Kim woke up when she heard a door slam near by. Slowly raising her head, she looked at the alarm clock beside her; it was five-thirty in the morning. She then reached next to her to discover that Nick wasn't there. Her head automatically turned towards the bathroom door as she heard the shower start.
She groaned. She knew she would never be able to get back to sleep now and unwillingly got out of bed. Her legs moved awkwardly as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of black shorts and a pink jog bra. As she striped off her pajamas she took care not to move too much, as every single bone in her body seemed to ache with protest at the slightest movement.
It was hard not to think about that look in Nick's eyes the previous night and the only way Kim could think to clear her head and stretch her aching limbs was to go for a jog. She needed to feel the early morning air on her body. Pulling her trainers on, she grabbed her iPod and delicately went downstairs. Not wanting to disturb Nick, she instead scrawled a note for him in the kitchen and quickly got her water bottle, before heading out into the surreal and peaceful morning.
She started out her morning exercise by walking a couple of blocks. As she strolled down the clear path, she thought more about the strange dream that she had had the night before. It had felt so real, like it had actually happened, once upon a time. The more she walked, the more the dream confused her foggy mind. Finally growing sick of thinking about it, Kim turned up the volume on her iPod and began to run. At first her legs screamed in protest, but she pushed through the pain, running with all of her heart and soul as though she was trying to run away from something.
Kim finally collapsed on a park bench to catch her breath. She opened her bottle of water, took a long drink, and laid her head back. As she closed her eyes, an image flashed across her mind, her green mystery man twirling her around in the air, her eyes popped open. "Tommy," the name escaped her lips in a whisper.
Kim was disturbed by the image and his name; something felt wrong. Looking out over the calm surface of the water, the feeling subsided. For some weird reason she felt safe there, like someone was putting their arms around her in a protective bubble. She quickly shook her head, trying to clear the image from her mind. That is when she realized that she had forgotten to take her medication this morning. It took a lot of energy for Kim to get up off the park bench, but she eventually found the strength and made her way back home.
She put her key into the lock and walked into the house just as the clock on the mantel struck eight- she couldn't believe that she had been gone for two and a half hours. Kim began to make the exhausting trip up to her room when she was stopped by Carle, the maid.
"Mr. Sanders requested that you go into the parlor when you came home." Carle said in a very small and terrified voice.
Kim gave the poor girl a sweet smile and replied, "Thank you very much, Carle."
Carle bowed and then ran off down the stairs to the basement. Kim chuckled lightly as she watched the young girl disappear, before turning her attention and interest to the closed parlor doors. Sighing heavily, Kim gripped the handles and pushed open the doors. The sight made her gasp, her hand flying up to cover her open mouth. The decorative parlor was covered in white and pink roses; there must have been a thousand roses covering the room. Kim walked slowly around the room in complete aw. Tears began to fill her eyes as she noticed that a trail of rose petals lead to a small table. She followed the trail to the table and picked up a note written in her husbands beautiful script:
There is a rose for every time I thought about you last night; a rose for every time I wished I could take back what I did last night, a rose for every hope that you will forgive me, there are 1,500 roses. Meet me tonight at Under The Stars Café.
P.S. look for the red rose.
Kim turned around and began to search the room for the single red rose. She finally found it hidden in the middle of a bundle of white roses. Very carefully, Kim took the single red rose out of the bundle. To the naked eye it looked like an ordinary rose, but Kim knew better than to take things at face value. She gently looked the rose over and gasped again when she what was nestled in the center. With tears streaming down her face, Kim lifted a beautiful ring out of the rose's heart. Slipping it on her finger she noticed how the gold band fitted perfectly and how the pink diamond sparkled. Kim stood transfixed by the stone and jumped suddenly when she heard a slight knock on the door. She turned and a smile spread across her face as her best friend and neighbor, Emily, walked into the room.
"What has he done now?" Emily questioned with a gesture.
Kim glared lightly at Emily and replied, "He hasn't done anything."
Emily rolled her eyes, clearly still skeptical. "Right…and that's why there is a huge bruise on your arm and your legs are all scraped up."
"Oh well he didn't mean that. He was just a bit tipsy." Kim replied looking away from Emily's prying gaze.
"Do you know what they call the period after a husband first hits his wife?"
