from the couch.

"No problem, just don't tell Roger you know, OK? He's really sensitive about her." he said looking up at him.

"OK. I won't." he said looking down at him before going into his room to get dressed for the club and put film in his bag and they left for the club. As Roger played he caught the eye of a young red head at the bar. She smiled intently at him as he smiled back at her. When he finished his set, he took his guitar off and jumped off of the stage and went over to the red head.

"Hey, you were really good up there." the red head smiled looking up at him.

"Thanks." he asked looking down at her uncomfortably.

"I'm April." she smiled looking up at him.

"Roger." he smiled shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Roger." he smiled as they ordered their drinks from the bartender. They talked until the bar closed. Roger brought April back to the loft and they made love. When April woke up the next morning, Roger slept next to her. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom. When she came out she wandered around the loft. She noticed picture frames piled up on a desk in the corner of the living room. She went over to look at them. They were pictures of Roger and a young blond woman. The more she looked through the pictures, the more she noticed how happy Roger was. As she continued to look through the pictures Roger came out of the bedroom.

"Hey." he said looking over at her.

"Hey. Who is this girl?" she asked holding a picture up to show him who he was talking about. But he knew.

"That's my wife." he answered looking over at her.

"Your wife? How come you didn't..." she started looking up at him before he cut her off.

"She left me about about a year and a half ago." he told her going into the kitchen to make coffee.

"I'm sorry Roger. How long were you married to her?" she asked going towards him.

"We've been married 3 and a half years. We met the summer after I graduated high school. My parents have a summer house in Long Island and she lived down the block from us. We started dating and it was amazing. We fell in love almost immediately. I went away to Berklee in the fall for a semester, but I couldn't live without her. I went to her house in the middle of the night on her 18th birthday and asked her to run away with me and get married. Before I went to pick her up, I rented this place for us. I wanted to have somewhere to bring her when we got married." he smiled looking down at her.

"It sounds like you guys were really in love. What happened? Why didn't you guys make it?" she asked sitting on one of the stools at the metal counter.

"After like a year and a half, she got pregnant. We really wanted the baby. But he died. She was 8 months pregnant with him when he wrapped his umbilical cord around his own neck. He was still born. It was really hard on us. She started drinking a lot and we really didn't talk much. I went to the bar one night and talked to her and she was getting better. Then she started performing with me again and I guess it was too soon. After that she got really quiet again and I guess I missed the signs. I went to work one day and when I got home, she was gone." he said sitting on the other stool holding back tears.

"I'm sorry Roger." she said putting her hand on his arm.

"It's OK. I'm fine. Really. Me and Collins take care of each other and then Mark moved in, so I'm getting through it." he said wiping his eyes before getting up and pouring them coffee.

"Do you still love her?" she asked looking up at him.

"Yeah. She's my wife. I'll always love her, but apparently she didn't love me. At least not enough to stick around." he said starting to drink his coffee black.

"I'm sure that's not true. Maybe she just needed time to clear her head. Did you call her mother? Her friends?" she asked looking up at him.

"I called everyone, but no one knows where she is. She said she would call me when she got settled to let me know she was OK, but I'm still waiting." he said leaning on the counter.

"Roger, you can't give up on her. That's an incredible trauma, losing your child like that." she said looking up at him.

"I know, but she's been gone over a year. If she was gonna come back, don't you think she would have already?" he asked looking away from her.

"Maybe. I'm sorry to bring this up Roger. I didn't mean to upset you." she said getting up going to him.

"It's OK. I'm sorry I left those pictures out. I've been trying to put them away for a while now." he said looking down at her.

"It's OK Roger. Take whatever time you need. I'm still here." she said leaning up to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and held her tighter.

"I dont need more time April. I'm here with you." he smiled as he kissed her more passionately. He picked her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her back into the bedroom where they made love again.


"Roger, come here a minute. I have something I want to show you.." April smiled looking up at Roger taking his hand as he stepped off of the stage.

"Where are we going April?" he asked smiling down at her as she opened the door that led to the alley.

"I have something for you." she smiled taking out a baggie filled with white powder.

"What is this? Blow?" he asked looking down at her.

"Nope, better. It's smack. Heroin." she smiled looking up at him.

"Heroin? Where did you get heroin?" he asked looking down at her.

"I have my ways. Do you want to try it?" she asked smiling at him.

"I don't know. What will it do?" he asked looking down at her.

"It'll numb your pain. You'll forget all about Brenda, your son. Everything. It'll make you feel good." she smiled looking up at him.

"Everything?" he asked looking down at her.

"Yep, everything." she smiled looking up at him. As he looked down at her, he thought about it. He never stopped thinking about Brenda and their son. He figured why not? If it would make him forget about Brenda leaving him, her losing their baby, everything that was hurting him he was willing to try it. As they sat on the concrete wall, the rain coming down around them, she began to cook up the heroin. When it was done she tied something around her bicep and showed Roger how to insert the needle into his veins. As she injected herself, he noticed how relaxed and carefree she looked. He wanted to feel that. For one moment, he didn't want to think about Brenda or their son. He wanted to forget about the hole he had inside of him. He took the needle and injected himself the way he had seen April do it moments before. When he was done, he sat back and felt a weight being lifted off of him.

A/N: This is the end of Endless Summer Nights. Everyone pretty much knows what happened after that, so I didn't see the point in recapping everything. The sequel will be post Rent. Look out for it. Thanks for reading and reviewing this one. I'm glad you all like it.

Renthead621