Paul's glazed eyes stared at Kelly's name on his phone, he had a paragraph of a message typed out to her but didn't have the guts to hit send. He grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels from the coffee table and took a few swigs before giving up and tossing the phone down in front of him, "fuck!" He jumped at the sound of a knock at the front door.
He wished for a familiar face on the other side of the door but was met with more of a surprise, "hi Paul,"
"Maryse, hi," he opened the door wider and motioned for her to come in, "what are you doing here?"
"We need to talk," she glanced around at the takeout boxes and empty alcohol bottles strewn about, then noticed the pajamas he was wearing "are you okay?"
"To be completely honest, no, I'm not okay," he threw himself back down on the couch and took another long sip of whiskey "she left because I fucked up and I have no idea what to do now. She packed up all her stuff while I was at work and left her keys on the table."
"I'm not here to blame you but…part of me does believe you got what you deserved," she sat on the other end of the couch, "I'm still so upset with you Paul. I can't believe you did that to me, our parents, Stephanie, and especially Sofia. I'm extremely angry that there is a child involved and it went this far."
"Maryse, just please listen to my side of this, please,"
"What then?"
"The minute Stephanie told me she was pregnant, I was ecstatic, I wanted to tell you and mom and dad, I wanted to tell everyone. I wanted to marry her and have a family with her…"
"Then why are you still fucking Kelly?" She screeched, "that is what I want to talk about. I want to know why you keep crawling back to her as if my best friend, my almost sister, your child's mother, isn't enough for you. How can you say you love Stephanie and want to marry her yet you're still sleeping with another woman any time you're apart."
He glared at her in complete silence, trying to come up with any reason or excuse he could think of, "I don't know,"
"What do you owe her? What is it about her that you can't give up?"
His eyes shut as the thought of a particular night came to mind, "I was dating Kelly for a few months, and I cheated on her with Stephanie. And a few days after I had cheated, Kelly told me she was pregnant."
"Have you ever worn a condom in your entire life?" She threw her head back dramatically and looked up at the ceiling, "Jesus Paul, but really, you should be way more careful."
"I am aware, thanks" he rolled his eyes, "I don't owe anyone anything, Kelly miscarried and I felt horrible for her and I just never really broke it off with her,"
"I'm not really going to accept that as a valid reason to do what you did but, sure," she grabbed his phone from the coffee table and shoved it in his hands, "I want you to…is that a wedding ring?" She yanked his arm towards her, "please tell me you didn't marry Kelly, please tell me you didn't fucking marry her,"
"Stephanie and I got married the day after you," he took the ring off, "but don't worry, I have all the divorce papers right there," he motioned towards a large yellow envelope at the corner of the table, "she doesn't want to stay married to me because I screwed up with Kelly."
"You text or call Kelly and you break it off with her for good, do that right now," she watched as he opened a long text that was already typed out and clicked send.
"I typed that this morning and didn't have the guts to send it, thank you Maryse," he put the phone back down and took another drink.
"Now, you sober up and you take those papers to Stephanie, but before you let her sign them, you come clean about everything and that you are done with Kelly and her name will never be brought up again,"