The End

Chapter 44: Whatever Comes Our Way

The sound of the front gate opening was quickly followed by the roar of Patrick's Porsche pulling into the driveway. Ellen heard him cut the engine and her heart fluttered.

"Well," his voice echoed through her foyer as if to say he was home. She crossed the house to meet him. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

His light smile came into view, his hair was more frazzled than when he left which led her to believe that his outing was more stressful than he had expected it to be.

"Hmm," she took the coffee from his hand.

He knew her well enough to know she'd choose bad. So he chose for her, "Good news is... Jillian already filed the papers."

"Wow," Ellen's tone was almost impressed, "she's not wasting any time."

They walked together to the kitchen. She settled in a chair as he stood across the island from her. "No," Patrick exhaled. He opened the brown paper bag and handed Ellen a bagel sandwich.

"Bad news is..." she sipped her coffee.

"She included everything in the declaration," Patrick paced to the stool next to her with his coffee in hand. The magic had been thick in the wee hours of the morning but reality was just as thick today.

"What does that mean?" Ellen probed him for more.

"She named the affair," he shrugged,  "Included you, the show, her suspected timeline. All of it." His tone was sharp. His explanation hovered in the atmosphere. Heavy. Real. "It's not public yet but it will be," Ellen nodded but stayed quiet. She sipped her coffee. Her stillness was enough to make Patrick squirm. "Say something..."

"I mean what can we say, Patrick," she looked up at him. "That's all true. It's been true."

"I know it's just..."

"The first time we openly face a real consequence." She finished his sentence still looking a little lost."

"I didn't expect her to take it well," he started, "but I did expect to have a little bit more control."

"A woman scorned," Ellen shrugged.

"Yeah," he agreed. A moment passed, "Charlotte is going to try to manage it in the press as much as possible. We will obviously have to reevaluate the way we planned to handle everything."

"Okay," she nodded.

"Ellen." He hit his breaking point, "You're freaking me out. You are disturbingly calm."

Ellen was facing him now, "I'm calm because this is what I signed up for... the affair that causes a splash in the press, the messy divorce, facing our kids, winning them over, co-parenting. All of it." She opened her mouth to speak but stopped.

"What.." he was eager to hear more.

"There isn't a scenario that would make me turn back," her voice was sincere but she cringed at the sappiness of it, "I'm prepared for whatever comes our way."

He pulled her into his arms. His hands brushing across her abdomen and settling at her waist, "Whatever comes our way..." he nodded and spoke softly. She nestled into him for a minute before turning to kiss his face, her soft warm lips pressing against his.

Patrick's hand pushed beneath the tie of her robe, "Ahh," she let out in resistance, "I have to shower for my day." She giggled.

"A shower sounds perfect," he agreed, his hand making contact with her bare stomach.

Patrick's phone rang against the counter. He groaned and hesitantly pulled away from Ellen.  "Goldwyn," he said lifting his phone and flashing Ellen the caller Id.

He pressed the phone against his ear and answered a call from Charlotte Goldwyn. Ellen paced to her master shower and he followed her to her room. Sitting on her bed.

How quickly they had settled into this new normal. She thought as she let her robe drop to the floor. Ellen turned on the shower and slipped inside. It was strangely comforting. The sound of his voice and the light pace of his foot steps just outside her open bathroom door. It was both excitingly fresh and quietly familiar. Like his presence had existed like this in her heart all of her life.

She sighed, and washed yesterday's chaos from her hair. Her mind and body resting as the warm water encompassed her cool skin. The shower door clicked open behind her. His hand snaked around her waist pulling her slick body against his.

"That was quick," she referred both to the phone call and the way she could feel him pressed firmly against her butt.

"We have a meeting tomorrow," he spoke between the kisses he was planting on her neck.

"Ok," she exhaled growing increasingly distracted. He spun her around to face him and he kissed her lips softly. The water raining warmth against their skin.

If last night was a steady settle into forever, today was a reminder that forever was going to be fun. The years hadn't made them boring, they'd made them creative. He dropped to his knees in front of her. Tossing her leg around his neck and burying his face in her warmth. His tongue tracing her folds. She fought hard to stay standing, bracing herself against the shower walls. He ran his hand up her thighs as he sucked her clit. "Patrick," she moaned. He pressed two fingers into her warm core.

It's true, fresh could be exciting. The breaking of new tension. But the feeling of being played like an instrument, that kind of intimacy exploded. His mouth working slowly and his fingers working quickly. Her back arched and her walls clenched. She dripped down his fingers. She moaned loudly. Letting it echo through the bathroom. Nothing stifled, nothing held back. She could have shouted his name if she wanted to.

A satisfied smile broke her lips before she bent over in front of him. He ran his hands down the smooth sides of her thighs. The water still pounding against them. Patrick took her from behind. Thrusting into her, over and over. She rocked back against him. His hand reaching around to rub circles against her clit. Her walls clenched again, only this time igniting every last nerve in him. The build up bursting into flames, as he filled her.

They clung to each other, recovering, heavy breaths returning to normal, foreheads pressed together. They had lost many years of this kind of intimacy. Free intimacy, settled intimacy, soulmate intimacy. It was all put on hold for far too long. But when her eyes met his, here on this spontaneous, random weekday morning, she thought only one thing, better late than never.