Page 17 of Imperfection is Beauty

Pulse.

Chapter 3

Marcus

Now, here is the moment in time when I should have stopped in my tracks, done an about-face, and walked back to where that woman stood.

Placed my big hand on the back of her head, held her still, and then crushed my mouth down on hers.

What I didn’t know was that one single moment, those less than ten minutes in time, would come back around and bite me in the ass every time I closed my eyes, and it was her face I saw before I fell asleep.

For three years.

Hint: it damn sure wasn’t my wife’s face.

Scrubbing my hands down my face, I sat up in bed and then stared unseeingly at the white-painted walls.

I wanted them to be red. A deep auburn red…stop it... nothing you can do about it now.

It’s been three years since you’ve seen her.

You moved to Los Angeles.

You moved back to Charlotte.

There’s no telling what she’s been up to in those years.

Oh, the moments I wished I would’ve done something different.

I sighed, got up, headed to the bathroom, took a piss, and took a shower.

Once I was done, I pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants and headed to the kitchen for some breakfast.

Thankfully, I had the forethought to hire someone to stock the kitchen when we moved back from Los Angeles to Charlotte because my wife damn sure didn’t want to do it.

Just as I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth, my wife came strolling into the house in a barely there pink sequined dress. Her black heels were in her hand.

Her blonde hair was piled atop her head.

Her makeup was smeared, and hickeys were all over her neck that I didn’t put there.

She was free to be with whomever she wanted.

Just as I was.

Sadly, I made vows, and I wouldn’t break them, not like she did. Not while my momma was still sick.

“Have a good time?” I asked her.

She nodded, “Yep. I’m crashing.”

And with that, she headed up the stairs to her bedroom.

Yes, you read that correctly, her bedroom.

See, our marriage wasn’t what one would call traditional, or hell, even conventional.

And only three people knew about that.

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