Sweet Serendipity (2 page)

Rebecca was caught off guard by the blunt question. She had suspected for some time that he had been seeing someone. They didn’t seem to have anything left between them anymore. They barely spoke to one another, and although they slept in the same bed, that was it, they slept. They hadn’t had sex in over a year. Neither one of them even bothered to try anymore.

“Hello…Becca?”

“Sorry. I, um, I don’t know if he is. I’d like to think he’s not. I mean, I’ve been with him since I was nineteen. I’ve never been with anyone else.”

“Well, that’s your fault. I always told you he was too old for you. Eight years difference is too much. He wanted to settle down with someone young, now he’s middle-aged and never around. I mean, at least that’s how I see it. I see you with your kids all the time. You are the one who is always driving them here and there, to this event or that. What about you, Becca?”

“What about me? I get to stay home with them. Jack works hard. He works really long hours. That’s all. When he comes home, he’s tired.”

“No offense, babe, but the shop closes at six. He doesn’t come home until after eight every night. I’m sorry, but that sends up red flags. I’m just saying, girlfriend, that you need to think about you. The kids are going to be gone soon enough, and what will you have then? Richard and I split when Ashlee was small. We just knew that we couldn’t be married. He’s a great friend and a wonderful father. We have a much better relationship now than we had before, so just think about it. You’ve been with one man your whole life, and you are not happy. You just don’t smile the way you used to. Even Emily agrees with me.”

“Wow! So you discuss me and my marriage with Emily, too? I’m the last to know? Gee thanks,” Rebecca said in astonishment.

“We both love you, Becca. We are just concerned for your happiness. You deserve to be happy, and quite frankly, Jack doesn’t do that for you.”

Tasha changed the topic of conversation to a lighter one before she headed back down the beach to finish her run. Rebecca was left in the park on a bench, thinking about her life. She knew deep down that her friends were right. She had run off with Jack eighteen years ago. She married him at nineteen and had Riley by twenty. She had never gone to college. She barely made it out of high school. If she didn’t have the kids, what would she have?

Her thoughts wondered back to Jack and all his late nights. She wasn’t stupid; she heard the late night texts that came to his phone when he thought she was sleeping. She was awake when he’d sneak out of bed and not return for an hour. No, she wasn’t stupid. However, she was afraid—afraid he would replace her.

For the rest of the day, she felt as though she was forcing herself to get everything done that needed to be done. She put on her happy face as she rushed Adam from school to hockey practice, and then swung by Riley’s school to pick her up from basketball. She cooked dinner and helped with homework. She folded the laundered clothes and towels and put them away. She tucked Adam into bed, and listened as Riley gossiped with her friends on the phone.

Jack came home around eight o’clock that evening. He stayed downstairs while Rebecca remained upstairs. Around midnight, she felt him sneak into their bed and roll on his side. She really did feel dead inside. She had been trying so hard to be the perfect wife and the perfect mother that somewhere along the way she never had a chance to figure out who
she
really was.

Part of her wanted to curl up with her husband, just so she’d know they were all right and that he did still love her. She never did though. She was too afraid of his rejection, and the thoughts of him with someone else made her stomach turn, so instead of reaching out to him, she forced herself to close her eyes and fall asleep.

She woke the next morning and got out of bed. She didn’t hear the shower running as usual. She made her way down to the kitchen, but Jack was nowhere to be seen. Adam was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal.

“Where is your father?” she asked him.

“Oh, he left for work already. He said something about being short-handed.”

Rebecca poured a mug of coffee and took a seat at the table with her son.

“Are you OK, mom? You look sad.”

“I’ll be OK, buddy.” She forced herself to smile for him.

Riley came bounding into the kitchen and shouted, “Hey Mom, Ashlee is going with her dad to New Hampshire this weekend. I really want to go. Can I go?”

“I, um…yeah if it’s alright with Richard, then fine.”

“Thanks, Mom.” She ran back up the stairs to pack a bag to be ready when Ashlee came to pick her up.

When the kids were gone, Rebecca closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. She had a few hours to herself. She decided she would pack a lunch and surprise Jack at work since he had left so early. She took a quick shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She blow dried her hair, applied a little make-up, and set out to the kitchen.

She packed homemade chicken salad sandwiches, macaroni salad, chips and soda. The phone rang; it was her neighbor, Ellie, asking if Adam would be interested in having a sleepover with her son, David. Rebecca set up the plans and agreed to drop off some things for Adam at her house.

That was it. Rebecca now had the night off. It didn’t happen very often so, she wanted to make the best of it. Maybe she could convince Jack to take her out on a date—just the two of them. She was beginning to feel a little better. She tried to keep a positive attitude, and she decided that she would make the first move toward attempting to rekindle things with her husband.

She packed up her car and drove across town to Jack’s shop. When she pulled into the parking lot she didn’t spot his truck anywhere. She parked and walked into the waiting room where she was greeted by Dana. Dana spotted Rebecca and immediately stopped typing on the computer.

“Hi Rebecca, Jack’s not here. He said something about a meeting with a new supplier. He won’t be back until after one o’clock. Do you want me to tell him that you were here?”

Rebecca sighed and shook her head. “That’s alright Dana, thanks anyway.”

Rebecca walked back out into the parking lot. She knew she couldn’t automatically jump to conclusions about his whereabouts. If he said he was at a meeting, then he was at a meeting. She sat behind the wheel of her car and her hands trembled from the wrenching feeling in her gut.

She decided to swing by Tasha’s office to share the lunch that she had packed for her husband.

“Well, it’s his loss. This chicken salad is to die for. You are such a good cook. I’m going to have to go to the gym just to work it off.”

