Old Mistakes - On Hold!!

Chapter 8 - Meeting The Generous One

She smiled warmly at us while getting out of her chair and brushing her clothes off.

She was wearing a pink singlet, with blue yoga pants that ended just below her knee.

She smiled when she came over to me.

She held out her hand in front of me.

"Hello, my name is Tiarni Esmond. I live in apartment 32 with my daughter, Kenna. Nice to meet you", she said while smiling a big cheesy smile.

I smiled back while giving her hand a small shake.

"Well, my name is Grace Whitters, and this is my daughter Azaria", I said while pointing down at my little girl who was chewing on her nail.

She looked up at Tiarni and smiled.

"Hello", Tiarni said.

"Hey", Azaria smiled at her still having her finger in her mouth.

"You know I have a lit-", Tiarni got interrupted by a loud thump and bang coming from inside of her apartment, it was loud, even though the door was open.

Tiarni sighed while rolling her eyes and placing her hands firmly on her hips.

"Kenna! ¿Cuántas veces te he dicho que no salte en la cama?! Te dije que te vas a caer apagado y se lastima. Es mejor empezar a comportarse señorita, o vas a estar en un gran problema", Tiarni shouted to the inside of her apartment.

Whoa.

"Sorry about that. My daughter Kenna is jumping on her bed again, she must of fell off her bed. I purposely tell her not to do it, but she does anyway. She is such a troublemaker", Tiarni said while shaking her head.

I giggled while putting my arm around Azaria's shoulder and pulling her closer to me.

"How about Azaria goes inside to play with Kenna while me and you have a chat. I love talking and I'm very interested to get to know more about my new neighbours", Tiarni said while chuckling a little bit.

"Sure. Good idea", I said.

I turned to Azaria. "Wanna go and play with Kenna?", I asked her while slightly tilting my head sideways.

She nodded. I softly pushed her shoulder forward a little and for once, she walked into the apartment instead of running.

After Azaria entered the apartment, Tiarni and I sat in the chairs that were outside her apartment.

"So when did you move here?", I asked her while fiddling with my fingers.

"I moved here only two weeks after Kenna turned 5. So... around a year and a half ago", she said.

"Oh really, why did you move here though", I asked.

Tiarni stayed silence, I saw her shuffling around in her chair and I noticed her face had a pink tinge to it now. She stared down at the floor, then huffed.

"Well it's a long and sad story, but I'll be happy to explain it to you as long as you don't tell anyone", she stared at me with sadness in her eyes.

"I won't tell anyone", I said while staring at her long and hard so she knows I mean it.

She broke the stare with looking back down at the floor.

"Okay, well, me and my husband Tyson and Kenna were a normal happy family. We all loved eachother dearly, a normal family right?", Tiarni asked me.

I nodded in respond.

"Well the day Kenna turned five, that same day Tyson's sister committed suicide. Now Tyson's sister was his influence, he loved his sister so much, he told me that they never ever got into any fights. And that his sister was always looking after him, they were the closest any siblings could get. So Tyson was extra sad that day, the saddest that I had ever seen him. I tried cuddling him for comfort to try and help, but he pushed me back and slapped me across the face. I was startled and stayed away from him. That night I tried hugging him again but he pushed me off the bed, I decided to sleep on the couch instead to give him some space. The next day him and Kenna were having an big argument and he smacked her really hard on her bum. I then told him that even though he was upset, he didn't need to take his anger out of his family. He got really mad with me when I said that, so he slapped me across the face and punched my stomach really hard. I slept on the couch for the next week. Tyson would go out to the pub with his mates and drink every night ever since his sister died, and he'd come home drunk and start being really abusive to me. I was worried that he would soon start to abuse Kenna as well, so one day when he was at the pub, I packed up mine and Kenna's stuff and we drove away. Without telling him anything", Tiarni said.

I looked up at her and I saw a tear rolling down her face.

"How awful", I said worryingly.

That would be really upsetting, your own husband abusing you. I couldn't ever imagine Hunter doing that.

Tiarni wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.

"Why did you come here?", Tiarni asked me.

I gulped, while doing the exact same thing Tiarni did, stared at the ground.
I was silent for a few moments and then explained the whole story to Tiarni.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, that would be devastating. Pregnant and then getting cheated on! Oh my word", Tiarni exclaimed.

I chucked at Tiarni's overreaction.

"It's fine now. I will probably never see him again", I said.

Tiarni shook her head disapprovingly.

"So anyway.... Have you got a job?", I asked her trying to change the subject.

"Yes, two jobs. My first job is boring, I bake fortune cookies for the local Chinese restaurant and also write the fortunes. My other job is a lifeguard at the towns pool", Tiarni said while making various facial expressions throughout her talk.

"But you know what", Tiarni said.

"What?", I asked.

Tiarni leaned in closer to me.

"I have always been interested in names and their meanings. I mean, it's something you get called for your whole life, and hardly anyone wants to know the true meaning of it. It's so interesting and unique, it really does interest me", Tiarni said happily. I nodded.

"The name Tiarni means, the generous one. And the name Kenna means beautiful", Tiarni continued.

"My name probably means graceful or something", I laughed.

Tiarni chuckled back.

"Makes sense", she said while still laughing.

"So anyway, who lives in these apartments", I asked gesturing to the two remaining apartments on the storey.

"Oh, in that one", Tiarni said while pointing to Apartment 30.

"Lives a gay married couple. Elliot and Jeff Franklin are their names. Jeff is muscular and has black hair, and Elliot wears glasses and has brown spiky hair. They have an adopted baby boy who I think is.... six months old", Tiarni said.

I nodded in response.

I was fine with that. I'm not bothered that their gay, I'm not against that sort of stuff.

"Oh, and they are quite gentlemen", Tiarni said while placing her hand on her heart.

Tiarni and I both chuckled.

Tiarni is a nice woman. She is a chatterbox, but she is really nice and hilarious as well. I think we will be good friends..

Tiarni brought her right arm to her face and I then noticed she had a white watch on her arm.

"Oh, me and Kenna have to get ready. My sister is in town visiting and were meant to meet her for lunch at the café", Tiarni said while quickly getting out of her chair.

I got out of my chair and shook Tiarni's hand.

"Thanks for the chat, hope to see you again soon to have another chat", I said.

"Yes definitely, more chatting, see you soon", Tiarni said while waving as she walked away.

Just as Tiarni walked into her apartment, Azaria came running out.

"Mummy, mummy! I had so much fun with Kenna. We played with playdoh, then we painted a picture of us and it was awesome!", Azaria cheered happily while jumping up and down.

"That's good honey", I said while laughing along with her.

"Can we go swimming now?", Azaria asked me.

"Sure", I nodded.

I held her hand and we walked down to the swimming pool together.