My Silent Husband Finally Spoke, But He Said My Best Friend’s Name Chapter 08

My Silent Husband Finally Spoke, But He Said My Best Friend’s Name Chapter 08

Stella showed up, too. Just once.

It had rained earlier that day, and the slate path outside the shop was still wet.

She was standing outside the glass door, holding a bouquet of white roses.

The second she saw me, her eyes welled up.

“Chloe.”

I was trimming stems when she said it, and my hands went still for a second.

She used to say my name exactly like that.

In college we’d curl up together on the same twin bed and watch movies.

She’d steal my chips and laugh with her head on my shoulder.

When I got my heart broken, she walked laps around campus with me until the sun came up.

She told me, “Chloe, if anyone ever messes with you, they have to go through me first.”

I believed her.

So when she started getting close to Julian, I kept telling myself the same thing.

That was my husband. That was my best friend.

They wouldn’t hurt me.

But they did. The two people I trusted most in the world were the ones who cut the deepest.

Stella stepped inside and set the roses on the counter.

“I know you don’t want to see me.”

“But I had to come. I had to say I’m sorry.”

She was crying now.

“I wasn’t trying to take him from you.”

“It’s just, he never talked when he was with you.”

“But with me he was different. Like a completely different person.”

“And sometimes I couldn’t help thinking maybe it meant something.”

I just looked at her.

She cried harder.

“Chloe, we were so close.”

“And now we’ve thrown it all away over some guy.”

“Was it even worth it?”

I set the floral shears down.

“This was never about a man.”

Stella blinked, caught off guard.

I looked her in the eye and laid it out.

“You knew he was lying to me, and you helped him cover it up.”

“You heard him call me annoying, and you didn’t say a word.”

“You turned my marriage into your own dirty little secret.

“Stella, Julian didn’t ruin us.”

“You did. You stopped being my friend long before any of this.”

I watched the victim act drain out of her face.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. No excuse. No defense.

I pushed the roses back across the counter.

“Take them.”

“I don’t want your apology flowers.”

She stood there a long time. Then she picked up the roses and left.

I never saw her again.

I heard later, through a mutual friend, that things fell apart for Stella fast.

Once the truth got out about Julian faking his silence, people found out she’d known all along.

Former friends said it to her face.

“Weren’t you supposed to be Chloe’s best friend?”

“How did you just stand there and watch her wait around for him like that?”

And someone else said, “Those voice notes you two sent each other every night, singing each other to sleep? That’s disgusting.”

At first Stella tried to explain. She said they were just friends. She said she’d even told Julian to

come clean.

But no one believed her anymore.

She’d always been good at making people feel sorry for her. One look at those teary eyes and someone would always jump in to defend her.

But this time, people watched her cry and felt nothing but contempt.

Julian didn’t come out of it looking any better.

The divorce went through fast.

He stopped pretending he couldn’t talk. But by then, nobody wanted to hear what he had to say.

He stopped sleeping.

The apartment was too quiet, so he started pulling up old home security footage. Over and over.

He watched me cook in the kitchen. He watched me walk through the door with a bag of coffee

beans.

He watched me sit on the couch, talking about the sunset to a man who never answered.

He used to think all that talking was annoying.

Now he replayed every word until sunrise.

One night he broke down and sent me a string of voice messages.

“Chloe, I walked past a flower shop today.”

“They had new roses.”

“I wanted to tell you.”

“But you’re not listening anymore.”

I didn’t reply.

The next day, any new message he tried to send met a red error mark. I’d finally blocked him.

I heard later that Julian quit his job.

He and Stella were done, too.

Stella threw the words back at him. “If you loved Chloe so much, why were you saving all your

words for me?”

Julian’s answer was short.

“Because I was stupid.”

“And because it took losing her to realize that every word she ever said to me was an act of love.”

But too late didn’t come with a second chance. Some things, if you miss them, you can wait for the

next one. Some people you lose, you lose forever.

My life, though. My life started to bloom again.

The shop owner taught me how to pair colors for arrangements. The girl at the coffee shop next

door started saving me my favorite pastry.

On clear days I’d walk down to the water with my phone. And when the clouds were worth looking at, I’d say it out loud, just to myself.

“The sunset’s really beautiful today.”

Not because I needed someone to hear it. Just because it was true.

When spring came, I put a small pot of roses outside the shop door.

The day the first bud opened, I took a photo.

I didn’t send it to Julian. I didn’t send it to anyone.

I just saved it on my phone.

Then I looked up at the sea.

The wind was coming off the water, warm and easy.

I finally understood.

Wanting to share things wasn’t a flaw. Loving to talk wasn’t something to be ashamed of

The only mistake was pouring all of it into someone who refused to listen.

Now I keep those small, ordinary moments for myself.

The sunsets are mine now. The roses, the salt air – all of it is mine.[The End]