Gillian Lavery just couldn't force herself to eat the
breakfast before her. Usually she could eat ten of Myrtle's
pancakes in the morning, but she just didn't have an
appetite for food lately. The truth was, Gillian didn't
have an appertite for anything lately- she didn't eat, she
didn't sleep, she didn't even get excited when Hayley asked
her to go shopping last weekend. After her shifts at the
hospital, Gillian would change into one of Ryan's shirts,
lie in the bed she had shared with the only man she had ever
loved, and watch old romance movies on cable. Her face had
become drawn and pale, but her appearance was the last thing
on Gillian's mind. Today was the day when Gillian's worst
nightmare would be coming true- today was the day she would
be divorcing her husband, Ryan Lavery.
"I heard that pancakes taste really good when you
actually EAT them instead of just moving them around on your
plate." Suprised, Gillian looked up to see her friend Jake
Martin sitting across the breakfast table.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Jake," Gillian replied softly, "I
didn't even notice that you had sat down."
"That's okay, Princess," Jake said with a half smile.
He could barely contain the huge grin that threatened to
spread acroos his face at any moment. Jake was dying to
tell his friend about what was being planned for her today,
but he knew he had to compose himself. Gillian would know soon enough.
"Princess..." Gillian repeated distantly. "Ryan used
to call me that..." Gillian stood up quickly as the tears
began to swell up in her deep brown eyes.
Jake stopped Gillian before she could leave the
kitchen and captured her in his arms. Cornered, Gillian
collapsed in Jake's arms, no longer able to hold back the
tears. "Shhh...Oh, Gillian, it's going to be okay...
Shhh...I promise...Shhh...I swear, everything is going to
be okay...Shhh..." But no words could console Gillian now
as heart wrentching sobs racked her body and tears began
to flow steadily down her cheeks like rain. All Jake
could do was rub her back and let her cry.
"Oh, Jake, it hurts so much," sobbed Gillian as she
clung to his shirt. "There's a hole in my heart, Jake,
and it hurts so much. Oh, God, it hurts so much, it hurts
so much..." Gillian's words trailed off as her sobs
became louder and she slowly sank to the ground in despair.
Jake couldn't do this, he couldn't sit by and watch
his friend be in so much pain. Just as he was about to
burst out the news that her husband was going to make
everything okay and that by the end of the day she was
going to be the happiest woman alive, the kitchen door
opened and a cheery female voice called out, "Hello!"
Hayley Santos wasn't all that surprised by the
scene she found before her- Hayley knew how desperately
her friend, Gillian, loved Ryan and she knew what she was
taking Gillian to her Uncle Trevor's office to do this
morning. Still, the sight before her was something that
would draw pity even from the likes of Vanessas Bennett.
Gillian was curled up in a ball on the kitchen floor,
crying, being rocked like a child in the arms of Jake
Martin. The pain that was audible in her sobs was
enough to break the heart of the most cynical of souls.
Hayley immediately ran to Gillian and took her in
her arms. As Gillian's sobs continued, Hayley looked
over top of her friend's head and whispered to Jake,"What happened?"
Jake shrugged and whispered back, "I called herPrincess and then..."
Hayley grimaced and nodded her head in
understanding as she continued to rub Gillian's back and
whisper words of comfort to her friend. Jake shook his
head and whispered, "We HAVE to tell her!"
"NO!" Hayley whispered back. "Look, she's starting
to calm down and she probably wouldn't believe us anyway.
Besides, we promised Ryan!"
"Yeah, well, it was three o'clock in the morning
when I was sworn to secrecy. I didn't know what I was
promising!" Jake reached out and stroked Gillian's hair
as he whispered, "She's like my little sister, you know?
She's in so much pain and I didn't know how hard it
would be to keep this from her."
Hayley nodded in agreement. "I know, I know, but
just imagine how happy she's going to be when-"
Just then Gillian seemed to become aware of her
surroundings and looked up to see Hayley hugging her.
"Hayley? When did you get here?" Hayley looked down at her friend and smiled.
"I'll always be here for you, Gillian. You're one ofmy best friends."
"I am?" Gillian asked groggily as she wiped thetears from her face and sat up.
"Of course you are," Hayley replied, fixing a lock
of Gillian's wavy brown hair. "Now, let's go upstairs
and get you dressed. I know you don't want to go, but we
have a ten o'clock appointment with my Uncle Trev and he
has to be in court right after that, so we have to get
going." As Gillian began to shake her head, Hayley put
her hand on her arm and said, "Don't worry, honey, I'll be
there to hold your hand the whole time."
"Promise?" asked Gillian meekly.
"Promise," replied Hayley with a smile as she pulled
Gillian into a hug. A few minutes later the two friends
headed out of the kitchen, leaving Jake to clean up the
pancakes. Twenty minutes later, as Gillian and Hayley
headed out the kitchen door, Hayley turned towards Jake
and gave him a quick thumbs-up sign. Jake smiled. Hayley
had done her part, Gillian was on her way to Trevor's
office, now it was time for him to do his part.
To be continued...
Go to Part Three
LINK NOT ACTIVE!
I don't have Part Three, I am just setting up for next time.
