April's Heart

Not the Coffee

The wedding was beautiful and not at all as over the top as April expected it to be given the bride's taste.  The planner had really pulled it off, somehow strategically hijacking the ceremony and turning it from a gaudy spectacle to a classy affair.  April even teared up a bit when the string quartet began to play "Canon in D" as the bride made her way down the aisle to her smiling fiancee, who turned out to be John, Kenny's best friend.  It was strange seeing him again and strange that he was getting married.  Everything was just strange.  Her life had been stalled for the last year but theirs had gone on without so much as a hiccup, even seemingly improving.  John was always somewhat of a player, going from woman to woman to woman, never alone but never tied down.  April always assumed it was his influence that pushed Kenny away and why he was the one to tell her he had cheated and was leaving her.  He was proud of what Kenny had done.  Breaking free from the bonds of a relationship to play the vast and varied field.   And now here he was committing to one woman for the rest of his  life.  Watching him walk back down the aisle smiling, hand in hand with his new bride, April couldn't help but wonder what else she had been wrong about.

At the end of the night, she was in the hotel room packing up her equipment when she noticed Kenny's flowers on the bed. She smiled, recalling the shock on his face when she had opened the door earlier in the day. Though he kept tabs on her all night, he never approached her or tried to explain anything more. In fact, she had seen him leave in a limousine with the rest of the wedding party just before she went inside.

Though  April was curious, the fact that Kenny had nothing more to say to her came as quite a relief.  It had been a long day and she just wanted to get home and get to sleep as soon as possible. She knew she'd be thinking about the small amount of information he had already given her.  Any more confessions from Kenny could wait until she had had  some rest. 

As she was packing her things away in the hotel room, the planner came in to tell her what  a good job she had done, seeming more shocked than April would have liked, but she took the compliment, and that she'd keep her in mind for future weddings.

"No more bridzillas and you have  a deal,"  April laughed, only half  joking.

"Please,"  the  planner replied, "aren't they all?"

"I suppose.  Out of curiosity, where did you hear about me?"

"The best man, Kenny, he insisted we use you."

Somehow April wasn't at all surprised.  It was just like Kenny to orchestrate their reunion, to trap her in a place where she  couldn't escape.  She'd have nowhere to run so she'd have to hear him out, but he didn't take the opportunity to seek her out again.  He left without knowing if he'd ever get another chance to explain himself.  Apparently, she thought as she lugged her bags outside, it wasn't that important to him after all.

"I need an assistant," April said aloud to herself as she piled her bags into the trunk of her car.

Once her equipment was away, April gently placed the long plastic sleeve containing her new dress on top of it as if she was tucking them in for the night under an expensive designer blanket. When she had slipped out of the dress and back into her street clothes she felt a wave of sadness wash over her. When would she ever have an occasion to wear it again? Kenny had taken her to a number parties where such a dress would have been deemed appropriate. Work functions. Though she never understood exactly what he did for a living, the world of personal  finance being  very much out of her realm of  understanding, she knew he worked with men who spent quite a lot of money on their wives' wardrobes.

On those occasions she would have loved having a dress like the one in her trunk. Now, though, it would hang in her closet serving only as a reminder that she had nowhere to go as she pushed it aside to reach for a t-shirt and jeans.