FlashNano2023 number 19 The door

 

Ellen sat in her car of Jana's apartment building parking lot. She was early.

She could see cars park, people get out, and walk to the front door. They were all bundled up against the cold, the light snow that was falling.

"Don't come before eight," Jana had said, explaining she was going to be late getting home from work.

Ellen wanted to be home, in her PJ's with a cup of cocoa and the book she'd been reading. She needed to know when the main character, Marcie, would learn her husband was cheating. The cover blurb talked about how Marcie would rebuild her life.

She needed to read about women who went on to have good lives after their cheating husbands had left them for that other woman. She took those stories as a manual to show her that she could reset her life now that Bill's closet was empty.

Well, better to get it over with. The sooner she found out what Jana wanted, the sooner she could go home, feed the cat, take a hot shower, get into those PJ's and read her book.

She rang Jana's bell. 

Jana had been her friend since uni. They had worked for a huge company in different departments. The last couple of years that hadn't spent much time together after both had changed companies. 

Ellen wondered why Jana had been so insistent that she come over that night. Maybe she wanted to commiserate with Ellen, although Jana had been widowed five years before so maybe not.

The door clicked. 

The lobby was warm after the cold of the short walk from her car.

She found Jana's door open a crack, but it was dark inside.

Lights came on.

"Surprise!" Five women, all whom had been divorced, were smiling at her.

Three, she'd lost contact with after they were no longer part of a couple that she and Bill had hung out with. 

One was Jana's cousin. She didn't know the fifth.

"Welcome to the club," Jana said. "The club for women who have learned to live happily alone."