I Loved You Before I Met You

34

   After quite a few minutes Lauren gives in and starts talking. She tells me everything that has been going on but I'm fine with that because I know she needs to talk about it. She tells me what Mike said to Kyle after I had gone upstairs that night. After Kyle had left she confronted Mike about cheating on her. She also confronted him about his second marriage he never told her about and him cheating on mom and his second wife.

Lauren gave him the divorce papers and told him they were done. She had already got this apartment before giving him the divorce papers so she had somewhere to go. She also sold the Land Rover and got her the brand new 2021 Ford Edge Titanium.

Come to find out he has been cheating on her for three of the five years they have been married and for the past year he has actually been in a relationship with some woman in San Francisco. Lauren wanted him to repair his relationship with me and be an actual father for me because she wanted to have kids. She wanted mine and his relationship to be in a good place before she tried to get pregnant. He actually told Lauren if they would've had a baby before then he wouldn't have cheated. That of course is a lie. Him and mom had Kyle then me and he still cheated.

Sometime during the night Lauren and I both fell asleep on her bed in the same position we were in while I was comforting her. I wake up the next morning and don't feel the warmth of her body on mine. It feels like a part of me is missing. I would love to fall asleep and wake up with her in my arms every day for the rest of my life. Wait... did I just think that? I am definitely falling in love with her.

I look at the time and it's 5 a.m. Monday morning. Why did I wake up so early? I go to the kitchen and Lauren's sitting at the table drinking coffee. She looks up "good morning Kyler." I smile at her. "Good morning Lauren. Did you sleep okay?" She nods her head "I slept pretty good. Probably the best sleep I've had in a couple weeks." I just smile at her more because I don't want to say anything and her regret what she said. Her eyes are a little red from all the crying last night but she still looks absolutely beautiful. I can't take my eyes off of her but I snap out of my trance when she clears her throat.

There's an extra mug on the counter so I fix myself a cup of coffee and join her at the table. It's silent between us but it isn't awkward, more of a comfortable silence. Lauren breaks the silence first "I have a spare bedroom. I know you have nowhere else to go so you're more than welcome to live here and finish school, or ever how long you need to. I want to know you're safe and taken care of. I'm so sorry I haven't been there for you the past week or so but I am here now."

I'm shocked by Lauren's offer and would love to stay here but I feel like I would be taking advantage of her. Plus the feelings I have for her I don't know if it's a good idea. I know Lauren said nothing could happen between us and I have to respect that and not push her. I would never force myself onto her no matter how bad I want her. I love her too much to do that. Yeah, I admit that I love Lauren.

"Thank you for the offer Lauren. It means a lot but maybe it would be best if I go back to Pensacola. I would love to live with you but I don't know if it's a good idea. Plus I feel like I'd be taking advantage of you and I don't want to do that. You have your own problems to deal with, you definitely don't need me adding to it."

Lauren looks a little sad "okay if that's what you want to do but...  maybe think about it before deciding." I reach across the table and grab her hands "Lauren, I would love to stay here with you but you don't owe me anything. I kind of figured you would be happy to not have me around anymore. I have made a mess of your life and destroyed your marriage."

"Don't ever think that Kyler. I care about you, and not being married to your father anymore will never change that. I love having you in my life and cannot picture my life without you in it in some way. You would not be taking advantage of me plus you only have four weeks of school left. At least maybe stay and finish school then decide what you want to do. If you go back to Pensacola now you'll have to repeat your senior year since school is finished there. I don't want that to happen because of your father being an ass. You don't deserve any of this."

I sigh because I didn't think about school. "You don't deserve any of this either. I need to learn how to keep my mouth shut. If I would have, you wouldn't be in this situation." Lauren touches my knee to get my attention. "Kyler the truth would have come out anyway. I'm glad it happened now before I would have maybe gotten pregnant. There's no way I would want to have a baby in the middle of all this. That would have made this whole situation even worse. I'm very thankful you couldn't keep your mouth shut." She says with a laugh.

"I had not even thought about school. That would suck having to repeat my senior year. If... if you're sure about this even with you being... my principal then I would love to live here with you. I just don't want you to get in trouble or anything for me." Lauren looks at me "nobody will know unless you tell them. We can leave your dads address on file so it's not the same as mine. I'll  take care of everything so don't worry about it. Just please don't tell anyone. Nobody knows about the divorce and I want to keep it like that as long as possible."

"Why don't you take today off from school and get your clothes and other belongings over here? I'm taking today off since I have the divorce meeting this morning. Your dad wants to hurry and get the divorce finalized for some reason but I'm honestly fine with that. As soon as I finish there I can help you. He will probably go to work afterwards so he will not be there. If he knows you're moving in with me I know he will cause problems especially for me at the school."

I pull Lauren from her chair and wrap her in a big hug. When she wraps her arms around me, I squeeze a little harder "thank you for this and for everything." She lets me go "you're welcome. Now I've got to go get ready and I will see you later okay. I wish I had another car for you to use. Just pack everything you can in your suitcases until I get there with my car. Anything else that won't fit, we will buy if we have to."