When Sadie, Lori, and their husbands go away for the weekend—eager to celebrate a birthday—Lori’s husband, Ben, gives Sadie a cryptic message about a secret he’s keeping. Sadie is torn between keeping the secret or telling her best friend… Perhaps some secrets aren’t worth keeping?

Since high school, Sadie and I have always been best friends. We grew up across the hall from each other. At home, Lori was treated like another daughter.

“Lori,” my mother would ask every night, “will Lori join us for dinner?”

So we went through everything together, including dating—and now marrying—two of our best friends: Benjamin and Keith. I still remember when I met them at school. I was convinced I’d end up with Benjamin, but Keith won me over, and Lori and Benjamin found their soulmates in each other.

Two teenage girls sitting by a lake | Photo: Pexels
Two teenage girls sitting by a lake | Photo: Pexels

Of course, we were each other’s bridesmaids, and our bond grew stronger as our lives became more intertwined. Over time, Benjamin and I also became close, forming a quartet of friendship and love with our spouses.

Now, we’re a couple who love doing everything together, from birthday dinners to holidays. So, to celebrate Keith’s birthday, we rented a small chalet because we wanted to celebrate somewhere else.

“Book a place, Sadie,” Lori said. “You take care of the accommodation, and Ben and I will take care of the food.”

Airbnb living room | Photo: Pexels
Airbnb living room | Photo: Pexels

Neither of us had children and we were more than excited to get away, even if it wasn’t for very long.

Keith’s birthday was approaching, and we arrived at the house early, ready to celebrate. I ordered a birthday cake, which Lori picked up, along with enough food for two weeks, even though we were only going to be there for the weekend.

Everything was going well until the night took an unexpected turn. We were all drinking: no one was going to be on the road. We were safe. But Benjamin, who had overindulged a bit, sought solace in the cool night air on the balcony with me.

Candles lit on a birthday cake | Photo: Pexels
Candles lit on a birthday cake | Photo: Pexels

Inside, Lori and Keith were singing along to YouTube music videos.

“You know, Sadie?” Benjamin began, slurring his words, “there’s something I’ve been working on for Lori.”

Intrigued, I asked for more information.

“Ben, what are you planning?”

“It’s a surprise! But you’ll have to keep it a secret if I tell you. It’s been so hard hiding the bottles from Lori…”

“What bottles?” I asked him.

“Oh, you know,” he said, his voice slurring as the alcohol took hold of him.

People standing on a balcony | Photo: Pexels
People standing on a balcony | Photo: Pexels

Lori and Benjamin weren’t heavy drinkers: they drank occasionally with Keith and me, but it wasn’t something they did on their own. This was because Lori’s father was an alcoholic, so she felt uncomfortable with alcohol in the house.

“What mischief are you two up to?” Lori’s voice, light and playful, couldn’t hide the edge of her curiosity.

Benjamin recovered quickly and recounted how he and Keith had been trapped in an elevator earlier in the week.

“We sat on the floor and waited,” he told Lori.

The closed door of an elevator | Photo: Unsplash
The closed door of an elevator | Photo: Unsplash

“I know,” she said, her eyes narrowed. “You told me this story as soon as I got home.”

My best friend smiled slightly before going back inside.

I spent the rest of the night trying to decide whether to tell Lori about the secret bottles of alcohol that Ben was hiding around his house.

On one hand, they had a wonderful relationship, and Ben always went out of his way for Lori. He loved making her happy.

But on the other hand, Lori’s father was a frequent visitor to her house. If he relapsed, Lori would never forgive him.

A smiling old man | Photo: Unsplash
A smiling old man | Photo: Unsplash

“What should I do?” I asked Keith after we had gone to bed.

“Do you think Ben was serious?” she asked. “He was pretty out of his mind.”

“Wouldn’t I be telling the truth?” I asked him. “More like lubricated with the truth.”

Keith laughed.

“Sadie, if you’re worried, I think maybe you should talk to Lori. If something happens, you’ll only blame yourself for knowing.”

Keith was right. I would blame myself if something went wrong, even if Ben hadn’t given me enough information.

A couple sitting and talking | Photo: Pixabay
A couple sitting and talking | Photo: Pixabay

I couldn’t keep it to myself.

The next morning, Lori and I went for a walk and had coffee along the way. As we walked, I told her everything Ben had said, or indicated.

“Are you sure?” she insisted. “Are you sure he said ‘bottles’?”

