4-Melanie
After Ben’s drunken night, things went back to normal, even better than normal in some ways. He started coming home on time, and for the first week, his appetite in the bedroom was off the charts. He even snuck home for a lunchtime quickie one of the days and then surprised me with a romantic dinner at our favorite restaurant.
I knew he was trying to apologize with endless orgasms for having hurt my feelings.
Even after his libido slowed down, he stayed attentive and had several 'thinking of you' gifts delivered to our home while he was at work. They were never extravagant, as he knew I didn't like wasting money, but one day it was flowers, the next it was cookies from my favorite bakery, and then another time an actual masseuse showed up on our doorstep.
Two weeks later, our blissful bubble popped.
It was late Sunday morning, and I was switching a load of laundry while Ben played golf with some of his buddies when my phone rang.
The phone calls that change your life always come during mundane moments. Moments that, when you look back, you think, if only I knew that nothing would ever be the same again…
“Hey Dad, how are you?” I answered with a smile. We didn’t usually talk on the weekends. My dad and I spoke several times a week, mostly about the patient record keeping I did for the pharmacy; despite Ben telling me I didn’t need to work and asking me to quit, I hadn’t felt comfortable leaving my father stranded. Besides, I was good at my job, and over the years, we had expanded from one small family pharmacy into a small chain. We were even in the process of opening a pharmacy in California because my father wanted to move closer to me.
All those years of helping Ben with his schoolwork had taught me enough about investing that I had been able to help my father make some very lucrative moves a few years ago. I had tried to include Ben in the conversations, but he was always too busy to discuss the finances of a little pharmacy when he was working with oil tycoons and casino owners.
“Mel…” his voice was rough and gravely. It was so different from his usual affectionate tone that I froze.
“Dad?”
“Mellie, we need you to come home.” His voice broke with emotion.
“What happened? Is it Mom?”
“Grandma passed away last night.” He said quietly.
“What?!” I gasped. “What happened?” I was pretty sure I was in shock.
My grandmother was one of the strongest women I’d ever known, and it had only been a few weeks since our last phone call.
“Last night she collapsed, and this morning when she didn’t show up to church..." his voice sounded shaky, "one of her friends went out to the house to check on her,” his words trailed off, and we sat in silence for a moment. “It seems like she had been sick for a while and hiding it from us all.”
“Sick how?”
“We don’t have the full details yet.”
Again, we went silent for a few long moments while I processed what he had said.
“How is Mom?” I finally asked. If Grandma had been sick and no one noticed, I’m sure my mother was beating herself up.
“She’s at her house with your brother.”
“I’ll book a flight for tonight.”I started moving quickly towards our home office to look up flights.
“Call me back and let me know the details. We will pick you up at the airport.”
After we hung up, I tried calling Ben while I searched for flights on my laptop.
I scowled at my phone when he didn’t answer and tried calling again.
I grimaced at the price of two last-minute flights tonight. Not only would they need to be first class, but they were a few hundred dollars more than the normal first-class price.
“You’d think that if the tickets are still available, then they should be cheaper.” I muttered to myself.
My call went to voicemail a third time.
“You’ve reached Benjamin Landon, leave a message with your name and number and I’ll return your call.”
