Into the Grey

An intoxicating smell of fresh herbs and vegetables flooded her senses as soon as Erin stepped inside David's house. He loved to cook and when he was in the mood he created masterpieces, not just dinner. From the Caprese salad right down to the Italian bread, he left nothing untouched. He even made his own vinaigrette.

"I hope you're hungry." he placed a loaf of bread on the cooling rack. "I got a little carried away."

"A little?"

"Mmm." he sighed. "You know I love being in the kitchen."

"Do you need any help?"

"Everything is taken care of." he replied. "The bread is cooling, the cheese on the lasagna is starting to bubble. And just wait until you see what I have for dessert."

"You never fail to impress."

"We have about twenty minutes until it's ready." he took her hand and led her toward the patio. "Plenty of time to relax."

"You certainly are in a wonderful mood."

He sat down on the double lounger. His eyes traveled over the curve of her stomach. The last time he had seen her there was only small rise in her abdomen and now it was most certainly unmistakable."Always." She arched an eyebrow. "Mostly." he amended. "Come on, join me."

Erin sat down next to him. And she had to admit it did feel damn good to just sit and relax. There was something about him that brought her a sense of peace since the car accident. He certainly never made her feel that way before. "So to what do I owe the honor?"

"Honor?"

"This big elaborate dinner."

"I thought we were friends." he told her. "And friends do nice things for each other."

"We're friends?"

"Aren't we?"

She shrugged. "Come on, we're civil at best."

"We happen to disagree on some things." he said. "A lot of things. But that doesn't mean I don't respect you. And I know that respect works both ways."

"So you do pay attention."

David smiled. "Even when people think I'm not."

Erin rubbed her hand under the left side of her abdomen. "I'll have to remember that."

"Something wrong?" he asked, gesturing to her stomach.

"No." she replied. "He's just moving."

"It's not too early for that?"

"It's my fourth." she replied. "I've felt him move for almost a month now."

"Can I feel?"

Erin was a bit taken aback by his request, but quickly recovered. "Sure." she reached for his hand and held it overtop of where she felt the kicks. "It's still subtle from the outside."

After a few moments David felt some slight movement. "Wow, I definitely felt that.' he noticed that her ring finger still held her wedding rings.

"He's moving more and more everyday." she replied. "Which is good, it means he's getting stronger."

His hand lingered over her abdomen. "Have the two of you discussed baby names yet?"

"Two of us?"

"Yeah, I talked to Aaron yesterday afternoon." there was no delicate way to bring it up.

"Oh."

Silence lingered between them, he pulled his hand away from her. "He didn't go into any detail, don't worry." he told her. "Just that he was the father and the two of you were going to raise the baby together."

Erin nodded. "And that satisfied you?"

"Sure."

"David."

"Look you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." he told her. "I'm not trying to invade your privacy, either of you. I just don't understand...I don't know." he trailed off. "How did this happen, Erin?"

For some reason she felt the need to explain. And why she had no clue. Maybe it was the sadness that tinged her voice. Maybe she was trying to protect her image. Or Aaron's. All of the above. "It was just one night." she confessed. "The night before I went into treatment."

"Were you sober?"

She was surprised at how much his words hurt. A valid question but residual stinging nonetheless."It wasn't like that. It wasn't some dirty, sloppy, drunken hookup, David. Give him more credit than that." she told him. "Give me more credit than that."

"So he took advantage of your vulnerability?"

"Of course not!" she defended Aaron. "Do you really think he would do something like that?" she asked. "He's got more integrity than the both of us put together."

David shrugged in agreement. "What exactly happened then?"

"Aaron knew that I was struggling with something. I had asked him to help me oversee some departments. He asked if I wanted to talk about it and I refused. I left him in my office." she explained. "I called him a few hours later and he came to the hotel bar. We talked, had dinner, talked some more and then he took me to my room. And it just happened and it felt right at the time. I don't regret it."

"How could you?" he asked. "There's a child."

"Even if there wasn't."

"Can you see yourself with Aaron?"

"He's tall, dark haired, and handsome. Storybook Prince Charming." she told him. "He's also good friend. And an excellent father."

"I'm going to take that as a no."

"Another place, another time, maybe things could have been different." she confessed. "Maybe we could have built something."

"Just like you and me."

Erin chuckled. "Not quite." she replied. "Aaron and I actually could have had something."

"And we couldn't?"

"Our ship has sailed, David."

"It couldn't have." he disagreed. "It never left the marina."

"And maybe that was for the best, huh?" she asked. "You had a few more wives and became a famous author. Grant and I got married and had children. We both built really good lives apart, David."

"But just think of the life we could have built together."

"We would have destroyed each other." she told him. "Our personal life would have hurt our professional lives and vice versa."

"Was our past really that bad?" he asked. "That you're just willing to forget it altogether?"

"I never said that." she replied. "Its just that it's been a long time, David."

He nodded in agreement. "Will you at least answer a question for me?"

"If I can."

"The night before you went to rehab...Why Aaron?" he asked. "Why didn't you call me?"

tbc...

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