stress from work continued to bother him when he got home. I was disappointed that his seeing me hadn’t pushed any work issues from his mind, but it was a relief to know that he didn’t believe I’d done anything to hurt him.
“Is it something serious?”
He nodded.
I don’t know why, but I got the sense that this something wasn’t a run-of-the-mill work issue. Maybe Andrew had messed something up at the hotel in a big way and head office was pissed with him. Or perhaps he was involved in a conflict with someone on his staff. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
He stared into my eyes, then looked away, his face filled with angst.
“Andrew.” Just how bad was this? “You know I’ll support you no matter what.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
I frowned at him. Peaches rolled onto her back, giving me access to her stomach while she luxuriated in the attention I was giving her. “Why would you say that? Haven’t I always been there for you?”
When Andrew didn’t answer, achill crept down my spine, leaving a feeling of dread in its wake. It wasn’t like Andrew to not get right to the point. My God, something really awful must have happened.
My heart began to beat fast, several devastating scenarios jumping into my head. Had something happened to his parents? Had he gotten some awful news about his health from his doctor while I’d been away? Had he hit a child while driving?
Andrew sighed heavily. He was taking his time, gearing up to tell me the awful news, but I didn’t think my heart could take it.
“Please, Andrew. Just tell me!”
“You know I love you, right?”
“Yes, I know that,” I replied somewhat anxiously. “But I want to know what happened.”
He couldn’t look at me, making my fear worse. My eyes misted. Obviously, what had happened had been serious enough that Andrew hadn’t wanted to disturb me while I was on my trip.
I croaked, “Someone died?”
“No.”
“No?” A relieved giggle escaped my throat. “Thank God, Andrew.” I paused. Took a deep breath. “But something serious did happen, didn’t it?” Maybe he had gotten some awful news from his doctor.
“I…”
I waited. Listened. “What, baby?”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
Those weren’t the words I’d expected to hear, and they caught me off guard, like biting into an apple and finding it’s filled with mold.
I gave him an odd look. “I don’t understand.”
“I…I did something. Something I’m not proud of.”
This had to be work related, some major screwup that had the head honchos breathing down his neck. God, maybe he’d been fired! Andrew was a manager at the Pelican Hotel and Resort in Kissimmee, close to Disney World, and the job had its share of stress. The people at Head Office didn’t always agree with how Andrew and his team ran things at the hotel.
But surely whatever he’d done wasn’t bad enough to get him fired.
“Jesus, this is so…” Andrew didn’t finish his statement.
“So what?” I prompted.
“I had an affair,” he blurted, so quickly that I was certain I hadn’t heard him correctly. After all, the cat’s loud purring could have made me mishear.
“What did you say?” I asked for confirmation, expecting him to say something else. Confirm for me that I’d misheard.
He looked at me now. “I had an affair.”
Stunned, I lowered the cat to the floor. As if she sensed the sudden tension in the room, she ran out the bedroom door.
“You—” I couldn’t repeat what he’d said.
“I’m so sorry,” he told me. He stepped into the room and closed the door. “I never meant to hurt you.”
All I could do was stare at Andrew. It was as though he had morphed into a stranger in front of my eyes.
“Please, Sophie. Say something.”
This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t real.
Andrew walked toward me, slowly, as if trying to corner a scared dog. I didn’t say a word. Couldn’t. I was too numb.
But when he reached for me, I reacted instinctively, slapping his hand away. “Don’t touch me.” I suddenly heard the ragged breaths coming from my chest. I sounded awful. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do—”
“Shut up. Just shut up!” I covered my ears with my hands. I wanted to block his words, as though not hearing them would make what he’d said go away.
My hands still over my ears, I stared at Andrew, my eyes imploring him to take back what he’d said. He held my gaze, but only for a few seconds. Then he looked down.
“Oh, my God.” I shot to my feet. “Oh, my God.”
“Sophie—”
Gasping, I stumbled past Andrew. I wanted to run out of the house, escape to a place where Andrew’s words wouldn’t hurt me. But as I got into the living room, my knees buckled, and I was lucky to collapse onto the sofa as opposed to the floor.
An affair? My husband had had an affair?
Andrew, the guy I’d known since I was nineteen, who had gently pursued me in college until I hadn’t been able to say no. The guy who’d given me a plastic ring in a bouquet of dandelions and told me that even though he wasn’t really proposing, he wanted me to know that one day he would.
If there had been anyone I could count on, anyone who I thought I could completely trust not to betray me in this way, it was Andrew.
My eyes filled with tears. Why, why, why? Why would he do this to me? How could he?
It wasn’t like I rolled over in bed at night and complained of being too tired to make love. If anything, I wanted it more than he did. He wasn’t as aggressive when it came to sex as he’d been in the beginning, but he also hadn’t been the tear-your-clothes-off kind of guy in the first place. That kind of man didn’t look for sex on the side when he had a wife ready and happy to please him.
No, what mattered to Andrew—or so he’d always said—was our commitment to each other. Passion could wane, but he’d assured me that our love would always be strong.
“Sophie.”