“Yes, but, listen, I’m just speculating. I wanted to tell you in case something happened. I know how you feel about these things with your father around.”

Lori looked at me for a long moment.

“Ben has been withdrawn lately,” she agreed. “But it can’t be what you think!”

A person with a takeaway coffee | Photo: Unsplash
A person with a takeaway coffee | Photo: Unsplash

We walked back to the rented apartment, talking about everything and nothing, specifically about the bottles and what we both thought they were.

Lori didn’t seem as upset as I’d thought. But even so, I was relieved to have told her what I knew. It was up to her to be prepared for whatever might come.

We returned to the rented flat and found Keith putting away our clothes and Ben scrubbing the floor.

“We should leave soon,” Keith said.

We went out and had lunch at a small cafe before heading home. I hadn’t expected Lori to question Ben with Keith and me around, but I wondered what she was thinking.

The exterior of a coffee shop | Photo: Unsplash
The exterior of a coffee shop | Photo: Unsplash

I wasn’t prepared for the message Lori sent me the next day.

You saved my life. I’ll call you later.

The words echoed in my mind. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was sinister enough to send a chill down my spine.

Later, when she called me, Lori told me how, during the day, she decided to have lunch early at work.

“I just wanted to get home and rummage around a bit. Look for bottles, or whatever, you know? I needed to find whatever it was Ben was hiding in our house.”

A woman holding a phone | Photo: Pixabay
A woman holding a phone | Photo: Pixabay

So he went into his house and was immediately met with the smell of gas: in the rush they were in to get to work that morning, neither of them had checked if the gas was turned off.

“Can you imagine if I came home and turned on the stove, Sadie?” Lori chattered. “Our house would have gone up in flames. Probably with us inside.”

I could hear the shiver in her voice.

“Have you found anything?” I asked curiously, as Lori calmed down.

“Yes,” Lori said. “They were behind the towels in the linen closet.”

“What were they?”

“They’re bottles,” he clarified. “But they’re not alcoholic.”

Vintage glass bottles | Photo: Pixabay
Vintage glass bottles | Photo: Pixabay

I sighed with relief. I hated being in the middle of that situation. I hated betraying Ben’s trust, but in the end, Lori came first.

“Sadie,” she said. “They’re antique perfume bottles. Well, not all of them. There are some perfume bottles and some antique bottles. I don’t know why Ben has them, but they’re worth a lot. There are labels on each one.”

It didn’t make sense to me. I knew Ben liked antiques; sometimes he bought them to collect, keeping them all at his parents’ house. But sometimes he bought them just to sell them for a higher price.

When Lori confronted him that night, Ben’s confession revealed the depth of his love for her.

Vintage perfume bottles | Photo: Unsplash
Vintage perfume bottles | Photo: Unsplash

“Lori, every bottle sold was a step closer to our dream. I wanted to surprise you with a trip to Paris for our anniversary. So I bought those vintage bottles online and I’ve been selling them to make a profit,” he said.

“And the perfume bottles?” Lori asked.

Ben said they were for her, straight from the set of one of her favorite old movies.

“They’re supposed to be the first gift,” she laughed. “Paris was the second.”

I couldn’t understand how Ben had the time to track down, buy, and sell those things. They were ridiculously expensive. Keith would have been impressed if I’d gotten into it.

“Maybe it’s her way of showing her love,” Keith said when I filled him in over dinner that night. “Lori loves his old movies.”

Couple having dinner at a table | Photo: Unsplash
Couple having dinner at a table | Photo: Unsplash

In the end, I felt embarrassed for having spoiled Ben’s surprise, even though Lori didn’t reveal that I had told her about our conversation. She only said that she had stumbled across them while doing the laundry.

“He has no idea,” he reassured me.

But I still felt justified in telling him: what if, in a twist of fate, Ben was hiding alcohol in his house? It could have triggered a horrible series of consequences.

Read also: My husband’s Christmas gift turned my life upside down

Everything’s going well now, and it looks like my best friends are really going to Paris in a few months. Keith and I have made a bet about whether they’ll invite us on the trip—we’ll see.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris | Photo: Unsplash
The Eiffel Tower in Paris | Photo: Unsplash

Do you think I made a mistake by telling Lori?

Here’s another story | Ann is excited to start the next chapter of her life. She’s moving into a new apartment with her boyfriend, Josh. But when they start living together, she learns things about him that make her want to run for the hills.

Subscribe to AmoMama to read the best stories from show business and the world all in one place.