Hunger in my Heart

Chapter 14

Cheryl was starting to get worried, Kimberley had disappeared into the forest over two hours ago and there was still no sign of her. It had taken every ounce of will power she had not to go after her, but she decided, Adam was right; Kimberley did like to be alone to think. So she had been sat here in the garden patiently listening to her iPod and occasionally throwing a ball for the dogs, who had tired of the play and disappeared back inside quite some time ago.

She had no idea what Kimberley would do about Justin or this whole situation, what she did know was that Kimberly was not one to tolerate someone fucking around on her. Mind you Cheryl had never seen Justin's appeal either, he was a nice enough guy she supposed, but it always seemed like he was punching well above his weight with Kimberley. Kimberley had a force of personality and charisma that made Justin seem dull as dishwater most times; they seemed more like mates than lovers. She had been surprised when Kimberley had stuck with him all this time. But for the most part Cheryl had to concede Justin actually was a nice guy, and he had always treated Kimberley well, and she always thought he genuinely loved Kimberley. A long time ago she had decided that if Kimberley was happy with him, then she would be happy for her.

But really, she thought, would it be asking too much of the guy to buy a couple of decent suits and wear a tie every once in awhile? And good god, that hair, she had no words, couldn't he at least move into this decade? It always bothered her whenever she looked at photos of Kimberley when she was with Justin, it looked like he couldn't be arsed to try to dress anywhere near her standard. Kimberley would look stunning, dressed to the nines and perfect, and Justin would look well...scruffy, she thought. When she went out with Kimberley, she at least made sure they were coordinated and that Kimberley would be proud to be seen with her, it had always perplexed her that Justin wouldn't make the effort. She wouldn't give a rat's ass about how Justin dressed if she couldn't tell that Kimberley was a little embarrassed by it sometimes. And another thing, why after all this time had he not asked her to marry him, they were committed, they had lived together for four years, they were supposedly happy...so what the hell was he waiting for? Was he stupid? Well, apparently he was because he had just committed a cardinal sin in Kimberley's eyes and had probably lost any chance with her.

Kimberley can do so much better she concluded. Yeah right, the annoying voice in her head chipped in, like who? You? Okay, she admitted she was likely biased, but she vowed to herself she would be a good friend in this, she would support Kimberley no matter what she decided, even if she forgave the cheating bastard. It would be awfully hypocritical if she didn't, she acknowledged, considering Kimberley had been right by her side when she had taken Ashley back. Even though she could tell that Kimberley thought it was a horrible idea, she had still stood by her.

Still, she didn't know if Kimberley would forgive him for this. She reflected on what Adam had told her, that Justin was jealous of her and her relationship with Kimberley. But surely that would have nothing to do with their sex life, Cheryl cringed at the thought, maybe things had just cooled between them naturally, they had been together a long time after all. For the life of her though, she could not think of Kimberley as anything less than an extremely sexual being, she wondered what had happened for her to suddenly turn that off. It may be selfish of her, but she hoped to god that Kimberley wouldn't suddenly want to start confiding to her about her sex life with Justin, she didn't know if she could handle that.

Catching movement out of the corner of her eye she finally saw Kimberley emerge from the forest and start making her way up the garden towards her. Uncharacteristically fraught with indecision, Cheryl wasn't sure if she should approach her, but got up to move towards her anyway.

Kimberley spied Cheryl as soon as she emerged out of the shade of the forest; she had actually stopped undercover of the foliage when she has seen that Cheryl was clearly waiting for her sprawled on a lounge chair in the garden. Deliberately clearing her head of the still vivid images from two years ago, she decided that she really didn't need shadows of that floating around her head right now. Observing her friend from the shadows, Kimberley had taken a moment to appreciate the sight of her, she looked glowing with health, her hair shining, her features relaxed and just stunning really, incredibly beautiful. She was so overwhelmingly grateful that Cheryl was still here, that she was healthy again; she would not have been able to bear it if she hadn't made it through. Shivering a little at the thought, she spent a minute just appreciating her and being extremely thankful.