The second Kira crossed the threshold into the living room she realized that I was sitting on the far end of the couch waiting for her. She clutched her chest and continued to stare. I could tell by that look on her face that Reina had already spoken to her and reiterated our conversation.
Her eyes darted to the left of me where four suitcases packed to capacity with more of my belongings than I’d arrived with sat waiting for my foreseeable exit. Confused, her eyes flickered back and forth between me and the bags.
“Wait…I thought we agreed that you’d stay the weekend so we could talk things out,” she said in a panic, trying to mask the worry in her eyes. “I know you’re upset at me right now, but AJ…clearly we’ve both made mistakes. Now, let’s just talk about this.”
She took several quick steps toward me, but I halted her dead in her tracks with one simple statement. “Five years.”
She stared at me and desperation filled her expression.
“Kira…you wanna know how long I’ve been sleeping with Sam?” I asked, tilting my head so that our eyes were locked.
She cringed at the question, as if she had the right to be offended. Instead of answering, she folded her arms across her chest.
“One week today,” I answered.
No response.
My throat tightened when anger began to return. “Now ask me how long you let me believe your lie.”
Like I expected, she didn’t respond, so I answered for her. “Hundreds of days compared to my seven.”
She lowered her head and couldn’t even look me in my face. “AJ…I swear I was planning to tell you before the wedding, I just…the time just never seemed to be right. Why do you think I’ve really been trying to change your mind about Reina? Trying to get you to see that she’s not what you thought she was? I swear I wanted to tell you.”
“Not according to your sister,” I shot back quickly.
Clearly, hearing my logic frustrated Kira. “I only backed out because…because I was scared to lose you!” She lowered her head and the tears that followed didn’t move me at all. “I swear I was going to tell you.”
“Do you have any idea what a huge mistake I just almost made trying to do right by you?” I asked. “Twice I would’ve lost Sam because of you.”
When I stood and started gathering my luggage, she became frantic. “Wait, wait, wait, AJ…we haven’t even had a chance to talk about this!”
I pulled away when she touched my arm, shooting her a warning glare. “We’ve already said far too much to one another anyway.”
She stared into my eyes, sensing the chill behind the gaze, the one that let her know that she may as well have been dead to me. This was something that I could never forgive. With each step that I took, with every foot of distance that I put between us, I replaced the newfound hatred with peace at the thought of finally, after all these years, no longer having anything holding me back from the only true love I’d ever known.
“AJ, wait!” were the last words I heard Kira speak as I closed the front door behind me and tossed my suitcases in the trunk of my father’s car. Never once did I look back. The few items that I couldn’t fit could be donated to charity as far as I was concerned. Anything I hadn’t managed to shove into these bags would be lost forever because I vowed right then and there to never go back…for anything.
Now that the truth had come to the light, I had this sick feeling like I should’ve known from the beginning who Kira really was – what she was capable of. So much time had been wasted thinking that she was the woman who’d saved me from drowning when I was at my lowest point. As it turned out, she was actually the one who caused all that hurt in the first place. I’d directed my hatred at the wrong sister for so long, but now all the animosity and disgust was aimed right where it should’ve been.
This day marked a turning point for me. I knew all too well what it was like being without Sam, and I wouldn’t go back to that lonely, broken place for anything in the world. Nothing and no one would stop us from being together now.
Nothing.
*****
Sam