Chapter 6

Yawning I stretch myself and turn my head to the window. The sky is already light blue, and I notice a cloud or two. Now I understand why Heather spent so much money on a set of bed sheets. They are amazing. Even though I didn't really sleep much, I felt comfortable.

Growling because my head hurts from all the crying I sit up. I don't know what to do. Do I want to talk with Luke about it? Do I want to try to fix it? Or do I want to throw everything we have away because of one stupid night?

Relationships aren't easy and can get messy from time to time. Things can get said when one is under a lot of pressure or in an emotional state. But Luke was neither yesterday. I don't want to throw our relationship away because of it. I know that we should be able to work on it. I think that depending on what he will say when I get back over to the house, I'll make up my mind and decide.

Sighing I get out of the bed and look at the t-shirt I'm wearing. It's Henry's. He gave it to me yesterday, because I didn't want to sleep in my dress, nor felt comfortable enough to sleep naked in his guest bedroom. Without asking for a reason, he got it for me from his closet and I could smell it was freshly washed.

After brushing my teeth, I make my way through his house slowly. When I see him cooking in his kitchen I stop in my tracks and shift my weight uncomfortably from one leg onto the other. It looks like he has been awake for some time. His hair looks slightly wet, and he already wears a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Kal gets up from his bed in the living room and walks over to me. Henry notices it and turns around. As soon as he sees me, he smiles at me warmly.

"Good morning. I hope you were able to get some rest," he tells me and points with his hand to the stool where I sat yesterday.

Last night, we didn't talk about anything else after I had thanked him for being a friend. I was too exhausted and confused by everything that happened and he gladly offered me to show me to one of his guest bedrooms.

"Yes, some. And good morning to you too," I let him know as I'm walking to the stool.

"Well, I have been awake for couple of hours now and I don't think morning is still appropriate as it is already one o'clock in the afternoon," he informs me with a grin, and I tear my eyes open in shock.

"I'm sorry."

"Charlotte, stop apologizing. It's all good. You clearly needed the rest, and you already look better than yesterday."

"You probably had plans and I got in the way."

"If you view reading the script I received for the new movie and entertaining Kal as plan, yeah you are definitely disturbing my day packed with plans," he tells me sarcastically and I shake my head, but need to stop as my head hurts. The pain lets me draw my eyebrows together and makes the rest of my face contort.

"Do you want some pain medication?" Henry asks me immediately and I can hear the concern in his voice.

"No, I can deal with it. All the crying has given me a headache."

"You shouldn't be in pain. That's what pain meds are for," he tries again, and I sigh loudly.

"Fine," I give in, and he looks content with my answer.

"Here," he starts as he puts a plate in front of me. When I look at it warily, he continues, "You can't tell me, you don't like scrambled eggs. You would be the first person."

"That's not it, but you cooked for me."

"Yes, because a human being needs to eat in order to function. And I don't think you would want the salmon with lemon and the sautéed spinach with garlic with it as breakfast, because I'll have that as my lunch." He raises an eyebrow inquiringly and the corners of his mouth twitch slightly.

"No, thanks. I think all I can stomach at the moment are the scrambled eggs," I tell him, and he nods.

"Good. Now start to eat or it will get cold, and I'll fetch the meds for you." He turns around and leaves me sitting there with my food.

"Have you given it a thought what you want to do about yesterday?" he asks me, breaking the silence that has fallen between us after he had grabbed the medication and then sat down next to me.

"Yeah, a bit," I sigh and poke my fork couple of times into the last piece of scrambled egg on my plate. Taking a deep breath, I want to continue, but he stops me.

"Don't feel obligated to tell me. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing with me is fine by me. Just because I was there yesterday and witnessed parts of it, doesn't mean you have to talk with me about it."

"I know." Weakly I smile at him and eat the last piece of my breakfast.

"However, I need to tell you, that since I consider you to be a friend of mine, that I am not able to think objectively about it. I stand behind my words from yesterday."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"That he doesn't deserve your forgiveness after what he said to you, even though it goes against what I read every single day." He gives me his phone with the instructions to read them.

The title reads #LifeLessons Advice from an 80-year-old man. [1]

I read through all of the 50 points and advices that are bulleted. Each of them has a deeper meaning and I understand why he likes to read them, because they bring things into perspective. When I read number 17 "Give people a second chance, but not a third" I know that he must have had this in mind.

"That man is very wise," I say while putting his phone down.

"Yes, and I try to take these points to make my life and the ones around me better."

"Thank you for sharing this with me. I think that I can take a few points from there."

"Good." He looks at me with slightly less concern as before and I can see something in his eyes, that I can't really decipher.

