Two Pieces

Rylee felt like dead weight as her husband helped her step carefully down the bus steps. They were cuffed at the wrists but she still felt so far away. That’ll happen when you take another bullet to the heart. Rylee couldn’t concentrate much last night when Jimmy went over the guidelines for his handcuff plan. She was too busy bleeding out from the shot she received from Matt. And even though Jimmy swore Matt still loved her, it didn’t soothe the aching wound.

“Easy, take it slow,” Matt instructed, helping her down the steps with his free hand. He wasn’t thrilled about Jimmy’s plan at first, but he thought it over last night in bed and it finally made sense. Jimmy’s rules were simple. They were to be cuffed for at least two hours a day until they felt comfortable with each other again. Not too bad, right? And it benefited Matt greatly. He’ll actually get to talk to his wife without her walking away or shooing him away. And that’s exactly what he planned to do today. They had just enough time before sound check to go somewhere quiet and talk.

___________________

After 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at a pond. It was quiet and oddly relaxing. The chirps of crickets and frogs sang in unison around them. Matt led Rylee over to a wooden bench and helped her get situated before plopping down next to her. He winced as the cuff dug into his skin. Rylee scooted over and closed the gap between them, so that their cuffs could loosen up around their wrists.

“Thanks,” said Matt.

Rylee nodded.

They sat in silence, gazing out into beautiful scenery just ahead. It was the calm to their storm. Rylee rubbed circles into her stomach, enjoying the serenity.

“So, um, Jimmy gave us a list of topics to talk about,” Matt said, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

He moved it over to his cuffed hand and unraveled it before looking it over.

“Fuck, I can’t read his shitty handwriting,” he laughed.

Rylee took the crinkled paper from his hand.

“It says to discuss the letter.”

Matt flinched at the emotionless tone in her voice.

“I’ll make this easier for the both of us, ok? I’ll tell you how I feel about everything and then you can share how you feel,” said Rylee.

Matt nodded, locking his hazel orbs on her dull brown ones.

“I initially wrote the letter because I started to notice how distant you were being. And since talking about it never worked, writing to you was my last resort. However, finding you making out with another woman wasn’t exactly expected.”

She paused for a minute as her emotions started to bubble up.

“I felt betrayed, Matt. How could you do that to me?” she cried.

“Baby, I’m so fucking sorry. I-“

“No. I’m not finished,” she gulped out.

“ I know I’ve been a bit overemotional and stubborn. It’s getting difficult to control these damn hormones and I apologize-. . . just tell me the truth about everything. Don’t worry about hurting me because the damage is already done. I just need to know.”

She slowly raised her head and looked over at her husband, who had tears streaming down his face. He took the piece of paper from her and crumbled it into a ball. They didn’t need guidelines at this point. He then took her free hand into his and began telling her everything.

“You know how excited I was when we found out about the baby? Well, I was also terrified of the changes that were ahead. Having a baby is a huge responsibility and I thought all the opportunities to drink and party would disappear once the baby arrived, so I decided to get it all out of my system before hand.”

You selfish asshole, Rylee thought to herself. She snatched her hand out of his. He sighed and just accepted it. He deserved it.

“And that night you caught me, I swear I had no intentions of sleeping with that girl. I was drunk, yes, but I know that’s not an excuse. I told her no countless times before I finally gave in. And I regret ever touching her. But our time together didn’t last long before you caught me. I’ll never do that again, Rylee. Never! I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

Rylee watched him as he finally broke. She has only witnessed Matt cry once and that was on their wedding day. But he wasn’t crying. He was sobbing. She knew he was telling the truth from the raw emotion he was displaying. She removed the hand from her stomach and maneuvered her arm so that she could bring his face down to the crook of her neck.

“I love you, Rylee. I know I said I didn’t last night but that was a fucking lie. I was just pissed off,” he muttered.

She removed him from her embrace and cupped his wet face.

“I love you too, Matt.”

“You aren’t going to divorce me, are you?” he asked, his sad hazel eyes glistening.

She sighed.

“No. But I won’t forgive you over night. I need time. You’ll always be my stubborn better half. We fit together like two pieces of a broken heart.”