This chapter has sort of a flash back thing happening. sorry its been so long. its almost over guys. thanks for reading
Chapter 8
Six days had passed since Mercedes and Alicia met. Alicia Agreed to meet Sam in the playground two blocks from her Harlem brownstone. The couple spent many nights walking through that park hand in hand, talking about everything. Sometimes they would even bring his daughters and Alicia's dog along, painting a real family picture to the onlookers. Sam was surprised she answered his call on his first try. He was sure that after finding out he was still married and then him not calling her for a week she would be impossible to talk to. Sam sat on a swing and swayed back and forth in the autumn breeze waiting for her to arrive. He was nervous. He kept wringing his clammy palms together. He knew this had to be done, still he hoped she would be a no-show.
She entered the park and saw him sitting on the swing. She purposely entered the playground from the opposite end. Just incase she saw him and decided at the last moment to flee. Alicia stood still for a moment, gathered her breath and proceeded in his direction. She sat on the swing to the right of him and waited for him to speak.
When Sam saw Alicia sit down his heart melted. He knew how much he messed up. Yes he loved the woman before him. She was beautiful, accomplished, strong, giving and fun. When he was with her he forgot about all the loneliness he felt at home when his wife was gone. He knew that there wasn't any excuse for lying to Alicia about being married, and he didn't want to offer this woman any generic reasoning either. He respected her too much for that.
"Thank you for meeting me. I wasn't sure if you were going to answer when i called." Sam stopped swaying and planted his feet firmly on the rubber ground beneath him. "Well I'm here so give me a reason to stay. To be completely honest I'm not sure myself why i even agreed to come." it was Alicia's turn to start swaying. She didn't want to look him in the eyes. she didn't want him to see how badly she was truly hurting. "Let me start off by telling how sorry I am for deceiving you. My intentions were never for all of this to happen. I know this is a terrible thing to say but i never thought that two years alter we'd still know each other much less be in a relationship. And i especially never meant to hurt you." Alicia took a moment to let Sam's words sink in before she responded. "How long have you been married?" Alicia resisted the urge to slap him when he revealed he had been married for 10 years and together for 15 years, they'd been together essentially since high school. "How have you been able to keep up the facade? We've spent nights together, we've vacationed, we've vacationed with the kids, I've met your family. How hasn't your family figured out what you were doing? wait, did they know along? I thought i had done my research. After you told me who you were married to I looked all over the internet for articles about your breakup and since I didn't find any pictures of the two of you together that looked relatively new i figured you were telling the truth. "
"Since Mercedes is on the road a lot touring it was easy to hide that reality. We made the decision before we were married to keep our private lives out of the media so you wouldn't find much of anything the internet. When i returned from Vegas, I had no intentions of contacting you. and weeks went by and i was scrolling through the pictures in my phone looking for one of my brochure ideas for work i stumbled across a picture of you. I didn't even remember taking. Memories of the fun i had that weekend started pouring to the front of my mind and before i knew it, I was dialing your number. I actually hung up the first time believe it or not. But i looked around and i realised that I was bored. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife, I love my kids and sometimes I even love my job but I missed having fun and you reminded me of the fun that I used to have with my wife before her career took off. I never meant for it to happen again yet alone lead you on for two years. I do love you, I do. But i'm in love with my wife. I owe it to her and to my daughters to try and repair what broke. Alicia didn't know what to say. She came not knowing what to expect but secretly hoping that the odds were stacked in her favor. She could even hear some story about how maybe he and his wife after being a part decided to get back together. she never really fathomed that they'd been together the entire time. It still did not make any sense to her. All of the time they spent together had to been real, not just dates for when his wife was on tour. "I feel so betrayed. All i've done for the past two years is give you and your children my all. i thought we were building a family together. And all this time you've been playing me and playing with my emotions because you were lonely at home". Sam didn't answer. he knew whatever he said in this moment would be wrong and he had already done enough damage. When Alicia Sulked back onto the swing sam stood to say his final goodbyes. There was no way he could ever see Alicia Johnson again and be the committed husband he was supposed to be from the day he said "I do'. "Alicia i'm really sorry. i have to go now. i have to get back to the hospital early tomorrow. Be well." with that Sam began walking away. "Hospital?" Alicia called out behind him. "Yes, Bailey and Riley were in a terrible accident the day after our fiasco. Riley is basically out of the woods and and the doctors have high hopes for her recovery but Bailey is still unresponsive." With that, Sam left the park and continued to walk steadily until he was out of Alicia's view. He never saw the tears that fell from her eyes as she heard the news. He never saw her place her hand over stomach and he never heard her whisper "but we're building a family".
Back in his hotel room Sam sat alone in deep thought about that evening in the park with Alicia. He wondered how something that was supposed to only last one night turned into two years of lies and deceit. They had not spoken since that evening. A few times, he dialed her number but never hit the call button. It wasn't that he wanted to continue their affair, he wanted to apologize again He knew that he truly hurt someone and although he knew it was going to end one day and with everyday that passed he hoped that the pain with subside just a little bit more. He had to focus on his wife. He needed to be focused on his daughters and giving those three ladies all he had was much more important than anything else at this point. Sam picked up his phone again, scrolled through the contacts list and deleted Alicia's contact information.