She glanced at the oven clock, which said it was just past eight in the morning. Reyna sighed. Jason was late from work…again.

Reyna wished that her husband would get a different job, one that required him to work during the day instead of the night. She worked during the day, and when she was home he wasn't. Reyna couldn't count the times she had asked him to please get a different job. She didn't care about the amount of money this one brought in, she only wanted to spend more time with him.

Any time they had to spare together was spent fighting anymore, it seemed. Reyna felt like Jason didn't care about her thoughts or feelings. But she loved him, she had always loved him.

Through thick and thin, her wedding vows had said. At least, that's what she thought they had said. Something about sickness and health too, she remembered. Well, Reyna was sick. Sick and tired of Jason always being gone, never there for her anymore.

Maybe that's why she had started to drift off.

Besides, what was loyalty? It wasn't like Reyna was really cheating on him, just starting to notice other men, occasionally flirt or stop to admire. Reyna wouldn't be able to stand herself if she actually cheated on him, she would rather die. She loved Jason too much.

But her co-worker, Leo, was just so…different from Jason.

Sighing, Reyna put her coffee cup in the chrome sink and grabbed her purse. She couldn't wait for Jason to get home any longer or else she would be late for work.

Reyna opened the garage door and slid into her car. She backed out of the driveway, keeping an eye out for Jason's pickup, hoping that maybe she would be able to see him before she hit the road.

He wasn't there, like usual.

She put her car in drive and drove through the thin morning fog, millions of things running through her mind. Reyna was glad that she and Jason had chosen to live in a small town, so traffic was low.

Reyna pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Leo's red heavy-duty pickup. She got out, locked her car, and headed toward the building where she worked.

She loved her job, and never regretted working here. Reyna worked as a sales advisor here at Bunker 9, which sold machinery and weapons. Reyna specialized in the weapon's department, and Leo in the machinery. They worked together surprisingly well, minus the fights over what was better in a fight.

And sometimes, they would just talk. Talk about life. And that's all. It helped, it really did. Just to know that Leo was there when he wasn't. Once in a while, she would even laugh, amazingly enough.

The bell dinged as Reyna walked in to her spot behind the shiny glass counter. Leo was building some sort of object that slightly resembled a mechanical fly swatter over on his side of the shop. He looked up with a cheerful face.

"Hey, Queenie. What's up?" Leo asked.

Reyna sighed and put her purse in the wooden cubby hole. "Nothing. And that's the problem. I never see Jason anymore, it's like he doesn't exist!" she complained.

Leo stroked his hairless chin like a wise professor. "Hmm, sounds like Rey-Rey needs to have some fun," he said in an English accent.

"I'm serious, Leo! I don't understand, I just don't," she said, collapsing on to the table.

"Jason, why don't you just take a day off today? We can go get ice cream or something," Piper suggested lightly, knowing what the answer would be.

He smiled and buttoned up his shirt. "You know I can't do that, Piper. They need me."

Piper sighed and buried herself into the green couch pillows. "Okay, fine. I understand. I just don't get why you can't take a day off! People are going to talk if you only come over at night."

"Then we won't let them find out, will we?"

Piper got up and chucked the pillow on the ground to go get a cup of hot chocolate. She opened the white cupboard, only to find that she hadn't done the dishes last night. Frustrated, she walked over to the sink and began to do the dishes.

Jason followed her, and started to help her. "Is there something wrong?" he asked concernedly.

She put a plate onto the bottom rack and came up to face those beautiful blue eyes that she had come to love. "I just wish our relationship was normal."

"What do you mean by that? We are normal. I love you, and you love me. See? Normal." Jason stated as he handed Piper a glass cup.

"That's not what I mean," Piper snapped. "I want to go on dates, and go to movies, dinner, and just go for walks in the park and have picnics! Normal, cliché stuff that they do in all those romance films," she said, closing and starting the dishwasher.

Piper pulled out a drawer and handed Jason some money, since he couldn't afford the cost of his phone bill. She didn't mind lending him money all the time, she had more than she needed or wanted, since her father always thought that she could use some.

Jason put his wallet in his back pocket after taking it and walked over to the door. He held Piper's face in his hands, and though she liked it a lot, she couldn't help but feel irritated with him.

