Elaine. I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling above me. I frowned slightly, not recognizing where I was and I sat up. I rubbed my eyes with a yawn as I remembered what happened last night. I sighed and rushed a hand through my hair in frustration. I felt exhausted. I felt so drained that going to work wasn't even on my agenda. Luckily, the keys were with Ethan and I trusted that he would take good care of the shop. Talking about work, I looked around for my phone and found my purse on top of the nightstand. Getting it, I opened it and pulled out my phone before waking up my screen. It was past nine and I had missed my alarm, which was weird because I could swear that I hadn't heard it. My eyes widened when I found over ten missed calls and texts from my sister. This was followed by even more texts and missed calls from Zack. Completely swiping anything related to Zack off of my screen, I unlocked my phone and began to call Audrey back. She was proba

Zack. I sighed as I rested my cheek on my fist and looked at the computer screen in front of me. No matter how hard I tried to not think about Elaine, she kept popping up in my head and the guilt, that so mercilessly burdened my heart, became worse. It's been almost a week and I haven't heard from her. All my calls and texts went unanswered and her shop was closed two days after our fight. I wondered what was going on. Did she really not want to see me again? But we had a deal! We couldn't divorce. This was a marriage that had us stuck until death really did do us apart. That fateful night, I went back home. I was angry and confused. I never expected Elaine to hit me but then, I should've been more careful with my words. Everytime I thought of her tears and the sad look in her eyes as she glared at me, my heart ached. I didn't want to see her cry and it felt more painful because I was the cause. I hated being called a coward especially when it came to Cassidy. I couldn't face t

 Elaine. A soft sigh escaped my lips when Zack cupped my breasts in his large hands. Giving them a light squeeze, he pressed his erection against my butt. He kissed down my shoulder and up my neck before finding my lips.I reached back and held his jaw as I opened my mouth to accept his tongue in my mouth. We kissed softly and my body ached for him.I had almost forgotten how good it felt to be held by Zack. His gentle kisses. His rough hands and let's not ignore the hardness in between his legs than never failed to make me want more.Zack broke the kiss and nibbled on my ear. "Hands on the glass, Elaine," he whispered roughly and my core tingled in excitement."Yes, sir," I teased with a smile as I pressed my hands on the glass in front of me.Zack had long closed the water and my skin shivered slightly from the coldness that I was feeling. But then, it wasn't much of a concern since Zack was going to heat me up soon.

Zack. Isaac called Elaine Mom. I didn't know what to feel but I was overcome with joy. I didn't think that this day would come. To be honest, I had never even considered him calling her that and if he didn't, it wasn't a big deal to me. It practically didn't matter. Or so I thought. I couldn't suppress the joy in my heart at that moment. Isaac has never called anybody his mother and I bet that he even gave up on that. Being used to me, his Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents, there was no one to fill in that position. But now, Elaine was here. She was obviously touched by it and Audrey wouldn't stop repeating it to her. It was almost as if our family was complete and it made me rethink a few things about her. Hearing that from Isaac lifted my heart and I grinned as I watched him play with a blue toy truck that I got him. He pushed the car against the carpet as he made car sounds and had conversations with the other cars. He was clearly invested in his own world. "You've been out of

 Elaine.Soon, we entered a new year and things seemed to have settled down. The festive decorations reduced by the day and shop owners were back to business.Since we were still in the cold season, people were moving around in warm clothes and to me, it still gave a festive vibe. The sidewalks and loans were coated in light dew as people navigated their way through the morning. "That's the last of it," Ethan said as he approached me with a box in his hands. "We're ready to open."I looked up from the box that I was sealing up. "That's great but we need to sweep up.""Really?" He looked at the floor to inspect it. "If the small strings bother you so much, I can just pick them up."I laughed. "Are you looking forward to working that much?""My family's been smothering me since we went on holiday so, I'm happy to be out of the house. Besides, I'm treated like a handsome prince here.""I'm happy that you feel th