Falling In (2 page)

Near the
back, Max was seated at a table with his phone in hand and his eyes glued to
the screen.  It wasn’t until Audrey tapped his shoulder that he snapped back to
attention and greeted her.

“Finally!” 
He looked to the waitress, “Thanks.”

She
nodded and disappeared back through the placid crowd.  Audrey dropped her purse
down to rest by her feet and sat down with a sigh.

“Have
you been waiting long?”

Max
looked back down to his phone and scrolled through something with his thumb.

“I think
you already know the answer to that.”

A former
athlete like herself, Audrey’s other half wasn’t the most enthusiastic about
keeping up a fit physique after leaving college for the corporate world.  Over
the years, he bulked up all over, both with muscles and other, less desirable things. 
When that mixed with a less-than-average stature, it made him look like a
walking ball of tension, always partially hunched over with fists closed. 
Sometimes he reminded Audrey of a gorilla; like he was poised to overpower
anyone who crossed his path.

The fact
that he shaved his head certainly didn’t help the illusion, either.

Audrey
took a quick sip off of the water near her plate and slipped her cloth napkin
into her lap.  She stared at the wall past Max’s shining skull in a feeble
attempt at gathering her thoughts.  There were so many things that she wanted
to get out and, yet, the one thing that she needed most was for him to just
stop being a tool for a few minutes.

“Are you
done?”

He
looked up from his phone and shoved it into his pocket with a lively eye-roll.

“There,”
he said and laid both hands out in front of him to show that they were empty. 
“Happy?”

Not
really.

She
opened her mouth to let her lips follow her thoughts, but was interrupted by a
waiter.  He dipped and weaved between tables, stopping next to theirs with a
tray full of food.

“Oh no,”
Audrey said.  “I think you have the wrong table.”

“It’s
fine.”  Max’s voice suddenly got deeper, making it clear that he was intent on
cutting into the conversation.  He looked at Audrey and continued, “I ordered
for you because you were late.”

She sank
back into her chair as the well-dressed waiter carefully placed a plate in
front of her.

“The
Chilean sea bass with a parmesan and asparagus risotto for the lady,” he said
and plucked the other plate off of his tray, placing it in front of Max.  “And
the seared lamb chops with mint-fragranced couscous and steamed vegetables.  Is
there anything else that I can get for you?”

Even as
Max sent the water away and started in on the food, Audrey sat with her arms
crossed.

He
knows that I hate sea bass.  Why would he order sea bass unless he’s just trying
to be a jerk?

“Is this
a punishment or something?”

Max
didn’t even look at her when he replied through a mouth full of food, “What are
you talking about?”

Audrey
poked the piece of fish with her fork and sighed.

“I hate
sea bass.  You know that.”

“Oh.” 
He swallowed the bite and shrugged his shoulders.  “I must’ve been thinking of
someone else.  If you had been here on time...”

 “Enough!” 
She tossed her fork down onto the plate with a loud clatter, forcing many of
the eyes in the room to turn in her direction.  “I’m sorry that I was late, but
there was nothing that I could do about it.  You know
that
, too, Max.”

The
sudden outburst made him look a little embarrassed.

“Everyone
can hear you, you know.”

She
grabbed her napkin, angrily threw it on top of the unwanted sliver of fish and
leaned in close to him with a hushed tone that dripped with contempt.

“So
everyone knows how much of a dick you’re being right now?  Is that what you’re
worried about?”

“No,” he
said with a spiteful chuckle that made Audrey start to see red.

“Then
what?”  Her voice wavered and allowed the intensity of her frustrations to show
through.  “What are you so worried about?”

Max
finally put down his silverware and wiped his mouth with a napkin, which was
stored just above his plate.  Then he cleared his throat loudly--louder than
her voice ever got--and took a big swig of water.  When he set the glass down,
the words that changed everything fell from his lips.

“I want
a divorce.”

