My Best Friend's Boyfriend by Leezy Mike (pdf to ebook reader txt) 📖

I paused on my aunt's front porch. I frowned. Why am I even here? I should be miles and miles away from this wretched town. I shouldn't have come back here. But I did and it hurts. "Jenna honey, what are you doing out in the cold? Come on in," Aunt May said. I put down my suitcases next to the sofa. She led me to the kitchen and instructed me to sit down while she busied herself making hot chocolates. "Why, Aunt May?" I asked softly. "Why what, dear?" she asked innocently. The tears that I'd been fighting back for hours rolled down my cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me about Nadine's death ten years ago?" I asked again. She swung around to face me. "Because you're busy running away from this town! What did you expect?" she shouted. I flinched. I sighed and stared at my bare feet. Aunt May was right. I was busy running away from this town but I'm not going to tell her why.

Not knowing about Nadine's death was hard but I knew I wouldn't attend her funeral even if I want to. I just couldn't. I couldn't bear to see one face that I tried so hard to forget for fifteen years. "You and Nadine were so close. Then before graduation, you left this town and gone for fifteen years. Nobody knows where you're today and the next day afterwards. You seemed to be all over the states. What happened to my favorite niece?" The tears rolled down again and I couldn't seem to stop the flow. I really wished I could tell Aunt May but this secret was mine to keep. I wiped away the tears and smiled weakly at her. "I'm fine, Aunt May. I'm home now, aren't I?" I said cheerfully although my poor heart was breaking.

Aunt May had been like a mother to me after my mother died when I was only ten. My father died of grief five years later and she took me in. She was my father's sister and very close to us. She'd been married to Uncle Bill for thirty years and even though she never bore him children, his love for her remained strong until his last breath. Aunt May was alone now. No matter how hard the decision I took, I knew I must come home.

After dinner, I lay down on the couch, not wanting to spend the night in my old bedroom. So many unhappy memories lingered inside. I wished I could stop the pain, but I couldn't. The pain had been with me for fifteen years. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't go away.

After a restless night, I got up from the couch and went to the bathroom. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Oh God, I looked terrible. Lack of proper sleep had started to show. I washed my face and brushed my teeth then arranged my tousled hair. I glanced at my watch. It's barely 5 am. I decided to change into my sweatshirt and pants. Time for my early morning jog. I unlocked the front door and stepped onto the front porch. It was still dark and cold. I closed the door behind me and walked down the short steps. I jogged to the only park in this small town. For half an hour, I jogged alone in the darkness. Then I realized I'm not alone. "Come on, boy! That's it!" I heard a man's voice behind me. I heard a dog's panting breath. Then before I knew it, I felt something hard knocked into me in the dark and I fall onto my back with a loud scream.

"Oh my God! Charlie!" the man shouted in alarm. I sensed a big dog but I'm not sure what breed. Hopefully it's not a Pitbull. Groaning, I tried to sit up and a big, wet tongue licked my face. He's lucky I'm a dog lover. I scratched at the back of his big ears and smiled. "Good boy. Sorry you had to knock into me that way. Guess you didn't see me," I said softly. I heard footsteps approaching us. I waited for the owner to scold his dog so I could defend the big fella, instead, "Jenna? Is that you?" I froze. That voice! It couldn't be Nadine's boyfriend, Jake. I got up quickly. "Jenna..." he started. "I got to go," I stammered and ran as far as I could from the man. "Jenna, wait!"

I let out a frustrated breath and looked down at Charlie. "So much for friendly bump," I muttered and Charlie looked up at me and barked. "Come on, boy. Let's go," I said and refastened his leash. After fifteen years, she was finally back in this town. Why did she leave in the first place anyway? Nobody seemed to know, not even her Aunt May. But I knew she'd travel a lot for these past fifteen years. I saw her articles. They're mostly about every day lives. She went from state to state. I, on the other hand, stayed here and opened up a diner. Business was great. Apart from the locals, outsiders came too. The Lakefront Diner had been in business for five years now. My father bought the place and renovations started soon after. Although he used to persuade me to become a doctor like him, but he knew too well not to argue with me about my passion for food. I went and graduated at a culinary school then gained experiences in the culinary world by working at various restaurants, cafes and diners outside of town before I came back and opened up the diner.

