Living A Lie

Chapter 2 - Spoon or Fork?

When I made it home Erin was waiting in the kitchen holding up a spoon and a fork. "Spoon or fork?" She asked. The spoon is for cookie dough ice cream. My go to when I'm upset. The fork is for whatever she made for dinner. I looked at her. "Spoon." Without hesitation, Erin turned around and opened the freezer pulling out 2 quarts of Billy's cookie dough ice cream. One for her and one for me. We always keep some stocked. I kicked off my heels and plopped down on the couch taking the ice cream from her as she sat down next to me. "So, how was seeing Mr. Hot-Ex-Fiancé?" I glared at her. "Erin. He stole my client. Hot or not he's still an asshole." She took a bite of ice cream. "So you admit he's hot." "Yes, Erin. He's hot. For God's sake I was engaged to the man, of course, I think- thought he was hot. Cheaters, however, are not hot." I dug into my ice cream.

"He screwed Claudette. That's how he took them out from under me. She gave him my plans, my prices, everything." Erin's mouth dropped open. "That whore!" She spit half melted ice cream everywhere. I wiped the ice cream droplets off my arm. She sucked and licked her lips before continuing. "What did you do?" "I smacked him and then forced her resignati-" "WHOA BACK UP! You smacked THE Alexander Kingsleigh? Mr. High-and-mighty Kingsleigh?!" I sighed.

"Yes, and it left a pretty decent mark too. Everyone in his office will know I smacked him." I giggled a bit. Everyone. Even Karen. She'll just die when she sees that. "How did you handle being near him again?" Her question caught me off guard. I can't tell her that he still has the same effect on me it's been two years. "I was fine. Thank you for your concern, but it's unnecessary." I waved my hand dismissively. "No effect on me whatsoever. In fact, I was completely unfazed by him." I shut myself up before it sounded like I was trying too hard. She watched me suspiciously. "Kate, why do I-" I yawned loudly. "Oh man. I am tired. Time for bed. Thanks for the pow-wow, Erin. Love you buddy, goodnight." I put my half-eaten ice cream back in the freeze then shut myself in my room despite her loud and occasionally violent protests.

I slowly undressed as I stood before the mirror examining myself. Red hair, that needs to be redyed. I should dye it back natural. Tired blue eyes. A frown for a mouth. I turned sideways. At least there's no weight gain. I have been eating a lot of ice cream lately. I'm curvy but in the right places. Eventually, I pulled on an old t-shirt and crawled into bed. I stared at the ceiling trying to fall asleep and found myself replaying the day I found Alex in bed with another woman.

******************** Two years ago ************************

I yawned as I stood in the elevator. God, I can't wait to crawl into bed with Alex and sleep for three days. I'm so tired. The week-long trip to the UK was tasked to me by my dad to see if it would be worth expanding the company there. I felt good about it but my dad still needed my report so instead of sleeping for three days like I want, I'll be typing up that report tomorrow. The elevator dinged and I entered the code for the penthouse. The doors slid open and I stood in our little foyer. I missed home.

I left my suitcase at the entryway and started pulling off my jacket when I noticed a pair of women's shoes. I stared at them hard. My sleep deprived brain struggling to determine if they were mine or not. At 4 am in a dimly lit foyer I shrugged them off. I had so many shoes I couldn't remember them all. I kicked my shoes off next to them and tiredly made my way to the bedroom. I was stopped in the hallway by a cheetah print miniskirt. Oh hell no. That is not mine. Definitely not mine. I stopped for a second trying to blink it away. I'm sleep deprived, it's 4 am. I'm hallucinating. I'm hallucinating. I repeated that as I sprinted the rest of the way to the bedroom.

The door was shut. I slowly reached out and touched the handle. Silently praying that I'm crazy and sleep deprived as I opened the door. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark of the bedroom I didn't see anything. Okay. I'm just crazy and sleep deprived and it's 4 am. But to be sure I flicked on the light. Blinking away my temporary blindness I was faced with my biggest fear. The love of my life, my fiancé of 2 years, stark naked in bed, next to a naked blonde woman.