Audrey
froze up as the world around them fell away.  Her long, slender fingers gripped
each side of the table and curled around the layers of fine linens.  It was the
last grip on reality that she had left.  The people, the restaurant noises and
even the awful fish lying in front of her faded into the background.  All that
she could see was Max and the cool, completely dismissive look on his face.

“How,”
she stammered and rose slightly from her seat.  “How can you-”

“Look, I
didn’t decide this overnight.  It’s just not working out.”

Sooner
than she knew what she was doing, Audrey reached across the table and slapped
him across the cheek, making a pop so loud that it brought all of the activity
in the dining room to a screeching halt.  If they weren’t before, all eyes were
now on them.

“What
the fuck, Audrey?”

She
jumped up from her chair so fast that she slammed her knee against the
brand-new table.  All of their cups, plates and the small flower vase in the
center toppled and crashed under the force, but none of the commotion stopped
the rising fury under her skin.

After
trying in vain to find words to hurt him as badly as he just hurt her, she
clamped her quivering lips shut, grabbed her purse and ran out.  There was
nothing that she could say to make him--or anyone--feel the pain that gripped
her heart.  In one night, everything that defined her was snatched away.  But
by the time that the valet fetched her car and she sank down into the cold
seat, there was only one question that loomed large.

Audrey
jammed down the gas pedal and peered out to the gentle rain that started to
fall.

“What
the hell do I do now?”

Chapter
2

Morning
came the next day, though very little of the sun’s rays made it through the
heavy cloud-cover.  The storm that rolled in before was still going strong,
even after dumping rain on the area for most of the night.  It left all of
Chicago feeling damp and dreary.

Audrey
rolled over and found herself alone in the bed that she normally shared with
Max.  He came home the night before but she didn’t see or hear from him.  Very
wisely, he chose to sleep on the couch downstairs.  She could hear him
rummaging around down there but couldn’t bring herself to even look at him, let
alone speak to him.

She
groaned and rubbed her face with both hands.  Everything that happened was like
an awful nightmare, the residue of which felt like it lingered on her skin.

Over on
the nightstand, her cell phone buzzed to life.  Right away, a sinking feeling
tore at the pit of her stomach and caused her to hesitate.  If it was Max
calling from below, there was no way in hell that she was going to answer it. 
The hot words that simmered in the back of her mind had no place being said
that morning.  Even she wasn’t prepared to deal with them.

She
grabbed the phone and tried to clear the haze from her eyes, which were still
fogged and swollen.  Once she did, a name that she was relieved to see waited
on the screen.

 “Hello,”
she asked after pressing the answer button.

“Audrey? 
Miss Audrey Davis?”

She sat
up in her bed and tried to smooth down the tangled, golden waves that wrapped
around her head like a tornado.

“You got
it.”

The girl
on the other end laughed, sounding pleased.

“Looks
like I managed to get something right today.”

Kimberly
Parsons, an accountant that joined KWP at about the same time that Audrey did,
ended up being one of her closest friends.  Even after packing up and moving to
Florida for a promising government job a few years earlier, the two stayed in
contact.  They often called to check up on one another and shoot the shit for
hours at a time.

For
Audrey, she was one of her only true friends.

Kim
continued after a brief pause to loudly chug whatever she was drinking, “How
are ya?”

“Um,”
she said cautiously.  “I’m okay.  How’re you?”

Her
friend ignored the question.

“You
don’t sound okay.”

As much
as she wanted to pour everything out right then and there, Audrey did her best
to keep it together.  Once the crying started, she wasn’t sure when it would
end.

“I’m
just waking up.”

“Okay.”

The way
that she drew the vowels out at the end made it clear that she knew something
was up, but that she also wasn’t going to push the issue.  That was one of the
things that Audrey loved about her: she knew where the line was and very seldom
crossed it.

She sank
back against her plump pillows and threw her head back against the wood
headboard with a loud thud.  It felt good to know that she could still feel
something
. 
Everything that morning felt surreal; like a low, dull weight between the
shoulders that kept her pinned to the world as it crumbled around her.

