Caroline & Lost Love
Chapter Three
By: Jana~
*****~*****
--Remo greeted Caroline and Annie warmly, as he always did, then ushered them to a seat, skipping off to get them their breadsticks…
"Ok, Caroline, spill it. What happened?"
Caroline sighed as she opened her menu… "He said 'no'…"
"Said 'no' to what?"
"Going away for our anniversary."
Annie sighed angrily… "And what excuse did the jackass give?"
"He's not a jackass Annie…"
"He's not a husband!"
"He's a good man, but…" she trailed off… hesitated…
"But…?" Annie encouraged her to continue…
"But… I think we need help."
"Well, he does, anyway."
Caroline scowled… "I meant like with a marriage counselor, Annie."
"To be honest, that's probably a good idea."
"What's a good idea?" Remo asked as he set the basket of breadsticks on the table…
"Caroline and Richard going to a marriage counselor…" Annie replied without thinking, and Caroline nudged her shoulder in response…
"Uh-oh! Are you and Ricardo having marital problems?"
"Not really…" Caroline answered Remo after glaring at Annie… "Just have a few issues to work out is all."
"Caroline?" Johnny, the waiter approached… "You have a phone call."
She acknowledged him and followed him to the phone, which gave Annie and Remo a chance to talk…
"So, Annie, what's going on with Carolina and Ricardo?"
"She just confided in me that he is major stingy in the 'love' department… if you know what I mean."
"Really?" he sat to talk to her further…
--Caroline picked up the phone as Johnny hit the proper extension button…
"Yes?" she said into the phone curiously…
"Hi Caroline, it's me…"
She recognized Richard's voice immediately… "Hey! What's up?"
"I wanted to tell you, I'm also finished with the panel, and I called Charlie, so he's on his way to pick it up. And then I'm heading back to the gallery before Ray has an aneurysm."
"What's his problem now?"
"The banner for the opening has several misspellings."
"Knowing Raymond, he's probably about ready to explode…"
Richard laughed… "Exactly. So, I'll be awhile, but I should be home for dinner. Want to bring something on my way home?"
"I'm still thinking about lunch… so, I don't know. Call me later and ask?"
"Sure. Love you." He always ended his phone calls that way…
"Love you too." She replied automatically… the words losing all meaning after so many years… "Bye."
--"I can't believe Ricardo would be so cruel…" Remo shook his head in disappointment…
"Well, believe it."
"That was Richard…" Caroline informed as she approached the table, Remo immediately standing and retreating… "He's heading back to the gallery…"
"Of course he is…" Annie replied sourly…
"And what is that tone for?" Caroline asked as she picked her menu up… "You'd think Richard was denying you sex…"
Annie recoiled… "Ugh! Caroline! Please! I'm about to be eating here!"
"I just don't get what you're so upset about…"
"I'm upset cause my best friend is unhappy! My best friend's husband cares more about his precious art gallery than his own wife!"
"You're not helping, Annie…" Caroline complained softly… "I knew I shouldn't have told you…"
"I'm not trying to make you feel worse, Caroline… but I'm worried about you! You've seemed so… distant… since… that day. And now I know why!"
"Look, forget I said anything, ok? Please? This isn't doing me any good… to have you upset with him… and, I have enough to deal with, alright?"
Annie looked at her for a moment, realizing just how much hurt she was going through by the look in her eyes… "Sure. I'm sorry, Caroline…"
"It's ok. I know you mean well… and I love you. But, it's just-- I just need to-- I need to deal with this in my own way. Can you understand that?"
"Yeah…" Annie nodded… "I can…"
*****~*****
--Caroline rolled up to her door with Annie in tow. She barely got the key in the door when it jerked open from the inside…
"Skating through…" Charlie announced as he exited Caroline's loft, almost skating right into her and Annie…
"Hey, Charlie…" Caroline smiled… "Haven't seen you around much…"
"Yeah, been busy with my new past time!" He spun around twice, once to hit the elevator button, once just because…
"Oh yeah? And what's that?"
