Krista asked the cab driver to wait there for a few minutes before climbing out of the car and making her way to the walkway. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t been here since she left. What kind of a person was she? It was almost as if she had pushed it as far away from her mind as she could. She walked to the spot she remembered and knealt down in front of the headstone. She traced her fingers over the name that was engraved on the stone and began to cry, quietly. She sometimes found herself imagining what her life would be like if her baby had survived. She and AJ would probably be married. In love, hopefully with more kids on the way. Their son would three years old by now, looking every bit like his father, she was sure.
‘God, Krista. Why do you do this to yourself?’ she thought. She was just causing herself so much more pain by being here. AJ clearly didn’t want her anymore. He had some new girl now. And Krista was left with no one. She sat there for a few more minutes before deciding that it was time to leave. Just as she was about to get up, she heard footsteps approaching.
“Excuse me?” a familiar voice asked. “Can I help you?”
AJ was totally confused. Who was this strange person at his son’s grave? He was about to reach over and tap her on the shoulder when she turned around. He froze when he saw who it was. “Krista?”
“Hey AJ.” Krista sloppily wiped her tears away, not caring that her mascara was now smeared under her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just really needed to come here for some reason.”
“Why are you apologizing?” AJ questioned, kneeling down next to her. “He was your son too.”
At that statement, Krista buried her face in her hands, not able to stop the tears from falling. Was. What had happened? She tried to take care of herself when she was pregnant. She did everything by the book and look what happened? “What happened AJ? Why was he taken from us? What did we do wrong?”
“We didn’t do anything wrong, Kris.” AJ’s own eyes filled with tears as he pulled her to him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It just wasn’t meant to be. We just weren’t meant to be parents then. It was no one’s fault.”
“It’s not fair,” Krista whispered into his chest.
“No it’s not.” AJ smoothed her hair down her back as all of his old feelings for her rushed back. He wanted to know why she was there. Was this permanent? Because if it was, he wasn’t sure how strong he could be. Could he stay faithful to Sarah while Krista was here? AJ wasn’t so sure that he could.
****** ****** ****** ****** ******* ******
Brian walked into the dark house, throwing his keys on the table in the foyer. He rubbed his temples, tiredly. After leaving Kevin’s, he had just driven around for a while, not wanting to be home and face Ang just yet. He slowly climbed the stairs and walked into his bedroom, which he shared with Ang. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight in front of him. “What are you doing?”
Ang glanced up at him with tear-filled eyes. “I have to leave.”
Brian went over and grabbed the clothes out of her hand. “What do you mean, you have to leave?”
“I just have to, Brian,” Ang whimpered, wiping her tears on the back of her hand. “I talked to Alyssa earlier and I’m going to move into the beach house for a little bit. I can’t do this.”
“Do what, Ang?” Brian exclaimed, his heart feeling like it was going to pound out of his chest.
“I can’t live like this,” she admitted. “I’m terrified, Brian. This person knows way too much about me. About us. Please, just let me go at least until it dies down. This doesn’t have to be the end of us. But I think it would be safe if I wasn’t here. I couldn’t deal if anything happened to you.”
Brian sighed and collapsed on the bed. She had a very valid point. Whoever was doing this was threatening her and the threats were becoming worse and more frequent. And if it was safer to keep her away from him, then he would just have to deal with it. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered.
Ang knelt down in front of him, grabbing his hands. “I know, baby. I don’t want to go either. But it’s better this way. At least for now.”
“At least let me drive you,” he pleaded, as Ang packed up the last of her belongings.
“I can’t, Bri.” She turned to her boyfriend with tears in her eyes. “Just let me do this myself. Someone could be watching right now and I think it would look better if I left on my own.”
Brian watched from the window as Ang put her belongings in the back of her Jeep. She glanced over and noticed him watching her and went back inside to say goodbye. “I love you so much, Bri,” she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder.
“I love you too, baby,” Brian whispered. Even though this wasn’t over, Brian felt like a piece of his heart was being ripped away. Ang had lived with him for three years. And now she was moving out. He didn’t even remember how to live on his own anymore. This was going to be so hard to get used to.
Ang pulled away and placed a light kiss on his lips. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
***** ****** ****** ****** ****** ******
Lanie watched from the deck as her boyfriend, his ex-girlfriend, and their son played in the sand together. Nick didn’t know she was there. She wasn’t supposed to be today. She had told Nick that she was going to give him some time to spend with Aidan. But she honestly couldn’t stay away. She was driving herself crazy, coming up with all sorts of scenarios about what Katelin and Nick were doing together. How badly she wanted that to be her. To have the son with the man that she loved. She felt like she was slowly losing him as every second passed.
Her cell phone ringing inside brought her out of her thoughts and she reluctantly walked in to the kitchen to grab it. “Hello?”
“Lanie? It’s Sarah.”
“Sarah?” Lanie questioned. “Wow. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“Well, I got your message,” Sarah responded. “What’s up?”
Lanie glanced out the window, where the three were slowly gathering their things to come in. “Nothing. You wanna meet somewhere for dinner? I kind of want to talk to you.”
“Sure,” Sarah replied. “Meet me at my apartment as soon as you can. We’ll go from there.”
“Alright. See ya.” Lanie clicked off her phone and quickly gathered her belongings. She wanted to get out of there before any of them saw her.