“I can’t
believe that it’s been that long since you left the company,” she replied,
almost choking on the last word.  After that she was quick to change the
subject.  “So what’s new?”

“Actually
I was just calling to see if you could maybe do me a favor.  I have to leave
for a couple of weeks and need someone to come down and keep an eye on things.”

“You
mean come down to Florida?”

“Uh
huh.  The lady down the road volunteered to do it but she fell and shattered
her hip a few days ago, so I don’t know how much help she would be if someone
broke in, you know?”

Audrey
licked her dry lips and considered it for a second.  At the moment, it was
something that she couldn’t commit to, though the warm Florida sand and sea
sure did sound nice.

“I have
a lot going on, but let me think about it.”

“Sure. 
And hey, call me later if you want to talk.”

Her tone
implied again that she knew there was more going on than Audrey let on to.

“Thanks,”
she replied softly.  “I’ll talk to you soon.”

Before
she could hang up, Kim spoke up again.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Keep
your head up, okay?”

Audrey
smiled and felt a little pleased that someone finally gave a shit about how she
felt.

“I’ll do
my best.  Bye, Kim.”

“Bye.”

She let
her friend hang up first and tossed the phone onto the bed near her feet before
slithering back between the sheets like a snake.  From downstairs, Max’s
insufferable noise grew louder and louder by the minute, eventually forcing her
out of her bed.

As if he
planned it, Max stepped out of their home and started toward the street just as
she made it to the window.  From there, Audrey could see him pretty clearly
through the trees that lined the sidewalk.

She
could also see the cherry-red paint that belonged to Max’s personal trainer,
Miranda Answell’s brand new sports car.  As soon as the glimmering crimson--and
the person behind the wheel--registered in Audrey’s head, she felt unusually
dizzy.

Forced
back down to reality yet again, she sank against the wall and slid down to the
cold wood floor where she waited for an emotional respite that never came.

---

The rest
of the day crawled by with Audrey barely able to pull herself out of bed long
enough to shower and eat half of an apple.  It was already close to 9 at night
and there was still no sign of Max.  But as much as she wanted to never see his
face again, there was another part of her that wanted to slap it just one more
time.

She hung
her body over one of their kitchen’s counter tops and rested her chin in her
hands.  It was still easy for her to remember when she and Max went to pick out
the marble together.  In fact, many of the things that they did flowed through
Audrey’s head as she sat there and picked a few remaining chunks of apple skin
out of her teeth.

With the
flick of a finger, she tossed one of the pieces onto the counter.  It was a
familiar shade of red that immediately made her skin crawl.

Is
that what’s really going on?  He’s probably been fucking her on the side for
months.

Her
pulse raced as all of the horrible possibilities--and visions of those
possibilities that she didn’t want to see--ran amok in her head.

Have
I been the fool the whole time?

Audrey
tried her best to restrain control of her angry conscience, but by then it was
like a freight train without brakes.  She couldn’t stop all of the horrifying
scenarios that could have happened from playing in her thoughts like a movie. 
She analyzed seemingly pointless conversations and days when he was 10 or 15
minutes late from work, picking through them for anything that might have
foreshadowed the shock that he had in store for her.

In the
dining room nearby, assorted pictures of their life together dotted a set of
staggered shelves that wrapped around the walls.  They sat there mockingly,
their smiling faces mirroring the exact opposite of everything that Audrey felt
as she stood there and looked at them.  The biggest one, which was situated
near the center of the room, was an 8x10 of them on their wedding day.

Audrey’s
bare feet pattered softly against the cold tile floor as she walked over to the
picture and took it down from the shelf.  She held it up and let her eyes run
over every detail.

The
dress that she had on was perfectly white with a deluge of sparking beads that
spread gracefully over the bodice.  Her thin, long veil was lined with the same
delicate detailing and it framed her grinning face like a soft, sparking glow. 
Max, too, was smiling from ear to ear.  Both of his arms were wrapped around
her small waist and he held her close, forcing their wine-rosy cheeks together
in a genuinely happy embrace.  In the background, the blissful blue of the
Hawaiian ocean shone under the gentle surf.

