As Mike drove toward his spacious home early Wednesday morning, a small smile had spread across his face. His matches on the just completed road trip were a complete success and highly praised. Also during some down time, he was able to visit a local jewelry store and picked up a surprise for Taylor.
But deep down, Mike felt as if something was…off. Before the weekend, anytime he and Taylor were on the phone, they would spend hours on the phone. Hell, they would be one of those cheesy couples that would say "no you hang up" over and over. But in the last 24 hours, something was different. Anytime Mike tried to call, Taylor would either not answer and if she did, she would be short in the conversation and then end the call all together several minutes later. Maybe he caught her at bad times through the day? Maybe he was just paranoid. As he pulled into the driveway, Mike knew he would soon get his answer.
It was right before 7am, and since it was Taylor's day off he knew she would still be in bed. After grabbing a bottle of water and setting his luggage at the bottom of the stairs, he raced toward their bedroom. Mike quietly opened the door, and there she was-lying on her side, pieces of hair across her cheek and her breathing even. To Mike, Taylor never looked more gorgeous.
"Baby girl," he said softly, moving those pieces of hair to the side. "Baby girl I am home."
It took a moment for Taylor to realize someone was talking to her, and after blinking her eyes a minute, she looked toward the man hovering over. "Hey Mike," she said, opening her arms. No matter how mad she was, she couldn't resist not touching him.
Mike happily obliged her, silently breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe everything was ok and he was just paranoid. "I missed you baby," he stated, kissing her temple.
Taylor bit her tongue, not wanting to bring up the Eve subject. "I missed you too."
Sitting up a little straighter, Mike dug into his jeans pocket. "I have a surprise for you babe. And it has to do with your wedding band."
As she sat up straighter, Taylor scrunched her eyebrows. "What do you mean my wedding band? I'm confused."
"Well, before I went to the arena yesterday, I went to a local jewelry store and got this for you," he said, handing Taylor a small velvet red box.
"What is this?"
"Open it and find out," Mike urged, smiling.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed once the box was open. Nestled inside was a 2 carat princess carat diamond on a white gold band, with tiny diamonds embedded in the band. "It's beautiful."
"You deserve a beautiful ring to wear along with your band," he said as they kissed. "I love you."
"I love you too Mike," Taylor responded. They exchanged smiles and another kiss before Mike got up from his spot to put his keys away on top of the dresser and empty out his pockets.
Taylor took a deep breath. She didn't want to say what she was about to say, but they needed to talk. "How come you didn't tell me that you and Eve had a fling together?"
Mike stopped dead in his tracks as he took off his long sleeve shirt. "How did you…"
"I was told by a reliable source," Taylor interrupted. "Why didn't you tell me about Eve?"
Taking a deep breath, Mike turned to face his wife. "I didn't tell you…because I didn't want you to worry."
"And why do you think I'd worry?" Taylor asked, joining him in the middle of the room.
"You didn't like the storyline-"
"Would you if you were in my position? Mike, it's basically like I'm giving you free reign to cheat," Taylor spat.
"Of course I wouldn't like it Taylor, and I don't like it now. But it's my job-I'm sorry I can't do anything about it," Mike replied as Taylor stayed silent. He took this as a cue to go on. "As for me and Eve…like I said, I knew you didn't like the storyline and I didn't want to tell you it was with her to spare your feelings. I didn't want you to hurt more."
Taylor stayed silent for a moment, stewing over what Mike had just told her. "Can I ask about it?"
"What the fling?" Mike asked, as Taylor nodded. "Sure, what do you want to know?"
"How long?"
"Like two months," Mike replied as he took his seat back on the bed.
"Did you and Eve have a relationship?" Taylor asked.
He shook his head. "No, it was never a relationship. Basically once the superstars got to the hotel, if she needed a sex fix, she would call me. If I wanted sex, I would call Eve."
"Who ended it? Why?" Taylor asked, sitting on the bed as well.
"I ended it and the reason is because I was tired of it. Eve and I started this little deal like a month or so after Maryse and I broke up. And after awhile, it just got old. I didn't want to be in a relationship at the time but I didn't want to continue that either. I just wanted to be by myself."
"Until you got set up on a blind date, and married her within weeks," Taylor smirked.
Mike returned her smile. "It's good to see that smile. Are you still mad?"
"Not really," she replied, shrugging. "I don't know if I was ever really mad. I think I was just upset at the fact you didn't tell me yourself. But is there anything else you haven't told me? Is there anything else I need to know?"
"No, there are no other skeletons in my closet," Mike smiled, grabbing Taylor's hand.
"Mike I really do want our marriage to work. I don't want any secrets between us. A husband and wife shouldn't keep secrets."
"Agreed," he said. "No secrets."
The next morning, Taylor finished getting dressed and putting her hair up in a ponytail. It was going to be another day at the hospital. "Mike," she said quietly, walking toward her husband. "Baby, I'm going to work."
Mike groaned, rubbing his face. "Do you have to? I was hoping we could actually spend the day together."
"You know I have to. Besides, I only work till noon. I'll see you after lunch," she said.
An hour passed, and Taylor was busy as usual with her patient paperwork. As she was going through the files of patients needing to be seen, one name popped out in particular.
"Chase Montgomery," she whispered. "Oh shit!"
Taylor's friend and co-worker, Lindsay, heard her outburst. "What's the matter?"
"My ex-boyfriend is a patient! And there is probably no way I can give him to another nurse."
"No sorry," Lindsay replied. "He is Dr. Peters' patient and you are the head nurse for Dr. Peters."
Taylor groaned as she gathered her files. "Here goes nothing."
His hospital room was only a short walk away, and before entering she took a deep breath. When she walked into the room, she could see the man in the hospital bed looking toward the window. Just by looking at his silhouette, Taylor knew it was definitely the man who broke her heart.
"Hi Chase."
The man's head spun, and his eyes widened. "Taylor, hi. That's pretty crazy your my nurse."
"That's what you get when you have Dr. Peters. How is your knee feeling? What happened?"
"It's an old high school injury, and I was playing basketball with some friends. I wanted to try and dunk the basketball- I fell when I landed, and here we are."
Taylor nodded as she wrote down some notes. "Ok. Here is some meds to help with the pain. Your going into surgery first thing in the morning. It's just a normal, routine surgery and you will be good to go in about 6-8 weeks."
"Ok," Chase said as he took his meds. "I see you have a ring on. When did you get married?"
"Mike and I got married a week ago. We eloped while in Las Vegas," Taylor replied, checking on an IV.
"Wow, congratulations," he said. "Umm…do you have a minute? Can we talk for a second?"
"I don't know if that is such a good idea-"
"Please?" Chase asked. "Just for a second."
Taylor took another deep breath. "Ok."
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Chase began. "Not long after we broke up, I found out Kayla was cheating on me too. It was the worst feeling in the world."
"Now you know how I felt," she retorted.
"Yes I do, and I am really sorry. I hope someday you will accept my apology."
"Thank you for your apology Chase. I'm going to let you rest now," Taylor said as she started walking out of the room.
"Make sure this Mike guy knows how lucky he is," Chase called. "Make sure he knows he's married to a great girl."
