Prompts #31 & #19

31: Karma
When Micah doesn’t come home in time for their first wedding anniversary, Callie laughs off her foolishness and eats by herself. For the next three anniversaries, Callie takes Jenna out for ice cream. The fifth anniversary, Callie buys a bottle of champagne and toasts the empty dinner plate beside her.

Jonas takes her out for the sixth anniversary. On the seventh, he gets smart and keeps Callie away from the tequila. He hires a babysitter for the eighth, and flies Callie to California so that sunshine and merlot can lift her spirits. For her ninth anniversary, Callie stays up all night with a sick Jenna and a pot of coffee.

Jonas purposely arranges Micah’s assignments so that his Micah is home for their tenth anniversary. When Callie shows up on his doorstep, heartbroken and crying, it takes all of Jonas’ restraint to keep from killing the other man.

Callie learns her lesson, though. She doesn’t mark their anniversary on her calendar. When the day rolls around, she indulges in retail therapy and leaves her phone off.

Micah buys flowers, candy, and a card for their fourteenth anniversary. He’d leave them for Callie, but for once she’s the one who forgets.

19: Reawakening

It starts with a fall in the shower and a bump on the head. Callie laughs it off, takes aspirin for the pain, and rides to the office with Jonas. She can’t ignore how secretive he and Micah Harkness have been lately or the niggling in the back of her head like she’s forgotten something.

The morning is spent on boring fiscal reports in her bland office. Around noon, head still aching, she pops two more pills then turns out the lights. A quick nap is all she needs to make the pain stop. She dreams of a sunny parking lot, bullets and blood, a screaming girl, and fear and sorrow.

Callie wakes disoriented. She stumbles into a familiar hallway. She must have fallen asleep in an empty office. Hers is two doors down. She flicks on the lights, surprised at the dust on her monitor and desk phone.

A quick glance at her phone, the wall calendar’s still on November, has her dashing down the hallway. She’s going to miss Jenna’s choir concert! She gets to the auditorium on time, manages to find Micah, and slips into the seat beside him. She doesn’t see the wonder in his eyes.