Their
wedding was a small one, though Audrey never once felt like she missed out on
anything.  All of their closest family and friends were flown out for the short
ceremony that took place on a private beach in Kauai near dusk.  Audrey could
still remember the sizzling sounds of over a dozen tiki torches that hissed whenever
there was a lull in the ceremony.  And if she thought hard enough, she could
even still recall the salty-sweet taste in the air and feel the cool ocean
breeze as it fluttered through her flowing, white gown.

A tear
splattered onto the glass, landing square in the middle of Max’s glowing
expression.  It was one that she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“What
happened to you?”

She
wiped the glimmering drop away with the tip of her pinky finger and walked back
into the kitchen, still holding onto the picture firmly.  When she reached the
island, she sat down in one of three tall barstools and stared down at the
taunting impression of happier days.

“What
happened to us?”

The door
leading to the garage popped open, startling Audrey so badly that the heavy
frame tumbled from her hand and rattled loudly against the counter top.

Max
walked through the door with a stagger that was all too familiar: he was
sloshed.  He stumbled through the kitchen, using the fridge and then the sink
to stabilize himself.  It wasn’t until he was almost out of the room that he
realized he wasn’t alone and spun around on his heels.

Even though
he was drunk, Audrey could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to
formulate something to say.  At that point, her only concern was the nature of
the drivel that was about to leave his mouth.

“What,”
he mumbled and pushed himself toward her, eventually coming to rest with a
wavering lean on the opposite side of the island.  “What’s wrong with you?”

The hot
rise of anger immediately bubbled back to Audrey’s otherwise cool-looking
exterior.  Though she knew full well that it wouldn’t accomplish anything, it
still took all of the willpower that she had to not immediately start screaming
at the top of her lungs.

She
answered his question through gritted teeth, “What’s wrong with
me
?”

He
sloppily shrugged his shoulders, making the pink lipstick stains on his shirt
catch Audrey’s eye.  Her hands closed around the edge of the cold counter and
squeezed so hard that she could feel some of her knuckles popping.  It was the
only thing that she could think to do.  She felt like a deer in the headlights.

“You
can’t act like you didn’t want this, too.”  He pointed a swaying finger at her
and continued, “I know you’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“No, you
assumed
that I’ve been thinking the same thing.  I haven’t even
considered a divorce...not until that shit that you pulled at dinner.”

Max
looked amused.

“The
shit that I pulled?  Were we in the same restaurant?”

The smug
look on her husband’s face made Audrey furious.  He sat there with his body
perched over the lip of the counter and swayed back and forth, making no
attempt at hiding the evidence of his infidelity.

She
pushed her chair away from the island and hopped to her feet, sending it to the
floor.  Magnified by the awful silence between them, the clatter seemed
unreasonably loud.

“You’ve
got some fucking nerve, coming in here like this.”

Max’s
posture stiffened a little.

“Oh
yeah?”

Audrey
slammed her hands on the counter.

“How
long have you been screwing her?”

He eyed
her like he was trying to decide whether or not to tell the truth.

“As long
as you have been sleeping with James.”

Audrey’s
mouth almost hit the floor.  James Parcell was a strapping young man who
worked--and sometimes carpooled--with her.  But as good looking as he was,
there was one huge problem with Max’s scenario: James was gay.

She pointed
in his direction and said angrily, “You’ve made one hell of a mistake, Max.  I
hope that bitch is worth it, because you sure as hell aren’t.”

He
hiccupped and slurred, “Don’t lie to me.”

Audrey
could tell that he was losing his patience, but she couldn’t stop herself.

“You’re
a selfish, lying asshole and I hope that she does the same thing to you
someday.”

“But you
said on the phone that-”

“That’s
not what I meant when I said that we needed to talk, Max,” she interrupted.  
“For fuck’s sake!  You never even tried to find out.”