Anna just walked in, I’m sorry, babe.
You should be. What am I supposed to do in your city for the next three hours with no one to smooch on?!
I wish I could be there.
Well wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first, is what I really wanted to say. But I just responded: Me too. :(
I’m really sorry :(
You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister! (Quote from "Seinfeld")
Will you forgive me? I want you xoxo!
I want you too. Here… now.
Send me a pic!
Aren’t you at home?!
Yeah but they are in the other room…
All you get today is some leg, and I snapped a quick picture of the top of my thighs peeking out from under my white denim skirt.
Awesome, he replied. I miss your body.
I miss your mind… on my body
LOL, need you soon!
Well I just need to know which day you want to make that happen, so I can take it off…
I will check and let you know… need to see you. In private. And for a long time.
We need a vacation together… I suggested.
We definitely do!
I’m just going to sit here and imagine that for a moment.
We’ll have to think of a place to go… he agreed.
Hey, I forgot that now you’ll be able to do Facetime on your iPhone! That could be dangerous.
Wow, yes! I want you ASAP. Anna just came in room… FYI
You aren’t sitting there with a boner, are you, Mattie?
Haha you’re awesome, sweetie. Hey, what do you want for your birthday?
My birthday isn’t until August, dear.
I know that, but I just wanted to get some ideas
Just get your ass up here so you can give me a kiss for my birthday, that’s all I really want.
I think that could be arranged… and then some.
We continued to text on and off until I was ready to board my flight home. I was shocked that he was willing to do that with his family in such close proximity, but I was so happy that he did, even though it was probably just out of guilt. He said he felt so bad for not being able to come out that it was the least he could do. Either way, it definitely gave my wounded ego a much needed boost.
I was so excited about him getting the iPhone. This was going to be life changing! When he would go out of town we would be able to see each other at night and, oh God, I could possibly see him naked! Who wouldn’t be excited about that? It took me a while to explain to him just how useful of a tool this would be for us. The possibilities were endless. He didn’t really understand the concept. I suggested that we try it out one day at lunch. He would go home at lunch and I would try to find a Wi-Fi spot where we could connect. The first time was a miserable failure. He could not figure out how to get the phone to recognize his home wireless network. But we tried again the next day with us both heading to a Barnes and Noble parking lot and hoping for the best. And as I was sitting in my car patiently waiting, his sweet face popped up on my phone and a huge smile broke out on both of our faces.
“OH MY GOD! There you are! Hi!” I think I actually squealed.
“Hey sweetie! Oh, you look so good!
“So do you! Take your sunglasses off, dummy!”
“Wow, I want to jump through this phone, I’ve missed that smile!”
“It is so good to see you, God I miss those lips!”
“This is really cool. I had no idea you could do this!”
“I just wish you didn’t need Wi-Fi to do it, would be a lot easier if I could call you like this every day from the office…”
“That would be downright dangerous! You look great, Mal.”
“Thanks, baby, so do you. Really great. I can’t wait for you to get back up here.”
“I know… me either. I’m thinking maybe Monday the 16th, but I’ll let you know later. I may have to move some things around.”
“Then you’ll get to see this!” I pulled down my shirt and flashed him my cleavage for a split second. There is a slight delay on Facetime, but I saw his eyebrows fly up.
“Did you just flash me?’
“Yes sir, I surely did.”
“Love it, babe,” he sighed. “I really miss you.”
“I miss you too, please come and see me!”
“I will. Hey, I have an appointment soon, so I gotta head back… but it was so great to see you. We’ll do this again!”
“You too! Bye, baby.” Once we hung up, I got a text.
LOVE FaceTime!!
He was going to be leaving for Miami that weekend, so I was really looking forward to showing him far more interesting and private uses for it. Can’t wait until we can use it in MIA… I figured you know, you could call me, and you could put your reading glasses on, and I could, I don’t know, watch you read for a while…
Very funny. But I had seeing your body in mind.
Well yes dear, I was joking! I really want to see your chest. You know it’s my favorite (okay, second favorite) part!
Ok. Likewise.
It’s not as good as the real thing, of course…
No, being physically there is far superior!
Being physical with me is pretty good isn’t it? You should do it more often.
I want to, baby. Every day.
This once a month stuff is for the birds. You know I want you pretty much all the time. It’s shameful, really.
Nothing to be ashamed of! Picture pls.
Of?
You. Today.
When Saturday came, he texted to tell me he would try to call me around 2:00 p.m., which was pretty typical for a Saturday. He was usually coming back from the gym or out running errands by himself. I didn’t have much time when he called me because my mom was coming over to hang out with me and the girls.
“Hey sweetie, what are you up to?”
“Getting ready to hit the playground circuit with the girls. Jealous?”
“Haha, no can’t say I am! I was trying to get a quick ride in this morning before it got too hot and now I’m just running around.”
“You’re leaving for MIA tonight, right?”
“Yep, be at the condo around 10:00 or 10:30.”
“Oh wow, late flight, huh?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you when I get in though, will you be up?”
