Scarlett's Choice

Chapter IX

David lay in Scarlett’s bed, staring at the ceiling. Scarlett lay beside him, back turned. He wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or not, so he slowly got up searching for his clothes. Scarlett, who wasn’t sleeping, rolled over and sat up in bed. Tears streamed slowly down her face. David, who just started putting his shirt on, went over and sat beside her.
“What’s wrong?” She then started sobbing even more
“Don’t you feel guilty?” she finally said, in between sobs
David sighed and said, I”I don’t know”
Scarlett looked up at him confused,” how couldn’t you be?”
“I don’t know. A part of me feels horrible. But another part of me feels…elated because what we just did was amazing. You can’t deny we have chemistry” he dried her tears as she began to calm down.
“So what now? Where do we go from here?
“Let’s just take it slow. Have fun, live in the moment.”
“And Nya?”
“She can never find out”
“I can’t lie to her. I can’t smile to her face knowing I’m fucking her husband. It’s wrong!!”
David got up and finished getting dressed. “Ok so what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know”
“Look, I love my wife and I know what we did was wrong. But I can’t deny what I feel for you. And neither can you. When you decide what you want call me.”He walked over, kissed her on the cheek and left.

“I don’t know what to get!!” exclaimed Nya dramatically. It had been a while since her and Scarlett had some one and one time so she decided to take her out for dinner.
“I’ll have the smoked salmon and Ms indecisive here will have the seafood medley” said Scarlett. This was the first time she had seen Nya since she slept with David. And to her surprise she was remarkably composed.
“I’m so sorry I missed diner the other night”
“I told you stop apologising I’m just glad your chef is ok”
“I know right. So, I know I haven’t asked in a minute but no male prospects on the horizon?”
Scarlett’s thoughts quickly flashed back to her and David. She then said, “Nope just focusing on work”.
“Well I personally think that you’ll find someone soon. I mean look at you you’re hot and I feel like deep down underneath that good girl is a freak” the two women laughed. They ate and chatted about everything from men to work to the future. Scarlett’s phone chimed, it was a text from David
“I need to see you tonight. Please”
Scarlett was a little surprised; they haven’t spoken since that night. She hadn’t gotten the nerve to text or call him since even though she had been thinking about him nonstop.
“Everything ok?” asked Nya.
“Yea everything’s fine”
“It’s a guy isn’t it?”
“What?”
“You always do that half smile whenever u got a dirty text from a guy you like”
“That’s not true” laughed Scarlett
“Are we forgetting about Simon Collins? You two practically had sex over the phone. Unfortunately I witnessed most of it with my sad, miserable life back then. And whenever he texted you, you always made that face”
Scarlett burst out laughing. “I do not have a tell. And for your information that was Allison, my secretary”
“Well I don’t know if you have a crush on Allison but I’m still standing by what I said” smiled Nya. “Do you wanna come over and watch a movie? David’s working late tonight.”
“Umm I’m actually tired I just wanna crash” she lied.
The bill came and Nya insisted on paying. The two women hugged goodbye as valet came with Nya’s car. Scarlett’s car came shortly after. She called David on her way home.
“Hello” he answered
“I thought you were waiting on my call”
David laughed, “I think we both know how shy and stubborn you can be”
“Well I just left dinner with Nya; I’m on my way home”
“I’ll be there in 15”
She hung up the phone and stepped on the gas of her new Tesla. She got home and rushed to the bathroom for quick shower. As soon as she stepped out of the shower, she heard a knock at the door.  She hesitated not sure whether to hurry and put some clothes on or answer the door first. He knocked again. She decided to go open the door, dripping wet.
“Sorry I just got out the shower” she said as she turned to rush back in the bedroom to change.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her towards him. He ran his hand through her hair, “you’re so beautiful”. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.  She stepped back and looked up at him seductively; she pulled her towel allowing it to fall to her feet. He stepped towards her and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her in. He kissed her slowly on the lips, made his way to her neck, her breasts and continued on his way down. They didn’t make it to the bedroom this time; they had sex on her living room floor.
“I missed you” said Scarlett as she lay in his arms still on her living room floor gently stroking his abs.
“What are we doing?”
“I don’t know”
She got up and wrapped herself back in her towel. “We need to talk.  I’m going to get dressed”. He did the same after she left. He finally had a chance to observe her house some more and he loved all the colours. It definitely matched her personality but he also realised how different she was from Nya. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water.
“You hungry?” she said as she walked into the kitchen. She had changed into a grey top and loose cotton slacks. She walked over and opened the refrigerator, “I have leftover chicken or I could make you a sandwich”
“Grilled cheese?”
She smiled, “yes”
As she made the sandwich, she said, “So I feel like I don’t know enough about you.”
“Ok what do you want to know?”
“Tell me about your childhood. Where you grew up, do you have any siblings?”
“I have one brother, that’s it. My mother died when I was nineteen and I never knew my father. And well I was born and raised right here in LA.”
“Ok. Why law?”
“I wanted to do something where I could help people, bring some justice to the world. Law just seemed like a good fit.”
She handed him the sandwich and a glass of juice as she sat with him at the four seat wooden table in the kitchen. As he bit into the three cheese grilled cheese sandwich, he looked at her. She smiled and said, “Is there anything you want to know about me?”
He smiled and replied, “Nya talks about you so much, I feel like I already know everything.”
Scarlet smirked at his reply and said, “ok, and what exactly do you think you know?”
“Well I know you never knew your father. I know you chose psychology because you believed that if we understand the mind then it will be easier to understand people. I know your favourite colour is yellow; your favourite food is soul food. I also know you love writing short stories and you hope to publish a book one day. Oh, and you love rocky roads ice cream.”
She blushed and looked up at him with intensity in those big, brown eyes that could set fire to anything. Her lack of reply and the look on her face caused David to chuckle and asked, “Surprised?”
She smiled, “a little”. He finished his sandwich and the two sat at that table sharing life stories and laughing the night away. Their easiness around each other was unfathomably like anything either of them had ever experienced before. “I better get going” he said. Scarlett tried her best not to pout, not to show him how sad this made her. He however saw through her façade. He got up and walked over to her, he took her hand and she got up, pulling her to him. He pushed her hair back and said, “I’m going to miss you too.” They hugged as if they were never going to see each other again. He slowly released her and kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah you usually have dinner at the house on Sundays, remember”
“Right. I’ll see you tomorrow then”

