After failing to wake Carmen, Shane decided to carry Carmen into their new home. She rummaged through her pocket for the keys and unlocked the door. She pushed it open and shut it close with her foot.

Carmen woke up first with a loud sigh. Shane was wide awake lying beside her. She hadn’t gone to sleep last night. She spent the night watching Carmen sleep peacefully, she had missed this. “Good morning.” Carmen gave her a peck on the cheek. She got up with one arm and turned looking out the window, a familiar ocean view. “What the—“Carmen stood to her feet and opened the curtains wider, getting a better view. “Shane, you didn’t!” They had passed this very house a million times when they frequented the beach.

“You like it?” Shane asked smiling. Carmen jumped up and down. “I love it! Come here!” She crawled onto the bed and pulled Shane in for a kiss. Before Carmen could deepen the kiss Shane pulled back stopping her.

“Car? We need to talk. We need to talk about the wedding…” Shane looked deep into Carmen’s eyes hoping she’d understand her reasons for leaving.

Carmen moved back, sitting besides Shane. This was a very raw topic and she was already so weak from all of it. “Okay, Shane.” She crossed her arms, pulling her knees to her chest in a protective manner. This didn’t go unnoticed by Shane.

“I’m sorry, so sorry” Shane pointed to her chest “that I left you there like that, for embarrassing you in front of all our friends and your family. Shane tried so hard not to cry but it all came flooding down. She sniffled, trying to catch her breath. “I hate myself so much for leaving you. But you deserve to know why I did it.” Carmen just stared at her with absolutely no emotions on her face and it scared Shane that she wasn’t able to read her. If Shane only knew, Carmen just wanted Shane to be real with her, to tell her exactly why she felt she couldn’t marry her, and of course how she could just cowardly leave her.