"Who will you spend the money with? Forget that, am here and so is my baby boy,' Karen answered, laughing.
"Hahaha," Carol laughed.
"Honestly, it's a good thing because that man would have suffered in your hands," Karen said, and Carol threw a pillow at her as they both burst into laughter.
That first night at home, Karen and Carol didn't sleep. It was story after story, and they didn't realize it was morning.
Carey was at the bank, serving customers by making deposits and withdrawals.
He yawned, looked at the line of customers, and sipped water from the bottle of water that was next to him.
'Thank you so much for banking with us at the Central Bank of New York. Bank with us again," he smiled, telling his customers after serving them.
The teller next to him opened his counter, and some customers moved to the next line. Before they knew it, they had served everyone.
"You've been a shadow of your former self for some time now," Ken, his colleague, said.
"Are you… talking to me?" Carey asked in confusion while looking around.
"Yes, buddy. It's only you and I in here. What's up?"
"What's up? Nothing bro. I am very much fine. I just want to close work, go home, and have some rest," Carey answered, trying to convince himself.
"Sounds good. How are Karen and Frank?" Ken asked, concerned.
At the mention of Karen, Carey smiled sadly. He missed her so damn much.
They had been keeping in touch through skype, video calling each other, but it wasn't enough for Carey.
He wanted her to be with him at home they called their own. He wanted to hold his son in his arms and take the progress of his growth.
Carey wanted life to go back to how it had been before Karen lost her job, but that was an illusion.
Karen was a strong-willed woman who wouldn't just sit down and be fed by a man. She would only feel comfortable if she got work to do.
He had admired that in her earlier, but now he was feeling so bad about her adamancy of staying away as she got herself up again.
"Is Angie still okay with you staying there? She hasn't changed and started acting strange," Carey asked on his call with Karen.
He saw the uncertainty in Karen's face before she finally said that she had moved out.
"Oh, so where are you now?"
"At my parents."
"Your parents? When did you get there?"
"Two days ago," Karen said, embarrassed.
Carey suddenly felt anger boil within him. Of course, Karen had a right to visit her parents, but why was she being sneaky about it?
He was afraid of her being two close to them, especially to Carol, whom they had never gotten extremely along with very well.
Unlike Karen, Carey never shared a very close both with his family after some tragic thing happened at home.
They had been close before, but lately, they had been forcing themselves to talk to the other.
"You don't have to worry about me. I will come back. I just felt that I was a burden to Angie, you know her fiancée sometimes came over, and it was…."
"I get it. I have to get back to work. Take care."
"Yes. Damn it. Take care," Karen said, disappointed. She slammed her hands on the table before her, and Frank started crying.
"She is good. She went to see her parents for a while but... mmmh… all is good between us," Carey said, and Ken asked what he was rushing home for then.
"We could go have a drink."
"I have some at home. I'm okay," Carey said. He had always been going for drinks with his colleagues after work, but he stopped when Frank was born.
"Everyone will be there, buddy. Just live a little when she is away. You will never get this chance again, especially if you two get married. You know how some of those women change after marriage."
Val and Angie were meeting up at Val's place. Arnold was around, but he wasn't bothered by the conversations the two friends had. He would slowly smile whenever he heard them talk about something so funny.
"I thought Karen would be here," Val said.
"It's just me. Deal with me," Angie said, laughing.
"Honestly, where is she?" Val asked.
"Come on, girl. You have barely known her, so why are you so concerned about her?"
"Because I know no one ever stays for long at your place. I just don't know why," Val answered.
"I don't know either. I'm not a bad host, though," Angie answered, shrugging her shoulders and suddenly becoming defensive. "Anyway, if you must know, she went to her parents."
"Okay. So what have you been up to?"
"I thought of what you said. I will have to talk to Evans. He should know that we're making the wrong decision."
"Don't project your feelings on him. He is certain of marrying you, that's why he asked you. It's you who isn't up to it," Val said.
Angie looked at Val and laughed. "You know you are in the wrong profession. You should change fields before it's too late."
"What does that even mean?" Val asked, more confused than before.