Private Files

1: Fade to Black

As Sinatra sings in the background, Chris and I converse with our friends Daniel and Susanne Cox and Ronald and Kelly Cunningham. The current topic was finances, previously it was politics, which is a very male-concerning topic therefore us ladies just sit and attempt to listen and pay attention to what was being exchanged in the conversation. Do not think that us women aren't as brilliant as men are or aren't interested in what they're interested in; we just don't get the opportunity very often. It is extremely seldom that a woman is given an opportunity to present herself as more than just a mother or housewife, or both, not that there is any problem with being any of those. It just gets very frustrating at times.

My thoughts are interrupted by Daniel howling in laughter and Ronald doubling over followed by Chris lightly banging his hand down on the table, nearly crying with laughter. I glance over at Susanne who is just as confused as I am about what just happened. Kelly on the other hand took a sip of her wine and trying her best to cover up her laughter which is quite an extraordinary sight to see. In seeing this, Susanne and I burst out laughing, drawing the men's' attention almost immediately.

I stop laughing the moment Chris' eyes land on me, seemingly giving me a warning, and as his hand lands on my thigh, giving a rather uncomfortably tight squeeze. I give him a tight smile before taking a sip of my own glass of red wine. I can still feel his burning gaze linger a little longer but I choose not to look over at him. Chris chuckles lowly, shakes his head and returns back to the conversation.

I sigh in relief and focus on the ongoing conversation too where Kelly was mindlessly talking about the tennis lessons her and I had last week. I almost choked on air when I registered what she was saying. I didn't tell Chris about it because I knew he would insist on having me stay home and clean or try a few new recipes. I dare to look over at him. Not to my surprise, he has his jaw clenched together so tightly I think it might snap and one of his fists balled up making his knuckles white. I instantly start to panic. My heart jumps up into my throat and I struggle to get any air for a few moments as I recall last week Wednesday and its events.

"Kelly, are you sure we should even be doing this?" I ask while fidgeting with my tennis cap. Without warning, she stops abruptly and turns on her heel to face me. Her face is completely monotone.

"Grace. I am your very dear friend and you need to trust me on this. Plus, this is going to be so much fun!"

I just sigh in response, still contemplating on whether or not I should just not do this. In my head I've already played hundreds of scenarios where Chris finds out along with his reaction and where I would end up. Sadly, they all end badly for me. He'll be upset. He'll be furious, it's a fact. But I haven't seen Kelly in about a month and she really is the one person I can talk to about most things. I have missed her tremendously and I just needed to get out the house.

As we walk onto one of the many tennis courts, I can't help but notice the tall, muscular and very handsome man in the centre of the court. I look over at Kelly to see her smiling widely at the man. I look back over to him and see that he's doing the exact same thing that Kelly is doing.

When we near the centre of the court Kelly picks up her pace and makes her way to the man to hug him excitedly.

"Henry! Before you say anything I would just like to say thank you for doing this."

Oh she he knows him.

"Morning Kelly," he says with a very toothy smile." You know it's no problem at all."

I stand here gawking for a very long time with no shame at all. I know I should be embarrassed for looking at another man this way but Henry was handsome - in a dangerous way - and it intrigued me for some reason. This man looks roughly over six-foot-tall- very athletically built- with a dark head of hair. His eyes, his crystal blue ocean eyes seemed to lock me in and paired with his charming smile, made me never want to look away.