NEW YORK CITY, NY – RESTAURANT – FEB. 15TH, 2002 – Tuesday

     “Did you realize we missed Valentine’s Day yesterday?” Kirstin asked Ashley when they got out of the car in front of the restaurant where they’d be meeting Tom.

     “No! Man! How could I forget?”

     “Yeah, well… it wasn’t an easy day for us.”

     “Yeah, can’t blame me.” Ashley took her hands in his and walked into the restaurant “But I’ll make up to you.”

     “I know. You always do.” Kirstin smiled and kissed his lips “He’s over there.” Kirstin pointed when they pulled back from the kiss.

     “Where?” Ashley scanned the place and found Tom sitting on a stool at the bar “Oh.”

     “How are we gonna do this?” Kirstin stopped walking and looked at Ashley “Do we go together or should I go first?”

     “That’s up to you, baby.”

     “Do you mind if I go by myself now? I wanna talk to him about some stuff first. Then, when I tell him about the baby, I’ll call you.”

     “Yeah, sure. That’s fine.” Ashley smiled weakly and Kirstin noticed he wasn’t so happy about that. “Sorry, it’s just that…”
     “No, really, K, go. I know you guys have a lot to talk about. Go.” Ashley smiled bigger this time and she just pecked him before going up to Tom.

     Ashley sat on a stool far from Tom and watched as Kirstin got closer to him.

         

     “Hey…” Kirstin said while sitting on a stool next to Tom.

     “Oh, Kirstin. Hi. Man, it’s so good to see you.” Tom hugged her tight, but Kirstin didn’t hug him back. ‘This is gonna be hard.’ she thought to herself.

     When Tom pulled back from the hug, he looked at Kirstin, who forced a smile. He smiled back.

     “Do you want something to drink?” he offered her.

     “No, thanks.” she smiled weakly and soon carried on “Ok. Tom…”

     “K, can I just tell how beautiful you look tonight? I mean… wow!” Kirstin did look good. She was wearing a plain black dress and black boots “You really are the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen. God… just looking at you makes my heart ache. I can’t believe I lost you.” Tom looked deeply into her eyes.

     “Well… that… was… inappropriate.” Kirstin looked down and smiled nervously.

     “Why? You do look good and you are gorgeous, I just had to…” “Ashley is right over there.” Kirstin looked at where Ashley was and Tom turned around to look at the spot.

     “Oh…” Tom looked down “Of course… Pretty boy.” he looked somewhat disappointed.

     “Tom, listen, you might have gotten the wrong impression when I told you this morning I wanted to talk to you.” “I guess…” he took a sip from his drink.

     “Tom… ok. First things first.” Kirstin took a deep breath and stared at Ashley as to gather courage to continue “Why did you do it?”

     “Why did I do what?” Tom asked, but Kirstin just shot him a look, not saying a word, and he understood she wasn’t buying it “Ok. Kirstin, I really don’t know why I did it.”

     “Well, you’re gonna have to do a whole lot better than that.” Kirstin said looking down, the nervous smile never leaving her face.

     “You know those people that have… everything they’ve always wanted but, still, they’re not satisfied?” Kirstin looked up at him “Well, I guess that’s what happened to me. I had everything I’ve ever wanted since the first day I first saw you. I had you. All to myself. We loved each other, I had a great job, we had a place to live… We were getting married for crying out loud! Our lives were perfect… Everything was just perfect. And then… I don’t know why, but I decided to go and cheat on you. Like I wasn’t satisfied with all I had. And that’s not what I was really feeling. I couldn’t be more satisfied to have you with me. I prayed, actually prayed, for that day to come that I’d have you with me. Man!” Tom hit the counter, but soon got it under control. Kirstin got a little scared at that and saw Ashley standing up to head toward them, but she soon shot him a glare as if asking him to just stay where he was “Sorry. It’s just that… Man, I usually don’t regret things I do, but this thing… Man… I couldn’t have been more stupid!” Tom exclaimed “And you didn’t deserve it.”

     “You’re right, Tom. I didn’t. I didn’t do anything to deserve getting cheated on.” Kirstin was almost crying, but, still, her nervous smile was on.

     “I know you didn’t. That’s why I hate myself so much for doing that to you. You are great. You are perfect. You are everything a guy can ever ask for in a girl.”

     “Not that, Tom. I’m not perfect as you’re saying I am. That’s not why I didn’t deserve to be cheated on. I didn’t deserve it because I loved you. So much. And when we were together, I loved only you. As hard as you may find it to believe, during all that time we were together, I loved you and only you. If I’ve had my doubts about my love for you, I wouldn’t have accepted your proposal. But I was gonna marry you. And I was so happy about it. So happy. It felt that my life was finally complete. That I didn’t need anything else. I was marrying a perfect man, who loved me too much and who I loved too much. That’s why my entire world fell apart when I saw that slut with you at my apartment.”

     “Kirstin…” Tom didn’t have anything left to say after Kirstin’s speech “I don’t even know why I brought her to your apartment.” Tom just looked down and shook his head.

     “Yes. That was probably the worst part. You screwing that bitch in my loft.”

     “Yeah, I know…” Tom looked down, clearly ashamed “I’m sorry. I know I can never ask for your apology. That would be too much to ask.”

     “You got that right…” Kirstin played with her fingers “I can never forgive you for that, Tom.” Kirstin felt a tear drop from her right eye. She soon wiped that away so Tom wouldn’t see her crying. He didn’t deserve her tears.

     “I know you’ll never forgive me. And I understand that already. I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry. I needed you to see how sorry I am that I screwed everything up. It’s not something I’m proud of. I really ruined my life. Because I just had a life when I was with you. I loved you way too much and I screwed it. And now I have nothing left. And I know I messed up with your life too, so…”

     “Yes, you did.” Kirstin interrupted him.

     “Yeah. I know. Sorry. But… you’re with pretty boy now, so things can’t be bad, right?” Tom still didn’t like seeing Kirstin with Ashley. It would be less painful to see her with anyone else but ‘that loser’, he thought.

     “Well… don’t be so sure about that.” Kirstin started to play with her fingers again. “What do you mean?” Tom pulled her chin up.

     Kirstin looked over at Ashley and with a hand gesture, asked him to go to her.

     When Ashley got to where both of them were, he stood behind Kirstin, with both his hands on her shoulders and just looked at Tom, not saying a word.

     “Tom… I’m pregnant with your baby."