“That’s a silly question, Matt.”
“Well, I was just checking! It’s way past my bedtime!”
“I know it is, you old fart.”
“Hahaha, okay. I’ll talk to you then, sweetie.”
“Okay, sounds good. Maybe we could do Facetime tonight?”
“We can definitely do that tomorrow, but it’s going to be pretty late for tonight.”
“Oh, okay. Talk to you later, babe.”
I really didn’t see what the big deal about it being too late was, but whatever. I am sort of a night owl; I usually don’t go to sleep until at least midnight. My mother came over to the house and I decided to log in to my work laptop and get a jump on my emails while she was entertaining the kids for a few minutes. Right away I saw that there was an email from Delta to Matt for his 24 hour flight check-in from Friday afternoon. Normally I would have deleted it without giving it a second look, but my eyes just happened to catch the flight time: 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
2:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
Each time my eyes glanced over it I just knew it was going to change. That can’t be. Cold drops of sweat immediately formed on the back of my neck and all I could do was sit there with my mouth gaping open. I didn’t understand. Why did he tell me he had a late flight? That he wouldn’t be in until 10:30? Because he lied.
I really had no idea what to do. I couldn’t ask anyone. I looked at the time and it was just a hair before 2:30. He must have been calling me from the airport. I quickly looked up his flight status using the information in the email to see that it was awaitin
g departure. Figuring he would have his phone on but be unable to respond, I fired off a quick text. A big FUCK YOU. I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP TO, YOU LYING PIECE OF SHIT text… but all it said was simply: Hope you have a nice flight…
It’s a good thing you can’t read tone.
According to the schedule, the flight would land at 4:25 p.m. I tried to hold myself together and go run some errands with my mom and daughters. I bookmarked the flight information on my phone so I could see exactly when he landed. I was in the middle of ToysRus while my kids were playing in the battery-operated vehicles section when I got his response.
Thanks sweetie! Call you later!
I nearly had a heart attack among the tricycles. Seriously? He was still going to pretend like he had not yet boarded the plane? I was so full of anger my cheeks were hot to the touch, yet I was so completely confused. I had no idea what was going on. Everything had been fine, hadn’t it? He was even planning on coming to see me again in Raleigh the week after he got back. I was completely floored. Thank goodness my mom was planning on having the girls spend the night with her anyway, so we went back to the house so I could pack up their overnight bags and send them on their way.
The minute they were out the door, I fell apart. I panicked. I had to talk to somebody. I couldn’t handle just sitting there wondering what to do. Do I call him on it? Wait until he calls me later and scream like a banshee at him? I don’t think I had ever actually been lied to, not that I could recall.
My first thought was to call my best friend, Jules. We had been friends for over 20 years. I met her when I first started working for a physical rehabilitation company during high school. I started off in the billing office, and she was out in the clinical field. She was a couple of years older than me, but we quickly became friends and were inseparable for years. She and I had both gone down the same education/career path, studying to be a Physical Therapist, only she actually finished hers. Once I got into the clinical portion of the program, I came to the realization that I didn’t actually like touching people. Shocking, I know. So, I ended up changing industries. Still, we had some of the best times together. Jules was my partner in crime. If there was any trouble to be had, she was there to help me find it.
Chapter Five
There was a small stalking incident that still makes us shake with laughter, even 20 years later. I had a major crush on this therapist we worked with named Jonathan. I mean one of those multi-year-long kind of crushes. I had it bad. He was married with a gaggle of kids already, but I adored him. When trying to get into the therapy program, you need to have experience working with the sick. Naturally, I volunteered myself as his “assistant” in the nursing and adult homes that were contracted with our company. For three days a week I would go work with him for several hours a day, helping him get patients walking again, doing wound care, wrapping amputee stumps, etc. Most of that time I spent gazing into his eyes, rather than helping patients, but whatever. He was really religious and very happily married to his wife, who Jules and I lovingly referred to as Snaggles. I think her real name was Carolyn.
Jonathan had moved his family into a neighborhood somewhat nearby, so Jules and I (okay, me) wanted to go check it out, to see what we could see. Unfortunately, it was in a cul-de-sac. It was one of those gorgeous summer nights where we had the windows down, so as I drove carefully past each house, squinting to read the street numbers in the dark, we did not notice Jonathan standing out in his front yard picking up children’s toys with some of his kids. Jules immediately called out, “OH SHIT! HE’S OUTSIDE!!” With my cat-like reflexes, I hit that gas pedal so hard I nearly took out his mailbox and his firstborn but instead went flying like a bat out of hell–my wheels screeching behind us back out onto the main road. I’m sure he barely noticed. He ended up leaving our company shortly thereafter. He started his own church in some small town in New Hampshire and last time I checked, he had SEVEN children. He’s not even cute anymore, but Snaggles actually looks pretty good for popping out seven kids!