The next morning, Scarlett decided to make a quick run to the grocery store. She hated leaving her house on a Sunday. She thought Sundays were a day to unwind and laze around the house. Seafood City Supermarket was closest to her so she decided to go there. It was Sunday morning so she definitely wasn’t in the mood to get all dolled up. She chose to go simple wearing a pink sweat suit and a pair of multi-coloured slides. She grabbed her keys and her purse and left. As she got there she could tell from the few cars in the parking lot that it wasn’t crowded inside. She was only halfway through her shopping when she heard someone say, “Ms King”. She turned to see a short, fat, bald man smiling and pushing his cart towards her. His face looked familiar but she couldn’t quite tell who he was. “How are you?” he said as he approached her. It was probably the quizzical look on her face that prompted him to not wait on a reply but to say, “Donald Jones. I work with Mrs Woods”
“Oh right!” Scarlett replied, finally recognizing him. “You’re Nya’s chef; we met at Jacob’s party”
“Yes. How are you?” His Australian accent was faint but still recognizable.
“I’m well, thank you. And you?”
“I’m good. All is well with me.”
“That’s nice. I heard about the accident, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Accident?”
“Nya told me about your motor vehicle accident recently.”
“I’m sorry Miss King but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t in a motor vehicle accident recently. Quite frankly I’ve never been involved in a motor vehicle accident.”
Scarlett was now extremely confused. She was positive Nya said her chef was in an accident. That’s why she left in such a rush the other night. “Well maybe I misunderstood. It was probably one of your sous chefs.”
“Maybe so” He replied a little confused.
“Ok well I’ll see you around. Enjoy the rest of your day.” He turned his cart around and made his way back up the aisle. Scarlett continued down the aisle trying to figure out whether she really did misunderstand or if Nya lied. But what reason would she have to lie. Scarlett finished her shopping and went home. The day went by fairly quickly and before she knew it, it was time to head over to Nya’s for dinner.  She opted for knee length dark, green spaghetti strap dress and a jean jacket with very little makeup. It was 7:15 and she had said she would be there at 7, luckily for her it was only a 15 minute drive over there. Nya had already informed Don that she was coming so he swiped his key card and let her up. The elevator door opened and she heard Nya yell from the kitchen, “We’re in here”.  Nya was making the table and David was finishing up dinner.
“Hey guys. Sorry I’m late” Nya came over and hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek while David replied with a simple “hey”. She poured herself a glass of wine to deal with the guilt that building up inside her. Her and David exchanged quick glances.
“David decided we should actually use the dining table tonight.” Said Nya smiling. Scarlett smiled.
“Yeah well the poor couch is exhausted.” Said David.
“You okay?” asked Nya to Scarlett.
“Yeah I’m fine I’m just gonna go wash up real quick” she left and went to the bathroom.  She took her jacket off and started pacing. She pulled herself together and went back in the kitchen. Everything was already plated and both David and Nya were seated waiting on her. She sat down and Nya gave her reassuring smile. They prayed and started eating. The table was quiet, which was unusual for them. Scarlett tried her best to avoid eye contact with David, who could see that Scarlett was having a hard time maintaining her composure.
“Well this is awkward” said Nya, unsure of what was going on.
“So Scarlett, what did you do today?” asked David.
“Well……i went to the market and I actually ran into your chef, Nya.”
“What?” said Nya a little surprised
“Yeah I saw your chef today, Donald I think”
Nya chuckled nervously, “since when do you go to the market on Sunday mornings?”
“Well I didn’t have time yesterday and I was running low on stuff so……”
“What’s the big deal about when she goes to the market babe?” asked David
“Nothing, it’s just unusual that’s all” she tried to change the topic and said, “Babe. This fish is everything!”
Both Scarlett and David looked at each other. Nya was definitely acting strange. Scarlett went on and said, “So I mentioned the accident and he had no idea what I was talking about”
Nya didn’t say anything.
“Babe” said David
“Well Scarlett I don’t know what to say maybe the guy just doesn’t like discussing it.  I mean he is a bit of an introvert.”
“Well…”
Nya cut her off before she could finish and said, “Could we just talk about something else please!”
David and Scarlett gave each other a look, Nya was definitely hiding something. The rest of the dinner went by in silence.