His anger frightened her. He kept advancing until he backed her against the sink. Heart pounding, she apologized. He wasn’t finished. He said she’d turned into a drudge. All he’d done was go away for three days and have some fun for a change. Maybe he’d go again! Maybe he’d stay away longer next time!
By the time Patrick finished his rant, the seed of fear was firmly planted. He hadn’t touched her, but she sensed he’d wanted to hit her. Grace didn’t say anything more. When they went to bed, Patrick turned his back to her. She lay in the darkness, weeping silently, trying not to move a muscle lest she disturb him.
Lord, what have I done? What have I done?
Patrick slept soundly, and Grace knew they’d crossed a line. She was afraid of what lay on the other side. When she finally slept, she dreamed of her mother and father and awakened drenched in cold sweat. Her inner child wanted to drag a blanket and pillow off the bed and hide in the closet.
She survived the next few days, putting in extra hours at work to help her boss, Harvey Bernstein, finish a big project. He commented on her pallor. “Is everything all right, Grace?” She assured him everything was fine. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” A bonus would have been nice, but Harvey gave her a half day off on Friday. Maybe she and Patrick could sort everything out over the weekend.
Unlocking the apartment door, Grace walked in and found Patrick on the couch with a shapely blonde, neither wearing much of anything. They sprang apart. The girl grabbed her clothes and fled into the bedroom.
Patrick stood. “What’re you doing home?” His face went from red to white. “You’re supposed to be at work.” He pulled on sweatpants.
Grace looked from him to the bedroom door and back again, speechless.
“You weren’t supposed to be here.” Patrick sounded annoyed.
Dazed, Grace stammered, “H-Harvey gave me the afternoon off.”
The girl came out of the bedroom, her perfect body encased in pink-and-black spandex. Even her socks and aerobics shoes matched. Without looking at Grace, she hurried to the front door, then quickly retraced her steps to grab her pink jacket off the arm of the couch. “I’m sorry.” Her voice was a husky whisper. “I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.”
Find out what? Grace stood in the middle of her own personal apocalypse.
Opening the front door, the girl slipped out, but not quick enough for Grace to miss the gym logo on the jacket she pulled on or the pleading look she gave Patrick. Grace stared at her husband. “She works at the gym you joined?”
“Her father owns it.” He sounded resigned. “Look.” He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a heavy breath. “Can we sit down like civilized people and talk this out?”
She knew what he would say even before he started making excuses, but she listened anyway. Patrick said he didn’t intend to fall in love with Virginia, but she’d come on strong to him when he joined the gym. At first it was a harmless flirtation, but he and Grace had been having problems by then. “You don’t like sex, Grace, and Virginia, well . . .” They had a lot in common.
Grace was always on him about finding a job, so why not work at the gym part-time, even if only to pay for his membership? He got along well with people. He made a lot of friends. Virginia’s father noticed. He dropped hints about future possibilities. He said he wanted to retire and hoped his daughter would find a nice, outgoing, ambitious young man who would stand beside her and run the business.
Patrick talked and talked, the words pouring over Grace like hot lava. She understood what he was saying. Patrick had loved her for a while, but she didn’t have enough to offer anymore. He’d found someone who did. “I couldn’t help myself, Grace. Virginia is my soul mate. Try not to hate me. It’s not my fault.”
The initial shock and pain turned to numbness. Grace felt nothing.
“Okay. Don’t say anything.” Patrick grew angry at her silence. “I guess it’d be too much to expect some understanding.”
Grace sat at the kitchen table while her husband packed. Part of her wanted to beg him to stay, beg him to love her, beg him for a second chance. Another part kept her silent and frozen in her chair, her eyes fixed on the plates he and Virginia had left on the table, one with a few crumbs and the other with a half-eaten deli sandwich.
She was Patrick’s wife. Shouldn’t she fight for her marriage? Say something, Grace. Speak up before it’s too late. Don’t just sit there and let him walk out the door.