Opening the Door Read online

  “Were you faithful?”

  “Define faithful?” Cold. And I stayed seated on the stone wall that faced his parked car. He didn’t need to give me more than that because his face told me an unsung story as we silently drove home. When we got to my front door, it was the end.

  “Don’t blame me for this. I did tell you from the start that a relationship wasn’t something I’ve ever been into,” he said.

  “You wasted a huge chunk of my time. And for what? To be told that it just isn’t working a few months on?”

  “Can we still be friends?”

  I said yes. Wait… it was a delayed, yes, and let me think about it? But at the time, I didn’t want to lose somebody so close to me. And when the time went on and we got used to not having to be so dependable on the other, it made no difference to the hurt-locker that had my heart secure.

  No other could penetrate it. Some guys tried to bring a chip and hammer that came with their ultimate attention and promised me that they weren’t like that the last or the next, and none wandered from their prediction of the future with roses on my doorstep and chocolates on my pillows.

  One had a promised ring. But after five years, I still guarded my own personal space fiercely. None got in. Even female friends had a hard time knowing what was going on with me, though they tried. Tina got a few paces, but I knocked her back with her attempts to couple me up and find me love.

  We bonded on that---not believing that true love existed---And it kept me as her best friend. But if there is one thing that is true, the scars to heal and time add the plasters to where the damage had been done. There is no relief from the malignant tumor even if the cure is mixed with experience and learning to move on from what changed you completely.

  “Can we please talk!?” Tina knows that the best time to catch me if when I just finish work and need a coffee to wake me up. Next door is where I usually end up with my card that I present after getting five stamps punctured through. I got myself a latte with an extra shot. And Tiffany, who served me, sensed that I would prefer Tina to leave me be.

  I waited to collect my coffee that was being prepared. “Extra hot please.”

  “No problem … hi Tina?” Tiffany shifted her eyes from me to Tina, then me to her other customer who now got her takeaway fruit tea, and then the next customer behind me, who pushed in because Tina was hesitant to come anywhere near me. She stood in the doorway, and I kept my arms folded and face focused on my latte that would arrive soon.

  She hopped on her heels and had to keep moving to not block the entrance. Bouncy Tina tried to get my attention again and again, “Marie … Marie … Marie … I need the loo. Can we please talk? Sana had her.” But she couldn’t hold it in any longer and dashed to the loo with Tiffany handing her the key to the bathroom.

  When she came back, I was still waiting for that latte. Tina still looked like a bouncy chick on her heels that had too much sugar and couldn’t handle the persistent rush to tell me the good news that would heal our friendship. “She had the baby. Can you hear me?” She was only a few inches away, so loud and clear Tina, loud and clear. “She had the baby.”

  “OK.” My latte came, and it had a sad face turned the right way, smile Marie, it said. Smile for me as it’s a beautiful morning. But I remained harsher than a Catholic school teacher who wanted to belt the word of God into me. No word or good deed would work.

  “Marie, there’s a good chance that Curtis is not the father.”

  “He can come and tell me that. Not you.”

  “He will. But I wanted to get there first.” I stormed out the coffee shop. “Can you please stop and let me explain something very clear to you?”

  “Go ahead.” I wanted to see how clear and concise she could be.

  “He never cheated on you. So, stop acting like he’s done you wrong. It’s not fair to him. And I’m not a friend you can just chuck away when it suits you. Give me credit for being there for you ninety-percent of the time.”

  “I’ll give you that. You’ve been there without fault and I love you for that, but we must address that we both disagree with emotions that we can’t have control of. And with that comes me wanting to know why you didn’t tell me that Curtis and Sana had a thing?”

  “What thing?”

  “A sex thing. With the potential to get a girl knocked-up thing. That …” I gave Tina my coffee to hold. “And another thing … it could be his. The timing fits in with me and Curtis agreeing to be free. So, it won’t crack anything that isn’t already broken. He can spare me the pain of getting hurt. I know what to look out for.”

  “Maybe we both need to redefine why we aren’t as happy as we should be.”

  “Who says I’m not happy?”

  “Each time you say no to Curtis, the unhappiness is always there when you come to let me know that you once again rejected his appeal for love.”

  “And what would you do?” That I couldn’t find my car keys and where I had parked my car was a mystery that had me searching and Tina trying her best to not lose her shoes. At one point, she held them alongside her bag and trotted after me: a dutiful friend that was breaking a smile from her inability to take a hint. But that’s why I loved her because she persisted even when I told her to get lost.

  Tina kept on yelling after me, “Have you tried over here? What about down this street?” And she would be off! In the end, I started to find that her compass was leading to where my car was close to. We found it under a bridge with a ladder in her tights and my thirst for another coffee because we had shared.

  “Thanks.”

  “You know I’m always there to help. And … would it be too cheeky to ask for a lift?”

