The Flowers Died on Monday

Chapter One

The flowers died on Monday.

"I didn't touch them after you walked out the door. I didn't want you walking away from me. From us." I whisper to him in the darkness of our bedroom. He squeezes me twice before kissing my neck.
"I don't blame you one bit, baby. I'll keep earning your forgiveness every day." he says nuzzling my neck. Goosebumps all over, I close my eyes and replay that day.

Three weeks before.

I open the door wearing only his tshirt and boxers. I didn't want to change out of them. I didn't want to give them back. He promised me forever and instead broke my heart into a million pieces. Hair a mess, eyes blotchy, I look up at him.
"I thought you were gone?" I whisper. He looks up, rubbing his face with his hands. Those hands that hugged me tight every night. He looks miserable and I try not to jump into his arms right then.
"Every cell in my body is telling me that you're my happily ever after...And I walked away knowing that, but I made the wrong choice anyway."  He sighs, looking at me finally, like he's finally seeing me again after all these years together. Maybe he lost his way. People fall out of love, don't they? Except me. I didn't.
"You knew I was your happily ever after and you still chose her over me?" I cry turning into the house. He grabs my shoulder and pulls me to him. I inhale his scent, an overpowering smell of peppermint and freshly mown grass. My favorite.
"I will never be able to forgive myself for being this weak man that I've become. I let this valley I'm in pull me away from you. From us. What we have. The life we built together. I believed I wanted this different life but—" he stops, grabbing my face in his hands.
"But what?" I mumble gazing into his eyes.
"But when I was driving away from you—it was like my whole life flashed before my eyes and all I could see was us. All I could see was what I was throwing away. I pulled over and just sat there and asked myself if I even love this woman? No came fast and clear as day." He finished, pushing me against the wall with our hands clasped together. Our breathes mingled in the air between us. I could see his perfect freckles. I stood on my toes and gently pressed our lips together.
"I forgive you. I don't want you on the list of people who have hurt me. Not you." I whisper in his ear. "Anyone but you." I sigh.