"Damn it," Karen grunted as her fingers slipped off of the little white latch on the sliding door. It was a hard door to open when she could see what she was doing, let alone in only moonlight. She grasped the little knob one more time and pulled with all her might. Finally, the door slid open and she stepped out onto the balcony, the concrete cold beneath her bare feet.

She silently turned the corner and went to stand against the railing overlooking the ocean. She put the warm glass of her martini glass to her lips and took a long, controlled sip of the alcohol within it. Baby waves gently kissed and nudged the shiny black rocks several feet below her; the sea was calm tonight. Karen tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she looked out over the water towards the glimmering lights of the main island. The villa was so quiet that she could hear the thumping bass of the music coming from a nightclub over there - probably the same one she and Will had snuck off to months ago.

Karen closed her eyes and sighed. A memory of Will's strong and soft hands caressing her hips flashed across her mind and Karen became lost in her thoughts and memories. She took a deep breath.

Green eyes - heated breath - twin pulses - flashing lights - sting of vodka - puka shells - tanned skin - yellow taxi - hushed whispers - secrets shared- soft lips - passion.

Goose bumps rose on Karen's arms as she shuddered and opened her eyes, taking another drink of her martini. Her eyes went out of focus as she watched the twinkling lights across the shore and she thought back to Rosie's words this morning. Did she love Will? Of course she did, she had known that for weeks now. But she had never allowed herself to actually think the words.

Karen's smile, remaining from her detailed memory of the night she spent with Will, quickly turned to a cringe. Here again, she was in the thick of a love that would never - could never be. First of all, Will had just confirmed to her, not four hours ago, that he had no romantic interest in her. And secondly, and most importantly, there was Stan. Interestingly enough, Karen's newly-admitted feelings for Will were in no way affecting her still-strong love for her husband. Was this possible? Could you love two people at once, or was she just some sort of freak of nature - missing the monogamy gene?

But Karen had always been one to get what she wants - and what she wanted right now was Will. As if on cue, the sound of a door closing echoed across the courtyard to Karen's ear. She snapped her head in the direction it had come - a soft sound, but loud enough to be heard clearly in the dead silence of this night - and hurried to the other side of the balcony.

Her heart started beating faster as she narrowed her eyes to focus in on the little guesthouse across the courtyard. There were no lights on in the house, and she was beginning to think she had imagined the sound when a movement at the back of the house caught her eye. It was, of course, Will, and he looked like he was headed toward the beach.

Almost without thinking, Karen chugged the remainder of her drink and breezed back into the house. She pulled her sheer robe on over her silk nightgown and tip toed towards the door. She shut it softly behind her before creeping towards the stairs. When she got to the top of them, however, she paused and continued down the hallway. She stopped when she was in front of Stan's bedroom door, his loud and erratic snores echoing through the hall. His door was cracked just an inch, and she sighed as she pulled it all the way closed. She didn't really know what she was doing, but she was sure she didn't want to Stan to know.

The stairs creaked slightly as she flew down them, nearly tumbling to the bottom in the dark. Once she was safely on the first floor, her hand blindly grasped for the doorknob of the kitchen. She pushed it open and rushed out into the courtyard. Once she reached the far side of it, she paused and leaned against one of the stucco arches.

Karen tried to steady her breath and pulse as she gazed at the guesthouse, twenty feet in front of her. She still wasn't sure when Will was leaving the island, but she knew it was going to be sooner rather than later. She couldn't bear to imagine the little house empty, without Will's joyful spirit and passionate energy filling its four walls every night and morning. As she thought this, her eyes came to rest on the faded red hammock hanging between two beams on the porch. A random memory filled her mind; Will sitting on the flat part of the top of the wooden railing, his back resting against a beam that ran from the floor to the roof, and herself lounging in that hammock, looking up at him.

"What did it feel like?"

Beat.

"It hurt."

"What did he say?"

"He said it was my fault. That it never would have happened if I didn't drink so much. That if I could just change my behavior…that we'd all be so much better off."

"Do you think that's why?"

"I don't know…for long time there wasn't a clear answer - so I guess that's the one I've come to accept. But I stopped all that as soon as I thought I was pregnant, so maybe not."

"Do you still want kids?"

"Yes and no."

"How do you mean?"

"I would only want to make a baby with the right person…MY right person, you know?"

"You don't think Stan is the right person?"

"I'm not sure. He might be." Beat. "Do you think there's only one person out there for everybody, Will?"

"No…no, I don't think so. I think there are right people for right times, you know what I mean? I think people come into our lives for very specific reasons at very specific times…and you learn from that person, you grow from them - sometimes you grow with them, like me and Grace, for example - and then that's that. And you're the better for it, no matter what."

Was it really possible that there were two right mean for her? And were they both on this very island right now? Had fate or some higher power or whatever it is somehow…overlapped the presence of these two men in her life that were supposed to change her life?

So here she was, presented with two options. One was behind her, upstairs in the third room on the left, sleeping peacefully beneath his satin sheets and probably dreaming of her. This was the man she had been in love with for years - the man she had sacrificed so much for and that she knew would do anything to keep her. Her other option was through the trees and down a little hill, probably curled up next to the tall palm tree in the middle of her favorite spot on this island. This man had gone from acquaintance to lifeline in a matter of months. He had been there for her, inexplicably and unfailingly through a difficult time in her life. He knew most of her secrets and was keeping them better than anyone else in her life could. He was the one that she knew she couldn't keep - that said he didn't want her, even though his actions said differently. He was the one that had saved her.

She turned and looked over her shoulder at the window to Stanley's room behind her. She looked back towards the guesthouse in front of her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. Her decision was made.

A smile played on her lips and a warm feeling began to spread through her lower stomach as Karen strode forward, toward the beach.