The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero

More than a Friend
a short story by
Chelle Cordero & Barbara Cordero Du-Bois

“Are you doing okay?”

Janis couldn’t answer through the lump in her throat. She looked up at Jerry and nodded hesitantly.

He stifled a frustrated sigh, frustrated because he wanted to do something, anything, to take her pain away. It tore him open inside to see her tears and that angered him. Jerry felt guilty for the jealousy he felt knowing that she was crying over her loss of another man.

Janis stood in the center of her living room and remembered the last time she had been in that room with her husband… and wishing she could forget. There would never be another chance to make things right.

###########

Jerry helped take her jacket off and he laid it carefully over the back of a chair.

“I… I think I need to be alone.” She noticed the hurt look that he tried to hide. “Jerry I’m sorry. Thank you so much for being here for me. I would never have survived the last few days without you. I haven’t been fair to you.”

“No, I-“

“Ssh.” She put her fingertips on his lips. “You lost him, too. He was your cousin.” She continued speaking through her tears. “And all you’ve done is take care of me since it happened.”

#####################

Their Captain called them in from patrol to let Janis know that her husband had died in the line of duty. Billy was working crowd control at a fire scene in the south Bronx when a brick was tossed from a neighboring rooftop. The coroner said he died instantly.

Jerry had been the one to catch her as her knees buckled. He’d barely left her side since.

She caught her breath. “I just need some time.”

“Maybe you should ask for some more time off, you know, before you come back to the job.” Jerry searched her face. He was so concerned for her.

“I’ll be fine.” She forced strength into her words.

“Just call if you need, anything. Alright?”

She nodded and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, and The Vacation.

Something for everyone… humor, drama, passion, suspense, and more! Chelle Cordero’s first short story collection gives the reader a glimpse into her writer’s mind, with humor, poignancy, love, suspense, and more with these nine short stories.

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AudioBook narrated by Wendy Tremont King