Page 40 of Through the Fire

She nuzzled into me with her arm and leg still draped over me, and fell asleep. The smile on my face was still there when I woke the next morning.

It was a great week. As was the next and the next.

Chapter 11

Luna

It’s been four weeks since Roman confessed to me about Angela, and three weeks since I decided to not throw it all away.

In those three weeks, Roman has returned to the man I fell in love with. He’s attentive and playful, and he puts me and the kids above all else. I’m falling in love with my husband all over again and I’m …not scared.

It’s Friday afternoon and I just pulled out of the parking lot of the kids school after picking them up. Hunter has a haircut appointment and Poppy needs a new pair of sneakers, so it’s off to the mall we go.

As I push Poppy in her stroller with Helene hanging by my side and Hunter skipping ahead, an idea comes to me.

“Hey my little monsters. How’d you like to have freezer Friday and movie night?” I ask them.

“Yay!” They cheer in unison

Freezer Friday is something Roman and I started back in college. Every once in a while when we had no parties to go to or studying to do, we’d spend a Friday night together walking the frozen food section of the grocery store.

We’d pick out food that could only be heated in the microwave or eaten cold, then we would snuggle close to watch a movie and enjoy our culinary treats.

When the twins were four and Poppy was wearing me thin, Roman came home from work with a bag full of chicken nuggets, french fries, veggies —‘cause kids— ice cream and sparkling water and declared freezer Friday was making a comeback.

Since then, freezer Friday has been the kids favorite family nights.

With the kids on cloud nine, we finish shoe shopping for Poppy and add a new dress for Helene and a Wranglers baseball cap for Hunter. We load back into my SUV and head for the grocery store to pick out tonight’s menu.

All three kids hang off of the cart and hop on and off it like a trolley when they search the freezers for what they want. The basket is loaded with nuggets, smiley face potato cakes, fried zucchini, egg rolls and three different kinds of ice cream.

“Okay kiddos. I think we’ve got enough food to cause a solid stomach ache. Let’s go pay and get home,” I tell them.

We unload our food on the conveyor belt and make a little small talk with the cashier as she rings us up. The beeps of the scanner sound all around us and conversations between cashier and customer carry over the low hums of music.

The last bag is loaded into our cart and the cashier gives me my total. I pull out my debit card and I’m about to swipe it when I hear a familiar voice.

“Looks like you’re having a girls night,” says the cashier at the register behind me.

“Sure am. It was my last day at my job and I need mucho alcohol to wash away the thoughts of my boss and his bitch of a wife.”

The nasally voice sends chills down my spine and I know immediately who it belongs to.

“Can you believe my boss fired me because his wife was jealous of me?” She continues. “Ugh. I am so glad to not have to ever see that witch again. My boss…well let’s just say he’ll stay a key character in my fantasies.“

The two women laugh and I slowly spin around. My anger is boiling at the surface and I have to remind myself that my kids are with me.

I take a small step closer to where they stand and say in a low voice that only they can hear, “maybe your boss’s wife wasn’t jealous but angry that her husband’s assistant thought that getting on her knees was in her job description.”

The cashier looks at me with shock written all over her face and Angela meets my gaze, a palpable fear radiating off of her.

“L-Luna,” She stutters.

“Keep my husband out of your fantasies and don’t let me ever hear of you speaking about me like I’m the villain in this story. Whore,” I growl.

Turning back around, the young cashier's eyes are wide with disbelief and the kids are oblivious, occupied with talking about what movie they want to watch. I swipe my card, punch in my PIN and jam my card back into my wallet.

“Let’s go kids,” I bark and take hold of the cart with a grip so tight, I feel like I could snap the handle right off.

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