Unlikely Friendship

I woke up on a bright Thursday morning to a message alert on my phone and saw that it was from Darrin, which read: Hey, Taylar, it’s me. I need you. PLEASE!! I read it in his voice, with a sense of urgency, and I had a million thoughts and mixed feelings running through my mind about this message. What did he really want? Why was he messaging me again, even after I told him not to contact me until he got his violent twin sister on a leash?

Me: What’s up, Darrin?

Darrin: I just got some life-altering news, and it’s not very good. Please, I need to talk to someone! Can you come over right away? Or do you have to go to work and we can meet up later or whenever you’ll be available?

On Thursdays, the salon opened at noon, so we had an eight-hour shift until eight in the evening. It was a little after eight, so we were still very early in the day.

Me: Yes, sure, I can come right away, but I’m gonna need you to tell me what’s wrong before I can make any plans to see you for any reason. My level of trust in you is a little shaky right now, so I don’t know what to expect.

Darrin: I know you have no reason to trust me now, Taylar, but please believe me… It’s an emergency! It has to do with my mom, okay?

That wasn’t what I expected to hear from him.

Me: What about your mom?! Is she okay??

Darrin: No🙁. I’m scared, Taylar… I think she might have cancer!

This I was not expecting to hear. His mother, Carol-Ann Schroeder, diagnosed with cancer? Just the other day, we saw the entire family at the hotel, and she looked like she was fine and healthy. How could this be?

Me: OMG!!!😮 Where are you right now, Darrin? Where can I meet you?

Darrin: I’m heading over to Caffe Vittoria right now to grab a little bit of breakfast. Meet me there whenever you’re able to. I’ll be sitting at a table, and I’ll let you know when I get there.

Me: Okay. I’ll be there ASAP.

Darrin: Okay, and Taylar? One thing.

Me: Sure, what is it?

Darrin: Please don’t tell Lyndsay or anyone else that my mom has cancer. I wasn’t even supposed to tell you, anyway. This was only supposed to be kept within the family. I only told you because I needed someone to share this with, and she’s scheduled for the surgery sometime next week, and I need someone to give me some hope that things will be alright. That she’ll be fine for the weddings. Please promise that you’ll keep this just between you and me for now. Okay?

Me: Of course, no problem! I’d never betray your confidence, Darrin.🙂 I’m on my way right now, and I’ll see you soon.

Darrin: Thanks, looking forward to it!👍

I sighed in dismay as I put my phone down. I couldn’t imagine receiving that kind of news about a family member. As much as I disliked him for what Julia had put me through, I realized that now was the time for me to set aside my personal grudge and just be there for him. I knew that if I were in this position, I’d want him to be my shoulder to cry on, so I needed to do this for him. Only thing is, I couldn’t let Lyndsay know. I’d just tell her that Darrin and I decided to meet up so that we could just learn a little more about each other outside of the rivalry between our families. That was a convincing half-truth. I hated lying to her, but I needed to respect Darrin’s wishes by not spilling his mother’s secret. I told him that he could trust me, and that’s funny coming from me because I wasn’t sure if I could trust him, given my vendetta toward Julia. But I wanted him to know that he had my full trust in not telling anyone else about his mother’s diagnosis, so this would stay between us for now. Lyndsay would eventually come to understand. For now, I just needed to tell her the next best thing.

After I got dressed, I grabbed my purse and went to the kitchen, Lyndsay preparing some pancakes which I couldn’t stay for, unfortunately. She grinned. “You got a hot date already?”

“I wish, but no.” I gave a small sigh. “Darrin messaged me not too long ago, saying that he and I should meet up for breakfast at Caffe Vittoria. He just wanted to talk to me about some things… About Julia, I mean. He wants to tell me about the reason she slapped me, and he’ll probably talk me into forgiving her. I don’t know.” I shrugged, doing my best to play it cool. “But he may have a point, so I just wanna go over and hear him out, see what he has to say. That’s all. Save me some of those pancakes for later tonight.”

“Will do, and you do you.” She was still grinning. “That’s so sweet of you to be willing to go over and hear him out. We need to get to the mystery of why Julia Schroeder is such a bitch. And the only person who can do that is none other than her twin brother.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to hear it, too.” I felt a little bit of the butterflies in my stomach, as if my conscience was finally getting to me for lying right to Lyndsay’s face. Believe me, there was nothing in the world I hated more than that. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone for, but I’ll definitely be back by noon. And if not, you can just go to the salon without me and I’ll meet you there.”

