Jenny Belling walked back to her driveway having waved goodbye to her kids after ushering them into the school bus. She stopped to pick the rolled-up newspaper lying on her lawn that Dave had missed, as he sometimes did, as well pack up her children's toys scattered about before returning into the comfort of her home.
She left the newspaper in the kitchen then went upstairs to drop the toys in her kids' bedroom. She stopped to scratch an itch in her ash-blonde hair as well wipe a light pool of sweat off her brow. Returning to the kitchen, she set a kettle on the stove and made herself a cup of tea before sitting down to peruse the newspaper.
A person's silhouette appeared behind the curtain that shielded the back door window. Jenny looked up when she heard a knock on the door and seeing the person's silhouette recognised who her morning visitor was. What with the conversation they had yesterday (or was it the day before?), she should have known April was going to visit her today, though she never expected to see her come around this early.
Jenny left her chair and went and unlocked the door and was rewarded by the expectant green eyes and earnest smile that was her neighbour and closest confidant, April McLaren.
"Hey-yah, Jenny!" April embraced her friend and kissed her cheek. "You up and ready for the week?"
"Come in, April." Jenny shut the door behind her. "I was making myself some tea, care for some?"
"Yeah, sure. Morning tea will do. And then I want to hear again all about your last adventure."
"It was not any adventure," Jenny corrected her while filling the kettle with more water then placed it back on the stove. "What more would you want to know? I thought I told you everything last time."
"You told me some but not all of it," April pulled a chair and sat across from Jenny. She glanced at the newspaper for a moment before turning back to her.
"I just thought I'd want to know more. Everything you told me yesterday, I don't know how to say this but it got me feeling so strange with myself. I wanted to hear it one more time to really believe everything."
"What I told you was not something for the faint-hearted, you ought to know that. Gosh, I already said too much already."
"Please don't, Jenny. Just do me this one favour and tell it to me again."
Jenny looked at her friend and debilitated with herself if really she was doing the right thing entrusting April with her secret as she waited for her kettle to heat up. Everything about April, including her bob of red hair, indicated her as seemingly feisty with a vivaciousness spirit. Not exorbitant though; more like decorous. There was a time Jenny mistook her for a chatterbox, but as their friendship grew she realized how tight-lipped she could be when it pertained to stuff between them. There was something about April that was like bubbling effervescent inside of her, like it wanted to burst out but she was doing her best to starve it off and keep it chained in a basement. Jenny had shared this insight with Dave before and quipped that she thought April's husband, Howard, knew little of the woman he was married to. Dave could not help agreeing with her. When it came to sniffling intimate secrets regarding other women, Jenny was a pro in that field.
"You want to hear about my last outing right?" Jenny asked. "I can't go into telling you everything I've done in the past."
"Sure, your last outing sounds okay for me," said April. "Think you'll be getting any call today?"
The kettle began whistling and Jenny went and turned off the stove. She opened a glass drawer and got out two cups and made tea for both of them.
"It's been a while since I got any calls," Jenny gave April her cup of tea then sat down on her chair and stirred her own cup, watching smoke curl out of its surface. "But its still morning and you never know what the day might bring. So, where were we?"
"You were going to tell me what happened with your last score." April blew into her cup while waiting for her friend to begin her tale.
Jenny continued stirring her tea, taking time to gather her thoughts. She swept her hair backward when she felt ready then started talking.