Shattered Hearts

Chapter 3

"Who thought you were a bad influence?" John asked opening the living room door and she breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how much longer she could go on making small talk with Louis before she put her foot in her mouth.

"Lottie's mom thought I was a bad influence." She slowly rolled her eyes. "That's kinda ironic when you look at how things have turned out."

John nodded. "She should look closer to home." He turned to Louis. "Can I get you a drink? I didn't mean to bail on you like that."

"I should be going," Louis said looking towards the doorway. "This was only gonna be a flying visit. I just wanted to let you know I'd be at the funeral on Friday."

"Great, we'll see you there." John's mouth turned down. "I mean, it's not great, it's a funeral, not a wedding."

Louis shrugged. "I was wondering if I should let Brad's parents know I'd be going but I didn't want to bother them."

John frowned. "I know what you mean, it seems sorta rude just turning up."

Darlene shook her head. "It doesn't work like that, and anyway the death notice said everyone was welcome at the church service and the wake."

"So that settles it then," Louis said taking a step towards the door. "I'll get going. I'll see you both on Friday."

Darlene waved a hand, noticing that he couldn't get away fast enough. She guessed he was having a hard to acclimatising to civilian life but then again, he never was the most sociable of guys.

"Why didn't you tell me Louis was coming round?" she demanded as soon as she heard the front door close.

"I didn't think," John said his brows furrowing. "It was bad timing Charlotte being here."

"Yeah, the worst. I just hope she doesn't think it was a setup." She could well imagine Charlotte might see it that way. "The last thing I'd do is put her in the same room with another guy who's treated her badly."

John gaped at her. "She dumped him, and I don't think Lou did anything wrong." He pulled a face. "I hate to say it cos I'm on her side but it sounds more like she got the hots for Nick McKenna and looked for an excuse to break up."

"No she didn't," Darlene said shaking her head. "Louis was seeing other girls while she was away at college."

"They agreed to see other people, it was her idea," John said getting a bit testy. "He was pretty cut up about it. He did nothing wrong."

"I think there was more to it than that." However, she was not at all surprised that John would defend the cheating party. "Lottie was hurt, I doubt she'd have ever got together with Nick if it wasn't for him. She was obviously on the rebound."

"Now don't go blaming him for that," John said his eyes darkening. "She made her choices, that's on her. And for what it's worth, Louis thinks she dumped him for Nick and then twisted the facts so she wouldn't be the bad guy."

Darlene shook her head. "I disagree, but then you guys always minimise your own cheating don't you?" She met his eyes, challenging him to disagree with her.

John's shoulders slumped. "Come on, we can't keep raking over this. I've told you I'm sorry till I'm blue in the face. I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

She closed her eyes and turned away. "Yeah but this time you can't." She swallowed down the lump in her throat. "This time it was too close to home." If it had been anyone but Rosalind she would have turned a blind eye, but cheating with his ex-girlfriend, one of her best friends...

John reached a hand out to her, forcing her to face him. "I understand Darlene, I agree. I'm completely in the wrong but we have to move on. For our son's sake more than anyone's."

Resentment bubbled up in her at the mention of their son, John hadn't been thinking of him when he was in bed with Ros. "I am trying very hard here," she said holding her temper in check. "But it doesn't help when you are working with Ros's dad. And it doesn't help that all our friends know what happened and are taking sides. I can't stand that they all pity me." The all too familiar feeling of anger, tempered by humiliation, washed over her. John at least managed to look shamefaced.

"Honestly Darlene everyone thinks I'm the jerk, not you. It's me they're laughing at."

She scoffed letting some of her bitterness out. "No they're not laughing at you, they just think, 'typical John, can't keep it in his pants.'" That there was always some woman flashing her eyelids at him, tempting him from the straight and narrow, only made matters worse. She almost wished he was a bit less handsome, but he turned heads without trying with his Italian good looks. She felt positively plain in comparison.

"Come on, you're upsetting yourself," John said pulling her into his arms and rubbing her back while she remained rigid. "Everyone knows I was out of line and I was. Seriously, Darlene, I love you and I love our family, and I promise this will never happen again."

She sighed resting her head against his chest. She desperately wanted to believe him but it had happened too many times for her to blindly accept his reassurances again.

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