"I think everyone deserves a second chance. I know that Luke has said and done things yesterday, that I am not comfortable with. I have never seen him like that. The last year has been tough on our relationship, and we might go through a bumpy phase at the moment, but I think I want to work it out. I get that you are probably not his biggest fan right now, but he usually is a considerate man or else I wouldn't have fallen in love with him."

"You stand correct, that I don't like him and from what I've gathered during the times we met, I don't think that I want to meet him. There are things in life for which people don't deserve another chance, especially when they showcase one's unhealthy or toxic personality traits. And only to love someone doesn't mean that they are good for you. I can't tell you what you need to do about your life and your relationship. If you want to give him a second chance and work it out, I can only wish you the best for it and I'll keep my thoughts about him to myself, because this friendship is important to me," he tells me and has some sort of smile on his lips. He gives me a lot to think about and I still need to process everything that has happened.

"Okay," I say and look at the time on his phone. "I should get back to my house. I'll probably have a day full of cleaning and putting things back to where they belong," I sigh and take both of our plates.

"I'll take care of cleaning up here," he protests as he notices what I am doing.

"No. You cooked, so I at least can put or dishes into the dish washer. That's what friends do," I tell him and smile at him while getting down from the bar stool.

After cleaning the dishes, I get changed into my clothes from yesterday, then I thank him again for being there for me before going over to my house.

Hesitantly, I open the front door. To my surprise the house is clean, and Luke waits for me in the living room with his head bend downwards. When he hears my steps, he looks up and directly at me. A sad and worried expression is on his face.

"I'm so sorry about all of this," he says as he gets up and quickly walks over to me. "I don't really remember what happened yesterday and when you weren't here this morning, I already feared the worst," he continues and gently places a hand onto my cheek. I slightly flinch, but then relax.

"You don't remember anything that happened last night?" I ask him not really sure if I should believe him. The earnest expression in his face makes me feel as if I should.

"Not really. I know we went out for dinner and that I organized a party for you to come to afterwards. All of our friends were there, and we had fun. We danced. We drank. But something in my gut tells me, that something happened." I fight a battle with my own conscience, if I should tell him or not what happened.

"The look on your face indicates to me that we have been fighting. Please tell me," he almost begs, and I exhale loudly.

"You got really drunk and kind of locked me out of our house." It might not be the full truth, but I don't believe that telling him what he did and say exactly would be the right thing to do right now.

"Fuck," he says and runs both his hand through his blond hair. "I'm sorry. I haven't been myself lately. When I was in New York, I met my father, and we had a talk."

I have met his father a few times and they weren't pleasant at all. To the public he was a loving and righteous father, husband and businessman, however what I witnessed when I stayed with Luke at his parents' home over a weekend still gives me goosebumps.

He was condescending and his moral views regarding the role of a woman in a relationship or marriage were more than just archaic. He told me openly to my face that I should have studied something else, or not studied at all, because as a woman I should rather take care of the children and the home. That I was not good enough for his son, because I do not come from a rich family and should not imagine that I should ever get his blessing.

"What did he want from you?" I ask him, trying to push my memories about that away, because I know that nothing good has come out of their conversation. Maybe that explains his attitude in the past two weeks. I am somewhat glad that we are talking about this now.

"He wants me to come back and start to take over the company. He thinks that I had enough time for my little experiment and that it failed."

"Do you want to do that?" I want to know somehow frightened about the answer.

"No. I don't want to leave and go crawling back to my father. I want to keep studying even though I am not on track with all my assignments." I exhale loudly and it hasn't gone unnoticed by me, that he hasn't talked about our relationship.

"What about us?"

"I want to work on it. Both of us need to. I need your understanding that I need to put even more effort into my studies now. And you need to start figuring out your problems with your book and the movie on your own. I can't be distracted right now."

Taking a deep breath I swallow my own pride, because I would say something that I would probably regret as we are holding the first civil conversation in months, and I don't want to argue about that.

"Where did you stay last night anyways?" he now asks me with a sudden interest and undertone, that I can't decipher.

"Our neighbor saw me in front of the house and offered me a place for the night."

"Was it Ava and Liam?"

"No, they are away with their kids in Disney World. It was our other neighbor."

"Oh wow, that's really nice of them. Maybe I need to go over to them and tell them that I appreciate their generosity."

"You don't need to. I already did that," I tell him and smile weakly at him. It doesn't feel good to keep it from him, but I told Henry, I wouldn't tell anyone that he lives here.

"I still can't figure out how I locked you out of the house though?"

"You left the key in the lock."

"But you could have tried to knock or ring the bell."

"I did, but nobody opened the door for me. I guess, I could have come in through the garage, but I wasn't in the mood for a party anyways. So, I accepted the offer to stay at our neighbor's place."

"I see," Luke says and I somewhat have the feeling that he doesn't believe me.

[1] The link to the article: https://medium.com/bigger-picture/lifelessons-advice-from-an-80-year-old-man-799510fb0f91