Through the cracks

Chapter Ten

For the next few days, Ava just rested and reloaded. Her parents spoiled her, and she only realizes now how much she missed her parents and her siblings and their families. Her brothers and sister and their families arranged a big barbeque one night, and she enjoyed the way they tease each other and again realizes how Lucas never fitted into her family and how petty the fight was. Also, she realized she overreacted when she treated them badly as she knew that her family only tolerated Lucas’s arrogance and behavior because of her.

She becomes more and more aware of what an i***t and bad person Lucas really is, but still, if she is alone at night in her old childhood room, she misses him. She knows she still loves him. But for now - she is home with the two people on earth that love her the most, and they will do anything for her and that makes her feel safe and loved. Framed pictures of her family in her old childhood room reminded her of moments of happiness and experiences. Vacations, birthdays and moments of pure happiness that had filled their lives, good times and memories. A time when she had no worries. Watching her old family photos made her miss her own children and grandchildren, and she knew it was time to go back and face reality.

She hugs her parents tightly, and thanks them for allowing her to break down and to re-set, before making the drive back. She listens to music and feels better than she had a few days ago. The distance has proven to be helpful while she put everything into perspective. Kristy is just happy to have been able to go for a drive...a very long drive.

Home at last. The first thing Ava does is slip off her heels and dump them on the floor in the family room. She took a long hot shower. She makes the water in the shower as hot as she can bear it, and lets it strike the top of her head and run down her face. When she finally steps out after a long leisurely shower, she wraps herself in her most luscious towel. She brushes her teeth, rubs her hair dry and covers herself from head to toe in body lotion. She puts on only an oversize t-shirt. On her way to the kitchen, she bumps into someone. She could feel the adrenalin pumping through her veins, her pulse racing and the hairs on the back of her neck rising. As she prepares to turn around to run to the safety of her bedroom, she realizes that it is Lucas.

"What are you doing here? She asks angrily.

“Well, it is still my house ‘’he replies, irritated, but almost immediately smiles, and then he moves forward with that stomach-melting smile he just gave her still on his lips.

"I miss your cooking," he said teasingly.

His arms came around her, and she felt the warmth of his body and the thudding of his heart. He searches for her mouth. It tastes like toothpaste and her lips are incredibly soft. At first, he was tentative, then more eager . He deepened the kiss, growing more confident. When they finally break for air, they both breathe fast, and she turns around and walks to their bedroom. He follows her without saying a word. She unbuttoned his shirt and unzipped his jeans and he shuddered. He pulls her t-shirt over her head and steps out of his jeans.

The bed sags as he lies down beside her. She feels his body trembling with need and pent-up lust. She wants to stop it but neither of them can at this stage. They make love, and she falls into a trance where all that exists is his warm stroking hands. They lie next to each other and his voice is soft when he says

”Wow, that was great. You did enjoy that, didn’t you?”

"I loved it. You were amazing.” she whispered back, almost on the verge of sleep.

Ava woke up an hour later alone in her bed. Lucas left without waking her. Ava felt happy and relaxed. It was the best s*x they had in years.

She gets up and walks to the kitchen again, this time more alert. She first goes to the family room and looks through the window. His car is not in the driveway, but she can still smell his aftershave on her.

She makes herself a cup of tea and feeds Kristy who is impatiently waiting for her food. When Ava sat down to enjoy her cup of tea, she recalled Lucas’s face as he stood there in the corridor.

She again feels so sorry for him, as it seems that he misses the family he left behind-what else will he be doing here? She still loves him so much and, after their intimate s*x encounter, even considers withdrawing the divorce summons.

It was Sunday and Ava did not tell anybody that she would be home today as she just wanted to relax and be alone before starting work tomorrow again. She decided that she would just go to work every day for longer hours and irritate Lucas until he agrees to a divorce and decent settlement, as she could imagine that Eva would not like it if she still hung around at the office all day. Now she does not know if she still wants a divorce. Maybe Lucas had gone home to tell Eva that he still loved his wife.

After a light lunch, she decides to fetch a nice book to read to keep her mind busy, and she tends to overthink and gets paranoid when she has so much time on her hands.

As she passes the guestroom, something catches her eye, and she stops and turns around to see what is going on in the guestroom. To her surprise, a lot of boxes were piled on top of each other. She took the first box and opened it. She looks inside and finds that it was all her stuff packed into the box. As she opened more boxes, she realized that almost all her expensive glassware, fine dining sets and cutlery were packed into these boxes, as well as a lot of duvets, sheets and even curtains. All her children’s old toys and even the children’s bedding she kept for the grandchildren were in these boxes.

She looks at the outside and a woman’s handwriting is on them as the boxes are marked :dining room , children's rooms, toys etc. She has to sit down as she realizes that Eva must have been in her house with Lucas to pack those boxes. She probably surprised Lucas when he came to pick them up when she bumped into him in the corridor as she parked her car in the garage when she came home that morning. She swung around trembling with outrage and went to the family room to find her cell phone. She dials Lucas's number, but the phone just rings and rings. Coward. He will not answer the phone as he probably realizes that she found the boxes.

Kristy looks at her, and she realizes that she was so mad that she was screaming at the phone and the poor dog thought that she did something wrong. She immediately calms down and gives Kristy a hug.

She storms to the bathroom and gets into the shower again. She soaps her entire body in a lather and scrubs herself until it hurts. She tries to wash Lucas off. She hates him. She burst into tears and the tears mixed with the warm water. How stupid can one person be? She cannot even tell Janelle or any of her children of what happened before she discovered the boxes as she would be too ashamed to admit he tricked and used her again.

Late Sunday night, she still sits and watches the crime channel.” Woman who Kills” is on the channel, and she can totally relate to women who kill their husbands. In fact, tonight she can easily not only kill Lucas but Eva also.

Monday as the first light of dawn filtered through the curtains, she decided not to go to work as she could still not trust herself as to how she would react if she had to face Lucas.

The doorbell echoed through the stillness of the house just as Ava got dressed, and she wondered who that could be, as nobody except Lucas knew she was at home. She asked her parents not to tell the kids that she was at home until today, and they promised when she phoned them yesterday to tell them she was safely at home. Maybe her mother told Millie, and she probably had come to check why Ava had not come to work yet. She washed her face and looked into the mirror. Nothing she could do about the red-swollen eyes.