Chapter Nine: Consequences

The next day, I took another sick day. I went to the store, bought boxes and packaging tape. I spent the day packing the rest of Lee's stuff.

I called Tommy when I was finished.

"What's going on?" He asked when he entered the apartment and saw all of the bags and boxes.

"Lee's been cheating on me," I blurted out with a shaky voice. "I kicked him out last night."

Tommy went to say something and I held up my hand to stop him.

"I don't want to fix it," I said. "I can't be with him knowing he did this to me, to us."

Tommy nodded and reached out to pull me into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," he said.

I held him like he was a lifejacket.

"What do you want me to do," he asked after a moment.

"Help me get this stuff out of here and into a storage unit I'm going to rent in his name."

Tommy asked no more questions as he carried the boxes to my car and his jeep. We stored away Lee's things and I went to Lee's office. He wasn't there. I wrote a shaky letter telling him where he could find his stuff and dropped the key onto the note.

I drove home to find Tommy waiting there. I smiled shyly at him.

"Thank you," I said.

"I'd do anything for you," he said.

My smile widened and we went inside. We shared a couple of bottles of wine and watched TV, while my dogs laid at our feet. We did not talk much. It was a comfort. We ordered pizza when we wanted to eat.

It was late at night and time for Tommy to go when I did something totally stupid and totally right.

"I don't want you to go," I said as we stood at the door. "I don't want to be alone."

Tommy smiled down at me.

"It'll be alright, Kim," he told me as he rubbed a hand up and down my arms.

I smiled up at him before standing on my toes to kiss him. See, stupid considering my emotional state but the kiss also felt right. It must have felt right for him too because Tommy deepened the kiss.

We made love that night and though I had essentially done what Lee had done (only worse because it was in our marriage bed), being with Tommy was the best thing to happen to me in a long time.

I felt complete in a way I had never felt with Lee. I felt that Tommy had always been my one true love.

END OF CH. 9