The bright light of morning filtered through the blinds on the windows, gently pulling Lauren out of her sleep. She yawned and stretched her arms out, feeling one of them bump into something. Turning, she noticed Jimmy sound asleep in bed next to her. He looked so innocent and childlike, his hair carelessly falling into his eyes, his hands tucked under his cheek.

She leaned forward and kissed the top of his head, which caused him to stir. He looked up at her with sleepy eyes and yawned quietly.

“Hey babe,” he murmured, reaching up to push his bangs out of his face.

“You’re so cute when you sleep,” she kissed him on the lips before shifting in bed so she was cuddled against his chest, listening to his breathing. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her head.

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy said suddenly. Lauren turned her head up to look into his baby blue eyes.

“Sorry ‘bout what?” she asked, absentmindedly playing with his hair.

“For everything. I just want to go back to the beginning and start over,” he mused. Lauren looked at him oddly.

“Honey, what are you talking about?”

The blaring ringtone on her phone woke her up from a sound sleep. She cursed quietly to herself for being woken up from one of the nicest dreams she had in awhile. Glancing over at the caller ID, she saw it was Dr. Kramer, so she picked up.

“Hello?” she asked, some sleep still present in her voice.

“Hi Lauren, sorry if I woke you up.” Lauren glanced over at the clock and noticed it was around eleven in the morning, she had really overslept to begin with.

“It’s fine, what’s up?” she asked.

“I just wanted to check in on you and see how you’ve been. I heard Jimmy has been doing really well,” he replied.

“I’m hanging in there, I guess. You wanna meet up and chat, you off today?” she pulled the blanket off of herself and stretched her legs.

“Sure, you want to meet me at the coffee shop by your house? Change of scenery,” he suggested.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you there in like an hour,” Lauren threw her feet over the edge of the bed and winced at the cold feeling of the hardwood floors on her bare feet.

“I’ll see you then.”

When she hung up with the doctor, she got up and took a quick shower just to freshen up. She threw on a tank top and jeans, grabbed her bag, and made her way out the door. After a quiet five minute drive, she made her way to the local coffee shop and went inside, ordering an iced coffee before taking a seat by the window. The doctor came in a few minutes later and smiled at her before taking the seat across from her.

“So you heard about Jimmy?” she asked.

“Yeah, his psychiatrist over there told me he’s doing great. He should be home soon,” he said. One of the waiters brought Lauren’s coffee over, and she smiled at him as he placed it down on the table.

“If he’s doing so great how come I can’t talk to him on the phone?” Lauren mumbled, pulling the wrapper off of her straw.

“I’m not sure, honestly. I’m sure they have their reasons. I know this must be frustrating for you,” he commented.

“To say the least,” Lauren sighed and took a sip of the coffee.

“How do you think things will be different when he comes back?” Dr. Kramer asked.

“I don’t know,” Lauren answered. “I mean, obviously things are going to be different. But I don’t really know what to expect when he comes back. I kind of wonder if everything is real this time.”

“It’s natural to feel that way given what you both have been through. I think anyone else would have the same questions.”

“I just,” Lauren trailed off and glanced out the window. She saw a young couple strolling down the block, hand in hand. “I wish he hadn’t lied to me. I love him so much and now I feel like I can’t trust him again.”

“I definitely think it’s going to take time for Jimmy to earn back your trust, as well as the trust of his friends and family. It’s the cost of keeping something like that a secret for so long. But if you really love him, like I know you do. It’ll happen. Just give it some time,” the doctor nodded.

“I know you’re right. I’ve been having dreams about him, I just miss him so much,” she looked down, feeling her eyes start to water. She couldn’t cry here. The doctor reached out and placed his hand over hers.

“I know you do. I can’t imagine what this has been like for you.” Lauren nodded and quickly wiped at her eyes.

The two of them chatted for a while, before they went their separate ways for the day. As Lauren was walking to her car, she got a text from Matt asking if she wanted to come hang out. She told him she’d be there in a little bit, once she stopped back home. As she pulled up to the house again, she was confused to see a woman standing at the front steps, looking through the front window on her tippy toes. She was short, probably not much over five feet, with long, curly brown hair. The woman seemed to notice Lauren pull up into the driveway, and looked at her with an equally confused stare.

“Hi,” Lauren greeted the woman as she got out of her car, coffee in hand. “Can I help you?”

“I’m so sorry, I was looking for someone named Jimmy. Does he still live here?” she asked.

“Yeah, he does, but he’s not here. I’m his fiance, Lauren. Who are you?” Lauren held a hand out, and the women shook it quickly.

“Oh... I’m just an old friend. I’ll stop by some other time, no worries. Take care now.” The young lady scurried past Lauren and hopped into her car. She was off before Lauren could even process what happened. She’d never seen that woman before, and she wasn’t sure why the woman seemed so skittish just now, to the point where she wouldn’t even say what her name was.

Shrugging it off as something weird, she went inside to take care of a few things before she headed over to Matt’s house to meet up with the guys.

Notes

Can you believe there's only two more chapters left after this? What's going to happen?

As a side note, would anyone be interested in hearing the plot for the alternate ending of this story I wrote? (After it's all over, of course.)