close your eyes and feel me

14

Charlotte was walking outside the house in Susan's private garden. A little duvet of snow covered the way, but it didn't bother her.

- "Charlotte!" Susan called her, running in her direction.

She smiled at her friend, giving a hand for her to take.

- "Good afternoon, Susan." She said calmly.

Susan grabbed her hand and squeezed it affectionately.

- "Dear Charlotte, were you at the coffee house again?"

- "I was, indeed", replied the young girl

- "How was it?"

Charlotte took a minute before saying :

- "Met with James Stringer, actually. Did not end on a good term, I'm afraid."

Susan looked surprised.

- "How is that?"

- "The man talked about the, how to say, absence of a ring on my finger."

- "That's not very gentlemen-like!"

She rolled her eyes before saying

- "No, it isn't... Probably why I snapped at him and told him to leave."

- "Good for you, Charlotte, good for you."

Susan's voice seemed a bit off. Charlotte glared at her and noticed that she was looking upset.

- "You seem tense, Susan. What is it?"

- "You can see through me so easily... " She joked with a half-smile.

- "Is it about your friend, lady Catherine? Has something happened?"

- "Something like that. Kate, I mean Catherine... Well, she's leaving soon and it makes me..."

- "Sad?"

- "It makes me wonder when I will see her again, that all," stated Susan, "she cannot come here very often", she then explained.

Charlotte had seen that the two women were very closed. The two of them would spend their time painting or read in each other's company. They would stay up until late in the night, sitting in the library to talk. Obviously, none of them would make Charlotte's feel left out and she would always be welcomed with them.

- "The two of you seems awfully close", noted Charlotte.

- "She's a dear friend..." she agreed, "we've known each other for quite a while and I care about her a lot."

But as much as Susan's would always include her, Charlotte knew the two of them liked their alone time. At the same time, Charlotte really liked spending her time at the coffee shop and walking in London, discovering the city by herself. It surely wasn't something most single women would do, if they ever did, but she loved it very much.

- "It must be hard, caring so much about her", said Charlotte while observing Susan from the side, "and not being able to see her as much  you would like to..."

Susan didn't say anything so Charlotte added :

- "I've seen you and her..." she began, "your..." Charlotte didn't quite know how to say it, "the relationship between the two of you, it's a blessing."

- "I wouldn't change anything", Susan quickly said.

She hugged her friend while walking and nothing more was said. Charlotte realized that she had befriended months ago more than a lady and that they shared so much together. Here they were, two women, walking down a snowy garden in London, both attached to someone they simply could not have, but were nonetheless unable to let go.