“Oh, you are just being nice. So, Richard is taking the girls to New Hampshire this weekend? Is there a special reason?”

“Yeah! Richard has been seeing this girlfriend for a while now. He wants Ashlee to like her because he plans on asking her to marry him.”

“Wow! And you are alright with this?”

“Totally! Why wouldn’t I be? He deserves to be happy. We truly are best friends. If he’s happy, then so am I. I’ve met her a few times, her name is Rochelle. She seems nice. It took her a while to realize that Richard and I are truly just friends, but now she seems to be a fit to our little family unit.”

“You are amazing, Tasha. I don’t know if I could ever do that.” Rebecca laughed despite her sinking feeling.

“So, since you are child-free, how about a girl’s night? Let’s go to dinner and have a few drinks somewhere.”

“I was going to ask Jack if he wanted to go out. Maybe it is just what we need to get things back on track again.”

“Alright, but I think you are wasting your time. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

At four in the afternoon, Jack called Rebecca on her cell phone. His voice came off as very robotic and matter-of-fact.

“Yeah, Dana told me that you stopped by earlier. Are the kids alright?”

“Um. yeah, I just packed a lunch and was going to surprise you.” The line went quiet.

“Oh!”

She didn’t know how she expected him to respond, but that was definitely not it. She felt let down.

“I had a meeting with a new supplier for the shop.”

“Yeah, Dana already said that.”

“OK, well if there is nothing else, then I’ll talk to you later. I might be late tonight. I have a few cars that need to be done so I can get paid. It’s the end of the week. I have to make payroll.”

“Oh!” she tried to hide her disappointment. “I guess I’ll see you later then.” She hung up the phone and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

She fell back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. She was mad and hurt. She wanted to scream. She called Tasha.

“I’m in. Let’s go out.”

“Yay! Girl’s night, shall we call prego and ask if she’d like to come? She can drive us since she can’t drink.”

“Sure, I’ll call her right now.” They hung up the phone and Rebecca dialed Emily.

“Hey sweetie, are you up for going to dinner tonight? Tasha and I are kid-free, so if you can get a sitter for Andrew…”

“Oh my god, yes. I’ll have my neighbor sit with him. She’s seventeen and could use the money. I’ll pick you up at, like, seven?”

“See you then.” They hung up the phone.

She went to her closet and looked around. Most of her items consisted of “mom clothes” as Riley often commented. They were all jeans and t-shirts or yoga pants. She dug through until she found her charcoal Kensie cowlneck sweater dress that sat above her knees. It showed off her long, lean legs and her slender figure. She ran a straightener through her long, dark tresses to smooth them out and applied some make-up. When she was through, she looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t allowed herself to dress up in a long time. She had fallen into a slump where she hadn’t cared what she looked like.

She was applying some lipstick when she heard a horn honk outside. She put on a pair of knee-high black boots and her leather jacket and grabbed her pocket book as she ran down to the door. She locked up the house and got into Emily’s car.

“Wow, Rebecca, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you look so…hot,” Emily complimented her.

Tasha poked her head up from the back seat and growled, “The cougars are on the prowl tonight.” All three started laughing.

“Well maybe you are, but we’re married,” Emily said. “Plus, are we really cougars? Ick! Is that what people see when we go out? I think I’m going to cry.”

“Good going, Tasha,” Rebecca teased. “You freaked out the hormonal one.”

They all started laughing again.

“I’d take cougar days over the bimbo days any day. Personally, I hated my twenties. I was married and had a small kid, no offense Emily, you are just starting later in life. Now, our thirties are about our families growing up and us redefining who we want to be because we missed out on so much in our twenties. By the time we are forty, it’s about our families moving on to adulthood and us on our new paths of life. I don’t know about you girls, but I would like to have me a younger man to mold into something useful. Men our age are all about the younger bimbos, so if they can date younger, than so can we,” Tasha said.

They all laughed at the comment.

“Tonight should be good entertainment, watching Tasha chasing young men around,” Emily teased.

“I wish I had half of her confidence,” Rebecca replied.

“Well, you girls can just sit back and watch the pro at work.” They all laughed again.

They pulled up in front of The East Bay Grille and parked the car. The threesome walked into the restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner. Rebecca couldn’t remember the last time she was able to sit back and eat what she wanted and just laugh over absolutely nothing. Tasha was constantly teasing Emily about all the years of diapers and snots that she was going to have to go through again. Emily kept rolling her eyes, but laughed just the same.

When the dishes were removed, the waitress walked over to the table and placed a glass of wine in front of Rebecca and Tasha, and a Shirley Temple for Emily.

“These are from the gentlemen at the bar over there.” The waitress told them. Tasha immediately picked up her glass and held it up to them to say thanks.

“Doesn’t that usually mean you have to talk to them?” Emily asked.

“Only if they are hot and don’t still live at home with their mothers,” Tasha remarked.

“You need to write a book, Tasha. I just can’t see you as a stuffy lawyer,” Rebecca said.

“Oh my little darlings, I have to be stuffy all day; the last thing I want to be in my spare time is stuffy. I let the hair down and look for a little fun,” Tasha responded. “Come on girls, the night is young and so are we. Let’s go and get our flirt on.”

“I don’t know, Tasha. We’re married,” Rebecca commented as she was trying to decide if accepting the glass was the right thing to do.

“Oh don’t give me that crap, Becca. You know as well as we do that your man is screwing someone else. You can deny it all you want, but no one goes this long without sex, unless you are a nun. Maybe you should have a fling of your own and give him a taste of his own medicine.”

“I could never do that, and that’s really nice guys, I have no proof that he is cheating on me. Come on, just because he’s working hard doesn’t mean he’s cheating,” Rebecca rebutted.