Page 31 of Retribution

“Cheers to forgetting about reality.”

The silence finds its way to us soon after that. How does one simply, forget about reality? It’s easier said than done. Grabbing my phone, I hit shuffle play on my Spotify, the sounds of ‘Fleetwood Mac’ drift through the surround speakers.

“I love this song!” she squeals.

“Who doesn’t?” I smirk.

She sways to the music, closing her eyes and singing along to a few of the lines. I watch her for a few moments before standing up to get us more alcohol from the mini bar, noticing the empty bottle of wine.

As I return, she’s sits cross-legged on the couch, peering up at me, looking so damn cute as she flutters her eyelashes at me.

She reminds me of Allie in some ways, the similar eye color nestled into large round eyes as opposed to Allie’s smaller, sleek eyes.

I want to forget badly about her, but I’m almost finding a new way to deal with this grief, this guilt. Even just thinking about her causes my stomach to twist and turn into knots, but I also can’t tell if it’s the shock or the excessive amount of alcohol in my system right now.

I can tell I’m drowning. I’m doing everything I can to shut myself out, but the woman I have in front of me offers me everything I would ever want. I regret everything that has ever happened between me and Allie, the falling apart of our marriage and the last few years. We became so distant, we were like two strangers stuck in some sort of agreement to bring up a child together rather than the passionate, loving couple we were, once before.

I would never ever regret Willow. In some ways, she solidified us together, bringing us a connection we would never have had.

Although, I think my mistakes wouldn’t have been so apparent if we didn’t have a child in the midst of it all. But Allie always put Willow first, more than I ever did. For that, I will forever respect her and make sure that Willow knows how much her mother loved her and wanted her to have everything she ever desired.

I definitely need to figure out where I go from here like how I try to fill the role that Allie created. It will be inevitably difficult to do, but it is something that must be done to make sure I’m worthy of the role.

The playlist shifts onto a few random suggestions, some questionable.

“How about we play a game?” She asks me.

Raising an eyebrow, I respond,“Hm, what kind of game?”

“Two truths and a lie?”

I ponder a moment, “We can, but I wanna spice it up, let’s make it… interesting.”

She looks at me puzzled, I need anything to draw me away from these haunting thoughts.

Forget about reality, tonight is about letting go and having fun.

“For every time the person guesses the wrong lie, you must remove an item of clothing,” pulling a half smile and lounging back as I take another sip of wine.

Her eyes grow wide.

“But I literally only have one piece of clothing on?”

“Well, you best hope you have a lie detector then,” I snicker into my wine glass whilst she huffs out a breath.

“Well, I get to go first then.” She props her wine glass down on the table and sits forward, facing me straight on.

I beckon for her to go ahead.

“Okay, um… I have 2 sisters, I am single and my favorite alcoholic beverage is a gin and tonic,”

I laugh to myself, knowing that she is about to have to take off that very seductive dress of hers. I couldn’t care less if she has a boyfriend, or fiancé as he so obnoxiously confessed. She’s clearly here with me right now, looking as gorgeous as she does. I almost cheer internally.

“Easy, the lie is that you are single.” I remember back to the day of Willow’s dance competition, meeting her beloved. Not that I care anyway, reality is no longer going to cross my peripheral.

“Wrong, remove your shirt,” she says confidently, drinking the last of the wine in her glass.

I frown as the confusion draws across my face.

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