She gave me a thumbs-up. “Whatever floats your boat, Barrenfeld. Good luck with everything.”

I hugged her goodbye, then I grabbed the car keys, my denim jacket and made my way out to the car. When I got inside, I shot Darrin a little message telling him I was on my way to the cafe right now. He replied with a thumbs-up, saying he couldn’t wait to see me. As I was driving to the cafe, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind right now, receiving this life-altering news about his mother and her health. I needed to know more. Did she just find out she had cancer? And when did the whole family find out?

Since he was just messaging me this morning, I assumed he either received the news early this morning or sometime late last night. If he’d gotten the news last night, I wondered why he didn’t immediately reach out to me. Then it hit me… We weren’t that close with each other to share personal stuff. And I did tell him I couldn’t fully trust him enough. We sort of had a rivalry with each other, just like our families did with each other about the upcoming weddings. I thought it was stupid, though. There was no good reason for us not to be able to get along with each other.

Soon, I arrived at the cafe, and one of the hosts pointed me to the table where Darrin was sitting. He signaled to me, and I came up to him, taking my seat across from him. For someone who’d received that life-altering news, he surely seemed composed. He wasn’t in a panicking state, though his messages to me were. He seemed like someone who really needed a friend, a confidant. And I wanted to be the confidant he really needed.

“I didn’t think you’d actually make it.” He gave me a small yet pleasant smile. “Or even reply to my messages at all.”

“Well, I just wanted to be polite. And also, your messages sounded urgent, and I just wanted to say… I’m really sorry to hear that about your mom. That probably wasn’t the news you guys expected to hear, was it now?”

He shook his head. “No, it really wasn’t. It came as a total surprise to us. She goes for her mammogram every year, so we didn’t expect anything different this year. This was just a curveball for us. And I just…” He sighed. “I don’t know how to take it. No one in our family has a history of cancer or any kind of disease, so it’s just…”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” I took his hand as a way to reassure him. “You’re definitely not alone in this, Darrin Schroeder. I’m right here, and I won’t tell anyone. I didn’t tell Lyndsay, but even if I did, I’d make her promise not to tell anyone else outside of our circle. You have my utter faith.”

“Thanks, Taylar.” He smiled. “You really didn’t have to do this for me, but I’m glad you came. I just needed someone to talk to, and you were the first person that came to mind, and…”

“Not to interrupt, but I’m just curious to know why you decided to reach out to me. I’m sure you have Owen or other close friends… You and I are just acquaintances. But barely,” I added with a chuckle. “Acquaintances whose families don’t get along, for some reason. So, anyway… Why me?”

“Because,” he said, and at that moment, a waitress came over to our table to give us menus, “I saw what a stand-up person you are. You told me about how committed you are to helping to plan your sister’s wedding, even though she never told you about this guy she’d been dating and she apparently surprised you with her engagement news. It shows that you’re loyal to the people you care about, and I thought, ‘Well, if a girl can be that loyal to her own sister, what’s to say that she won’t be so loyal to a completely random stranger like me.’ Right?” He shrugged. “Or acquaintance, I guess I should say.” He cleared his throat.

In other words, he was saying that he counted on me to be there for him when he needed me and that was now. He’s saying that I was a reliable, trustworthy person who did just about anything for the people I cared about. He wasn’t wrong. Damn… How did this guy know so much about me and we’d never met before?

“What’s on your mind, Barrenfeld?” He gave me a playful smile.

“Everything you just said about me is spot-on. I am loyal to a fault, and I undoubtedly care for others around me. I guess I should consider it to be a good thing, even if it means that I don’t care enough about my family to please them with my life choices, my major one being a hairstylist.”

“And what’s wrong with that? Being a hairstylist? Isn’t that something you’re passionate about?”

“It is, but sometimes it feels like my parents look at me differently than they do with Yancey because she at least followed in one of their footsteps, which was my mom’s, as a lawyer. I was the one who decided to stray away, and look at where that’s gotten me.”

“Barrenfeld, I’m sure you’re an amazing stylist. Maybe not to me personally…” We chuckled, now a small joke between us. “But if you’re amazing at what you do, then that should count for something. I can’t imagine being in a family who doesn’t support your goals or passion. I just thank God for mine every day, and no offense to you…”

I nodded, showing that I understood his point.

