Chapter 2 CHARLOTTE

Sheila sat up, obviously concerned about the dent Charlotte was steadily making on her image.

"Of course I am", she said with puppy eyes. "For starters, you'd be in jail for theft if I wasn't your friend."

"I drew that, Shei."

"Enough with the lies, they're making me hungrier", Sheila yawned and walked towards the dining. Charlotte watched her as she drew a chair and made herself comfortable. "Now get me something to eat!"

Marty walked in at that moment and made for the TV, not paying attention to either of them.

"Your son's cool", Sheila commented. "You're the one with the issues."

"Thank you!", Marty replied his eyes glued to the TV screen. Charlotte walked up to her friend smiling. "Only because he doesn't know you're still sitting on his favorite chair", she whispered loudly.

Marty turned and on impulse, he got up frowning. "Get off my chair."

"That's no way to talk to an elder", Sheila frowned back at him.

"Then how?", he asked.

"Fuck off my chair, puta", Sheila yelled demonstrating with her middle finger.

Marty smiled. "I think I prefer that."

"Of course you do", Sheila laughed. "I'm not getting up anyways."

Before Marty could start smarting with his updated vocabulary, Charlotte nudged him.

"You can go watch TV, Aunt Shei and I need to talk about some important things"

He shrugged and went back to the program he was watching while a relieved Charlotte turned angrily to face her friend.

"You'll spoil the child if you go on like this", she started.

"And I might just pass out if you go on talking", Sheila rolled her eyes. "I'm starving for God's sake!"

Charlotte stood up and Sheila accompanied her as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Serve yourself", she said. Sheila circled round, irritation written all over her face.

"I've always known you to be extremely neat", she commented. " This is a mess!"

Charlotte smiled ignoring her friend's bad manners. "I'll take that as a compliment. I've been very busy lately."

"Seeing someone?", Sheila smiled.

"No, not at all", she laughed watching the disappointment crawl back on her friend's face. Sheila had never been the best of friends but she gave the best relationship advice. One of the many perks of losing a billionaire's son perhaps but either way it sat well with Charlotte. As bad as she seemed, Charlotte still needed her.

"Then what?", Sheila asked. "What's been keeping my very dear antisocial bestie busy?"

"Work I guess", Charlotte shrugged.

"Mmm, I see", Sheila mouthed, her voice muffled by the load of pancakes stuffed in her mouth. "Work you say?"

"Work", Charlotte affirmed.

"Very hard work", Sheila laughed stressing the 'very'.

"Actually, its very hard", Charlotte laughed not getting the joke.

"So who's your hardworking partner? Don't tell me you work hard alone. I've never known you to do that", Sheila said.

"I work alone", Charlotte replied innocently. "I've not been able to find anyone who matches my skills yet."

Sheila burst out laughing immediately and continued laughing until tears began to roll down her cheeks. Charlotte watched her friend wondering what part of painting was funny enough to make her laugh out tears.

"I've known you for about 35 years now...", Sheila started.

"You're barely 30", Charlotte cut in.

"Allow me land."

"Alright. Go on."

"...And you've never broken a single plate."

"So what are you implying?"

"That this isn't normal", Sheila said pointing at the broken plates littered all over the kitchen floor and counter. "Who's been fucking you here?"

"Shhhh", Charlotte warned. "Marty is just 8, remember?"

"I knew it", Sheila laughed.

"No", Charlotte protested. "Its been just a month Jon left."

"I could do worse just a week after", Sheila shrugged.

"Sheila!"

"I'm kidding", she laughed. "But seriously girl, you've got to get yourself a man. You think he's out there sobering up over bottles of whiskey? Hell no! He's moved on. You should do the same.

Charlotte drew a chair and sat down pondering on what her friend had just told her. Was Jon still thinking about her? Did he miss her? Or was he with some other chick already, relieved that he had gotten rid of her so easily? She could vividly remember the circumstances surrounding their nine years marriage like it was yesterday. She had met Jon some ten years back at a local charity match in Marseille. She had never been a fan of sports so it was very hard for her deciding to wind down time watching the boring sport with Sheila after a strenuous 5 hour exhibition session at an art gallery in the city while waiting for her flight ticket back to America to be processed. Sheila had insisted they sat at the front because she didn't want to miss out on the action and unluckily for Charlotte, the fans present were not so particular about sitting at the front so there were lots of unoccupied seats waiting for them. They had been watching the game for about 25 minutes and Charlotte was already dozing off when a noise from the back woke her up. She turned and saw that everybody was hurriedly making way for two people on the run. The first man jumped down the stand and doubled towards the end of the row where Charlotte and Sheila sat. The second man followed quickly in hot pursuit but Charlotte could tell from the beads of sweat gathering around his square cut chin that he had been running a long time and was already tired. Then he glanced at her. A quick glance and she understood the message immediately. She yawned and subtly stretched her leg as the first man approached and as expected, he tripped and fell face first on the concrete floor. He walked over to her and assessed the man he had been pursuing on the floor.

"You saved my life", he said panting.

"Indeed. Who's your man?", she asked.

"Ethan Stag", he replied. "Would have lost my job if he eluded me again"