Wait and Hope: Chapter Eight
Sherry
Rafe pulled open the ornately decorated metal security screen and softly knocked on the gold filigreed dark oak wooden door forgoing using the doorbell. Sherry was expecting him, so the increasingly uneasy man hoped she would recognize the rap at the door as being him not some unexpected guest or stranger and immediately let him in.
He didn’t understand completely why he was feeling this way; anyone familiar with either one of them knew they were seeing each other casually. Although there weren’t any of their acquaintances around, lurking in the shadows, Rafe was unreasonably paranoid they were. He certainly didn’t want anyone jumping to conclusions, assuming things had turned serious between the two with his showing up at her home.
Least of all he didn’t want rumblings centered on incorrect assumptions, that he and Sherry were now intimately involved, to reach Harrington’s ears. Even though the older man had readily agreed to the two of them pursuing their own relationship, Rafe knew how Harry was. If he entertained the slightest idea, even if it was a misconception, that Rafe could be or was happier with someone else, Furnham would retreat from Gianni Rissole’s life for good. Rafe would never be happy without Harry, now that he had found the other man again; he just needed time to prove it.
Where would that time come from? Most hours in a day, Rafe was either at work or at home sleeping or trying to. The rest, if he wasn’t taking care of personal obligations, he had spent with Sherry just going somewhere to eat or for entertainment. Neither of them was interested in anything beyond friendship or so Rafe had thought. After the woman’s reaction to his being late yesterday evening and her less than amiable greeting to Harrington, Rafe wasn’t so sure. Perhaps that was another reason for his increasing unease as he waited outside her door. This wouldn’t be so much as an agreement to terminate their mutual arrangement but more of a break-up, at least from her side of things.
One less problem at least, Rafe didn’t have long to wait and worry about being seen or worse yet have unfounded rumors spreading from uninformed tongues. Rumors he did not want reaching Harry’s ears once Rafe introduced the other man into the small circle of his new life. It wasn’t much but Rafe was content with it, except for that feeling of emptiness that permeated his soul when he was alone, lying awake instead of sleeping. That void Rafe had felt himself wandering in all alone had been filled briefly last night as he had slept soundly for the first time in months curled against the solid warmth of another human being. He needed Harrington Furnham in his life-all of it.
Within a minute the door cracked a few inches and then was fully opened after Sherry released the chain lock inviting him in, before she turned to head back into her living room expecting Rafe to follow her.
Rafe accepted Sherry’s offer of a cup of coffee and took a seat in a rocker recliner placed in front of the living room window, the only solid looking piece of furniture in the otherwise totally feminine and fragile décor, as he awaited her return.
Sherry seemed cheery enough, being the perfect hostess; hopefully the woman was over what had set off her unusual behavior the evening before. But that was wasted optimism on his part. When she gave him his coffee and sat on the lavishly upholstered divan a few feet away that faced the windows, the stormy ice queen that had ripped into him at the diner and gave Harry the-if looks could kill-stare was back in full force.
Rafe tried to start out by humbly apologizing, “I should have called you before I left my apartment; I was already running late and you could have made other arrangements with the restaurant. I tried to hurry as I really didn’t want to make you wait longer than necessary. Then I saw the abandoned car and further on, Furnham and his dog walking along the shoulder of the road. I couldn’t just ignore a disabled man stranded on foot. I would have tried to let you know if we weren’t headed for the diner anyways. I truly am sorry for the delay and upsetting you so much.”
“You think keeping me waiting doing your Good Samaritan act is why I was so upset and angry?” fumed the woman Rafe thought was only a friend as she eyed him with disbelief.
“We have been going out with each other for months and you’ve never been late. As far as I know you haven’t been seeing anyone else either,” she ranted on her face beginning to flush in anger, “But, there I was, worrying something awful had happened. Then what do I see? That crappy green pickup pulling into the diner parking lot, before you and that man get out of it. I or anyone else looking out the diner’s windows would assume they were watching the two of you having some kind of lover’s quarrel!”
