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Dead silence, his confession was met with dead silence and he looked up at his brother. He expected to see anger, hurt, resentment, but what he saw shocked him. Stephen was smiling.
"Is that all? I already knew that. Figured it out all by myself." Stephen looked at his brother. "Tom, you loved her. That's what happens when a man loves a woman."
"Wait, you're not angry, pissed. Come one Stephen." Tom asked incredulously. "It doesn't bother you?"
"When I first realized it happened I hated you and her. Here she was making me feel bad about April while screwing my brother, no less. And here you were my brother, slamming doors in my face. Making me feel horrid, but then you went away. I know you. You would fight to the death to protect the woman you love, and that would be the only reason you'd leave." Stephen explained.
"I was angry at first. I wanted her to accuse me of infidelity in divorce court, but Terri didn't. She even had April sitting with her and had irrefutable proof, but we both filed for a no fault divorce, splitting our assets evenly. Then she simply walked away from me.
I watched her cry for you. For months she looked so lost and lonely, then Lottie came back.
Tom looked away. "Lottie loves her Stephen. I know how the girl feels. I don't know..."
"She doesn't deserve to be hurt like this." Tom hissed.
"Well." Stephen said, as the older sibling he was the wisest at this point. "Unless you two plan to share Terri, someone will be heartbroken. But Tom, I know you care for her. You've been gone a year. Is your love still genuine or is it the aftermath of an affair from long ago? Think about it."
"Now let's eat". And the two men enjoyed their lunch.
Tom drove back to Mom's house and finished repairs.
When Stephen got off work April called. She wanted to let him know that they'd arrived home safely. She also asked if he could come over and visit after the holidays. Stephen smiled and told her nothing could keep him away. Then he bid her good night and they hung up.
April seemed different. Her tone, the way she spoke to him seemed softer. Something had changed. Stephen was sure nothing had but, hey a guy could dream.
-----
Lottie and Terri decided to spend a quiet evening at home. They simply lounged on the sofa and held each other close. Lottie wanted to asked where she stood, but was too afraid.
Terri wanted promise Lottie that they'd always be together, but she knew in her heart of hearts she wanted Tom. Lottie deserved so much more than this. The last thing Terri wanted to do was hurt her one true friend.
Lottie needed some space. She got off of the sofa and grabbed her jacket.
"Hey, where are you going?" Terri asked reaching for her jacket as well.
"Terri, no. I need some time. I just want to be alone for a while." Lottie explained as she walked out of the door.
Terri watched her go and her heart broke. She'd once again hurt her best friend."
I hope you enjoyed Chapter Five of "Choices". Chapter Six has to be written and I'm working on it. Please remember to vote and comment. I really would like to know what you think. If you like the story, tell me what you liked. If you think it's horrible, tell me why. Send me a private message if your comment is extremely detailed.
Again, thanks Jim. You're the best.
- COMMENTS
Iread2relaxalmost 8 years agoAuthorAnonymous, thank you for the feedback. I certainly don't intend to annoy the reader, however, I didn't want to run the risk of dialogue running together. The spacing is to keep the story from being one long continous paragraph.
Please feel free to read my other works and share your thoughts.
IR2R
Anonymousalmost 8 years agofuck me ....
whats with all the gushing nonsense & bullshit at the start & end of every chapter
seriously it really , really , really , really DETRACTS from what is otherwise a fairly good & interesting story
and
oh
if you noticed i copied your writing style using
lots of blank & empty lines to pad out this comment
and make it seem a lot longer
than it actually is
i voted 4 stars for each chapter
would have considered 5 stars for Ch.02 & Ch.03
however the self agrandising
"I SO LOVE MYSELF & NEED YOU TO LOVE ME TOO"
really , really , really annoyed me
as you can proly guess from what & how i wrote this comment
YOU write a good tale , it is interesting & enjoyable to read ...
the characters are well developed ,
the narrative & the dialogue fit together very well
just a shame you decided to PAD the story with overuse of the blank line
and disrupt the reading experience with the header/preface & footnote
WHEN you are writing 4 or 5 page chapters ..
(or even longer)
YOU can get away with pulling that sh*t ...
on short chapters it just does not work
Anonymousover 11 years agoNow Aprils dad is a black man who was forced out of her life because her mother is a cunt and she isn't angry with the bitch? Impossible.
Lickideesplitover 11 years agoThis is an awkward story to read because the reader is presented with the narrated (therefore True) point of view from EVERY character. That makes each reader's 'job' harder, as that reader tries to imagine him/herself as the current character! That ALSO makes the optimal solution obvious to 'us' long before each character can figure it out! It actually gives the lie to the title selected, since the reader actually 'sees' no 'choices' because we KNOW what the character wants AND, usually, is likely to do!
For example, there was no one available to April except the shitty brother, so he HAD to get past some of his traits and his possessiveness/control issues! He already had his deep feelings tied up with her (and we KNEW it)! And SHE had to forgive his very fundamental lie! There was no reasonable 'Choice' in either one's future!
The self-editing is not working as well as the author might think. In addition to the VERY large problem just addressed, smaller slips (like 'severe' instead of 'sever') are allowed! Also, what is probably a small factor (Tom's Canadian FwB) is given too much 'ink'.
3*
ythebadgerover 11 years agoI don't want to be too harsh because I think the intention is good and a good deal of effort has gone into it. But, as others have said, there are no characters worthy of the reader's interest.
