WOW! I've never been terribly fond of "wow," but the situation definitely calls for use of it. You guys are absolutely amazing reviewers! I was so very flattered by all of your lovely comments and I really, really appreciate your taking the time to let me know your thoughts. You guys are great! princesssparkles, I totally agree that a Kirsten/Summer scene would be great. I'm working on that, thanks for the suggestion! ;) You guys are lovely!!! ;) Please let me know what you think of chapter three. I, personally, think it's a little weird, but I suppose I'm overly critical of myself. It's your call. ;)
THANKS!
Claire

She left Seth awhile later and found Sandy watching TV inside.

"Howard Stern. Lovely," she commented, settling next to him. "Ooh. The star of the latest 'Bitches and Hos Do Manhattan' installment. Must be a riveting interview." He looked up guiltily.

"Hey, hon. There was just a..."

"Really hot woman?" She smirked and he put his arm around her.

"I don't need to turn on the TV to see one of those," he replied cockily.

"Change the channel and I'll try to forget that you just compared me to a really skanky adult film star." She kissed him and he turned off the TV.

"I did not!" he protested. "You're in a league of your own."

"You need to work on your compliments. None of these attempts have really left me feeling better about myself," she laughed.

"Hey, but look at you," he said, taking her statement as an opportunity to revisit the subject that he hadn't been able to take his mind off, even while watching the already scantily dressed woman remove her shirt. "You're looking much better than you were the last time I saw you. Good talk with Seth?" She shrugged and then nodded.

"Yeah. He...knows how to make me smile."

"Should I be insulted?"

"No. It's a skill he picked up from his father." Grinning, he pulled off an oddly coordinated little move that ended up with them both lying down. He started to kiss her but she put a reluctant hand up. "Sandy. Wait." He stopped, confused. "As much as I would love to do this...which is quite a bit, believe me...there's something I have to tell you because...well, aside from that fact that I've been meaning to tell you for years, Seth just scared me into tell him and it's really only fair that I tell you since you're the one I wanted to tell first." He took a moment to process her request and then nodded, his nervousness returning.

"Of course. Go for it." They both sat upright and she took one of his hands.

"The advice I gave Teresa was based on a firsthand experience," she said without looking at him. His grip on her hand loosened considerably.

"You had an abortion?"

"Yes." Her voice was tiny. He completely removed his hand from hers, a gesture that surprised her and, more than anything, hurt. She knew she was supposed to elaborate but she had no idea where to begin, so she waited for his harsh lead.

"When?"

"I was...I was twenty-two." He was so quiet that at first she thought he hadn't heard her. When she turned to him, though, she saw an expression on his face like she had never seen before. He looked furious and shocked and scared.

"Kirsten...you were with me when you were twenty-two," his voice quavered as he stated the obvious.

"Not for the entire time," she whispered.

"You know, as much as you seem to enjoy being cryptic and waiting for me to fill in all the blanks here, maybe you could do me a favor and just give me all the important details." She had never heard him sound so mean. Never to her, at least.

"Okay," she said softly, her eyes filling with tears. "Um...well, we'd gone out a few months and then we...took a break. You remember that, I assume. I found out I was pregnant a week after we broke up. And that was a big deal for me, Sandy, I really thought...I mean, I really thought that we were done forever. I didn't really have a reason not to think so. As I recall, we both basically concluded that we wanted nothing to do with each other ever again. So I wasn't exactly ready to mother your child." She drew in a shaky breath.

"Honestly, all this time I thought it was something with Jimmy."

"No."

"It was mine," he murmured quietly.

"Yes." He stood up, his back to her.

"God, Kirsten, I can't believe this."

"I'm sorry, Sandy, I've never been able to find an appropriate time to tell you."

"We got back together after three weeks!"

"And telling you, 'Oh, yeah, by the way, I aborted your child' would have been such a step in the right direction for our relationship."

"I deserved to know!"

"I know. I'm sorry."

"What the hell have you been thinking, Kirsten? It never occurred to you that I should be let in on this?"

"Of course it's occurred to me!"

"You waited eighteen years. This is unbelievable."

"I haven't known how to tell you!"

"It was half mine, Kirsten!" She started to cry.

"Please don't yell at me, Sandy, this is hard enough as it is."

"Yeah, let's sugar coat this. Let's not raise our voices. All you did was kill our child." She stood up, appalled.

"I can't believe you just said that."

"Yeah, how dare I?" he bit back sarcastically, staring at her with such a vicious gaze that she barely recognized him. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and started towards the kitchen. "I'm sleeping in the pool house."

"Sandy, we need to talk about this!" she called helplessly. He turned to face her.

"I don't know how to talk to you." She watched him storm outside and didn't even bother to conceal the fact that she was crying for the third time in the past hour.



So...there it is. Weird? Yes? I think perhaps. Let me know. ;)
xoxo,
Claire