Page 41 of Hotwife

“And you,” I said, turning to Desmond. “All these weeks, I’ve been brutally honest with you. You knew the love I had for my husband. You saw how torn I was, but you were playing his goddamn game the entire time, weren’t you?”

“No, Dorthea, I-” Desmond started, but my sister finished.

“Enough! Haven’t you people put her through enough?” Odette sounded like my mother.

“Let’s go, sweetie.” Caroline put an arm around my shoulder and marched me past the carnage. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I quickly filled a suitcase and grabbed my purse and keys.

On our march through the foyer, I heard Dr. Gregory’s timbre. “Dr. Winslow, this is probably a bad time to note that my wife has fallen asleep on your table.”

My sister snorted as she slammed the door behind us.

thirteen

My dad preached on a story from the Bible in church one Sunday when I was a kid. It was about a man who fell in love with a woman. He asked her father if he could marry her and her dad said he’d have to work seven years before he’d let him marry his favorite daughter. The lovesick guy worked seven years, and on his wedding day, pulled back the veil to see, not the woman he loved, but her sister.

The father then said, if you still want my daughter, marry her sister and then work seven more years.

Yeah, I know, the story is pretty fucked up.

But what stood out to me was that he did it. He worked seven more years to be with the woman he loved. Through deceptions and time, nothing stopped him.

It was romantic and I always hoped I’d be her to someone. Rachel, was her name. But my thoughts sometimes drifted to the sister, Leah. Did she ever find love with her husband or was she always second best?

I woke up in my hotel room thinking about that story. My dad’s sermons had a long shelf life. I could be drawing in the margins of my Bible one Sunday, only to be thinking of the passage of scripture during a long drive years later. It used to annoy me. I felt like my parents had infiltrated my brain-space with their religious beliefs. But now that I’d grown older, it was a comfort to recall the simple stories, simple truths. My life needed a dose of simplicity.

Rubbing my eyes, I stumbled out into the kitchen, where a fresh pot of coffee was brewing. “Thanks Caroline,” I mumbled, pouring the hot liquid into a ceramic mug.

Apparently, Caroline had money. Her family lived in Italy and sent her to culinary school in France. She’d always wanted to live in America, so she landed in Atlanta, to interview for a head chef job at a swanky Italian restaurant downtown. That’s where she and my sister met. Her family was well off and funding her travels until she got settled. Their suite was opulent, but cozy.

“You’re welcome. Odette is still asleep,” she replied, perching on a barstool and scrolling through her phone. “It’s been four days here… any word from your guys?”

My guys. My heart contracted with emotion I didn’t want to show.

I shook my head. “I left my phone at home.”

“What do you think they’ll do?” Her tone rang with concern and sincerity. Caroline had become fast family since I’d met her. I wished my parents could see how wonderful she was, too.

Sighing, I pulled up the seat next to her and reached for a box of toaster pastries. “Cedric can’t take the time away from the hospital to chase after me, and I doubt he cares to. Not after the dinner fiasco and, you know, everything else.” I ripped open the packaging and took a bite of a too-sweet-strawberry square.

“Desmond… to be honest, I don’t know what he’ll do. But my guess is he’ll move on quickly.”

“Yeah, that’s likely,” my sister’s sarcasm stretched through the room as she walked over, taking the second breakfast tart out of my pack.

“Hey, get your own,” I batted her hand away.

Caroline got up and planted a kiss on Odette’s cheek. “I swear, I cook you both gourmet European fare and you each only reach for the junk food.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“You guys,” I took a deep breath. “I appreciate you letting me stay here with you. But I can’t just sit here while my life falls apart.”

“What do you want to do?” Odie asked, leaning on the counter. “Who do you want to be with?”

Shaking my head, I exhaled. “It’s not that simple. I don’t know what to do, Odie. They both lied to me and turned winning me into some sort of pissing contest there at the end."

“You have to admit that was kind of hot, though,” Caroline added with a giggle.

I couldn’t help the smile that curved my lip. “A little. But Cedric’s likely steaming mad at me. I wrecked his chances for a promotion, embarrassed him in front of his boss, and exposed our lifestyle. Not to mention poor Cora…”

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