Over Him ✔

|Chapter Seven|

Copyright ©2022_Over Him✔ written by OluchiHelen.
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It was all going into voicemail. Ben wasn't picking up any of their calls, not that he didn't want to but he didn't know how to explain it to his girls that he needed space to breathe. Storming off out of the house on the day of Christmas had to be the worst thing he'd ever done. April was finally home for the first time in nearly six years and he was seated in an old red sofa at a friends place, staring into the fireplace with half an empty bottle of beer in his hand.

If there was anything, he wished he could do, it was to speak to April at least and explain to her, hopefully she'd understand but in real sense, he knew she wouldn't. She flew back home for them and he was screwing things up. As for Evelyn, he needed space from her. There was just something about her that was beginning to tick him off. Maybe it was because she was beginning to get too spiritual or she was always bothering him with one thing or the other, correcting him like he was a five year old. Whenever he wanted her, she would push him away or look for an excuse. It irritated him.

Whenever he helped in folding the laundry, she would be there to watch, clearly holding herself back from making any comments and whenever he didn't help around the house, it was a problem.

Settling further back into the brown sofas in his friend, Carlson's house, he lifts the bottle of beer and takes a swig at it. Carlson was one of those friends Evelyn would always tell him to stay away from. He was a single man at the age of fifty, with no intentions whatsoever of getting married. All he did was keep bad company, sell drugs and sleep around with women. It was no wonder why Evelyn never liked Ben around him.

At first Ben had insisted of wanting to change him, and win a soul for Christ, only to be sucked into a different lifestyle entirely. As much as Evelyn tried to shrug it off, she couldn't. He was changing and he wasn't shy about it.

His phone buzzed in his pocket again and he pulled it out lazily and stared at it for a few seconds before switching it off. The faint smell of cigarette hung in the cramped up living room as Carlson lay on the couch watching the TV. The more the smell choked him, the more he wanted to hop back into his car and drive home but that would only open up a can of drama, something he wasn't ready for. The guilt was weighing down on him heavily.

Looking at Carlson's house, he hides the frown threatening to break out on his face. The house was void of a single Christmas decoration, except a mistle toe hung up in the middle of the small kitchen. An imagination of what may have happened on that kitchen counter top pops into his head and he blinks them away instantly.

His phone buzzes again and he groans, shutting off his phone.

"They're still bothering you??" Carlson asks, looking away from the Tv and Ben nods. "If I were you, I'd shut off my phone and just relax. No one needs to be spending Christmas in a bad way," Carlson shrugs. "And you're happy here?" Ben finds himself asking again. "I'm comfortable here and that's all that matters," comes the response .

IT HAD BEEN hours since anyone had seen or heard from Ben. Evelyn had even thought of informing Christine's family, so that they would all search for him but she knew that would only raise eyebrows. She didn't want them thinking that her marriage was beginning to get shaky. To everyone who knew them, they were the perfect couple who never bickered or got into arguments, although behind closed doors all wasn't as it seemed.

Brushing a strand of hair off her face, Evelyn settled herself on the bed in their room and sighed, allowing her eyes take in the room, as though it was her first time being here. Their wedding photo book sat on her lap untouched. On the front cover, was a picture of their wedding cake, three tiers high, coated with vanilla and raspberry. It was something they'd both been obsessed with back when they were dating.