Page 41 of Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her

I wasn’t sure how we would manage, but I was up for the challenge.

“I’m not going to freak out.” I finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen between us. I took each of their hands on my lap and covered it with my own before making sure to look up at each one. “I want this. I want to try, too. I just…” I didn’t know why I hesitated. Miles gaze caught mine. bright and beautiful.

“What is it, Elena?” Miles asked, his voice so gentle it gave me the strength to keep talking. To ask for what I needed.

“Just be patient with me. I might be terrible at this.” I whispered and before I knew it somehow the three of them held me, kissed me and loved me until the very last moment we had the room for.

And it had been amazing!

14

ELENA

Life had been good.

Too good.

It turned out dating three men I worked extremely close with, worked.

We worked.

Sometimes, I would go out to dinner with all three, sometimes I had one-on-one time. Like I said, life was pretty damn good. Between the kids starting soccer, Rosie falling in love and moving in full time with her men, and me seeing my own guys, things felt good. Good enough for me to suggest they meet the kids in an official capacity.

Now we were there, life reminding me that we might make plans, but Lady Fate had other plans. I stared at the group chat in my texts and pressed my lips together.

Josh: What time should we pick you guys up?

I started to type then stopped.

Things had been going too well. I’d tempted fate, and now it was wagging its finger at me as if sayingNot so fast, Elena Flores!

We had planned to go to the theater to see the new Disney movie, one that Mike had been excited about. But by the looks of my current situation, it wasn’t going to happen.

Part of me, the part that wanted to cling to the dream of having someone at my side, wanted to believe this was just a hiccup in the path to getting to where we wanted to go. A simple bump in the road. But my other side, the cynical, jaded realist side, reminded me that what I had been living was a fairytale. That the mess I was sitting in was real life.

Me: I’m sorry. I have to cancel tonight.

I quickly typed out my reply, staring at my twins as they slept on my lap. I loved that their daycare was at the hospital. They were close by during the day in case of an emergency.

Like today.

One of the other kids had a stomach bug, and it spread throughout the kids like wildfire. My babies’ bodies were lying on top of mine as I rubbed their little backs. Both still felt clammy from a fever spike and them getting sick in the bathtub behind me. One I hadn’t had a chance to rinse just yet because right after they got sick, I hugged and calmed them down, until they drifted off to sleep.

Rick: Why?

Why?Like there was an actual easy answer to that. There wasn’t.

It was better for this to happen now.

It had been three entire weeks since we were at Club Sin. The memory of everything that happened in Room One Nineteen was still fresh in my mind. The last three weeks had been the best. But all good things came to an end. I glanced at my babies and shook my head.

No. It was better this way.

I had to end things.

If just the thought of letting them go after only three weeks hurt the way it did, I couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt if I let more time go by. Not to mention how much it would hurt my twins. Eventually, they would get it.

They would understand.

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