That was the problem with love. Sometimes it was hard, sometimes is was easy. Piper usually got the more difficult love stories. She got through it though, Jason was definitely worth it.

"Pipes, you know that's not possible. It's just something we'll have to deal with, okay? I gotta go now, I love you," Jason said sweetly.

She pulled him in close and kissed him for a few minutes before he pushed her away. Piper wished he could stay, but he never did.

Leo told Reyna to go home early, see if she could by chance catch Jason at home.

So she did, and felt her heart rejoice when she caught sight of his pickup in their open garage door. Reyna wasn't even going to lecture him about leaving it open, because she didn't want to start another fight.

Reyna sprinted up the wooden stairs, abandoning her coat and purse somewhere along the way. He was here! Here, in real life form.

She flung open the bedroom door in anticipation. "Jason! You're home!"

Jason turned over and flopped the pillow over his head. "Hey, Reyna. Can I sleep just for five more minutes?" he asked sleepily, mumbling under the pillow.

"Seriously, Jason?" Reyna asked in disbelief, still standing at the door, "I left work early to spend time with you! We never even act like a married couple anymore. We never talk or communicate. You never answer my calls, and you come home late. This- this job is tearing us apart!"

He didn't respond, so Reyna spun around and slammed the door with such force it shook the entire top floor. That was it. She was going to march over to his work and demand that they at least give him a few days off. If all went well, they would fire him.

She stomped down the stairs, picking up her purse as she did. Reyna arrived at the door and was pulling out her keys when she realized that she didn't even know where he worked. They'd never really talked about it, he just brought home the money and they went on with their lives.

Reyna could feel the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, the months and months of pressure finally tearing her apart. She couldn't cry. She'd dealt with it this long. Why was she even still with Jason? Why not file for divorce?

The answer came almost immediately. Because Reyna still loved Jason. She had meant what she said in her wedding vows. She would get through this. Jason was only doing this job so that they could have enough money to be happy.

But unfortunately, money didn't bring happiness.

Reyna collapsed for the second time today, but this time, Leo wasn't there for support. Maybe she should go back to work, spend the night with Leo.

She had almost decided on that when she saw a glint of black on the kitchen table. Was that Jason's phone?

Curious, Reyna pulled herself up and sat down on her chair, turning on the phone. After a minute, it was woken up. Surprisingly, it didn't have a lock code set, so Reyna started to investigate.

All the messages were gone, deleted, as were the recent calls. Reyna scrolled through the contacts list just in case there was something important there. She was almost done when she came across the P's, in which a name came up that Reyna didn't recognize.

Piper? Reyna didn't remember Jason ever talking about a Piper before. She thought about going up and asking him. No, the best way to do this would be to just call.

Pressing the call button, Reyna listened to it ring until someone answered with a sweet, girlish voice. "Jason! Did you finally decide to take the day off from work?"

"Hello, this isn't Jason. This is his wife, Reyna Grace. Did you say he was supposed to be at work right now?"

It was done. Jason wouldn't hurt her anymore with his lies, lure her into his trap.

Piper couldn't believe that she hadn't seen it before, but it was true. Love is blind. And cruel. For everyone.

She stood on the opposite side of Reyna Grace, across the tomb while the preacher talked about how good of a man Jason was. It was all a lie, but it wasn't like she was going to point that out.

As the preacher finished his speech, Piper gently laid down a dark red rose upon the tomb, right beside Reyna's. She caught her eye and they shared a secretive smile that quickly faded so as to not be suspicious.

Everyone else was crying, saying things, good, happy things, about Jason, remembering him as they knew him. Piper thought she had known Jason, but in the end, not even his own wife had.

Jason hadn't gotten away with his lies, Piper and Reyna had made sure of that. It had to be done. It had been too easy to carry out.

Neither of them cried as they walked away. Piper turned around one last time, as did Reyna, and they silently agreed that this secret and the others, Jason took to the grave.

And that was the last time Piper ever saw Reyna, at the funeral of Jason Grace.

Well, Hey there! What I should've been doing is writing the next chapter for Fame And Change...but then, Two Black Cadillacs by Carrie Underwood came up on my Pandora, and well, I was inspired. The End. Don't worry, I have the next chapter started...