Simone.

The tall man with brown hair looks down at us. Abby is the first one to get to her feet, she straightens her hands against her pants before acknowledging the guy. I remember him from the hospital room, he came in with Beth.

I wonder which of the sisters he is connected to and try by all means to avoid the thought that he might be Abby's something.

But imagine the drama?

“Vincent,” Abby mutters, calmly. Like she hasn't just been caught sticking her tongue in another woman's mouth. The other woman is a wife to another man. Although I can't be completely innocent in this equation, I did respond to her kiss. I did suck in her tongue and her soft lips, I did all those things and I'm more ashamed of it now.

What made me do it? What was I thinking? What happens now? What—

Everything about this screams; scandal and confusion, everything I shouldn't be putting myself in. I already have enough issues with Zack as it is. Was adding more problems necessary?

“The twins are awake,” the man notes, throwing me a glance before he turns to go back inside.

Abby hesitates; she eyes me for a split second before she clears her throat and walks away. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, do I go in there? Do I go home? Should I just stay here until she is back? Should I scream after her?

I don't exactly have a guidebook on what to do after kissing a woman you're not supposed to kiss.

I don't know why I'm freaking out about the part where I don't know what to do next and not the part where: I KISSED A WOMAN!

I shake my head and stagger to my feet. My knees feel weak for a lot of reasons; it could be the cold, or it could be that the kiss knocked me out. I make my way to the car, patting my pockets to feel for my keys, but I can't find them.

Please no.

I walk back to the bench, and with a flashlight from my phone, I look under it, hoping I dropped them there somewhere in the middle of all the face-sucking I was doing. But they're not there.

Dread falls over me at the realization that I might have left them in the hospital room.

Fuck. The universe just won't give me a break.

My feet keep moving forward and backward. I don't know if I should go in there, or maybe I should walk home, I will still get the car tomorrow when there's less confusion in my head.

But it's a long way home, walking would break my fucking legs. I can call a Lyft, but I don't have any money on me. I can call Zack to come and pick me up, but I'm still mad at him, and to be honest, I'm not ready to face him yet. Especially now with this new development. How will I even look him in the eye and just lie about everything?

How?

I don't know how I got here, but I'm standing behind the door in the twin's hospital room. I gently push the door and five pairs of eyes look at me. I feel so exposed; I feel ashamed like they all know something I don't.

Like they all know I kissed Abby.

Did she tell them? Can she tell them?

“Mon, the boys were asking about you,” Beth, always my saver, comes to my aid and breaks the silence.

I smile, my gaze averting to Tim first, then Turner. Despite the boys being identical, I managed to find a distinguishing feature or two. First, it's their hair; Tim's is spiky, while Turner's is more laid and falls a little on his forehead. I think that's enough to know which one is which for now.

“Hey,” I greet.

The boys wave at the same time with weak smiles on their faces.

“I came to grab my keys,” I say, and reach the side table. “I will see you guys tomorrow. Beth, keep me posted please.”

Beth nods.

On my way out, my eyes lock on Vincent. I can't read his face. I don't know what he is thinking or what he will say, but I hope he keeps his mouth shut.

The walk back to my car is as fast as my feet can carry me. I'm scared Abby might come after me, I'm scared she might force me to talk about what happened.

But again, when I get to the car, I hate her for not following me. I hate her for not coming after me. How can she just act cool, be okay, and just ignore what happened?

She has nothing to lose. I convince myself as I speed through the quiet streets of Virgin Creek.

When I get home, Zack is watching TV with a bowl of popcorn on his lap. He mutes the TV and pulls me into a hug.

So many hugs for only a day, but for the first time in a long time, I got to feel how it feels to be wanted. To have your heart racing only because someone has their arms around you. Mostly, hugs from Zack just feel like our bodies are crashing into each other; sometimes, it feels like he squeezes me too hard, I fail to breathe, and the only option is to pull away.

But now, it's warm and comforting. Or is it that way because I want it to be?

When he pulls away, he wraps his hand around my cheeks and kisses my lips. The salty taste on his lips takes away the coffee taste of Abby's mouth.

“How are they? How are you? Your cheeks are freezing.”

My darling Zack.

“They're awake now, better even,” I respond, pushing past him to the bedroom.

“Where are you going? Do you not miss me?”

I turn around, my hand on the staircase railing. I smile. “Of course, I missed you let me take a shower, and I will come to you.”

Zack smiles because I told him exactly what he wants to hear. He nods and goes back to the TV while I rush to the shower. In my head, soap and water will wash away my guilt. It will wash away Abby's watermelon scent; it will wash away her mouth on my body---on my lips. It will wash away the sensation of her hands around my waist, of her hands on my chin, of her lips in my hair.

When I get out of that shower, I grab a robe and wrap a towel around my hair. I go back to Zack who is still watching TV.

“How was your day?” I ask.

He has the courtesy to turn the TV volume down and look at me. “Awesome, how was yours?”

Awesome? Really?

I shake my head. “Are you not going to explain what happened last night?”

He slumps on the sofa like I brought up a mood killer.

“I told you, baby, I was just tired and stressed.”

I nod. “That's new.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

I look pointedly at him. “I mean, you never miss a chance to satisfy me no matter how stressed or tired you are, Zack, something is different.

Zack scoffs. “Why is everything about you?”

“Why shouldn't it be? I'm your wife!” I state, matter-of-factly.

“Baby, I know that, but try to get in my shoes here.”

“Yeah?”

Zack exhales deeply and sits up, he pinches the bridge of his nose before looking back up. “I don't want to fight with you.”

I nod. “Neither do I, just don't lie to me.”

He gets my hand in his and soothes the skin on top of my thumb. “I'm sorry, I will do better.”

That's all it takes for my walls to shake and fall. Everything I thought I would do if we had this conversation. I spent half the day making things I would say to him, the bottom line being I would not give in to his games. His well-crafted words.

I know there's a much larger conversation building up behind all of this, but we are both good at avoidance. We don't dare to touch topics that can ruin us. We like to stay safe.

“I will start going to the Doctor's again,” I mumble, my chest clenching.

“Simone,” Zack's voice has a warning tone to it but I disregard all of that. Maybe this is what it will take for him to care about me again.

“I just want to—”

“We tried!” Zack springs to his feet. “We already tried everything.”

I swallow the huge lump in my throat. “You will only love me if it happens.”

“How dare you stoop this low, Simone?” Zack mutters, there's hurt written all over his face. I don't know why, but some part of me wants to smile at this sight. He knows what it's like to hurt and it's happening to him.

“I'm sorry,” I whisper, coming back to my senses.

Zack shakes his head and stomps off up the stairs, cursing under his breath on his way.

I know it was a lame move, I really shouldn't have stooped that low.

I shouldn't have opened Pandora's box.

++++

Happy reading.

I hope you enjoyed this part as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Much love, NOMMY 🔥