“That wasn’t what it was. I tried to tell you…” Rafe was forced to stop mid-sentence as the incensed woman rudely broke in continuing her on with her tirade.
“Oh, really!? Damn It! I tried to get your attention, I wanted you to tell me what did happen, but you were too busy ogling that man’s ass to hear me. You think I didn’t see your nearly fall off the booth’s seat trying to look around me?”
Sherry lowered her voice and her eyes, watching herself twist one of the jeweled rings on her finger, “I planned on apologizing for my behavior when I thought you were stopping by, my uncle having given you the night off so we could work things out. So I waited and waited.” Sherry looked up again and although she was still speaking lowly, her fury was barely contained; her face reddened even more in anger as she hissed, “When you never showed I called the café because there is no other way for me to contact you directly…Why is that?...and Kylie answered the phone. She innocently informed me you had left and she had no idea where to. That woman never liked seeing the two of us together and that mouthy little waitress just had to make sure I knew that you and that, that man were pretty chummy when you left.”
Rafe blinked several times, clamped his mouth tightly closed to avoid lashing out in return and looked out the window into the lovely courtyard of the condominium complex. The rest of her tirade drowned out as he thought about what Sherry said. Rafe questioned when he had become so transparent. Yes, he loved the man now calling himself Harrington. Yes, they were having what looked to be a lover’s quarrel. Yes, Rafe had totally disregarded Sherry’s presence in front of him, so focused that he was on making sure Harrington was all right (and of course checking out that lovely backside), but Rafe used to be able to hide those kind of actions. Maybe all the months he had spent without Harry in his life had softened those skills. He no longer had to fight displaying the emotions openly that being so close to Harold brought.
More of Sherry’s grumblings snapped Rafe out of his thoughts on why things had changed and onto the problem now at hand. Right this moment Rafe had to set the woman straight and remind her that he wasn’t; straight that is.
“Now listen here!” Rafe broke in silencing the woman as her mouth dropped. “Please listen?” Rafe pleaded softly. “I am grateful that you understood I wasn’t interested in any kind of serious relationship when we first became friends. I wasn’t ready for that, but I didn’t want to hide away from life either. I really appreciated having someone to get out and do things with who didn’t expect anything more from me than friendship or pressure me into something I just wasn’t ready for romantically. For that I will always be grateful and you will always hold a place in my heart as the dear friend I have come to care for deeply.”
Rafe set down his coffee and stood up. He paced a few steps away and turned around putting his hands on his hips, his words a stern warning “As my friend you should be thankful I finally found someone I can be interested again. You should be glad he lifts me from that dark hole of depression you know I was in. And you won’t talk about Harrington like that ever again. Not to me, not to Harrington and especially not behind our backs.”
Sherry paused a moment longer, still open mouthed and glared at Rafe, her eyeballs seeming to protrude right out of their sockets. Her face turned an even deeper red before she shrieked, “Finally interested? You think a short, dumpy geek who looks like a reject from the Bill Nye the Science Guy Show is interesting? What have I been these last few months?”
Rafe was floored. “You are interesting but we…” Rafe moved his hand back and forth between them to show he meant Sherry and himself, “We were tired of being set up on blind dates and agreed to see each other as friends for a cover story.”
Rafe watched her bite down hard on her bottom lip before she actually blew air out her nostrils like an angry bull and snorted. “I never said that. I said that I was tired of my Uncle setting me up with losers. I can get a date! I can get a man just fine! Thank you very much.” She bobbed her head from side to side in a snippy manner making her hair flounce around. “My uncle doesn’t approve of most of my boyfriends. I need to stay in his good graces. Besides, I never said you weren't my type. I never said I wasn’t interested in you.”
