Page 16 of Ma Belle Marguerite
When I get downstairs, I hear Giselle and Camille talking in the kitchen. They look at me with curious gazes, like this is something big, as I enter the room. I guess my whole life has been something that calls for a girls night lately.
Camille looks from me to Giselle and back to me. I see the questions in her eyes. “Shall we take this to the living room and get comfortable?” she asks.
“Yes, just let me get a glass,” I reach for the cupboard that the glasses are in but Giselle’s voice stops me before I open the door.
“Already done. I got it ready while you put the kids to bed.” She wiggles a glass in my face as she slowly backs out of the kitchen towards the living room.
Sighing, I exaggerate an eye roll at both girls. I won’t live this one down for a while. I really need to do some grocery shopping, but Camille must have brought snacks. I grab them off the counter and head into the living room.
Once we get comfortable, Camille jumps right in. “So what’s going on? Do we need to murder someone? Need money? Running away? Spill the tea, biatch!” Dramatic as always.
“Settle down.” Looking at my wine, I take a deep breath and explain the last two days to them, from Rex being in an accident to finding out that he may not have even ghosted me all those years ago.He could have been speaking the truth at the hospital, but I don’t want him to just be manipulating me to get what he wants. The way he was raised was to be a ruthless leader so you never know.“If he can prove to me that he isn’t lying about that letter Isupposedlysent, then I don’t know if I will be able to hold a grudge. I need to see it, thankfully he said he’ll get it to me. I will still have so many questions. Like why did he just back down? Why not come for me anyway? What are his plans for the future? How will kids factor into that now? They are such a huge part of everything and I don’t want them to feel how we did growing up.”
I know I sound crazy. Who doesn’t love the thrill of the unknown? “I have a feeling that in the long or maybe short run I will cave, and that scares me, but it’s exciting at the same time. So after we talked today, I instantly felt guilty and happysimultaneously. I have so many mixed emotions, I don’t know where to start.”
I want to start a new life here, but the kids need time to adjust to losing Adrien. They never knew we weren’t in love and just best friends making the best of what life threw at us, and that is the way we wanted it. They also don’t know Rex at all, which will be a whole other battle in itself.
Taking a deep breath, I finally look up, nervous to see disgust and who knows what else on their faces. Instead, when I look up, all I see is love and concern. That does me in, and I start crying.
Almost immediately, I’m wrapped in both their arms, and the ugly crying begins. They are patient and hold me until I’m hiccuping instead of crying. I don’t know what I did to deserve these two, but I’m so grateful.
“Are you good to talk now?” Camille asks me, concern lacing her voice.
Taking a deep breath, I nod. It’s now or never, and it needs to be now.
“First of all. You have been through so much the last six months and, quite frankly, your whole life. You’ve always been the strong one of us. Now, we will be the strong support that you need.” Camille has her serious face on.
Giselle cuts in, “I’ve had a feeling the past few years that something was off. I’ve run into Rex at several events; he’d always ask about you. I didn’t tell him anything because I was pissed at him for leaving you and then having the nerve to act like he cares behind your back.” Looking nervous, Giselle continues, “I didn’t want to say anything because you were finally so happy with Adrien. I know you guys didn’t marry for love, but you were in a good place.”
I’m at a loss for words. Giselle might have known that Rex still cared and said nothing. She didn’t even tell me she hadbeen around him at events, let alone had conversations. What happened to chicks before dicks?
“I see you spiraling over there. Take a breath and think of things from Giselle's point of view,” Camille says in a calm voice.Of course, she is the voice of reason.
Looking at Giselle, I say, “Give me a second. I know that you’d never do anything to hurt me intentionally. It is just a lot to process on top of everything the last two days.” I need to trust that my girls always have my best interest in mind. They have never given me a reason to doubt them before.
I reach over and hold Giselle's hand, and I see her let out a breath. “I love you, and you’re like the sister I never had. You too, Camille.” Something like this will not be what comes between our friendship.
Now Giselle is tearing up. “Back to Rex.” Giselle wiggles her brows at me. “Are you going to see him again? Going to get your foot-popping kiss after so many years of secretly pining?”
Clearing my throat, I move back into my spot on the couch and smile. “I’m going back to see him, yes. I left him all the letters to sift through.” After taking a sip of wine, I continue, “With his concussion, I’m sure it’ll be slow going for him, but I felt butterflies when I saw him. I forgot what those feel like.”
Camille does her signature catcall, “Get it, girl! That’s exactly what you need! Don’t let guilt eat away at you. Rex was your first; he has always been the one you pined after, even though you were happy with Adrien.” We had many conversations about my guilt over the years. I’m sure they are happy to have a change in topics for once.
“Adrien would want you to be happy, not stay sad and lonely, even if it is Rex,” Giselle adds. “He may not have liked him for breaking your heart but he’d want you to at least see why he did it and finally have answers.”
“I know. I just need to figure out how to feel now. Do I believe Rex and let him back in my life? I mean, he says he still has the letter he thought I sent and will give it to me. I need to think of Brielle and Remi, too. This will be hard for them no matter what happens.”Will my kids accept him?
“I say to make him grovel a bit, but hop on that horse as soon as he’s cleared for duty, if you know what I mean.” Giselle never holds back with her words. “Angry sex is some of the best sex!”
“Don’t be so crude, woman.” Camille shakes her head with a smirk on her face. “Do what you feel will make you happy. Zero judgment from us either way. The kids may have a hard time at first, but they will come around. Give them some credit; you raised them well.”
“You just said the same thing but nicer.” Giselle rolls her eyes, making me laugh. She looks like Remi when he is pouting because his sister beat him at something.
After a couple hours of drinking and talking about the girl's recent love lives I need to get cleaned up and go to bed. There are only so many sex stories I can listen to while thinking about Rex.
“On that note, I need a quick shower to wash the hospital off me, and I’m exhausted.”I also need to deal with other things.Thinking about Rex, and the past us, has me feeling a little needy. “You guys can crash here. I don’t want you to drive after all the wine we just drank.”I don’t need to lose anyone else.
“Goodnight Bella, love ya” Camille slurs, proving my last thought right. “We’ll figure out where to crash. Go get some sleep.”
