Someone Will Get Burned

When I woke up the next morning, I instinctively reached for Michael.  My hand grasped nothing but empty sheets.  I was disappointed that he hadn't woken me up to say goodbye before he left for work.  I stretched out, enjoying the luxury of sleeping in a bed again and having it all to myself.  As I stretched, my hand struck something.  Startled, my eyes popped open and settled on an envelope propped on Michael's pillow.  My name was written in his handwriting and I felt a flurry of butterflies in my stomach.  I was running my fingertips along the edge of the envelope flap when I suddenly realized that it wasn't butterflies I was feeling, but nausea. 

I made my way to the bathroom, leaning over the sink and splashing my face with cool water.  I had experienced no form of morning sickness before and braced myself while I waited for the feeling to pass.  Once I was mostly sure I wasn't going to be sick, I headed downstairs for some toast to settle my stomach and a cup of hot tea.  I slowly headed back to the bedroom, eager to find out what Michael had left in the envelope. 

Emma,
I am so thankful to have you back in my life.  I always knew you would come back to me, our love is meant to be.  I love you (and our baby!) beyond words and I can't wait to spend our future together.  You looked so peaceful while you slept this morning that I couldn't bear to wake you, even though I wanted one kiss from you before I left for work.  I am so in love with you, I want to see your face every morning, every day, forever.  Please don't go back to Kate's?
Love,
Michael

I smiled and sighed to myself.  Michael had never been the romantic type, so this love letter was a big surprise to me.  I immediately grabbed my phone from my purse and texted him.

"That letter was beyond sweet, thank you!  You made my day <3  I'll see you when I get home from work :)"

Bored, and with a few hours to kill before I had to leave for work, I glanced around the bedroom and spotted Michael's laptop on top of the dresser.  I caught up on the news for the day, then made my way over to a popular celebrity gossip blog for my daily fix.  Reading celebrity gossip was my guilty pleasure.  I loved finding out who was getting married, who was divorcing, who was pregnant and who was rumored to be in rehab. My mom also loved celebrity gossip, and when we spoke on the phone we always tried to be the first to share news with the other.

After I read through all of the new pages, I opened Facebook.  I had 3 notifications and 1 new message.  My heart leapt into my throat when I saw it was from Eric.

"Wow.  I don't really know what to say.  That's pretty huge news.  Most guys would be turning and running away right about now, but I'm not most guys.  I would have called you, but until you wrote to me on here, I thought you were pissed.  Then my phone got destroyed at work a few nights ago and I haven't gotten a replacement yet.  I really want to see you and catch up.  Breakfast tomorrow?"

The butterflies in my stomach returned, and this time they were most assuredly butterflies and not morning sickness.  Was it a sign that a letter from Michael made me almost vomit, but a message from Eric left me all aflutter?  My cheeks flushed and I felt a tingle all down my spine.  I knew Michael wouldn't be happy to know I was having breakfast with another man, but the urge to see Eric felt overwhelming.

Again, knowing I was playing with fire, I sent Eric a response.

"A big, greasy breakfast sounds wonderful. 10AM, Gateway Diner?  I'll meet you there."

He replied within minutes.

"Sounds perfect...kinda like you ;)"