A few days after the Carter fiasco, Kirsten was busy organizing the walk-in closet after picking-up the dry cleaning. She heard Sandy coming up the hallway and greeted him without turning around.
"Hello, sweetheart. You're home early today."
Sandy took in the condition of their room: all of their shoes lined up on one side of the room and dry-cleaning bags strewn about the floor. "Did a hurricane hit that I wasn't aware of?" He asked teasingly.
"Ha-ha." Kirsten stepped out of the closet and walked over to the bed to pick up the last shirt waiting for residence inside the closet. "This might be the messiest our room has ever been, but the closet is pristine."
Sandy maneuvered through the garment bags all over the floor to get to the closet.
"Here." Kirsten reached out to hand him the shirt since he was going in there anyway. "This is nice, having you home so early. What's the occasion?"
"This is, my dear, that rarest of occasions; finishing up my paperwork earlier than expected," said Sandy, shrugging out of his suit jacket and tie.
"My, that is rare."
Sandy smiled at the light, cheerful cadence in her voice. "What did you do all day? Besides re-vamp the closet?"
"Um…well…."
Sandy peered out of the closet at her change in tone. Kirsten looked up at his questioning gaze but immediately looked back to the floor.
"Carter sort of called me earlier today." It was her turn to peer at Sandy. She noted that he didn't look exactly thrilled at the news.
"You don't look exactly thrilled at the news."
"What did he say?" Sandy asked sternly. Sandy, with good reason, hadn't forgiven Carter in the least for what he had pulled with Kirsten.
"He just called to apologize again and to tell me that he's moving. He might've found another job in New York."
"And?"
"And," said Kirsten, holding out the word, "that was it. I mean, we didn't have much to talk about. I wished him luck with his life, and…that was it." She shrugged.
Kirsten knew Sandy's thoughts on the subject of Carter, and believed he had good cause to dislike the man, but Kirsten couldn't hate Carter forever. She didn't want to get together for lunch and talk about how he had attacked her or anything, but she couldn't hate him forever. They had shared a friendship while working together, no matter how brief a time that was, no matter how it had ended. She had come to terms with his actions and with his departure and felt that leaving was his best option.
"He doesn't deserve your forgiveness," Sandy said softly.
"He doesn't deserve to live with the guilt forever, either. He made a mistake and he knows that. He's fixing his life, too. He's giving up drinking for good. I think he means it."
Sandy looked at Kirsten with admiration. She was tough as well as being the sweetest person he knew. And she was his wife. He smiled at that knowledge.
"What's that look for?" Kirsten arched an eyebrow at him.
"You just amaze me, that's all."
"Oh, is that all," she teased. "If I had a penny for every time I've heard that." Kirsten put a hand up to her mouth and faked a bored yawn.
Sandy tried to march toward Kirsten, but his feet became momentarily tangled in the dry cleaning bags on the floor. Kirsten chewed her bottom lip in an attempt to not laugh as Sandy tripped (literally) toward her.
His eyes narrowed. "Are you laughing at me? Me?"
"Never, Sandy."
Finally making it over to her, Sandy gently but firmly grabbed Kirsten by the shoulders and lifted her so that her eyes were level with his. More importantly, her lips were level with his. While he softly moved his lips over hers, Kirsten draped her arms around his neck and crossed her ankles behind his back.
"Mm, this is better," said Kirsten pulling back for air before kissing him back.
Sandy groaned is agreement before they both tumbled on to their bed.
Kirsten looked up at her husband. "You should come home early more often."
Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!