As I lie there next to her, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, I can’t help but feel solace in her presence—her soft sighs and the faint rhythm of her heartbeat against my chest.
I don’t know how long we lie there, entwined in each other’s arms, but I know I could stay like this forever.
“Jason?” Angie’s soft voice breaks through the silence. “Thank you.”
Thank you?
For what?
For complicating our lives? For crossing a line that should never have been crossed?
But then I look at her face and see the sincerity shining clear in her eyes.
This isn’t about propriety or the rules we’ve broken tonight. It’s about us—two people who found solace, comfort, and an unexpected connection.
“I don’t regret anything,” she continues, her voice a whisper against my skin.
I want to echo her sentiments, tell her that I too harbor no regrets.
But something gnaws at me.
A fear.
A fear that I now yearn for Angie’s touch over Lindsay’s.
I feel like I’ve cheated on Lindsay.
But Lindsay is gone.
Dead and buried.
Unable to be helped by the practice that is Angie’s passion.
Fuck it all.
I finally desire another woman.
But she’s a student.
A future psychiatrist, of all fucking things.
Angie doesn’t seem to be concerned that I don’t answer, so I just hold her for the next hour, allow her to drift off into a peaceful slumber.
Once I’m sure she’s in a deep sleep, I untangle myself from her beautiful body and dress quietly. Tillie sits next to the bed, staring at me.
“Shh,” I say to the pup.
She doesn’t bark. She’s probably glad enough to be rid of me.
I leave and return to my own place.
Where guilt and nightmares plague me.
Chapter Nineteen
Angie
I wake up with a smile on my face.
