Kate had done just fine raising her three children, alone, after the sudden disappearance of her husband eight years ago. Now he's back, claiming he can't remember the past eight years.
Join Kate is she balances the fine line of saving her heart fr...
"I guess I should go talk to Mikey." I mutter against Sam's side, pulling away from our hug. "I still don't know how long to ground him for, you think till college is too long?"
"Let me talk to him." Sam wipes his face, standing then offering his hand to me to pull me up. "He can help me do yard work as punishment."
Michael's stern glare from outside the room stops my response like Mikey needs a sterner punishment.
Sam sees Michael and holds his hand out for him to shake. "My apologies." Sam tells him, wincing when Michael grips his hand. "I'll leave you two to finish talking." Then he pulls his hand from Micheal's, sending me a quick glance before leaving, closing the door behind him.
Michal looks around the room, his eyes catching the photos of the kids and I on my dresser.
The first black frame is of the day Arianna was released from the hospital- our first family picture without Michael.
The next was of the four of us during our first Christmas in Stadia, Sam had taken it.
The third was a more recent one, taken just after one of Mikey's football games, Sam's in there his hand on my son's shoulder like a proud uncle, while Sofia clings to his back and Arianna is held in my hip.
The last on the dresser is just of Sam and I, from when we were leaving a hospital fundraiser we went to last year. We were drunk, laughing about a patient case he had the day before, and a nurse off duty took it.
"It sounded like a beautiful ring." He says quietly, as he looks at me, his emerald eyes darkening with emotion.
"It's stunning." I tell him, sitting down on the bed. Rubbing my hand over the cream comforter to give me something to distract from the silence.
"Can I see it?" Michael suddenly asks, and I can hear the carefully veiled frustration in his tone. I glance up to see his glare burning into the sage pillow that covers my left hand.
My brows furrow. Does he think..?
"Michael-"
"I want to see it!" He snaps, his eyes narrowing as I bring my hand out from underneath the pillow.
"Did he not ask you?" He questions, gripping my left hand, gently, in his own. His thumb strokes up and down my ring finger, sending instant tingles down my spine.
"It's not like that with Sam." I tell him, missing his heat when I pull my hand away. "The ring was his late-wife's."
"You're okay with that?" His face scrunches up in confusion. Anger. Hurt. "Him keeping his previous wife's ring and sleeping in your bed."
I open my mouth to respond, but he doesn't let me.
"Spare me, Kate." he waves me off. "I know he didn't sleep on the floor."
"I wasn't about to lie." I tell him, growing frustrated that he won't let me get a word out. Maybe I deserve it though, not making things clear with him from the beginning may have been cruel.
"Good, considering the first thing my son said to me after eight years was that a man sleeps in bed with my wife."
I stand from the bed, and face him. There were so many things wrong with the statement, my anger wants to grab on to each of them and fling each of his horrid sins back at him.
He cheated. He left me. He left his children.
"Mikey said nothing of the sort, he said that Sam doesn't sleep in the guest room. Which is true because he usually falls asleep on the couch. I have no interest in Sam that way, he's my best friend. I came here with nobody and he found me and helped me. I threw up all over his shoes the day I met him." I chuckle remembering Sam's immediate response.
"The sad part is this isn't the first time I've been thrown-up on...today."
"Sam's wife, Maddie died of cancer around the time Arianna was born and we both, coincidentally, moved here to get away from our previous lives. But I honestly don't think he'll ever move on from his wife."
I awkwardly rest my hand on his shoulder.
"And I'm sorry I didn't clarify everything earlier. I- I was angry, and I didn't think it was any of your business. Cause, we're divorced, so even if it was like that with Sam, you don't get to comment."
He grabs my hand from my shoulder and tugs. I, not expecting it, stumble forward.
"Does that mean he kissed you the yesterday just to piss me off? Cause it worked." His eyes dart from my own to my lips.
"Michael." My voice trembles as his eyes darken.
"I wanted to kill him." He mumbles lowly, his rough, calloused palm cupping my jaw. "For kissing my wife."
I'm mesmerized by him, as every kiss from years ago plays through my mind like a movie reel.
His passion and possessiveness. His generosity and gentleness.
My eyes start to flutter as Michael leans in. His lip are a paper's width from my own, when.. I realize this is a mistake, an absolutely terrible idea.
"No!" I find myself stumbling back. "No." My heart races and I feel as if the room is closing in on me. "No, Michael, we're divorced, I can't do this. We can't!"
"We can!" He stands to his feet, approaching me quickly. "Kate, I love you and I think if you let yourself you would fall in love with me again."
What he doesn't realize, I didn't even until just now, is that I still do love him. I love him so much and that's why this whole situation is as painful and the day he left.
"No, Michael," I step back from him as he moves toward me, my back eventually hitting the wall with a soft thud. "We tried and it didn't work. I know you need time to accept it-"
"I will never simply accept it, Kate." He tells me and I take a sharp breath when he rests his forearms against the wall, on either side of my head. "I love you and I will fight for you every day."
"You should stop saying that." I whisper, leaving out the part where my heart sings with joy each time he does.
"I'll never stop, Kate, because it's the truth. I'm madly in love with you- always have been. He shrugs as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
My eyes squeeze shut. My heart wants to scream it back but my mouth remains shut. I'm in love with the man I thought he was- not the real one.
"You'll leave." My voice breaks and Micheal's calm, frustrated demeanor crumbles. He looks devastated. "You'll get your memories back and leave and I.."
"I won't. I promise, I won't leave. I even accepted a job at the kid's school." My eyes snap to his as he stares down at me. "That's what Sofia was trying to tell you earlier- the principal offered me a job and I've accepted- I start Monday. I'm staying, everything I need is right here in this house." He steps back from me. "I understand if you don't want me staying here, I'll find somewhere else but I'm here in Stadia to stay." His eyes don't break contact with my own as I remain frozen and speechless. "Whatever life I've led for the past eight years, I promise it was misery."
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😍😍😍 this ring was on my Pinterest feed and I fell in love.
