Page 20 of Blossoms of the Heart
I’d taken time off today from work to catch up on some sleep, do some shopping and go see my mom and sister.
Oh well, so much for that time to myself. There was also no time like the present, so I could talk to him now if he wasn’t going back to work.
I parked in the garage and left the door open for him. I then went inside the house, where I heard muffled sounds.
“Jason, I’m home.” I called out. No answer.
Sounded like he was upstairs with the TV on maybe.
I went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of pinot noir and two glasses from the cabinet.
I thought we could just have a mini date, here in the house. Silly since we lived here and all but this was me trying. It was me trying not to be as cold as what Mom implied. She’d accused me of that several times during the time I’d been with Jason and I’d always been quick to defend myself. What if she was right though?
What if I was indeed cold?
Maybe I secretly shot myself in the foot with him because deep down I was comparing him to someone else.
Tai.
Tai Ferreira. The guy I wasn’t supposed to be with but still wanted if I was honest with myself.
I tried not to think about him and when I found my mind drifting in that direction, I had to remind myself that it had been years since I’d last seen him.
Seven years.
Seven long years and not once did he contact me. I knew he was a Marine but I’d been to Japan several times in that time and never saw him, never heard anything. It was like he never existed.
That lack of contact on his part hurt.
It hurt deeply and said a lot in the same breath.
It said he didn’t want me. Mom told him loud and clear to stay away from me and that was what he did. He stayed right away.
He stayed away and I was left with this stupid teenaged fantasy of him, always comparing every guy I’d met to him.
And… always wondering if I was ever going to feel the way I did about him with anybody else.
That spark…
There was no use thinking of such things now. I was with Jason and…
A loud grunt sounded, tearing into my thoughts.
I was sure that was a grunt.
Leaving the wine and the glasses on the granite worktop, I decided to head upstairs.
“Jason,” I called again.
As soon as I got past the curve on the staircase I heard the grunting again, but that wasn’t all I heard.
There was a woman’s voice. A woman giggled then… moaned?
“Fuck me,” she screamed and ice glazed over my heart, worked its way from there into my blood and numbed me.
Please God don’t let this be one of those stories I’d heard about. The kind where the wife would surprise her husband by coming home early and find him cheating on her. Please no, my heart couldn’t take it.
I would confess something to myself, but just to myself. I didn’t love him. I didn’t love Jason, but he was my husband. I vowed to be loyal to him and cherish him for the rest of my life. until death do us part. And he promised me too.
