I watched as her eyes opened, as realization dawned on her when she saw me—his wife, standing in the doorway between our home and the backyard, tears streaming down my face.
She shrieked, "Benji!" and tried to cover her breasts. The smug look on her face was all the confirmation I needed that she knew exactly who I was.My husband twisted his head to look over his shoulder at what had caused her feigned horror.
Unlike the bouncing bimbo on his lap, my husbands horror was sincere.His mouth dropped open in shock, his eyes widened, and his face paled as his body tried to pump his blood back to his brain.
Everything froze; thump-thump—one heartbeat—thump-thump—two heartbeats—thump-thump—three heartbeats.He came to his senses with a choked roar and shoved her off his lap. He rose at the same moment my own senses returned to me, and the sight of his slowly deflating erection sent a wave of nausea through me. I turned and raced for the nearest bathroom, ignoring him as he yelled my name. I could hear her calling after him as his feet pounded across the floors.
I slid into the bathroom and barely made it to the toilet before my meager lunch came back up. For the last few days, I hadn’t been able to keep more than a few crackers down, but I had hoped that the soup and grilled cheese I had on the plane would break the puking streak.
"Melanie..." his voice came from the doorway, quiet and unsure.
"Go." I croaked out before heaving again.
"Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?" I snapped.
"Benji..." Her voice joined the chaos, musical and annoyed.
"Not now, Angela." He hissed.
"Of fucking course her name is Angel—Lucifer was one too." I muttered to myself. I knew I wasn’t making any sense, but my head was spinning, and my life was falling-had fallen apart before my eyes.
"Baby..." he sounded pained as he inched into the bathroom.
"NO!" I cried out. I raised my head to look at him. He had pulled on a pair of pants but hadn't finished buttoning them. His shirt was missing, which revealed the hickeys on his chest.
How had he planned on hiding those?
"Please let me explain," he pleaded, "let me help you."
"Benji!" Angela's voice was sharper this time, heavy with her unspoken demands. She stepped into my line of sight, her naked body covered only by his wrinkled button-up shirt.
Found his shirt.
"Angela, go home!" he commanded and spun to glare at her.
"You said..." she started, her eyes flashing with rage.
"Not now."
"No, please... let her finish." I sat up and flushed the toilet. My stomach was finally empty. I rose to my feet slowly and lowered the lid to sit on it. "I'd love to know what my husband said."
Angela licked her lips nervously, and her eyes flitted back and forth between us.
"Um, he said that he was leaving you as soon as you returned from your spa trip." She squeaked out.
I started laughing, and Ben winced.
"Oh really? So,Benji," I emphasized the nickname she had given him, "told you I was at the spa for the last four days, huh?" I tilted my head and watched as his mind tried desperately to find an escape. "That's interesting, cause I thought I was burying my grandmother... a trip that you said you couldn't join me on, despite having been a member of our family for the past two decades... because an important client was coming totown." I glanced at Angela; "Tell me, Angel, what is it you do for work?"
"I'm the secretary for Benji's boss..." she mumbled.
"Ah, so not an important client then." The memory of meeting her briefly in my husband's office about a month ago assaulted me, and I rolled my eyes.
Such a fucking cliché.
5-Ben
