Chapter Twenty One: The Storm

Daphne's POV

“Daphne? What the hell are you doing out here in this weather?”

I lift my head up to find out the source of the voice. My mouth snaps open in shock.

Dressed in a stylish raincoat and boots, with her chocolate brown locks whipping about in the wind, my best friend stands in front of, her mouth twisted in a surprised frown.

“Cassidy? I should be asking you, that. What are you doing here?” I ask her. She has a microphone in her left hand with a cameraman behind her.

Her eyes turn to my broken down car with the hood open. Thunder echoes loudly in the distance as the rain starts pouring down heavily.

“Let's get out of this weather first..” She yells over the rain. She stretches out her free hand for me to take it.

“One minute.” I yell back. I quickly close the hood and dash into the car to take my phone and purse.

I barely shut the door when she pulls my arm. “Come on, it's raining buckets.”

We run towards the weather van that's parked a few meters away from my car and get in through the back, drenched. Though, Cassidy is just slightly wet due to the raincoat she has on. Cassidy throws a large, fluffy towel to me.

“Here, warm up. I know how you are about the cold and the rain.” I've always hated it. My mother died during a thunderstorm.

I quickly dry my hair with the towel as best I can, heaving a sigh of relief to be out of the terrible weather.

I open my eyes to see my best friend glaring at me, her arms folded. “Care to tell me what you are doing outside in this weather?”

I arch an eyebrow, “care to tell me what you are doing in this country?” I taunt back.

Her familiar hazel eyes flash with anger. “You have no right to take that tone with me. After I reached out to you all this time.” She hisses

I grit my teeth. “You still haven't told me what you are doing in Silverton. You're supposed to be in Switzerland for the special meteorology program you waited so long to get into. That's what your last email said.”

“You left me no choice when you reduced every communication between us to just monthly emails.” She bites back.

I lower my head and clench my fists in my lap. “Don't tell me,”

I lift up my eyes that are burning with unshed tears, my throat is thick with emotion. “Don't tell me you dropped everything to come here. I-” My voice cracks.

“Don't tell me you gave up everything just to come here. Switzerland is your dream! How could you do this to yourself? How could you do this to me?!” The tears flow down now in angry, bitter tracks, blending with the water that still drops down my face.

“How could I do this to you? Do you know how bloody selfish you sound right now? You should have thought about all this when you reduced all our communication to sending bloody, monthly, f*cking emails.” She yells. Her voice is cracked with pain. My heart breaks in two at the absolute anguish I hear in it.

“Do you think I'll just sit back and watch as you just vanish from my life? I sure as well won't.” She says stubbornly. Tears blur my vision but I can see that her teary face is identical to mine.

I cannot believe what I am hearing right now. My best friend, Cassidy dropped out of the Meteorological institute she wanted to attend for so long because I sent her a bloody email? Hot anger washes over me. How could she do that.

The entire reason I stopped all communication with her, other than the fact that my husband isolated me is because I didn't want the ugliness of my life touching her. I wanted a fresh start from my family and didn't want her caught up in it at the time.

So, I started reducing our contact. I would not pick her calls and constantly give excuses. I would just send half hearted text messages and take ages to reply to her. Eventually, all our contact was reduced to the occasional monthly emails.

I remember being hurt at the time but also feeling relieved that she didn't question it so much. She just got into the program so I assumed that she would be too busy with it to bother with me. I was wrong.

“You do not have the f*cking right to make decisions about your life based on me!”

“Then you shouldn't force me to make does decisions in the first place.” She yells back, then whispers.

“I know everything.” I deflate.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean you know everything?”

“I mean I know everything. About your marriage, Chloe, the baby.” As she says each word, it's like a hammer that pounds on my pain.

I choke down a sob at the reminder of the precious things I lost and the useless things that I thought were precious.

“Did you really think I was so useless that you couldn't lean on me? That you couldn't tell me? You must think I am a fool. Our friendship all these years must have been a joke to you.”

She pulls me into a hug and we just stay there for a while, our bodies glued to each other, shaking with the force of our sobs, our hearts a mirror of the storm that is raging outside.

After we have calmed down, I pull away from her hug and hold her hands tight instead.

“How did you know?” I ask, my voice now hoarse after crying so much. She gives me a watery smile in reply.

My breath hitches. “Did Ethan tell you?”

She gives a shaky laugh and rolls her eyes. “Like there's anything my annoying cousin would ever tell me about you. You know how touchy he is about you. Let's just say I have my ways of finding out.”

I narrow my eyes at her.

How else would she find out? It can't have been from my grandfather either. Panic grips me. If Cassidy found out, what are the chances others know too?

“Calm down. No one else knows about this. Trust me.” I nod my head in response.

“You shouldn't have come here in the first place, Cass. You need to get back to Switzerland.”

“Don't try to convince me otherwise, Daphne. It won't work. There's no way I'm leaving you to go through all this alone.”

“Alright,” I sigh.

“There's no point arguing this with you.” I honestly know I'm not going to win and if I am being truthful to myself, I need the support. Cassidy reminds me of home.

She grins, knowing she has already won. “You bet. I'm glad you are aware of your situation.”

“Yeah, yeah. You get to have your way. But I've been meaning to ask, what gives with all this.” I gesture at the weather van we are in and the microphone that is still clutched in her hand.

Her grin widens. “Why, you're looking at the new, official weather correspondent of the Silverton Daily News. I was actually in the middle of filming when I saw you in the rain.

I cross my arms and give her a stern look. “Does your cousin know about this?

My phone rings and I pick it up to see who is calling. I flip the phone for her to see.

“Speak of the devil….”

I pick up the call. “Hello-”

“Why the hell are you in the middle of a storm?” He growls.