TAMMY’S POV“Sue fell down the damn stairs.” Sean said as he re-entered our bedroom.“She can barely walk. I’m going to have to take her to the emergency room for an x-ray and some pain meds.”Shit. I hope Sue is okay. I’m frustrated that she keeps pulling Sean away from me but I guess I’m more disappointed that Sean keeps letting her. I understand this was a random accident. It’s not really her fault. I’ve changed out of my lingerie and into a loose fitting bath robe. Whatever was happening in this room before Sue fell is going to have to wait.“Can’t you ask Tito to take her to the hospital?” I wonder, trying to find an easier solution than Sean heading down to the ER at midnight. Tito is his personal bodyguard and I know he’s always on call. “No, it’s late. And this isn’t an emergency” he dismisses me, slipping on a cashmere sweater and a pair of his suede loafers.Sean makes his way out of the bedroom once again and I follow to where Sue has been sitting on a red velvet chaise l
TAMMY’S POVI look over to the digital alarm clock on my bedside table. It’s 02:35. Next to the clock is the empty pack of contraceptive pills I found. The second Sean walks through our bedroom door, I’m confronting him about this. My eyes are burning from exhaustion. I feel them slowly closing. Just for a minute I tell myself. I truly don’t have the strength to keep them open anymore. Just then, Sean walks into the room. My eyes fly open as I wake up with a start.“Babe, hey. You’re home. Is Sue okay?” I ask a bit disheveled.“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” He said, walking straight into the washroom.“Sean?” I call out a bit louder so he can hear me over the water running in the sink. “I…I need to talk to you about something.”After too long of a pause, Sean finally responds with his toothbrush in his mouth “Tam, I’m beat, I have an early meeting with the board tomorrow. Can’t this wait?”“Sure…” I trail off, not certain if he heard me. I decide that I too have to give up on this day. Wha
TAMMY’S POV“Are you being serious right now, Tam?” Sean asks, visibly frustrated. “I buy you a brand new car and you’re jealous that my step mother gets to drive with me to work every day?”“I’m not jealous, Sean. I would just think that as your wife, you would want to be the first person to help me when I need you. Like today, I needed you. And you chose Sue.” I say, defeated.“Tam, you are being unreasonable here. Sue and I work in the same building, so of course we travel together most days. Yesterday was impossible. I had the most important meeting of my career so far. I couldn’t cancel that to drive you to work.”“I do understand your work is import…”“Obviously not, Tammy!” Sean interrupts. “What, is this not the right color car for you? Do you want something more expensive? Honestly, you’re just sounding spoiled.”My heart breaks into two pieces. Sean knows me. He knows that money and expensive things don’t matter to me. How could he insinuate something like that? A tear forms
TAMMY’S POVI don’t have concrete evidence that Sean’s cheating on me. But what else could explain his strange relationship with Sue? Him constantly rushing to her side at a moment’s notice. And now he’s avoiding me? I need answers! Before I completely break down. I settle myself on the sofa and open up my laptop. Immediately, I see the wallpaper I set on my home screen: Sean and I kissing at the altar on our wedding day. My stomach sinks. I really hope more than anything that I’m wrong about Sean and Sue. Because if I’m right, my whole world will come crashing down.I double click on my browser and start typing into the search bar:Signs he’s cheating on youI hit ‘Enter’. The answers all seem so generic. Nothing here is the concrete answer I need. I slam my laptop closed in frustration after only reading for two minutes.This is stupid, I’m wasting my time. I completely forget that I have to be at work soon. I rush off to get showered and ready for the day ahead. I have a feelin
TAMMY’S POVI quickly open the message from her.Got me anything cute from Greece? RDamn, I completely forgot about shopping during my honeymoon from hell. I sigh and start replying:Hey Rach, you wouldn’t believe how expensive things are over there. I’ll make it up to you. Dinner? On me.One minute later I get a response from Rachel.I’m in.We decided to meet at a new little Italian restaurant .***“I’m telling you, Tam, I think Carl could be the one. He really seems different. Not like the usual boys I date; so unemotional and immature. The sex is always fabulous but generally they’re misogynistic assholes.” Rachel says, taking a sip of her Pinot Grigio“So why exactly do you think he’s the one, Rach?” I ask, wanting more details.Rachel has always been a serial dater, way more liberal than my Catholic upbringing. Ever since college, she’s been playing the field and exploring her sexuality. I, on the other hand, was already dating Sean. My first boyfriend and my first and only lo
TAMMY’S POVI quickly catch up to Rachel on the sidewalk. She is bee-lining it for the lingerie store that Sean just took Sue into. This is bad. I don’t want this drama to unfold in front of my best friend. I already feel bad enough as it is that I haven’t been completely honest with her. I’m too ashamed to admit what I’m really suspecting is happening between my husband and his step mom. “Rachel, uhm, hold on. Just wait a second. We don’t want to go in there and cause a scene, right? There’s really no point. It’ll make everything so much worse!”“Tammy, don’t be ridiculous. He’s taken another woman into a fucking lingerie store! We’re going in there and strangling him with a set of suspenders. Maybe they’ve even got some of those leather whips in stock.” “Rachel, please! Let’s just forget this and go home!” I plead as she keeps walking.Suddenly, Rachel stops dead in her tracks and turns to look at me.“Tammy, what the hell is going on?”“What do you mean?” I ask, trying to act no
TAMMY’S POVMy mind is racing in the cab drive home. I hope I was right about not really seeing that it was Sean and Sue walking into Peachy Intimates, that it could have been a case of mistaken identity in the evening city lights. I get home to classic opera playing through the speakers and Sue sitting in the living room on the sofa, sipping a martini. She spots me walking towards the hallway that leads to my bedroom.“Oh hi, darling! You look lovely. Were you out somewhere nice?” She asks, taking an olive out of her glass and delicately placing it in her mouth.“Yeah, uhm, I had a nice dinner in town with one of my girlfriends, at that new Italian place in town. You know, right next to the theater…?” I realize I’m trying to get some kind of reaction from her, something that gives away where she was and what she was doing earlier. “Oh, and that cute little lingerie store is quite close to the restaurant; Peachy Intimates.”Sue swallowed her olive with a soft gulp. A smile returned t
TAMMY’S POVThe next morning, I threw all his shiny underwear into the trash can. Sean didn’t notice it.Finally, it's the weekend. I Didn’t expect Sue to speak to me after what happened last night. “Darling! Good morning.” She says taking a long gulp of coffee from her large mug. “ Ángel is grinding a new roast I found at the farmer’s market, this one’s an Arabica. Absolutely divine! Can I make you a cup?”Having her be so kind after the scene I caused last night has caught me off guard. If I really think about it, she’s always been really nice to me, especially in this last year of mine and Sean’s marriage. I decided the best way forward is to return the favor. Even if I feel conflicted about it. On one hand I feel like she cares and is trying her best to be supportive. On the other hand, I feel like if she cared, she would at least give Sean and I space right now, when things seem so strange. But she seems more involved than ever.“Yeah, that sounds lovely, thank you.” I say, ge