Sorry I know it's been a long time but here you are the last chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Kirsten was in bed pretending to be asleep. Sandy was snoring next to her. She counted the minutes till her alarm sounded. She got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. It was eight o'clock so she knew she'd be alone. She checked the pool house and saw the blinds were still drawn. She settled onto her favourite sun lounger and pondered over the previous nights events.

"Are you gonna tell him?"

She could hear her son's voice quiver as he asked her that. She didn't know how to answer. She felt her body freeze with the realisation that she may just have to break Jimmy's heart again. The thought of going through it again terrified her. Hadn't she gone through enough? She realised she was being selfish. But wouldn't telling Jimmy after so long be just as selfish? She sighed, "What am I gonna do?" she whispered to no one in particular, She heard a noise beside her and found Ryan lying in the lounger next to her, "How long have you been lying there?"

"About ten minutes." He admitted not opening his eyes, "What are you gonna do?" he asked. Kirsten shook her head and stared out in the distance. There was a cold wind coming off the sea. She saw Ryan get up and head for the pool house. She felt her body shiver and she pulled her robe close to her. "Here." She heard Ryan say. He was standing in front of her holding a dark blue robe. She recognised it as a Chrismukkah gift for Ryan. She had forgotten all about it. Ryan shook the robe in front of her as if to persuade her to take it from him, "Put this on. I never use it." He said. He settled himself on the lounger again. She wrapped it around her. It smelled like his aftershave. Maybe he did use it and just never liked to admit it. Kirsten looked over at him and asked, "If you were Jimmy. Would you wanna know?" Ryan paused before answering.

"I don't know."

"Neither do I."

"Have you talked to Sandy about it?" he asked but Kirsten shook her head.

"This isn't about Sandy. He and Jimmy are totally different. Sandy's my husband and if it had been his kid then he would nave a right to know but Jimmy... he's past tense." She stopped realising how cruel she sounded. She shook her head again and sighed.

"If you told him... what would happen."

"He would hate me. We'd never talk again. I would lose my best friend."

"And if you didn't tell him."

"We'd all be holding our breath whenever he was around. I'd constantly be worrying about him finding out form someone else..."

"So it's a win/win situation huh?" he joked. Kirsten smiled sadly but didn't laugh. Ryan titled his head and saw that Kirsten was on the verge of tears. He took her hand, "Hey come on. You'll get through this. Whatever you decide. It's for the best."

"Maybe sometimes the only result of revealing the truth is pain." Kirsten said frustrated, "No good would come from me telling him so why do it?" she asked. She stared at Ryan expecting him to answer.

"Kirsten I can't tell you what to do." He said evenly.

"I know. I'm just asking for your opinion."

"Okay. Truthfully I don't think you should tell him for all the reasons you just said. It would be selfish. You would just be telling him to unload your guilt and that's not fair." Kirsten nodded and Ryan continued, "You're looking for somebody to forgive you and to you that person is Jimmy. It's not fair. And you're right. No good would come of it. You can't turn back time and do things differently so why would telling Jimmy be the best thing to do?" He said squarely.

"It makes no sense," she agreed. She turned to him, "Would you hate me? If it were you?" Ryan looked away and sighed. Kirsten went on, "Tell me. Truthfully." Ryan turned back.

"I wouldn't hate you. But I don't think I could ever forgive you." He whispered. Kirsten's eyes prickled and she sat back onto her lounger. She knew his answer before he said it. The fact that he had said it surprised her. She held beck the tears and turned to her son who had closed his eyes again. She squeezed his hand again.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Fin.

It may be a weird place to stop but I didn't know how else to round it up. Also i apologise for it being so short. Hope you enjoyed it though. Please review.