"So Shane was the one who broke it off with you. It wasn't the other way around?" Kate asked, looking at Kayla seated at her left and contentedly slumped back against the tree after having a few sips from Adrienne's flask.
"Yeah," Kayla nodded, passing the flask back to Kate. "That's the way it happened."
"Okay, just tell me you didn't do the whole wallowing around thing afterward."
"The whole what thing?"
"Wallowing. You know. Curling up on the couch in ugly pajamas, watching sad movies, making amaretto ice cream floats."
"Oooh, should've found the time to mix up a few of those. I mean, I never took the time to wallow, but… should've found the time to make those."
Nodding in agreement and agreeing to mix up a batch for them at the Salem Inn or make someone do it for them, Kate handed the flask back to Kayla, who'd shifted to lying back on the lawn with one arm pillowed behind her head.
"So, you're saying you never took the time to wallow."
"Right. I did pine, though."
"Nooo," Kate groaned. "Tell me that you didn't just say that!"
"Say what?" Kayla frowned, sitting back up.
"You pined ? You're telling me that you pined over Shan-"
"No! Steve!" Kayla corrected before her eyes clouded over. "I pined over Steve," she said in a smaller voice.
"When I left Salem with Stephanie, it felt like we were leaving him behind. It felt like the day I lost him all over again."
"Oh for God's sake," Kate muttered, taking the flask back. "Who needs sad movies? The next time I'm up for a good cry, I'll just call you."
"Well, you're the one who asked!"
"Well, I'm wishing now I hadn't!" Kate scoffed. "You know, after everything Adrienne told me plus your family's Irish pub, I thought you'd at least be a fun drunk."
"I am a fun drunk!" Kayla pouted. "At least Steve says that I am."
"Well, I'm afraid that Patch is mistaken 'cause all-"
"His name is Steve ."
"Oooh, fight face is back," Kate smirked as Kayla's eyes narrowed. "Kayla Johnson. Are you a drama drunk?"
"No, just don't like hearing anyone call my husband that."
"Fine, Steve, is mistaken 'cause the only drunk I'm getting from you is sad and sappy and-"
"Well, that's 'cause all I'm getting from you are little sips," Kayla snorted, reaching into her purse.
"S'okay though," she smirked as she took out four minibar bottles of whiskey, getting Kate shaking her head.
"You were holding out on me again?"
"Well, I'd just thought if Steve and I got to the reception and couldn't get to the bar right away they'd be good to have on hand, you know. Just in case of an emergency or something."
"You should've put them in your doctor's bag," Kate smirked.
"Or planned ahead and poured them in a flask."
"Go ahead," Kate said, draining the one in her hand before handing it to Kayla.
"No no no," she refused. "No. That was Adrienne's and now it's yours and you need to keep it. You know, for the Grey Goose."
"No, the Grey Goose is gone. And the flask is yours now."
Shaking her head, attempting to hand the flask back, Kayla rolled her eyes when Kate pushed it back into her hand.
"No. I…I shouldn't-"
"C'mon now. Half the flasks that Roman's stashed behind the bar came outta my personal collection. Just take this one. Adrienne'd want you to have it," Kate said as Kayla shook her head.
"No, she wouldn't. She'd be mad at me if she was here," she said guiltily as Kate looked on with a frown.
"For what?"
"For keeping secrets from Steve! And for everything with Justin, and-"
"I mean, I don't think she'd be thrilled about the Justin thing," Kate said. "But I don't think she'd be mad at you."
"You don't?"
"Adrienne Kiriakis being mad at Kayla Johnson? It'd be like a baby deer being mad at a baby duck."
"But why would a baby deer be mad at a baby duck?" Kayla asked.
"Exactly. It wouldn't happen and it'd be strange if it did, and that's how it'd be if Adrienne got mad at you," Kate reasoned as Kayla nodded in semi-understanding.
"I mean, I think she'd want someone to be there for Justin if she was gone. And you just happened to be that someone."
"Yeah, I was that someone alright." Kayla scoffed, grabbing one of the mini whiskey bottles before Kate grabbed the other three and emptied them into the flask.
"You make it sound like it's so scandalous. It's not like the two of you weren't single."
"And sad," Kayla sighed. "We both were sad."
"No argument there," Kate scoffed. "But you found a way to be less sad with each other, and you got together. And Steve didn't hold it against you. So I don't think that his beloved little sister would either."
"You don't?"
"Even if you didn't marry Justin you helped him. And you helped him more than you hurt him, I think."
"I didn't want to hurt him. And I did love him. But deep down, I knew I didn't want to be his wife," Kayla said. "The only man I've ever wanted to or felt married to's Steve," she half sighed, half slurred as her eyes clouded over.
"Okay, what is it now? What's wrong?"
"What if after I tell Steve he doesn't wanna be married to me?" Kayla squeaked out.
Shaking her head, Kate took a long swig from the flask before shifting to face her.
"Okay, r'member you were worried that Adrienne'd be mad at you. Well, you saying that now? That would make her mad at you. You saying that just now made me get mad at you."
"Great, so you're mad. Adrienne might be mad. Steve is definitely gonna be mad. I'm mad!"
Chugging back the rest of the whiskey, Kayla lobbed the bottle across the lawn, letting out a frustrated yell as she did so.
"Okay. Noted," Kate snorted.
"If you're mad at you though over keeping the whole secret, I guess I just wanna know-"
"Know what?"
"Why'd you keep it? Why didn't you just tell Steve?" she asked as Kayla bit her lip.
"I told him some things. Just not everything. Telling him everything that day would all just've been-"
"Too much?"
