Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements. It had been yet another confirmation of the fact that personal hate for Michael was somehow behind it all, the way he had come inside her after Michael caught them had been the first clue.
Michael, she had loved him so much, and somewhere, deep inside, she's still clinging to that hope that somehow, sometime, this nightmare will be over, and she can hook up with him again. In the meantime she has to make sure she doesn't give Peter a reason to try to kill him.
She looks at the line of people, there are so many. As the company's assistant personnel manager she knows most employees, and Peter knows many people too. And then there are her many friends, most of whom are Michael's friends too, which is why some of them are not going to come to the reception tonight. Of those one had really hurt; Tom had e-mailed her he wouldn't be coming. It was understandable; Tom was Michael's buddy, they had served in the army together, did a tour in Iraq together.
But she had really loved Tom, he was, after Michael, the nicest guy in the world, and now he hated her, for obvious reasons. Nicky's eyes are drawn to somewhere halfway the slowly moving line of waiting people, her heart skips a beat as she recognizes Michael's face. He's talking to an older woman in front of him; she recognizes Lucy, a colleague from work that Michael met a couple of times at company parties, when they were still together.
Her eyes lock with Peter's, "Did you invite Michael? Her husband grins, "Yes, I assumed he would appreciate it, seeing the former love of his life off towards a better future. She looks to her front, accepting the congratulations from another of Peter's associates that knows her intimately. She ignores the man, concentrating on the guests in the room behind him. A lot of them know Michael, and have clearly noticed him too. Anxiety descends on her, what is he going to say; what is he going to do?
