Abandoned Solitude

"What do you mean you can't do this anymore?" Amelia whispered. She wasn't surprised by his confession, but that didn't mean the words stung any less.

Bryan held up his hands in defeat and sighed. "I'm sorry Lia. I just can't. Not anymore."

Staring at the two duffle bags sitting by the door, she cleared her throat. "This is because we can't get pregnant isn't it."

Bryan followed her gaze to the duffel bags and back to her face. "I don't want to leave. I really don't, but I want kids." Amelia frowned knowing where he was headed, but he forced himself to ask again, "You really won't consider adoption?"

Her mouth opened slightly as though she was going to say something, but thinking better of it, she pursed his lips, shrugged, and looked away. Shaking his head, he walked to the door, grabbed the bags and walked out, carefully closing it behind him.

A small breath of relief escaped Amelia's lips when the door was finally shut and she was left alone in the small cottage they had shared for the past three years. Collapsing on the couch, she pulled the purple crocheted throw blanket up over her body, collecting the top edge under her chin and closed her eyes.

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Amelia woke to the slamming of the front door and in her attempts to jump up, fell to the floor in a tangle of blanket. Looking up she found herself staring at the grinning face of her best friend, Hailey.

"Bryan called me and told me what happened. He thought maybe you could use a friend."

Amelia groaned and pulled the blanket up over her head.

Kneeling next to the crocheted mess on the floor, Hailey carefully disentangled the blanket from Amelia's fingers and pulled the blanket back from her face.

"Amelia, I know you loved him, but you knew you were going to have to leave sooner rather than later. I mean, even if he didn't want kids..."

"I know Hailey, all right! Just... stop. I don't need this right now." And with that Amelia ripped the blanket from her friends grasp and yanked it back over her head.

Rocking back on her heels, Hailey sighed. "Come on Amelia, you know our time is almost up here anyway. How about we cut our losses now, and just get out of this town! We'll go out tonight and celebrate another decade well spent and tomorrow we'll start packing up."

"No."

Annoyed, Hailey stood up, grabbed the bottom edge of the blanket, and ripped it off Amelia's curled up body. "All right, enough. You do this every time! What else do you expect?"

"But I loved him!"

"Yeah, I know... key word being loved, as in, past tense. We both know your love comes with an expiration date, so can we just move on now?" Moaning in exasperation, Amelia sat up and glared at her friend. "Fine."

Hailey smiled and lowered herself down onto the floor beside the couch. Amelia leaned into the other woman resting her head on Hailey's shoulder, while Hailey slowly ran her fingers through Amelia's straight, auburn, shoulder length hair. It was a comforting gesture that Amelia appreciated even when Hailey's fingers continued onto her shoulder and started trailing back and forth across her collarbone.

Snuggling back into her friend, she gasped slightly when Hailey's fingers dipped lower down into the V-neck of her shirt, tracing along the valley between her small breasts while her other hand followed the curve of Amelia's hip.

Adrenaline radiated into her body causing her breath to catch in her throat. Slowly looking up at her friend, a strangled whimper escaped her mouth before Hailey bent down and captured it with her own.

Carefully parting Amelia's lips with her tongue, Hailey deepened the kiss, bringing the hand from Amelia's breasts up to tangle into her hair. The hand on Amelia's hip slowly slid along the waist of her jeans and down, slipping down between her thighs. Gasping, Amelia slid across the wooden floor and out of Hailey's grasp.

"Hailey-"

Laughing, Hailey stood up and shook her blonde curls behind her shoulders. "No worries Amelia, I was just trying to distract you. However, now that you're all hot and heavy, we are going out."

Rolling her eyes and running her fingers through her hair, combing out the tangles Hailey had left, Amelia sighed. "Yeah, okay."