**Hospital Diary Entry**
I walked into the hospital to visit my friend and nearly fainted when I saw who was sharing her room.
“Valerie, darling, you gave me such a fright!” I hurried in, clutching a bag of fruit. “When your daughter called to say your heart was acting up, I nearly collapsed myself!”
Valerie lay by the window, pale but smiling.
“Oh, Sophie, thank goodness you came,” she said, reaching for my hand. “Its been so dull here, I thought Id go mad from boredom.”
I set the bag on the bedside table and glanced around. The ward had four beds, but only two were occupied. On the bed next to Valerie lay a woman with long silver hair tied neatly in a braid, her back to us.
“Whos your roommate?” I whispered, settling into the chair beside her.
“Thats Margaret. She arrived yesterday,” Valerie murmured. “Very quietbarely speaks. Just reads or scrolls on her phone. They say her blood pressures as unpredictable as my heart.”
Just then, the woman turnedand my blood ran cold. Those familiar hazel eyes, the delicate features unchanged by time, the faint mole on her left cheek
“Margaret?” I barely breathed. “Margaret Whitmore?”
She went still, then slowly sat up, staring at me.
“Sophie Parker?” Her voice carried the same warmth I remembered from thirty years ago. “Good heavens it cant be.”
Valerie looked between us, baffled.
“You two know each other?”
“Oh, we know each other,” I said tightly, unable to look away. “Very well.”
An awkward silence settled. Margaret studied her hands while I stared, half-convinced I was hallucinating.
“Girls, what on earth is going on?” Valerie burst out. “Sophie, you look like youve seen a ghost!”
“Almost a ghost,” I murmured. “Margaret and I havent crossed paths in a long time.”
“Thirty-two years,” Margaret added quietly.
“Blimey!” Valerie propped herself up. “School friends, then?”
“Not exactly friends,” I said, sitting stiffly as if ready to bolt. “We shared certain interests once.”
Margaret finally met my eyes.
“How is Edward?” she asked softly.
My knuckles whitened as I clenched my hands.
“My husband passed eight years ago. Heart attack.”
“Im sorry,” she whispered. “I didnt know.”
“Dont be,” I waved it off. “Life happens.”
Valeries curiosity was unbearable.
“Alright, out with it! How do you two really know each other? I feel like Im missing half the story!”
Margaret and I exchanged a glanceneither of us eager to dredge up the past.
“We worked together,” I finally said. “At St. Marys Secondary. I taught English; Margaret taught history.”
“Colleagues,” Valerie nodded. “Had a falling out?”
“Over a man,” I admitted bluntly. “The oldest story in the book.”
Margaret flinched.
“Sophie, please”
“Why not?” I turned to her. “Valerie wont let it go. Besides, it hardly matters now, does it?”
“I suppose not,” Margaret conceded.
Valerie groaned. “Ill die of curiosity if you dont spill!”
I leaned back, gazing out the window.
“I was twenty-four. Fresh out of university, teaching my first year. Naïve, impressionableand utterly smitten with Edward Collins, the married deputy head. Handsome, clever, ten years my senior. Textbook midlife crisis.”
“Oh dear,” Valerie winced.
“Exactly,” I scoffed. “We had our flingsecret meetings, him moaning about his cold marriage the usual lies.”
Margaret listened silently.
“Then Margaret joined the staff,” I continued. “Bright, witty, beautiful. Edward decided one mistress wasnt enough.”
“Sophie, it wasnt like that”
“Wasnt it?” I snapped. “You *knew* about us! I *told* you! We were friends!”
“We were,” she admitted softly. “I never meant to it just happened.”
“Happened?” I echoed bitterly. “You just happened to steal him?”
Valeries eyes darted between us like a tennis match.
“I didnt steal anyone,” Margaret said firmer. “He told me you two were just passing time. That you understood it wasnt serious.”
I laugheda sharp, ugly sound.
“That *bastard*. So he fed you lies about me while telling *me* you were some reckless flirt throwing yourself at him!”
Margaret paled.
“He said *that*?”
“Word for word! And we both *believed* him! Let him pit us against each other while he gloated!”
“Girls,” Valerie cut in nervously, “maybe dont get so worked up? Your blood pressure”
“No, its fine,” I waved her off. “Good, actually. Cards on the table at last.”
I turned back to Margaret.
“What happened after I left?”
“Three more months of sneaking around,” she whispered. “Then his wife grew suspicious. Meetings stopped. By terms end, hed divorced and married the PE teacher from St. Johns. Turns out *shed* been his third affair.”
I gaped. “He never told me.”
Margarets smile was rueful. “We were just numbers to him.”
The rain pattered softly against the window as we sat in silence.
“Did you remarry?” I asked finally.
“Twenty-eight years with William,” she said, eyes misty. “A good man. Dependable.”
“Sounds lovely.”
“It was. Quiet, but real.” She hesitated. “And Edward? Was he?”
“A decent father, surprisingly,” I admitted. “We married four years laterafter his second divorce. By then, the charm had faded. Hed grown ordinary.”
Valerie sniffled.
“What a waste! All those years lost over that *rotter*!”
Margaret touched my hand.
“I spent decades ashamed. Terrified to bump into you.”
“Same,” I admitted. “But we were young. He preyed on that.”
Valerie wiped her eyes.
“Youve got to reconnect now! Grandchildren visits, proper chatsnone of this silence!”
Margaret looked at me hopefully.
“Id like that. If youre willing.”
I squeezed her fingers.
“Absolutely. Though lets skip the men-talkweve grandchildren to gossip about now!”
Valerie beamed.
“And health complaints! At our age, thats *vital*.”
We burst out laughingjust as the clouds outside parted, sunlight spilling through.
“You know,” I mused, “maybe its for the best we fell out over Edward.”
Margaret raised a brow.
“How so?”
“Imagine if wed *both* married him!” I grinned. “You first, then me, then the PE teachergood grief, we dodged a bullet!”
“Too right!” Margaret giggled.
Valerie threw up her hands.
“Thank *goodness* for my dodgy heart, bringing you two back together!”
I winked.
“Next time, just *call* us. No need for dramatics.”
As we laughedthree white-haired women giddy as schoolgirlsI realized: some wounds heal sweeter with time. And true friendship? Well, thats timeless.
