"Hello?"
"Hi!" Terri's voice was full of concern.
"Hi."
"I heard you didn't go to work today," Terri said.
"No."
"That's two days in a row, Lou. Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine," Louise said. "I just needed some time to clear my head."
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Are you still in bed? It's 11."
Louise realized that it was pointless to avoid the obvious. "I was getting up."
"Okay, good!" Terri tried to maintain a positive tone. "Hey, I've cleared my calendar after 2:30. I need a dress for the ballet. Do you want to go shopping?"
"Oh, I don't know," Louise replied, sounding exhausted.
"Shopping!" Terri said cheerfully. "It's the best medicine!"
Louise showered and dressed. She didn't feel hungry but she convinced herself to have half a bagel with jam and a cup of black coffee.
Terri picked Louise up at 2:45 and drove her to the mall. They tried dresses at several stores without success. "Let's try Bloomingdale's," Terri suggested.
"I hate Bloomingdale's," Louise grumbled.
"I know."
"Do you think I should call him?"
"Walter?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it's up to you," Terri said. "But if you think that you might want to get back together with the guy, you probably shouldn't wait TOO long."
"Yeah."
"Did he call you?"
"A bunch of times, but I didn't talk to him."
"Did he sound okay?"
Louise didn't respond immediately. "Why doesn't he like me?" she asked.
"What? He loves you, Lou!" Terri insisted. "This thing with Jo was just..."
"No, not Walter," Louise clarified. "Frank."
"Frank? I thought we were talking about..."
"He's already rejected me twice," Louise interrupted.
"Twice?"
"Yeah, I called him the other night."
"You what?" Terri was genuinely surprised. "When?"
"Tuesday."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I..." continued Louise. "I couldn't just sit around. I had to get out."
"Okay, so what happened?"
"He picked me up. We rode around for a while," Louise continued. "I think he was giving me time to collect myself. I probably looked like a wreck."
"Well, that was thoughtful. Then what happened?"
"He took me out for pizza," Louise continued.
"Pizza?"
"Yeah. 'Best pizza in town' according to him."
"Oh, you mean Giovanni's?"
"Yes," Louise confirmed. "You know the place?"
"Everybody knows Giovanni's," Terri stated.
"Of course!" Louise agreed facetiously. "Well, anyway, he knows the guy. So next time you and your know-everything friends are there, you can mention his name."
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Nothing. Everything. Walter. Antonio."
"He knows about Antonio?"
"Yeah, I kind of let that slip when we were talking at the farm. I don't know. I was a bit of a mess."
"What did he say?" Terri asked
"He tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault even though we both knew better. He said something like 'life is messy and there are always consequences'."
"Wow! That's deep!" Terri observed. "Maybe he's been hurt before."
"I was thinking that."
"Well, what did you guys do after?" Terri asked. "If you want to tell me."
"He took me home."
"To his place?" Terri asked.
"No, to mine."
"REALLY?"
"Don't get excited," Louise assured her. "He dropped me off. He told me to be a good girl and run back to Walter."
"Really?"
Louise nodded.
"Well, that's a surprise! I pictured him as the pounce on an opportunity type," Terri said.
Louise cracked her first smile of the day. "Well, he doesn't seem to want to pounce on me!"
"Silly! Maybe it's for the best, though," Terri offered. "Do you really want your life to get more complicated at this point?"
"Not really!" Louise admitted.
"I hate to bring up the elephant in the room," Terri said, "but how are you going to handle Jo?"
"Oh, one problem at a time please!" Louise demanded.
"I understand."
"I still need to figure out the best way to dispose of Walter's body."
Terri laughed out loud. "Okay, well, let me know what you come up with. I'm always looking for new ways to get rid of them."
Louise smiled.
"I'm glad you haven't lost your sense of humor through all of this," Terri said.
"That's about all I haven't lost at this point," Louise sighed with angst in her voice.
Terri looked at Louise and almost choked up. She realized that she needed to remain strong for her friend, so she swallowed her tears and put on a good front.
"Hey, I'm sorry," Louise apologized.
"For what?" Terri asked.
"It was really nice of you to bring me out shopping today, "Louise continued, "but I kind of need to take care of something. Would you mind?"
"No, not at all! Go ahead!" Terri assured her. "But how are you going to get back?"
"I'll take the bus."
"Are you going to be all right?"
"Yeah, I've taken it before," Louise assured her.
"No, I mean YOU," Terri clarified. "Are YOU going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine," Louise confirmed. "Don't worry!"
"Okay!"
"Well, sorry to shop and run!" Louise said with a wink.
"Don't worry about it," Terri assured her. "Do what you need to do. And tell him I said hello."
Louise shook her head and then smiled. "Thanks, Terr!" she said. "Thanks for taking me out today."
"Anytime," Terri replied.
"Bye!" Louise left the store.
"Bye!"
"Okay, then!" Terri said to herself. "And I still don't have a dress."
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2013 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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