Patrick

“Can it wait? I am really tired.”

“I am afraid not.” She stood up and came towards him, her blue eyes narrowing as she saw the welt on his face. She reached out and touched it lightly and he pulled away from her. “She did that?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said gruffly and started to move to go into the bathroom.

She held onto his arm and he was forced to turn and look at her. “I have put up with your screwing around for years.” She almost smiled at the widening of his eyes. “This time, I don’t intend to. You are going to end it with the little bi*ch, whoever she is, and you are not going to do that to us again, William.”

“You don’t get to talk to me that way,” he told her furiously.

“If you don’t end it now, I am going to end it and my way of ending it will not be pleasant. Now, please go take a shower and wash her smell off you.” She looked at him in contempt. “You reek of s*x.”

*****

“Honey, how nice!” Claudia exclaimed as her daughter came in bearing a basket with goodies. It was a busy time at the library because the children were off from school and the library was planning a fashion show and a movie event. Carrie had endured the curious stares as she made her way into where her mother was and knew they had been reading up on her. She had taken her lunch break and decided to come and spend a little time with her mother. Linda had told her what she had said to her husband, and Carried had stared at the woman in shock. “Good for you,” she had told her in admiration. They were planning a big dinner at the manor for Christmas, and she was supposed to invite her mother and Sheryl.

“I just thought you would be too busy to go and get something to eat, so I had the chef at the office pack something for us.” She put the heavy basket onto the table. “Let’s see what we have.” She dug into the basket and took out several neatly wrapped sandwiches. “I have been having crazy cravings ever since I reached my second trimester,” she said wryly. “Lenny, the chef at the office, asks me each day what I would like to eat and prepares it especially for me. Ah!” She held up a turkey sandwich dripping with mayonnaise and smothered in ketchup. “I really love that man.”

Her mother laughed as she sat down and bit into the sandwich. “You look good, but of course I get to see you in the papers every time you go to a function.” She had chosen a more traditional BLT sandwich and poured them both cups of hot chocolate. “But you look happy and contented.”

“I am happy,” she said with a surprise shake of her head. “I thought I would be out of my league with people like them, but it turns out I am actually getting along with them. They are people with problems too, Mom, and I am learning to realize that.”

“How is your husband?”

“He gets on my last nerve, but he is okay.” Carrie said with a shrug.

Her mother stared at her shrewdly. “When I first met your father, we argued every day until he asked me out. I told him no at first, and then he wore me down until I said yes.” She smiled whimsically. “I have never met anyone like him, and I doubt that I ever will.”

“So, you and Donald are not together anymore?”

“We are, but it is nothing compared to what I had with your dad.” She sighed and then focused on her daughter. “Does he know you are in love with him?”

Carrie stared at the woman in front of her and then shook her head. “No.” She wrapped up the rest of her sandwich feeling full. “I have no intention of telling him just yet!”