Chapter 8
She let him kiss her. She did not kiss back. She felt uncomfortable. He noticed it. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"You didn't say anything to your wife yet, did you?"
"Jesus Christ!" Michael shook his head with exasperation. "Is that really so important?"
"It is to me", Iza said. "How can you tell me you love me and then go home to another woman? How can you act towards her as if nothing has happened?"
Michael knew the answer, of course. He had played this game before. He simply acted more attentive to his wife. He was more affectionate than usual. He had read on the internet about 'How you know your husband is having an affair'. He just did the opposite of those things. What Michael didn't know was that having him more affectionate was the last thing Helen wanted. She wanted him as far away from her as possible, not because she thought he was having an affair, but because she was. She hated having to pretend that she liked his touch as much as she liked Darek's. It was another form of lying and another source of guilt. She was acting, and the better she was at it, the guiltier she felt.
Iza continued to push her case against him. "How can you go home and have sex with her just after you've been with me?"
That was easy, Michael thought. Sex had become a routine. There was nothing at all passionate in it anymore. Not that there ever was. Now, he could get through with his 'duty' by pretending he was with Iza. That helped a lot. Of course, he couldn't tell Iza this, or could he? She might take it as a compliment. Instead, he just lied about it. "We don't have sex any more", he said.
"But you sleep with her. How do you think that makes me feel?" Iza stated, trying to be sincere. "No, Michael, if you expect more from me, you have to act more like a man. You have to say something to her. Okay, maybe I can wait for a separation, but you at least have to tell her about us because, if you don't, I'm going to stop seeing you."
That was what Michael was afraid of. He was being forced into a corner. He knew he had delayed doing something for too long. Should he just go back to his wife and forget about Iza? The thought made him feel tired. Helen was so boring and predictable; so unlike Iza. No, he had to be with Iza. She was a treasure. She was the girl he never thought he could have. How could he ever think of his life without her in it? Life would be dull, just dull.
"Well?" Asked Iza, impatiently. "What's it going to be?"
Michael sighed with resignation. "Okay, I'll talk to her."
"I'm not sure if I believe you or not, but if you do, I want you to send me an SMS. Just tell me you love me, and I'll know you really did talk to her, okay?" Iza smiled at him encouragingly.
"Okay", Michael agreed, weakly smiling back.
But how was he going to do it? When was he going to do it? Maybe he could leave his cell phone out with his messages to Iza on it? Maybe he could 'forget' to close his email and then go to work, hoping that Helen would find it and learn the truth. That's what he did the other times girls had made him take a stand. "I mean, how do you work such a topic into a conversation?" He asked himself. "How was your day, dear? Oh, by the way, I'm in love with another woman." No, it wasn't as easy as Iza made it out to be. Well, maybe he could lie to Iza about telling his wife. He laughed to himself. She would see right through it. She would know in a second he was lying. Some women you could fool, but not Iza. That's why he loved her so much, he supposed. She was unlike all other women.
Courting Infidelity Page 8