Rafe shook his head at the misunderstanding between them, the need to further argue dissipated. Rafe sat down heavily on the nearest chair, a delicate pink Queen Anne chair complete with a lace skirt, arm doilies and two throw pillows of playful kittens on their covers. “But I told you I wasn’t looking for a romantic partner.”
Sherry leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms defensively. “I know! You said you weren’t ready for a commitment. I figured that maybe if I stayed close and helped you through this rough patch that...” At this point Sherry herself lost the wind in her sails and she looked slightly sheepish. “I thought that when you were ready for love again I would be right there. You would have to look no further. And now, now I find out you friend-zoned me! This whole time I was waiting for you to be ready and turns out you aren’t even looking for a woman!” She turned her face away and chewed her lip again.
“Sherry…”Rafe’s voice softened with understanding and some regret. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Rafe thought he had made it known from the start; no romance, no love, not for them. He couldn’t understand why Sherry had believed that his ‘no’ could ever mean ‘someday’. But no matter the misunderstanding, she was still the closest thing to a best friend he had. Rafe really needed her support with Harrington being his ‘boyfriend’ not her animosity towards Rafe’s love interest. Having Sherry accept and welcome Harry as a friend not a rival would help somewhat smooth the way in the already rocky beginnings to Rafe’s new romance.
“Sherry. I am sorry you had hoped that we would be more. I thought our friendship meant something to you. I know it meant the world to me and you’ll probably never know how much I needed a friend in one of the lowest points in my life. You have been my lifeline. I never meant for you to be upset. I had hoped that you would have guessed I wasn’t interested in women anymore. And yeah, I like my guys short and nerdy.” He shrugged self-consciously his face blushing bright pink. “I don’t know why, but the science teacher look is hot, at least to me.”
Sherry looked at Rafe, assessing the man’s attributes thoughtfully. He was a tall, handsome and intelligent man who could attract (he certainly had her) any woman’s or even certain men’s interest that had a chance to meet him and Rafe could choose any one of them if he wanted. He was strong; she had watched him heft things like they weighed nothing that others could barely lift. He was brave; many times Rafe had stepped in to help when anyone else would have turned away. If anyone could be called a man’s man it would be Gianni ‘Rafe’ Rissole. Yet here was this man among men sitting back in her frilly pink chair and blushing like a schoolgirl over a nerdy little man with a limp. The whole idea was absurd, and picturing the over six foot tall man bending down to kiss the much shorter Furnham was ludicrous. So absurd, so silly, it was adorable. Sherry watched Rafe a moment longer before smiling in understanding, “You have it bad for him, don’t you?”
Rafe looked at her and nodded. In her eyes was what he had hoped to see. Sherry at heart was a hopeless romantic, always wanting star-crossed lovers to be together. Once she got over her own disappointment that the two of them were never meant for each other, Sherry would be the first one in line to do anything to make sure the unlikely couple of ‘tall, dark and handsome’ and ‘nerdy science teacher’ would find true love and their happily ever after.
“Yes.” Rafe admitted confiding in his friend. “I need him too and he needs me. It’s just…”
“I didn’t help with my theatrics last night,” Sherry offered apologetically while getting up and crossing over to the window to look out.
Rafe laughed feebly, “Well it wasn’t the highlight of the night obviously.” Rafe stood and moved over to where she looked out upon the terrace. He reached out and touched her arm to get Sherry to look at him. “I can’t explain why, at least right now, but Harry has this insane idea that he’s not good enough for me, that I deserve something, someone better in my life. I just need time and maybe some assist from my best friend to convince him otherwise.” Rafe batted his long lashes and smiled with just the smallest turning up at the corners of his mouth, “Will you help me?”
“You keep looking at me like that, I may change my mind and resume going after you myself,” Sherry laughed teasingly. “Of course I’ll help you, you big lug!” She then opened up her arms and gave her relieved, thankful and best friend forever a reassuring hug.
~~*~~
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five
Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Epilogue