CHARLESIt does not take long before I begin to regret agreeing to accompany Meghan to her grandma’s birthday ceremony. First, as we get to the gate of her house, we’re met by a barrage of reporters with cameras, all shoving them at my car and trying to take a picture of me, something that annoys me to no end. There’s nothing I hate more than media publicity.“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry. I had no idea that they were going to be here.” Meghan apologizes, but in my opinion, she doesn’t look sorry at all. Meghan’s grandma had been a popular actress back in the day, and each year, her birthday is publicized in the news, which explains the paparazzi, but since I’ve been in the news lately, I know that they’ll be more than happy to shift their focus to me.But that’s not even the worst of it all. As soon as we get into her grandma's house, we’re greeted with hugs and kisses from various family members, both those I’ve seen before and those I’ve never seen before. “I’m so glad you guys are ba

Meghan takes me to a bar where she plies me with drink after drink, and I down them without complaints. Usually, I hardly ever take any alcohol and I can’t remember the last time I was drunk, but today, I have no inhibitions, and I let myself go, becoming stupidly drunk. I notice that she isn’t imbibing as much as I am, but I think nothing of it. I also notice that she’s watching me intensely, in a weird way, but I chalk it down to the alcohol making me see things that are not true. Finally, we head home in my car, with Bianca driving. “You’re so wasted. You’re cute when you’re drunk.” She tells me, chuckling a little.“I don’t think the word ‘cute’ should be used for me,” I reply, slurring my words a little.She says a bunch of other things that I tune out. Instead, I’m thinking of the blissful moment when I’ll be able to get into bed and pass out. I fall asleep in the car and only wake up when Bianca nudges me and tells me that we’re home.She helps me get out of the car, and I m

JESSICAIf I had thought that pregnancy would be an easy journey, I was sorely mistaken. I’m just at the beginning of my second trimester, but already, I can’t wait for it to be over. I’m almost always nauseous, no matter what I do to quell it.On the plus side, it is also a fulfilling journey, although I’m not even halfway through it yet. I have this deep, tender love for this child that I haven’t even met yet, and I want nothing more than for it to arrive so I can hold it, gaze at it and finally have someone to call my own.My nightmares have all but vanished, probably because I do everything I’m told religiously. I’ve stopped trying to get out of meetings with my therapist and I tell her everything she needs to know. I haven’t set my eyes on Samantha since the day that she left after we left the doctor’s office, and neither have I heard anything at all from her. At first, I was worried sick, and called her nonstop, trying to find out if anything is wrong with her, but after I look

JESSICAThe night of the small dinner party that Veronica organized for her husband is the first time I step foot in her house. It is a nice house, fairly large and tastefully decorated, and is a home that is clearly filled with love. Her two boys run the house, as they are chased by their cousins, dodging the adults and ignoring admonitions for them to be still.Veronica's husband, Leonard, greets me warmly and affectionately, as though I’ve been his wife’s friend for years, or as though I’m his favorite younger sister. Veronica and Leo are both in their early thirties, and their boys are four and two years old.“I’ve heard so much about you, Jessica. It’s nice that Veronica finally found a good friend in her antenatal class. I try to go as much as possible, but most times, work doesn’t allow me, so it’s good that she has someone to talk to there. My wife loves to talk a lot, you know. Sometimes, I can’t decide if that is a good thing or a bad one.” Leo says, laughing gently as his w

“Yeah, it’s Jessica. Is Samantha there? That is the owner of the phone. I’ve been trying to reach her to no avail, yet her line has been going through all this while.” The woman on the line says. There’s no doubt about it now. It is indeed Jessica, and I’m willing to stake my last money on it.My tongue feels stuck to the roof of my mouth, and even though I open my mouth, no words come out. There are several things that I want to say to her, but mostly, I just want her to appear in front of me so I can shake her until her teeth rattle and tell her how callous she is for taking up residence in my heart and then disappearing without so much as a goodbye, as though I’m just a casual fling.I ignore the voice that tells me that I’m most likely just that … a casual fling. Mostly though, I just want to look into her face and see if I would see any remnant of the closeness that we had shared for several days on that deserted island. The silence on both ends of the line is deafening, but still