Once she graduated from the PT program, Jules needed to find a job. The best offer came from a nursing home in Chapel Hill. I was still living at home and working full-time at the same rehab company so I would drive there just about every weekend to stay with her. That was our entertainment, hanging around the college. I was just starting to date Nate around that time, when she decided she wanted to start traveling for work. As a therapist, you could take temporary traveling assignments and the rehab companies would pay you a decent chunk of money and also take care of your housing expenses for you. It was a sweet deal, no doubt. I couldn’t blame her for going, but I was devastated when she left. We didn’t have smartphones back then, but we managed to stay in contact pretty well for those years through letters, postcards, and faxes. I still have the box of them in the attic.
She eventually married a British boy, whom she had met on one of her traveling assignments and settled down just outside of Jacksonville near her mother. Like any friendship, we had times where we stayed in closer contact than others and times where we were just in very different life stages, but it never seemed to matter. We could pick right back up where we left off. She and her husband came up for my wedding, and we got better about keeping in touch as cellphones got more and more advanced. I was sort of slow to get into the whole texting thing–everyone (except Matt) had an iPhone before I did–and even when I did text her, it was mostly to say, Hey butthead, call me.
That Saturday I sat alone on my back porch swing, holding my phone, trying to figure out if I wanted to let anyone in on my dirty little secret. I figured whatever Matt and I had was probably over at this point. It had to be, right? He was a liar. You don’t have a bigger deal breaker than that. So I texted her a very desperate Are you there? Really need to talk to you! message. She called me back right away and–first things first, I asked her, “How judgy of a person are you, would you say?” Not that I didn’t already know the answer. Truth be told, we were both a couple of judgmental bitches. It was actually one of our favorite pastimes. But I just wanted her to tell me she wasn’t going to judge ME. And she promised she wouldn’t.
I started from the very beginning when I had met Matt at the conference, giving her as many details as possible, because in my own mind, I was also going over everything he had ever said to me thus far. Jules was a tough cookie, but you’d never know it to look at her. She was just a little taller than me, maybe 5’5”, with long golden blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a friendly smile. Add in her pleasant southern belle accent and you’d never know that she didn’t take any shit from anyone. I needed to show her that I wasn’t crazy for falling for Matt. That he seemed like everything I had ever wanted. Yet as I was describing all of this, I couldn’t help but realize how foolish it all sounded. Yeah, a hot old rich dude is going to break up his family and leave his wife of 25 years over some floozy mom of two he just met and slept with at work. Sure he is. Even worse was listening to her “Hmmm…” and “I see…” when I got to the Katya section of the conversation. Hearing the words falling from my own mouth was embarrassing at best, and I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.
“Well, Mallory… I’d say it sounds like you’ve got yourself a player.”
“Nooo! Don’t say that. He can’t be. You know I can spot a douchebag a mile away!”
“Maybe he’s just really good at douchebaggery? I mean, he is old, so he’s had a few years to practice!”
“But I’ve known him for a long time! He’s never given me that impression! He’s not slimy or sleazy or anything like that.”
“Uh huh.”
“He is so down to earth; he has never been anything but genuine and sweet. Everyone loves him!”
“Uh huh.”
“Plus, he’s very ethical from a business standpoint, he’s never shady in that respect, and you know that sort of behavior usually carries over into other aspects of your life! And he gives money back to the orphanages!”
“Uh huh.�
��
Defend. Defend. Defend. What was I calling her for again? Oh, that’s right, because he was a Liar Liar McPants on Fire.
“Mal, he lied. Look, I’m not saying he doesn’t have some decent qualities, but honesty does not appear to be one of them. He’s lying to his wife, too, remember?”
“I know, but I had to lie to Nate, too. It doesn’t mean I’m not generally an honest person. I would never lie to Matt. I just thought we were in similar circumstances. Ugh. Damn it!”
By this time, the tears started rolling down my face and my voice was obviously shaky. She was just telling me what I already knew. He had to have a reason for lying and it was probably not going to be a good one.
“What the hell… are you CRYING?! JUST WHO IS THIS?!”
“Oh hush. No, I’m fine,” I insisted, wiping my tears. “So what would you do if you were me?” If only I had a nickel for every time I would ask her that question over the next eight months, I’d be richer than him.
“Well, you know I would call him on the carpet.”
“So, should I do that now or wait until tonight?”
“I don’t think that emotionally you can handle waiting until tonight, can you?”
“No, I don’t either.”
I told her to stay close to her phone because I was going to hang up and text him. I simply said: That’s what you are going to go with, huh?
He immediately sent back: ?????
Really? You’re unbelievable.
He called me within seconds and I almost didn’t answer. I wasn’t ready for a break-up conversation at all. But I also had to know why he felt the need to destroy everything we had.
“Hello?”
“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” he yelled. Wow, I had never heard him so pissed off before, and certainly not at me. What the hell did I do anyway?
“Where are you?” I asked coldly.
“I’m in my CAR!” he answered in that same defensive tone.
“WHAT. STATE. MATT?”
“I’m in Miami, so what?”
“So I thought you had a late flight?”
“I did, but I needed to get down here earlier.”
The Other Other Woman Page 10