I open Clementine’s bedroom door and sitting in wait is Snowy. The cat mewls when I pull her in my arms. Holding the kitten close to my chest, I walk out of the room.
She purrs in sync with my racing heart, but I don’t put her down.
Anything, anything to calm the guilt within.
When she squirms too much, I place her on the table and bring her a bowl filled with water. My wedding band clicks with the stainless steel and all I hear are the words of my wife, spoken twelve years ago.
“Cover her crib with a sheet, Keith.”
“Are you crazy? She is only a year old. She’s not going to remember anything.” I move closer to Melanie. “Her brain is too stupid at the moment.” I kiss my wife’s hot cheeks.
“You will go to hell for calling your only daughter stupid,” she murmurs but falls back on the bed.
“She’ll thank me later, for the brother or sister I’m going to give her tonight.”
“She will.” Melanie’s eyes blaze with desire. “But I still don’t want her watching us do it.”
26
CLEMENTINE
I wake up to Snowy’s tail wagging on my face. Her hair poking in my nostrils, almost forcing a sneeze out of me.
“Hey, baby, is this how you wake your daddy?”
Just thinking about him, his blazing eyes when he came inside me, causes my breath to quicken and warmth to spread between my thighs. I turn onto my stomach, smelling his navy-blue bedsheet—strong, warm, manly, all him. As my hands graze the soft cotton, I can’t hold back the wide smile. We have finally moved past this craziness of hiding our feelings. I feel like my heart will crack open with all the happiness bubbling inside me.
Snowy places her soft paws on my stretched forearm before giving me her stomach. “You are a needy little girl, aren’t you?”
I give her all my attention for a few more minutes, hoping Keith will walk in any second now. But when that doesn’t happen, I pet Snowy one last time and get up. I find my underwear on my side of the bed and smile. Keith must have kept it there.
I remember I had a brief conversation with him at five in the morning when my body’s alarm woke me up. But I wanted to stay in his bed some more. And those early two hours were filled with blissful sleep.
On the door handle, I find my nightshirt hanging.
As ever the decent man.
Walking into the dining room, I hope to find Keith buried in his laptop, but he’s not here. I look around Mere’s room and even my bedroom, but he’s nowhere to be found.
A quiver of doubt rises in my belly as I pick up my phone from my nightstand and check for a text from him, but there isn’t one. However, there is one selfie from Mere, as Carter dozes, head resting on her shoulder.
Along with the picture, there’s a message.
Mere: Some bodyguard he is :)
Me: LOL
My hands hover over Keith’s name. Maybe I should call him or text him. But I stop at the last minute.
Don’t act so clingy, Clem.
I step into the shower. My brain works on overdrive trying to reason with the hidden voice, which repeats Em’s words, looking for fun.
After drying myself and donning the bathrobe, I stand at the sink. Brushing my teeth, I wonder if last night was a one-time fun for Keith.
The euphoria of the previous night and this morning is gradually waning.
Stop it. Stop it. You crazy woman.