Kim looked down at her sparkling ring "No, what?" she asked softly, already knowing what was coming. Emily had a habit of lecturing her about the things that Nick did while intoxicated. Kim knew that Emily's heart was in the right place, but she was growing tired of all the lectures. She didn't seem to understand the love that Kim and Nick shared.
"The honeymoon period. This is when the husband tells his wife that he is so sorry, that he loves her, that he will never do it again, and then he showers her with gifts."
Kim tried really hard not to laugh. "So Nick gave me some roses and a ring- it doesn't mean anything."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this like your six or seventh honeymoon?" Emily asked ad she pushed the subject.
"Oh don't be ridiculous Emily." Kim dismissed her argument. "He did it because he loves me and there is no other reason."
"But Kim I…"
Kim held up her hand to stop Emily. "Em, you know that you are my best friend, but you promised that you would stay out of this, remember?"
"I remember," Emily grumbled. "And I wish I hadn't made that promise too."
Kim sighed and prayed for more patience. "Nevertheless you promised and I'm going to hold you to your word, now can we please change the subject."
"If you don't mind me asking," Emily said innocently. "What drew you to Nick in the first place?"
"Well he was always there for me in Florida. When I fell and broke my ankle he carried me to the medical office. When my boyfriend broke up with me, he held me while I cried. When I turned to alcohol because of the break up, he was there holding my hair back. He stuck up for me when Coach Schmidt wanted to kick me out of the program…" She sighed as she reflected on the painful past. "He has always been there for me."
Emily's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "You were an alcoholic?"
"Yeah, I was so depressed and nothing seemed to take the pain away except alcohol. Oddly enough when I was drunk, I was able to see him."
"Your x-boyfriend?" Emily questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, we were together when I was in Angel Grove."
"So he broke up with you while you were in Florida training?"
Kim nodded and answered bitterly, "Yeah and get this- he didn't have the guts to tell me to my face. He wrote me a letter saying how he had found the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and that if I could meet her I would like her. I was so upset that I began to drink and drink hard."
"Wow…" Emily paused. "I had no idea… you never told me that."
"Yeah and when all the other male gymnasts found out I was single, they asked me out non-stop. Nick waited and then at the perfect moment asked me out. He was so romantic about it, that's one of the qualities I love about him."
Emily's eyes darkened a little, "Kim there is nothing romantic about a guy who pushes his wife around."
"Emily you promised, just please drop it."
Her friend gave a sigh of defeat. "Yeah, actually I came over to see how your party went last night…and if you met any hot, single guys for me?"
Kim laughed as she regaled Emily with the events of the party; being sure to leave out what had happened in the parking lot. As the clock struck noon, Kim realized how hungry she was.
She put a hand over her stomach and asked Emily, "Are you as hungry as I am?"
Emily giggled and replied, "Famished."
"Well how 'bout I go get cleaned up and we can go out for lunch?"
Emily nodded eagerly, "That would be perfect; we could try that new bistro up by the high school."
"Nick tried it and said that it wasn't very good." Kim admitted
"So, maybe he didn't select the right course."
Kim nodded her head as she laughed. She asked Emily to wait in the parlor while she went upstairs to freshen up. She was pleasingly surprised by how much better her muscles felt after her run; her mood lifting incredibly.
As Kim removed her exercise clothes, she took care not to let her necklace caught in her jog bra. One of her friends in Angel Grove had given it to her before had she left for Florida, but for the life of her she couldn't remember his name. It was a small, iridescent pink crane pendant hanging from a gold chain. Nick didn't like the fact that she wore it, but it was one of the few things that Kim refused to take off, the other being her wedding ring.
Kim went into the bathroom and while she was getting ready she took a look at the bruise on her arm. Its color had intensified radically since she last looked at it and she knew the stares she would get. She decided that she had better opt for long sleeves, just in case. After a final examination in the mirror Kim flew down the stairs and grabbed Emily. Her friend's eyes darkened over her choice of a top as the jumped into Kim's cherry red Jaguar convertible, driving off to lunch.
Thanks to those who reviewed, much appriciated. I think I'm going to make a game with the brownie points, not sure. Anyway thanks to my wonderful beta Chanelle, you awsome chica. Toodles