Please Don't Forgive Me

“Come on. Stop, don’t be afraid. Calm down.” I shook my head ‘no’ as I trailed behind Garrett.

“I’m not thrilled about going back to Tempe. It’s not exactly a happy place right now.” He sighed and wrapped an arm around me.

“Then what do you want to do. We can’t just not go back. It’s almost Christmas. All of our family is in Tempe; even the family we don’t speak to.”

“Well, I don’t want to go back. He heard Emma on the phone. He was in our apartment. He probably thinks Emma is his. And lord only knows what Mrs. McNaulty told him. I really doubt she told him that I don’t live there anymore.”

“Ani, calm down. We’ll deal with it when we get there.” I sighed and followed to board the plane.

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“Oh my god,” I screamed as I approached the apartment.

“What? What’s wrong?” The door was opened and it looked like someone had gone through everything we’d left behind.

“Mommy, can I go inside?” Morgan asked quietly.

“No,” I said holding Emma and Morgan back. “No, do not go inside. Stay right here.” I took a deep breath and looked inside. “Garrett!”

“What? One second,” he mumbled balancing Addison and the luggage. “Oh,” he said looking inside.

“I can’t let them go in there. We can’t do this. I can’t risk them getting hurt.” He nodded understandingly. I took Addison and let Garrett walk inside. “Be careful. He’s a psychopath.”

“Ms. Nickelsen?” my next door neighbor called as she heard us in the hall. “The man who was here when you left—after he broke in someone called the police. He’s gone now; he’s in jail. They said he’d escaped; he’d been convicted of a few crimes including abduction and rape. He’s gone now though.” I gave her a weak smile and crossed the threshold with the kids behind me. “The police said the girl he abducted and raped had lived here. The only girl I remember living here was you.”

“That’s because it was me.” She frowned as if she were sorry she had brought it up. I knew for a fact she wouldn’t have brought it up if she wasn’t curious.

“Oh my, I am so sorry.” I rolled my eyes. If she was sorry then why did she pry? If she was sorry then why did she ask?

“Yeah,” I remarked bitterly. “I’m sure you are.” I closed and locked the apartment door and called for Garrett.

“Yeah, what’s up? It looks clear.” I nodded in response and told Morgan and Emma to go sit down on the couch where I could see them.

“He’s gone; he’s in jail. When the neighbors saw him break in they called the police. He’s locked up now. But,” I said with a sigh, “he could escape again and that scares me half to death.” I walked into the kitchen to refill the reservoir for the Keurig coffee maker.

“Well for now he’s out of our hair. We don’t have to worry about him now. Do they know that he went after you; the same person he went after last time?”

“Yeah, they know that I’ve been the target both times.” I opened the cabinet to take out a coffee pod and place it in the coffee maker.

“Anika,” Garrett sighed. I turned around with a smile and held up the pod for him to see. A slow smile spread across his features and a low chuckle escaped his lips.

“It’s decaf,” I smiled. “Now, come on, while I still have energy, let’s get this place cleaned up.” He nodded and took my hand.

“What do you want to do about the flowers?” he asked softly.

“Exactly what I want to do to Dane,” I smirked. I walked over and took each of the wilted roses out of the vase, snapping the stem in various locations. “Break their necks.” Garrett laughed loudly and turned on the TV for the kids so that they would be preoccupied.

“The electronic babysitter; best thing ever invented.” I smiled and playfully smacked him in the head. “What? It makes our lives a little bit easier.” I nodded and helped sweep up the glass from a few broken vases and picture frames.

It took us a few hours to clean up the books and magazines and refold the blankets on the furniture. Few things were broken, but every once and a while there would be a note; carelessly scribbled things. A few, ‘I loved you’ and ‘I’ll be back for you’s but we wouldn’t worry about them.

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When all was cleaned up and put together and away we tucked the kids into bed and curled up on the couch like we did so many times before. “It’s almost Christmas,” he breathed into my ear.

“I know,” I sighed. “And we don’t even have a tree.” I relaxed and began to drift off to sleep in Garrett’s arms.

“Do you remember the Christmas?” he smiled.

“How could I forget,” I laughed. “I thought you’d hate me forever.”

“I could never hate you,” he smiled. “I love you too much.”