The Perfect Husband: A nail biting gripping psychological thriller. Buffy Andrews
can count on it, he texted.
I showered and crawled back into bed. Izzy curled up next to me. She hadn’t left my side all day. Normally, she rotates to different spots around the apartment, but when I’m sick or upset, she stays by me. I reached down to pet her and she purred. I turned on the TV, thinking maybe I’d watch a movie. The last thing I remember is the hero carrying the girl out of a factory. She’d found her white knight. Had I?
The coming days brought more flowers, more texts and more phone calls. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this happy. I was back to feeling human again and busy at work. I wasn’t going to complain, however. The housing market had been in a slump and I was enjoying the rebound. My bank account was, too.
I checked the time. It was already after six and I had to meet Jackie at Tony’s. Maybe I should just cancel. But that’d be the second Thursday night in a row, and I couldn’t do that to my best friend.
I picked up the files on my desk and stuffed them into my tote. I texted Jackie to tell her I was on my way. Twenty minutes later, I found her at our usual seats at the bar with her face in her phone.
Jackie sipped her drink. ‘Hey you!’
‘Sorry.’ I was out of breath from rushing. ‘I have buyers coming from out of town tomorrow, and I had to set some things up.’
‘Are you excited about this weekend?’
‘Totally! I can’t wait! But I won’t get there until Saturday afternoon. I have a hair appointment in the morning with Andre and I didn’t want to cancel it. You know how difficult it is getting an appointment with him, especially a Saturday appointment.’
Jackie scanned my head. ‘Your hair always looks gorgeous.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Are you doing anything different?’
‘No. Just getting it trimmed.’ I held out my hand and looked at my nails. ‘I could really use a manicure, too.’
Jackie swung out her legs so I could see her sandal-clad feet. ‘I just had a pedicure.’
I looked down at her toes peeking out of her sandals. ‘Oh! I love the magenta.’
She lowered her legs. ‘Me, too. I couldn’t decide between the cobalt blue, the chartreuse and this. I figured I’d start with this color and try the other two later.’
The bartender came over to take my order.
‘I’m in the mood for something different. How about an orange crush?’
‘Speaking of crush…’ Jackie winked. ‘How’s Eric?’
I laughed. ‘Great. It’s so weird how we can talk for hours and never run out of things to say.’
‘When am I going to meet him?’ Jackie asked.
‘We’ll see how this weekend goes.’
The bartender returned and slid my orange crush in front of me. I took a sip. ‘I like it.’ I turned to Jackie. ‘Want a taste?’
She took a sip. ‘Not bad. So, did you get the invite for our high school class reunion?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘It’s that time again?’
Jackie pumped her fist. ‘Thirty years, baby.’
‘Ugh! Don’t remind me.’
Jackie shook her finger at me. ‘You’d better go. After standing me up at the last reunion, you promised you’d go to this one.’
‘That’s because I was getting divorced and definitely not in the mood to mingle and act like my life was great.’
‘But you’re in a better place now, right?’ Jackie stared into my eyes.
‘Much better, thanks to Eric.’
‘Maybe he’d go with you.’
I scrunched my nose. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Eric wouldn’t know anyone. He’d probably feel uncomfortable, and I’d feel as though I had to entertain him. If I go, I want to be able to catch up with classmates I haven’t seen in forever and not worry about Eric having a good time.’
Jackie and I spent the rest of the evening chatting about high school classmates – those we’d like to see and those we wouldn’t.
‘Remember Eddie Nace?’ Jackie said. ‘Now he was hot. I used to daydream about running my hands through his long brown hair. He was almost too pretty to be a guy.’
I laughed. ‘There wasn’t a lot I liked about high school. Mom was drunk most of the time and I couldn’t wait to go to college to get away from her.’
‘You had Matt.’
‘True, I had Matt. And I felt terrible breaking up with him when I went to college, but we were better as friends than boyfriend and girlfriend.’
‘I hear he’s divorced,’ Jackie said.
‘Really? Who told you that?’
‘I ran into Liz the Loud Mouth at the grocery store the other day. We were talking about the reunion and different people. She mentioned it. Maybe he’ll be at the reunion.’
‘It would be nice to see him. Matt always seemed like a forever guy. I wonder what brought about the divorce.’
‘Maybe you’ll find out.’
I smiled. ‘Maybe.’
I didn’t realize how much fun Jackie and I were having reminiscing, until I saw the time. I told Eric I’d call him when I got home around nine and it was nine-thirty.
Driving home I realized how much Jackie and I had been through together. She was there growing up whenever my mom flew into one of her alcoholic rages and I needed a place to escape to. I was there when her children were born. We’d shared everything. There wasn’t anything I didn’t know about her and she didn’t know about me. I hoped that never changed.
I called Eric as soon as I walked into my apartment.
He sounded anxious, speaking at a rapid rate. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Uh, yeah. Why?’
‘I was worried.’
‘About what?’
‘You.’
‘Why were you worried about me?’
Eric cleared his throat. ‘You said you’d be home by nine. It’s going on ten.’
‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. Jackie and I were reliving our high school days and lost track of time. We have a reunion coming up.’
‘Reunions can be fun. You get to see people you haven’t seen in a while. I went to a couple.’
‘Did you enjoy them?’ I asked.
‘They weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. I didn’t have a date so that made it a little awkward. I felt as if people were judging me for being single.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. Guess it just bothered me a little. Do you need a date?’
‘I was planning to go alone.’
‘I’d go with you. I mean, if you want me to.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that to you. You wouldn’t know anyone, and I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.’
‘I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable,’ he insisted. ‘I’d enjoy meeting your friends.’
‘You