CHAPTER 5

Maries' Pov

How on earth am I seeing him? I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him by the door.

It’s like he keeps looking for ways to make me feel uncomfortable. Then Cara came out and welcomed us with open arms.

As if that was not all, we were soon swept by Sam’s presence. The girls ran to him and hugged him tightly, he just stood there speechless with a shocked face because he wasn’t expecting us to be the guest.

Cara then further introduced us and surprised me by calling Sam her elder brother and the most surprising part of all she called Michael her husband.

The earth suddenly started to rotate around me and I began to feel lightheaded. I asked for the bathroom, and I was directed there, I entered and made sure I slammed the door shut.

My day couldn’t get any worse, but I wouldn’t let that man think he was still in my mind. I washed my face, applied a little mascara and smoothened out my gown.

I was going to enjoy my dinner date with my girls, and I wasn’t going to let anything ruin my mood including Michael.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, I collided with someone’s chest and lo, speaking of the devil; I was face to face with him. “Marie; Rosemarie “my name rolled perfectly out of his tongue. He was the only one who called me Marie.

Why was he doing this to me; “I thought you forgot about me, so why are you here calling my name when you have clearly moved on? So just continue acting like I’m a ghost, and I’ll do the same “I yelled out at him.

I stormed out angrily from his side and went to the table to sit side by side with my twins.

Sam noticed a frown on my face and asked what happened, but I just whispered quietly that it was nothing. A few minutes later Michael came to the table, and then we all began to eat.

Cara kept asking questions to make the table lively, and I was relieved for that.

She asked how Sam and I met and Sam began to explain that we were neighbours and how much he cherished my twins and me.

He talked with so much admiration while stealing glances at me and also ruffling the twin’s hair. Michael had a discomforting look like he didn’t like the way Sam kept looking at the twins and me.

I just ignored it and continued to enjoy my meal then Cara began to tell us a lot about her life and then the part that had my stomach in a twist was when she said she met Michael in a car accident and saved him.

I couldn’t help to think why she kept calling him Blue instead of Michael until she told us how he lost his memory and he couldn’t remember anything from his past. A tear slipped through my eye and I hurriedly wiped it off.

I looked at Michael’s, and he was staring right back at me. So he actually doesn’t remember me and while I was patiently waiting for him that day he was involved in an accident and was probably struggling for his life. I looked away because I suddenly began to feel guilty.

Dinner was over, and we were set to go home. Cara packed up some lasagna for the twins since they enjoyed it. I thanked her and was about to leave when Sam offered to drive us home, We agreed and we left. Throughout the ride, my mind kept spiralling and I kept on thinking about Michael.

Sam initiated conversations and soon my mind was off it. We kept on talking and he kept making the children laugh. Then from nowhere, I blurted out yes. He asked me yes to what and I told him I was agreeing to date him.

He was so happy that he had a huge grin on his face till we reached our destination. As we got to the front of our house, he told me he needed to do some kinds of stuff, so he couldn’t come in, but he promised that he’d come over for breakfast the next day.

He planted a soft kiss on my forehead and hugged the twins then he whispered to me that we would talk later.

As I prepared to go to bed, my phone began to ring, and I checked just to see Anne (my little sister) was calling me.

She wants to meet up tomorrow and if possible I should come over with the twins for some days. She just finalized her divorce from her husband and she needed company.

Knowing Anne, she would probably be feeling lonely now because she loved Sean with all her heart, yet he still cheated on her with her best friend. It was a big decision for her to cut off things with someone she had imagined spending the rest of her life with but I felt she made the right choice.

I told her I would be coming and as soon as the call ended; I began to pack up some clothes for the twins and also pack up for me as well. I needed this, I actually see it as a lot of distraction from all this Michael drama.

I needed to breathe, and I needed space and this was it. Furthermore, I put it at the back of my mind to tell Sam that I was leaving for some days, but I will be back as soon as possible. After packing, I lay tiredly on the bed and as my head met the pillow; I was in wonderland.

I met Anne at the bus station.

She looked so beautiful in her yellow dress, but her face wore a fake smile and her eyes looked like she had been crying all night. As the doors opened, I ran to her and hugged her, I had missed my sister and she was family.

Then she carried the twins and complimented them saying they were beautiful than last time, and they were looking bigger than the last time.

After that, we headed to her house in her car.

She had tidied up the guest room for the twins, so they quickly settled in. I also unpacked and had my bath. On getting downstairs Jada was sitting on her aunt’s lap and telling her about all that we saw on the road while coming here.

I quietly went to the kitchen to make something for us to eat and while doing that Jasmine came into the kitchen with a big smile on her face. She revealed a pink dress in her hand and said Aunt Anne got it for her.

It was the dress she had been telling her aunt to get for her last birthday, but her aunt wasn’t around. Her aunt ran to the kitchen and was surprised that the girl had seen the dress.

It was meant to be a surprise, but Jasmine had ruined it. Jasmine hugged her aunt and told her how much she loved her.

Jada got jealous and asked why Anne didn’t get her anything but surprisingly Anne had gotten something for her too. It was the blue sneakers that Jada had always pressured me to get for her.

Anne just made the girl’s day because they ran to their rooms to marvel at their gifts.

At least we had some time to talk alone before they came back. I began to ask her how she was after the divorce, and she quickly shut me off saying she doesn’t want to talk about it and that she just wants to spend time with her sister and her nieces.

I respected her wishes, and we talked while I prepared lunch.

It felt like it had been a long time since we talked because we started to talk about what we missed in each other’s lives because she was always travelling, and it was fun talking because we also talked about some old memories.

I was glad I had come for this trip at least I wasn’t thinking about him, and I was happily talking to my sister, but I know deep down there is no hiding from the past. Lunch was ready, and I had to call the twins to come downstairs.

As we ate, we talked, we laughed, we goofed around. I hadn’t been this happy for a long time. All was fun until a call came in, at first I didn’t want to pick up because it was a strange number.

But after much persuasion from Anne, I picked and the voice at the other end made my toes curl “Hello, it’s me, we need to talk”.