"When he finally remembered me, he was so happy. It was like he really came back to life and he was just…we were so happy ," Kayla recalled with a sad smile that soon faded out.
"The thought of telling him about when I wasn't. Telling him anything about me back then. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it."
"Like he couldn't with you?" Kate pointed out as Kayla looked down and away. "You married him though, how many times over?"
"No, that was different, Kate."
"What are you saying? Your husband's the only one allowed to have deep dark parts of his past that he never wanted to talk about?"
"It took time for Steve to tell me things but it didn't take him decades!"
"Okay, well who says you have to say anything to him at all about what happened with you and Shane? Aside from the whole Catholic schoolgirl guilt thing of yours."
"My therapist and my hand forced me."
"You mean your therapist forced your hand?"
"No, I mean I was operating and my hand started shaking," Kayla said. "It was just the once. But it's the only time it's ever happened to me. Ever."
"Well, nerves could cause it to happen, right? "
"Or an underlying injury. Some kinda trauma."
"Some kind. Try every kind," Kate said as Kayla laughed out loud, taking a sip from the flask after Kate handed it to her.
"Instead of unpacking all that for your shrink, you should just retire. Make things easy on yourself."
"Yeah, right. After Stephanie went to the trouble of unfiring me?," she scoffed, shaking her head. "B'sides there's no way in hell I'm giving Seth Burns the satisfaction."
"Good. That guy can be such an asshole."
"No… I'm not quitting my job. I'm not letting some part of the past or damn trauma or a stupid secret force my stupid hand to…. I'm telling Steve. The whole truth. Not just a little of it this time."
"A little of it?" Kate repeated curiously. "What have you told him?"
"That I tried to move on with someone, once, but it didn't really work. And that I realized I just couldn't do it. That Steve was the only man for me and that waiting for him was worth it." Kayla answered, sipping from the flask again as Kate frowned.
"Hang on now, when you say waited…"
"What?"
"You trying to say that aside from Shane, all that time Steve was gone, you never -"
"I mean I went on a few bad dates, but-"
"Oh my GOD, Kayla."
"What?!" she asked as Kate shook her head, running a hand over her face.
"C'mon! I was learning to be a doctor. I was taking care of my daughter. I was busy! I just wasn't looking for…I didn't need to- "
"Honey, c'mon. We all need…"
"I'm aware of that," Kayla said in a clipped tone. "But I managed."
"Managed," Kate repeated, getting a nod and a smirk.
"Mm hmm. Had lots of memories to choose from."
"You're seriously telling me for sixteen years you just—"
"I mean, knowing nothing else was ever gonna measure up," Kayla said simply as Kate arched a brow, took the flask back, and took a sip.
"Really? So with you two, was always a guaranteed-"
"Is always guaranteed," Kayla said with a smirk.
"Okay, that's it."
"What'sit?
"You're gonna tell Steve today."
"Wait, what?" Kayla sputtered. "But I-"
"No, it's decided," Kate said as she staggered to her feet before reaching down and helping Kayla stagger to hers.
"We're gonna find Roman, get over to the Salem Inn, have some ice cream amaretto floats. And then you are telling him."
"Kate, c'mon. I'm going to. I told you I was and I meant it. But not now. Not today, I-"
"Why not?" Kate cut in. "You may still have a headstone here but you're not dead and buried. And you should be back with Steve the way you wanna be."
"What's gotten into you? Why are you so-"
"You just said memories of you and Steve were what sustained you, in every way, for sixteen fucking years, Kayla. I think anyone in that position should be making up for lost time. Not wasting more of it."
Rolling her eyes, which then glanced over at Victor's grave, she sniffed back tears.
"Not much measured up to Victor when he and I were good together. I love your brother but I've got memories too that, if Roman had the good sense to want nothing more to do with me, could've sustained me, too."
"Kate…"
"I mean not for sixteen years. That's for damn sure. But they could've kept me going for a while," she shrugged before taking another sip from the flask, then turning back towards Kayla.
"You're lucky with Steve. Got a combo with him that most women out there would kill for."
Nodding, Kayla smiled softly.
"Yeah. One I'd kill to keep."
"So we gotta make sure you keep it," Kate said, taking Kayla by the arm mostly to keep from falling flat on her face on the lawn.
"We'll go to the Salem Inn. Get the two of you a room."
"We're going there for the reception, Kate. Not to-"
"Why not? I mean, when you tell him you said he'll be mad. And I'm guessing he'll be jealous. You'll fight it out, but there'll be ugly decor you can break and a housekeeper you can overtip to get it all cleaned up. Plus the sooner you say everything to him, the sooner you can move past it," Kate reasoned.
"Move past it into a bed that'll conveniently be right there. Right?"
"I mean, sure that may have occurred to me," she shrugged, getting Kayla rolling her eyes but smiling despite herself.
"Sixteen years," Kate murmured. "How in the hell did you-
"Kate…"
"No, I'm just genuinely wondering," she said as Kayla fumbled in her purse for her phone.
"You just invest in a really terrific vibrator, or…?
"I'm gonna call Roman now," she interrupted, dialing as she moved out from under Kate's arm and did her best to tipsily power walk toward the parking lot.
"Prude!" Kate yelled after her.
"Can't hear you! On the phone! With my brother!" Kayla yelled back, only to be surprised and break out in a giggle fit hearing his voice on the other line.
"Fine, you talk to him," Kate muttered, her phone pressed against her ear. "Meanwhile I'm booking you and your husband a frigging king size…yeah hi Salem Inn reception guy. Yeah. So your presidential suite. I'm gonna need you to make sure that's available and I'm gonna also need you to get some vanilla ice cream outta the kitchen. The Kiriakis reception. Yeah, just go stash some of it behind the bar."