She looked at the clock, he would be leaving shortly, she had just received the message from her sister they were all at the airport waiting to board. That meant that she would have been gone for at least twenty four hours when he arrived home to find the house empty. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and sat down on the edge of their luxurious queen sized bed, letting herself sink into the comfy mattress she wondered if this was the right thing to do. If it was then why was she having such a difficult time with her conscious?
She found herself second guessing her decision and she actually unzipped the suitcase before her brain overruled her heart. No she had stayed longer than she should have, put up with stuff longer than she should have and if she didn’t leave now she knew she would later on. That would only make it harder she had to leave now and she had to do it while he wasn’t there. She re-zipped the suitcase and pulled it up off the bed, grabbing her overstuffed holdall as she slowly made her way towards the hallway.
Even when she made it to the large oak front door she was still having doubts. Sure things had been brewing for a while, sure they hadn’t really been connecting like they had, sure she had tried to speak to him about it but was that any reason to leave like this? To let him come home to find the house empty, could she be that callous? Could she really do that to him?
Then again she had always been taught never to settle, why take second best when you deserved the best? It was something her mother had told her long ago, she herself had settled, married someone who, although could provide for her, she did not love with all her heart. That marriage had broken down quickly but maybe there had been a reason for it, after all if her mother had stayed in that marriage she would never have been born.
That filled her with a bit more confidence in her decision. Although she loved him dearly she was not happy with her life, with the life that they shared and she did not want to have any regrets. This was all for the best. Yes it was going to hurt like hell but he would get over it, he always had in the past.
And with a heavy heart and even heavier suitcases she pulled the door open and forced herself to go through, hastily walking towards the car.
And even though she wanted to, she didn’t look back. Not once.
***
It had been a long trip home, taken almost three days in fact thanks to all the delays he had incurred. He looked at his watch trying to calculate the actual time he had left Cape Town the first leg of his journey home, some forty hours ago. That leg of the trip had been fine, Cape Town to London no delays, no problems. Heathrow was where they hit their first snag.
The Terrorist alert had been raised, a threat had been placed that had basically shut down the entire airport and no matter how hard they tried there was no way they were going to get home by the time they had planned. Leaving almost seven hours behind schedule had also made him miss his connecting flight from Florida to Nashville and he had ended up crashing at Alex and Rachel’s.
When the car finally rounded the corner and he spotted his house for the first time in almost four months he smiled and small sigh of relief escaping his lips. When the car pulled to a stop he graciously paid the fare and hauled his bags to the front door, he knew that she was unlikely to be home, after all she had told him that she had work so when he walked into the empty house he was unsurprised. He dumped all his luggage in the hallway, knowing that another hour was not going to hurt and slowly made his way to the kitchen, it was then he knew something was just not right.
Three puddles of fluid were dotted around the floor and Layla remained in her basket, usually she would have been all over him but she knew she had done wrong and choose to ignore him. It was unlike her, she had been well trained for years now, very rarely having accidents and when she did it was usually because she had been left for too long. He looked at the clock on the wall it was only nine thirty in the morning so she would have only left for work three hours ago, Layla was used to being left a lot longer than that.
“Hey girl,” He spoke softly as he bent down to pet the pit bull. “What happened huh? She running late this morning and didn’t let you out?” he asked rubbing the dog roughly behind the ears just how she liked it. The dog whined and got up from her basket making her way over to the back door and he followed opening it so he could let her out.
He busied himself with cleaning up after Layla and when he was finished that was when he found her letter. He glanced at it quickly thinking it would just tell him when to expect her home, what he didn’t expect was for it to tear his whole life down in just a few simple words.
***
She didn’t expect it to take long, hell he took longer than she thought he would but eventually she heard what she knew was his car pull to a stop and she took in a deep breath as she felt her heart rate increase. This would be the ultimate test, she had to stand firm, she had to be strong. She would not cave.
“Is she here?” She heard him ask her friend calmly as she listened from the top of the stairs. Michelle must have nodded if his next question was anything to go by. “Can I see her?” He asked.
“I uh…I don’t know Nick,” was her answer.
“It’s okay Chelle,” she said as she made her way down the stairs and towards the front door. “Hey,” she said to him finding it difficult to meet his questioning and hurt gaze.
“What’s going on Adie?” He asked.
“I can’t do this anymore Nick,” she whispered, wanting to cry when she saw him frown in confusion.
“Do what?” He asked but she knew that he understood.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered pulling the ring from her finger before she handed it to him.
Author's Chapter Notes:
The beginning of the end...
Chapter End Notes:
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