"Roller-football!" he exclaimed excitedly… "Three guys on each team, and the whole point is to make touchdowns and avoid getting tackled! Those hurt on concrete!" He rolled up his sleeve to show a multitude of band-aids and bruises in various stages of healing…
"Why don't you play on the grass? Like real football players do?" Annie asked…
"Oh, we tried that…" he explained as he rolled onto the elevator… "But these things" he pointed at his rollerblades "suck on grass!"
He waved goodbye as the doors closed, and Caroline and Annie shared a look of disbelief before entering Caroline's apartment…
Annie shook her head as she followed Caroline into the kitchen… "How he ever got someone to marry him, I'll never know…"
"Well, Phoebe is as weird as he is."
"True. Guess it proves, there is someone for everyone…"
"That brings up a good point…" Caroline stated as she grabbed herself and Annie a bottle of Snapple tea out of the fridge… "When are you and Del gonna tie the knot?"
"Oh, we did that last night." Annie replied casually, and then laughed when Caroline gasped in surprise… "Well, not so much 'tying knots' as getting handcuffed a little…"
Caroline slapped her jokingly… "Not talking kinky sex you pervert. I'm talking about marriage!"
"We're just not ready…"
"You've been together for 7 years! You pretty much have a marriage without the ceremony!"
"I know, I know. But I think it's the ceremony idea that has him freaked out…"
Caroline shook her head… "Yeah. He always said 'the 3rd marriage will be the last marriage'."
"Yep! He thinks the second we say 'I do', it'll change everything and I'll want to divorce him and take away the last of his property and pride."
"That would upset me, I would think. To have him just assume that we would get a divorce and that I would take everything of his in the settlement."
"Yeah. We've had that argument, but it's just that Jill really did a number on him. He's just… being cautious…"
"Overly so. Maybe he's just in it for the sex…"
Annie looked hurt by her comment… "Well, at least he has sex with me." She regretted saying it the second the statement left her mouth…
"That's because you're still beautiful. When your looks go, then where will you be?"
It was turning ugly, and Annie's first instinct of slapping her moved aside and made way for the obvious thought… she couldn't hit a disabled person…
"I'm gonna go…" Annie headed for the door… "Before we both say something we're likely to regret later…"
"Sure! Run away! Truth hurts, huh?"
Annie turned back and glared at her best friend, then shook her head… "I'll talk to you later…" She opened the door and took a step out… "When you aren't so--" she stopped herself, holding up her hand as if to show that she wouldn't stoop to name-calling, then walked out the door and shut it behind her…
Tears splashed down Caroline's face… both from anger and sadness, and she grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and chucked it at the door…
The empty glass vase shattered on the door, sending shards flying to the floor with a sound not unlike hail hitting the sidewalk on a cold winter's day.
*****~*****
--Annie walked into the art gallery with purpose, ignoring the tall, gangly, irritating assistant of Richard's as she searched for him…
"You really can't be disturbing him…" Ray whined as he followed her…
"Tell me where he is or leave me alone." Annie snipped, looking at him sternly before continuing her search… "Richie!" she yelled, hoping he would find her if he heard her… "Richie! Get your tight ass out here!"
Her plan worked, and Richard appeared a few moments later from a back office… "Annie?" he looked at her with concern… she never showed up at his gallery… "What are you doing here?"
"You need to go home to Caroline."
His eyes grew wide with fear… "What happened? Is she alright?"
"We had a fight…"
He eyed her incredulously… "Is that all?"
"When I left, she threw something at the door. A plate maybe. Something glass… I heard it break…"
"Why did she do that? What did you do to her?"
"It's not about what I did to her!" she snapped… "It's about what you don't do to her!"
"What are you talking about?!" he asked, upset and getting angrier…
"I know about your…" she hesitated, seeing that their argument had drawn a crowd… "I know about your… lack of interest."
He just looked at her for a moment, trying to determine what she meant, then, it hit him. He understood what she meant, and shock made way for embarrassment, which made way for offense… "Let's talk about this in my office…" He pointed down the hall, then led the way to his office…
--They entered the office, then he closed the door… "Tell me now, in detail, just what are you talking about."
TO BE CONTINUED…
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