“Anyway,” he continued, “that’s why the whole news came as a bombshell to us. Our mom had always been so healthy. I mean, there was a time when she had to start taking blood pressure medication, but since then… Everything about her health has always been on point and up-to-date. This news just came from nowhere; she’d gone for her screening last Friday, and she just got the results back yesterday morning. We just spent that whole day, wondering what could’ve gone wrong and… Damn, it’s really hard for us to handle this. No pun intended, but this is such a bitter pill for us to swallow, especially me.” He shook his head and sighed in frustration. “Like I… I really don’t know what else to say. Fortunately, the doctors say they caught the disease while it’s at its earliest stage, so… Yeah.”

I gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay because I’m here for you, so you don’t have to feel alone in this. If the disease has been caught early, then I have no doubt your mom will beat this, and you’ll all help her get through this together. One question, though: if you guys found out about this yesterday morning and you’d known all along during the day, why didn’t you reach out to me then? Did you not think I’d care or something?”

He glanced at me with amazement. “No, hardly! It’s just… Well, we spent the whole day waiting for an update from the doctors, telling us the next steps and what she should expect if she were to go for surgery. Which she is, next Wednesday. We just needed to hear first about the next steps. And also, I really wasn’t supposed to tell anyone who’s not in our inner circle… Such as you, for one. So, Owen counts as someone in our inner circle, and so does Antonio… No one else, really. Sorry.” He gave me an apologetic smile.

“It’s okay.” I gave him a thumbs-up.

Just then, our waitress returned to take our orders, and Darrin and I gave ours: I ordered the hot chocolate, specifically requesting a minimal amount of whipped cream, due to my heart. Darrin ordered the cannoli with a cappuccino. The waitress took our menus and informed us that our orders would be ready shortly, then left to tend to other customers.

Darrin asked, “What exactly did you mean when you said that you can’t have too much whipped cream ‘because of your heart’? You don’t have to tell me, if you think I’m being too nosy.” He chuckled.

“No, it’s fine…” Since he felt comfortable enough to tell me about his mother’s surprising cancer diagnosis, I might as well tell him the truth about my heart condition. “I have… Well, actually, I was born with a heart murmur.”

He looked surprised. “Really? Huh. You’re the last person I’d expect to have a heart condition.”

I smiled coyly. “I suppose there’s a compliment in there somewhere?”

“It is, trust me. I mean, you look so healthy. I never would’ve guessed. But then again, so is my mom. She’s always taken great care of herself, so this news is a bombshell for us.” He sighed again. “But yeah, enough about me and my woes. Would you like to tell me about your heart murmur?”

I shrugged casually. “I mean, it’s not something I often disclose. The only thing I could really tell you is, it’s the reason why I manage my diet. When I dine out at restaurants or order in, I’d choose restaurants that serve salad on the menu, and that’s what I’d order the most. I can’t have anything that’s high in fat or calories, or too much sugar. I obviously can’t drink alcohol or caffeine, either. My main reason for ordering hot chocolate and being tempted to request a plain one without the cream, but you’d probably think I’m boring or something.”

“Of course not, Taylar. I don’t think you’re boring. I think you’re right to take conscious care of your health. It is your wealth, after all. Was that why I saw you ordering the salad from Picco Boston the other night? A pizzeria, yet the only thing you found attractive on the menu was a… Salad, right?”

I nodded, grinning. “Yep. Lyndsay ordered the mac and cheese with roasted garlic, and I ordered the plain boring salad.”

“No, but salad is good for you, really. You can never have too much. I like it when a woman takes great care of her body. I assume with your father as a cardiologist, he recommends that there are certain do’s and don’ts for you?”

“Yep. And it gives me all the more reason to love him because he knows best. I go for a walk at the park whenever I get the chance and I’m not too busy at the salon, but the only day and time I can really go is on Sunday mornings. The salon is closed on Sundays, so that gives Lyndsay and me some time to sit back, relax, and stuff. We normally go to the park together, but on Sunday, she had to stay behind because she kind of woke up with some headache that came from nowhere, so I was the one who went for my walk solo. Which I didn’t mind, but…”

“Let me guess… This Sunday was when you made that unfortunate encounter with Julia. Tell me I’m right.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help but notice how much his blue eyes brightened when he smiled.

“Yeah…” I said slowly, hesitating to say anything else that might be offensive toward Julia.

“It’s okay, Taylar. I know how she is. During your walk, you just happened to overhear her and Antonio talking about their plans to have their wedding at the hotel at the same day and time as your sister?”

I nodded again.

“Trust me when I say this, but you couldn’t have known that they’d already booked the hotel then. And truthfully, neither did we. Up until then, we had been discussing a church wedding for them.”