Amy and Brian Ch. 01

"OK," he replied; then he proceeded to say nothing, for the rest of lunch period. Still, the next day, he came back and sat with her again, this time managing a few words. Within a week, they were talking throughout lunch. After a month, they were talking after school for hours. After two months, they were dating, though they didn't officially call it that yet. Brian had completely won her over.

He never said much, but listened to her and all her problems. He became the one person she could talk about things with, things she couldn't tell her mother, like everything that happened with her father. Brian could relate, his father had also cheated on their mother, and his folks had separated. Unlike Amy, Brian was the oldest sibling, and his younger brothers looked to him for guidance on how to get through everything.

So it was only natural that Brian played this role for Amy, as well. Under no circumstances should she think any of this was her fault, he assured her. Her father was the one who made the mistakes, nothing she could have said or done would have prevented it. He made her feel good about herself again. And she could get lost just staring into his blue eyes. Even at that age, Amy knew she was going to marry Brian one day. She knew she couldn't ever bear losing him.

As her high school years passed, Amy began to put her father out of her mind. Her parents never officially divorced; that would be bad for business. Though the Reverend couldn't save his job at the Aberdeen parish, after some time passed he found a second career as a public speaker with a cautionary tale, of getting caught up in the ways of the flesh and sinning, only to find God again.

He brought his wife with him on some of these engagements, to talk about forgiveness, and how she had forgiven him, with God's help. That wasn't anywhere near true, but her mother put up with it. She needed to support her youngest daughter, and the money she made as a local teacher wasn't nearly enough. And the Reverend was making decent money on the speaking circuit selling this tale of redemption, even if it was about 99% bullshit.

Amy would have no part of it; she refused any attempts by her father to draw her into them. Mostly, she paid no attention to him at all; he was traveling so much she barely saw him anyway. And she knew he was still screwing around on her Mom, even the slightest detective work would reveal lipstick stains on his collar after he returned from his trips.

She suspected her Mom knew as well; how could she not? But her mother wouldn't officially leave her father, they just settled into separate lives, reuniting only for those brief moments where they had to fake it in public. The whole thing disgusted Amy, but she realized her mother was doing it primarily for her.

Throughout it all, she always had Brian to lean on. The only rough point was that six month period sophomore year, when Brian got cold feet and wanted to date other people. Her heart was broken, but she knew her Brian would come back to her; it was the only thing that kept her going. After a few months, he did, telling her what an ass he had been and begging for a second chance. Of course, she gave it to him and never looked back. But she could never go through that again, without her rock, her Brian, she didn't know how she would hold it together.

Amy began college and moved into her dorm room, out of her parent's house. Upon returning for fall break, she noticed her father was home more, which was unusual. Mostly, she ignored him, as she usually did. But she noticed her mother spending more and more time with him.

"What's going on," she asked her mother.

"Your father and I have reconciled," her mother said with a smile. "Isn't this great!"

"Are you nuts?" asked a dumbfounded Amy, "He hasn't changed, he never will!"

"Everyone deserves a second chance," her mother explained. "We're both getting older and near retirement, and all my kids are leaving. No one wants to be alone," her mother said as her smile faded.

Amy didn't want to make her mother feel bad, but she knew how this would end. Somewhat harshly, she said, "Well don't come crying to me when he screws up again!"

Her father tried to speak to her as well, but she would have none of it. All she would say is that he was a terrible father and she wanted nothing to do with him. She pushed her home life to the side and focused on college.

Like every other time, he father hadn't really changed; he just faked it for a long time, until after her wedding to Brian. He had been there, and for her mother she had reluctantly agreed to allow him to walk her down the aisle. She held her ground at letting him perform the service; under no circumstances would she allow herself to be married by that man.

Shortly after the wedding, her mother called her crying. She had found hotel receipts in her father's wallet and found out he was seeing another woman. Again she kicked him out, this time for good. Amy's father then moved to Florida to retire, and she saw very little of him.

Amy consoled her mother, but by this point she had come to the realization that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Look at what she was doing to Brian now. Still she rationalized it in her mind, 'I'm only doing it because I'm lonely and Brian is busy, he did it because he liked it.' Deep down, she knew it was ridiculous, but ever since she could remember she had a blinding hatred for her father. She would never, could never, admit to herself that in many ways, she was just like him.

PRESENT DAY:

So she pushed thoughts of her father further and further, until he was gone completely from her mind. No matter what she did with Chris, or even now with Josh, she refused to equate herself to her father in any way.

Until really this moment, right now, after everything that happened with Josh, and seeing Chris as well. He had come to terms with his mistakes, and his sins, and from what he told her he was rebuilding his life. But here she was, in denial and still sinning, much like her father had. Slowly, Amy began to cry at this realization. However, after a time she composed herself to pick up her kids and become the perfect mother again.

Brian Harris was in his office at the end of the workday, finishing paperwork for his department. He wanted to get home for dinner with his family, as he always tried to do now. He knew a lot of the parental responsibilities fell on his wife Amy, and he felt bad about that. Brian wished he could be there more for his kids, but he tried his best to attend all their games and recitals.

Unfortunately, he felt like that often left little time for him and Amy. He loved his high-school sweetheart, with all his heart, but he often felt like there was a distance growing between them. All their time together basically revolved around their children, it left little time for themselves. Brian saw this as his fault, as much as he tried to be there for her and the kids, there was only so much he could do. He was still a heart surgeon after all, it required long hours.