I smiled as I remembered Nadine and her best friend, Jenna. They're totally opposites, but stuck like glue through good and bad times. They've been friends since toddlers, Jenna's Aunt May told me years ago until the day she packed and left us behind for fifteen years. Nadine was a pretty girl with long, wavy black hair, tall and slender. She was always loud and proud of it. She liked talking but she was a good person. Then there was Jenna. She had long, straight dark brown hair that always tied into a ponytail, short and chubby but cute. Where Nadine always wore fashionable clothes, Jenna on the other hand was clueless when it comes to fashion. She didn't even do make-up! Although shy, she loved sports. She played softball in school and dubbed 'The Wiggler' because of her habit of wiggling her hips before each throw. Those cute little wiggles could distract any batter and she was really good at it. Nadine and I always watched her play although she wasn't a sport fan. She came to support her best friend. "Look at her!" she would exclaim with a laugh. "She can really wiggle it!"

Disturbed by my sudden meeting with Jenna, I decided to go to the diner earlier than usual. I showered in the private bathroom inside my office and put on a navy colored T-shirt, blue jeans and black Adidas sneakers. After unlocking the door, I was ready for business. Charlie, my black Labrador sprawled inside the bar with me. Four years ago, I cooked everything on the menu but since a year ago, my older brother Joel and his assistant, Eddie who happens to be our cousin took over the kitchen while I handled the bar and my cousins, Daisy and Bella took customers' orders. I heard the bells on the door chimed. "Wow, you're early," Daisy remarked. I shrugged. "My morning run was cut short when Charlie knocked into another jogger," I said as I wiped the bar. Bella went to pat Charlie. "Bad boy, Charlie. Who did you knocked into?" she asked lovingly as she scratched the back of his ears. "He knocked into Jenna." They stared at me. "Jenna? Really? So, it's true. She's home at last," Joel said and sat on one of the stools at the bar. I shrugged again. "I guess so. I heard her Aunt May isn't feeling well lately. Maybe that's why she came home," I said, still wiping.

"What the hell are you wiping?" Daisy asked. "The bar is spotless!" I stopped and let out a frustrated breath. "She ran away at the sight of me," I muttered. "Running away so quickly as if i have cooties." The four brats laughed in my face. I frowned. Damn them to hell! I could feel my cheeks went warm. The bells chimed. "Better get to work. We have a customer," Eddie said and disappeared into the kitchen with Joel. My best friend since toddler, Lou sat at the bar. I poured his usual black coffee and shouted into the kitchen, "Lou's usual!" Lou sipped his coffee then stared at me. "What? I didn't do anything wrong," I remarked. He raised a brow. "Who say you did?" he asked in confusion. I leaned forward. "You're staring at me as if I broke the law," I muttered. He smiled and ran a hand through his short brown hair. Lou was tall and burly. He was also a sheriff. "Jenna's back," he said softly. I sighed. "I know. I bumped into her at the park just this morning. Guess what? She ran away as fast as she could at the sight of me," I muttered with a frown. "What happened to you and Jenna?" he asked and I sighed again. "I wish I knew."

I bought a one story house just five minutes drive from Aunt May's place. It used to belong to Greg and Vivian Hudson. They moved to the city and sold the house. The house was a beautiful white Victorian with a wraparound porch. It was a rather large house consisting of three bedrooms, a large kitchen, a large living room and a study. The backyard was facing the lake. I fall in love instantly with it. I urged Aunt May to move in with me but the stubborn old bat declined, saying she was fine all by herself. "After all, we're not that far," she pointed out. The moving truck arrived today with my furniture and everything else so we sat down on the porch steps, waiting. Ten minutes later, the truck arrived and we set to