  “No. I’ll drop you home.”

  Tina appreciated it and wouldn’t stop thanking me and letting me know that she was one call away. We even hugged, although not like we always did with the same appeal. But it still hit the spot for all the lost time. Nonetheless, I would need time. “Call me.”

  “Soon.” And then she got out. I drove home with no intention to have any guests. A hot bath, dinner, and a glass of wine were what would suit me after working that computer screen and running up-and-down with files that held information on university graduates and their housing – with their financial records and student loans.

  But there was a visitor that crept up behind me with my bag that unleashed a swoosh and wallop on the shoulder side of the face. The jokes on the little old ladies who swung their bags when no help came to cross the street were exactly what I dished out to the illuminated male.

  “It’s me! Can you stop because that really hurts?”

  “Curtis?”

  “Yeah, it’s me, and we need to talk.”

  CHAPTER 4

  How it happened, it was… I couldn’t say no at the time when it hit me. My body just gave in to what was out of my control. Curtis walked into my living room and then we stood with nothing exchanged until an overwhelming sense of lust engulfed my lady gardens with intensity.

  It outshone me and he saw me play and swirl my hair a little at the loss of control. Then my wet lips gave him an indication that the thoughts I had for him were sinful.

  Curtis had not come for that but we were going to have sex when I saw that his hardness increased with our blood pressure evoking a change that swept both of us to the shower. Why there? It was hot. Our bodies were screeching and needed cooling-off. Because the clothes came off and his insertion into me needed a little prodding to get him going.

  The water fell, pattering the floor as I got the soap and rubbed it over our bodies while we kissed and tongue – rolled until we made patterns that locked and unlocked. I kept my legs tight as he pressed me against my cold bathroom tiles. But with the water dropping, the anxiety was creating a climax before he could even get me off.

  I gripped his rumps and he pumped me full of his goodness as I clasped the back of his neck and we kissed to the movement of his timing. Not once did he stop, and I was vocal all the way t
hrough. Curtis didn’t tire. He went on, and I tried to match his enthusiasm.

  What he brought to this intercourse was a desire to remind me that he was the only man who could send me red and not apologize for how good he could be.

  My nipples got plenty of his attention. Then he raised one of my legs until it was a right-angle, and that stirred me into a horn-dog with an obsession for him to not bloody stop!

  I was screaming as his breathing intensified because he found it hard to control the testosterone that peaked the sort of lava that favors the color of lube. Curtis was excited, and he zoomed until we just bounced and raised for continuous periods with our vocal chords so high that the sound of the shower muted and disappeared.

  And then that fix of the muscles, that scent of the odd, and that smell of sex that the water couldn’t diminish fondled behind the final laps inside my hole that clung to me fighting what he had brought me close to cumming.

  Would I let him? I thought. My mind and body convulsed, and I massaged his back and tried to stop myself. But when it hit me, it did so at an alarming rate. He groaned, and that made it worse! He tried to slow down, but he was off, and there were no brakes needed.

  “Won’t you make me cum?”

  “I will. Then it proves something. That we are the most compatible!” We screamed and groaned. I barely heard him. But it was over when he raised my leg further and slammed me sensually against the tiles. That struck a vein for both of us, and with no pressure, my body gave in to the beauty of a unison that confused the hell out of me!

  I left my own home, and that brought me on a run that led me to roads I didn’t even know were close to me. Curtis followed me until I stopped and broke into the accumulated degree that I hadn’t finished. It wasn’t just Curtis I cried for, it was the young me that had failed to be able to love again.

  Because it was love between me and Curtis. And it scared me, and him… Well, Curtis was out of the car with his jacket for me to wear, and he had my house key that he slotted into my hands. Before I could go down that alleyway with the sign that leads to the small greenway, he held my hand and wouldn’t let go.

  So, we held hands with me crying, and him patiently waiting until I stopped. When we reached the gate that had a passageway for bikes and the other for walking pedestrians, I flung myself into his arms and he carried me over the gates. It was a challenge but he managed.

  He placed me down on the other side, and a few bikes rode past. They would’ve seen the push and shove that Curtis and I had as we went on. I pushed him away, then yanked back at his t-shirt to bring him back. My love life was that: the impulse, the shove, the energy, the pain going down behind the drain, and there was no stopping it.

  He held my shoulders and gave me a playful shake-shake-shake-shake that worked with bringing me back to our situation. “What do you want, Curtis? Did you find out that you were the father after all?”

  “No. That’s why I came tonight, to tell you that I’m not the father.”

  “Really?”

  He showed me the results via his email and using his data. “Negative. You see. I’m not the father of Sana’s baby.”

  “And so what? What does that change?”

  “You can give me another chance. That’s what it changes.”

  “Her sister! Anybody else, but my best friend’s sister?”

