I dropped the roses on the ground and stepped on them as I turned and slammed the door behind me. I could hear the two talking fast and furiously behind me as I descended the stairs. I thanked God that this was early on a Friday. I would hate to have to go to work the next day after a discovery like this. As I reached the bottom step I put my work shoes back on quickly.
I heard the bedroom door above me open and the sounds of bare feet running down the steps. I had hoped to leave our suburban home, before she got down the stairs. I didn’t want more of a confrontation then I already had. I saw her descending the stairs as fast as she could in a flimsy robe and nothing else.
“Mike wait! Please!” Marissa pleaded.
She grabbed my arm at the elbow. Both my hands formed fists on their own. I took a deep breath. I had to control myself. I would never hit a woman unless if my life or someone else’s life were on the line.
“Don’t.” I said as a warning.
“Please, let’s talk. I love you! Don’t leave.” She said.
Even then her words could seduce me. I had to leave or else fall victim to her. As I half turned I saw Tony come out of the bedroom in one of my robes. I thought back to all the times I helped him get dates because he was shy. I thought back to three months ago when I helped him get a job and an apartment in our area after he lost his job in a bigger city and lost his home. Why was I so foolish? Some part of me recognized that he was always jealous of me. Whenever we fought it was usually about a woman or how I had it better then him.
My anger rose like an ice cube thrown into a glass of lemonade. I guess the fury in my eyes was obvious as Tony paused in mid-step a few stairs from the top of the winding staircase. Our eyes met. He seemed to freeze. I turned and started to the door.
“Please Mike! Let’s talk this out.” Marissa pleaded as I faintly heard her.
I yanked my elbow from her grip forcefully.
“I’ll send for my clothes and other things tomorrow. I’ll also contact my lawyer about the divorce.” I said sternly with my back still toward her.
“Divorce?” I heard her whimper as I slammed open the door with enough force that it bounced off the wall and slammed shut behind me.
I hurried to my BMW parked in the driveway, got in, started it up and drove away all within a minute. Fury rose in me. I didn’t even know where I was going. If anyone got in my way I would have hit them and not even known it. Thankfully I parked the car in the driveway. I chuckled to myself sarcastically that I had done so only so I could surprise Marissa. I didn’t want her hearing the garage door and realizing that I was home. If I had not done so I might not have caught my wife and best friend in bed. I saw clouds in the sky as I drove and thought it was ironic that a sunny day had gone sour just like my happiness went away. It seemed a bit too coincidental for me. I thought that karma seems real now more then ever.
It wasn’t even a half hour later that I came back to reality. I wondered where I was driving. The nearest person to me that I knew of what my mother and she lived an hour and a half away. I looked at the road signs and sure enough I was on the long highway that led to her town.
What was I going to do? What was I going to say? Was mom even home? I looked at the time on the car radio and saw that it was still very early in the day. Not even noon. Mom would be at work. I panicked for a moment thinking that she wouldn’t be home to let me in. I looked at my keys in the ignition and was relieved to see my mom’s house key was on the ring of keys. I had forgotten that she mailed me a key from her recent move.
I felt sorry for my mom at that moment. She had recently lost my father who was brutally killed in an attempted robbery. He was a Detective for the local police department and was driving home from a long night’s work when he was informed on the radio of an attempted robbery nearby. My dad, ever the hero, tried in vain to help a woman who’s throat was slashed. Unfortunately, for my dad, there were two robbers. He shot one, but was surprised by the other. The rest of the police arrived in time to capture my father’s killer.
I was just recovering from my father’s murder when Marissa stopped making love to me. I wondered if my grief over losing my father so soon in life caused her to do this. I discarded my thought that I might have had some part in the blame of what my wife and best friend did. As saddened as I was for the loss of my father I tried to put on a brave act for my mother and my wife. Maybe I seemed too unemotional about it. I remember Marissa asking me to share my feelings with her about it, but I only did so far as I could without breaking down.
My dad always told me to be strong. To be a man at all times. But as much as he believed in that I remember times my father cried. The loss of his sister. When some of our beloved pets died. My dad could even cry at watching a sad TV show or movie, though not often. He was a typical dad. I felt proud of what he did for a living and how heroic he always tried to be. He was a strong man who always tried to look out for, and help, those weaker and needier than himself.
I realized the burden he must have had when I saw him in his coffin. I also remember his words from the time I was 18 on. He told me if anything ever happened to him that I was the man of the family. I was to care for my mom and two sisters. I was proud of my sisters who were off in college starting their path on life’s mysterious road. I was even more proud of my mother who I knew was devastated by the loss of my father, but she still held up even in his loss so she could care for her three children.
I felt a surge of love for my mother at that moment thinking back to her overwhelming strength and beauty. She was always there for me and my sisters. She never said no to any of us. She tried to raise us right and did so while working a full time job and being married to a husband who could die at any moment in the line of duty.