He saw what happened to his parents; slowly they just drifted apart without fully realizing it, until their love was gone. His parents' divorce was tough on the young Brian, but he distracted himself though sports and helping his younger siblings, and after a time his parents worked toward an amicable settlement and a plan to co-parent their children.

But it had still been incredibly hard on Brian, and he didn't want his kids to have to deal with what he did at their age. He didn't feel like he and Amy were anywhere close to that, but he knew they needed to put in the work or it could happen. Temptations were everywhere; at that point one of them walked into Brian's office.

"Hi, Dr. Harris," said Catherine, the new nurse on the Cardiac wing. She was gorgeous, just 26 years-old with long auburn hair and beautiful almond-colored eyes. And like many of the nurses on staff, she had a thing for the dashing blonde-haired Department Head.

Brian couldn't deny that he appreciated the attention. He was about to turn 40, and his hair wasn't quite as thick as it used to be (and he stressed over the grey hairs he found becoming more prominent), but he kept himself in good shape. For the most part, he was able to laugh off the flirty looks and gestures he often received; he loved Amy and had no attention of cheating on her. But he couldn't deny there was something in the way Catherine looked at him that was exciting.

He always felt Amy had looked at him that way, but once you're married close to 20 years you do tend to lose a little of that, and settle into a more comfortable love for each other. But no matter how old you get, being desired by someone feeds into one's ego, even if the woman looking at you that way is not your wife.

"Hi Catherine, how was your day," he replied, trying his best not to be flirty.

"Please call me Cat, Dr. Harris, everyone else does. And it's been great, I love working here, I'm learning so much from everyone, you especially," she said, batting her eyelashes at him. Cat knew what she was doing, but she was young and wanted to have a little fun. Dr. Harris was so unattainable for her; he was happily married so she didn't see the harm in it.

"Well, that's great, it's why we are a teaching hospital," said Brian, clearing his throat. He tried to think of a way out of this conversation; having a woman like this looking at you could make the most faithful man contemplate unthinkable things.

"Hey, some of the nurses and junior residents were stopping for a drink after our shifts, care to join us?" Cat asked, with more than a little hope. Maybe if she just got this man out of his comfort zone for a while...'what am I thinking, this is just harmless fun', she said to herself.

"Maybe another time, I need to get home for dinner. Have one for me," he said quickly, with a laugh to hide his discomfort.

"OK, well I'll see you tomorrow," Cat replied. 'I'm such an idiot', she thought, 'now I just made him uncomfortable. The last thing I want to do is lose my job by flirting with some married guy who has no interest in me.'

"Have a good night, Cath...I mean Cat," Brian said as she turned and left. After, he sat back in his chair and sighed. 'She's gorgeous,' he thought, 'but I'm not risking my family for a cheap fling. I won't do what my father did, what Amy's father did.'

He promised himself he would try to reconnect with his wife, starting now. They still loved each other, of that he was sure, but they needed to make time for themselves. Maybe they could plan a weekend trip to the shore, away from the kids.

With those thoughts, Brian left his office and headed home to see his family.

At the Harris home, Amy was preparing dinner. Her son Tyler came in, holding the broken change dish. In her haste to get Josh out of the house and pick up her kids, Amy had forgotten about it.

"What happened, Mom?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, honey I'm sorry, I tripped and accidently ran into the table and knocked it over," lied Amy. "We can fix it, don't worry?" she said, beginning to cry.

"No worries Mom, it's just a change dish," Tyler replied, not really sure why his Mom was getting so upset. "I can just make another one for you, no reason to cry about it."

"I'd like that a lot," Amy said, giving her son a big hug. "Sorry I got emotional, I know how hard you worked on that. Why don't you go clean-up; dinner is almost ready."

As he son left, Amy held back tears again. Her son didn't care about the dish breaking, but he didn't really know how it was broken, as Amy did. 'My son spent his time making that for me, and it broke because I was fucking some guy, a kid really, not much older or more mature than my kids,' she shamefully thought. 'Not much older than Pamela.'

Her husband walked in the door and she went to greet him. "How was your day?" she asked as they kissed.

"Good, hey I was thinking, you and I haven't done anything by ourselves in a while. Maybe we should go to the shore house for a long weekend; we can leave the kids with your mother or mine?" he asked.

"That sounds great, honey. Let's talk about that later, dinner is almost ready," Amy replied.

"Great, I'll go check in on the kids. I love you, you know that right?" Brian said.

"Of course baby," Amy said, hugging him tight. "Is something wrong?" she asked, in fear. 'He knows, about everything,' she worried inside.

"No, just thought it would be nice to get away for once," Brian explained. 'I shouldn't have said that,' he thought, 'Why did I say that?'

"I'll let you know when dinner's ready," Amy smiled, giving her husband a kiss and returning to the kitchen.

'I am married to the best man', she thought. 'Somehow he realized we were drifting apart and wants to remedy it. I can't lose him...I've treated him like dirt. I have to end it with Josh.'

She would talk to Josh tomorrow, he was just a kid and he had to know their affair couldn't go anywhere. She could explain that to him, of that she was sure.

At least that is what she thought. Little did she know this would be the last night her family would ever be this happy again, for a long time.

TO BE CONTINUED...