  “It was right after you said no for the fourth time running. It did a number on my ego, and I took the short break away to Spain and Tina put me into contact with her sister who could give me a place to stay. So that made it cheaper. We got closer. All we spoke about during the whole time I was there was how to get you to say yes! Because NO was your vocabulary for me.”

  “And do you know why?”

  “You got hurt, I understand. But why block the passable of what we have? He hurt you. And I’m here claiming to fix that.”

  “Like all the others.”

  “They didn’t stick around for two years and put up with your bullshit” –

  “So, it’s bullshit.”

  “Yes. I love you. Do you hear me, Marie, I love you! And I’m going to ask you this before it’s too late, will you marry me?”

  CHAPTER 5

  My phone rings, and I know who it is. The caller has tried ten times already. I let it ring some more before I take it out to see the name. It’s on private now; smart one that will never fool me. Then another number comes in as I walk and wipe my eyes from the waterworks.

  Yes, another number, same person. They’re really trying here, giving it all they can because it’s now too late. But then in comes the third number that has a part to play in this.

  The one who hurt me abandoned me, gave me hope when there was none. If I answer this call, I’ll be undoubtedly giving them a second chance. But I must think on this because it hurts even though we both are to blame in the long run.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m just heading to the store to buy a few things. What do you want?”

  “I haven’t heard from you, Marie. It’s been a week.”

  “Yeah. A lot has happened since then.”

  “Like what?”

  “A break. A chance to think about what I want for my future.”

  “In regard to you and Curtis?”

  “To everything. My life has been going relatively well when it comes to the job front and knowing what I want to do in that area of my life. But friendships and relationships have always been an issue for me to handle, and I need to know why?”

  “You need to let go.”

  “Let go? Let go of what?”

  “Jackson. What he did to you and how he made you feel. Curtis is different. He made a mistake out of not knowing how to deal with his feelings for you. Do you get that? After he and Sana did it, he immediately checked himself out of there and said no offense to her, but he was in love with someone else. I’ll send you the message she sent me.”

  The message that Sana had sent to Tina detailed that Curtis was in love with me, and he didn’t know how to deal with my disregard for his countless trying. He was also upset that having slept with her would only make matters worse. But even if was part of an excuse, it still held me at a cliff that I always made him jump. “Did you read it?”

  “I did.”

  “So, you see, he loves you.”

  “It’s not that simple, Tina. Words mean nothing.”

  “He’s given you more than words, time and time again. Let him in? Give it a chance and be happy. You deserve it.”

  “What I deserve is a fresh start.”

  “With Curtis.”

  Another call came in. It was Sana, Tina’s sister. I looked at the number but ignored it to continue speaking with Marie, “Your sister is calling me.”

  “No … really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, answer it.”

  “And say what?”

  “It’s not every day you get a call from Spain.”

  “I don’t want to speak with Sana, after she and Curtis…”

  “Oh, come on. Curtis was single then. Give it a rest.”

  I had to snigger at that. A rest would be nice. And my curiosity got the better of me, so I answered the call to Sana. “I’ll put you on hold.”

  “Take your time. There’s no need to rush back.”

  “Hmm.”

  I accepted the call from Sana and surprisingly, she got straight to the point. “Please don’t be too hard on Curtis. He’s a decent guy who came from being a playboy, and he’s done well by you. He’s not the father. I knew he wasn’t but it always pays to be safe than sorry. The father is Dominic, and to be fair, I got what I deserved. The one thing he said about you that stood out for me is that he only became a playboy when a girl broke his heart at around a similar time when you mentioned that Jackson had done you wrong.

  “Your stories are so similar. She wanted them to be official. When it got down to it and time went on, she cheated on him, and that blew him to stop caring about feel
ings. But when he met you, he said that he saw the same wounds, and together, you both offered a therapeutic element that washed away the blues. Those were his words; a real poetic guy.”

  I paused and let all that give me a mouth cleanse. “So he’s not the father?”

  “No,” She abruptly said, “and he left the next morning saying it should never have happened. I have the text if you want to read it?”

  “No, I believe you.”

  “OK. I’m sorry, Marie. You know me. I would never have slept with Curtis if he didn’t tell me that you two were no longer a regular occurrence. But I’m still sorry.”

  And it sprung again without me knowing it. “Thanks, Sana. You’ve actually made me come to my final decision.”

  “No problem, girlie. And you need to come and see me soon?”

  “I will.”

  “Glad we can still be friends.”

  “Of course. A fresh start.”

  We hung up together. And then without having to call him, a private number came through. “Curtis…”

  “It’s me. I still love you and I want you to be my wife.”

  “Can you settle with me as a fiancé first?”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “I love you, Curtis. And after the story Sana told me, it shows that we were meant to be. I’m ready for a second chance at love and I truly believe you’re going to do your best to not let me down.”

  ***