Discovering Truths by B. Benfield (chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT) 📕

why can’t I?” I know it sounded crazy, but he’d already broken our vows. Why should I suffer while he had the time of his life? Karma sucks.

“Abby, that’s not a good idea.”

“Says who?”

“Says any logical person. You can’t be serious.”

“I am dead serious.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right. Nothing good will come of this, I’m telling you that right now. What are you going to do, live with each other and have an open marriage that neither of you is aware of nor agreed to for the rest of your life?”

“I don’t know what will happen in the future, Mel, but I know what’s happening now.”

Melinda looked defeated. “I don’t know what else to say. You’re a grown woman and I obviously can’t stop you from doing whatever you want to do, but just know, if you really go through with this, I do not support it. We’ve been friends forever and I’m not going to throw that away, but I don’t agree with your plan. I just wish you’d leave him like any other normal human being would do in this situation.”

“Thank you for not disowning me. Besides my family, you’re all I have, and the only person who knows about this thing with Marcus.”

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Melinda said, standing. She pulled me in for a hug. It felt sympathetic, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes.

“Please think about this before you do it,” she whispered. “Please realize the severity of the situation, and just leave.” What she didn’t realize was that I’d been thinking about this for a while. The more he lied, the harder I thought. I was done thinking.

“Love you, Mel.” I replied.

I threw away the rest of my smoothie and walked back out to my car. I started the ignition and blasted the air while I sat there for a moment in silence. Of course everything Melinda said made perfectly good sense, but my mind was made up. I was doing this. I’d never been with anyone other than Marcus. It would be new and exciting, maybe like a rush of adrenaline that’d pull me in and I’d be hooked. Marcus experienced that, and if he could, why couldn’t I?

On the drive home, I received a text from Marcus. He said he was helping someone with a case and would be home late. I replied with an ‘okay’ and told him his dinner would be in the microwave.

The text from him brought my idea into focus and got me really thinking about our relationship. Was there still a connection between us? Should I take Melinda’s advice and confront him, or should I go through with my crazy plan?

After spending time thinking, I concluded that the connection between Marcus and I had vanished. We were simply going through the motions. I felt dead inside at the thought.

Chapter Three

Dinner was made, I’d soaked in a long bath, and Marcus still wasn’t home. I crawled into bed with my laptop and browsed around aimlessly. As I scrolled through random sites, an idea struck. I pulled up Google and my fingers hovered over the keyboard for a brief moment before I typed chat rooms into the search bar. I didn’t even know if chat rooms still existed, but it was worth a shot. How else was I supposed to meet people? I definitely wasn’t going onto some site and making a profile…that was too risky. I clicked on the first link that popped up. It reminded me of AOL back in the day with a list of categories. I scrolled through the list until I came across Married Chat.

Oh my gosh. This was really a thing? I created a username, entered my location, and signed in. Nobody was really talking. I was sure people were just creeping around, waiting for someone to private message. An uneasy feeling hit the pit of my stomach. Hey Gorgeous. Trade pics? Want to meet up? Looking for a Sugar Daddy?

Delete, delete, delete. This was too much, and that was just the beginning. Messages continued to pour into my inbox and I was just about ready to give up and exit the chat when a message caught my eye.

Gage85: Good evening. Care to chat?

 

It was the only normal note I’d received thus far.

Me: Sure. Good evening.

Gage85: How are you?

Me: Well, I’m okay. To be honest, a little overwhelmed.

Gage85: Overwhelmed?

Me: That chat…it was intense. I felt like a piece of meat that vultures were attacking.

Gage85: I can only imagine. I’m sure the guys in here are pretty thirsty.

Me: I guess.

Gage85: Well, I consider myself to be normal. Definitely not a creeper. If you couldn’t tell from the username, my name’s Gage. And you are?

Me: I’m Abby. Nice to meet you. And were you born in 1985? LOL

Gage85: I actually was, yes, so I’m 32. And I’d never do such a thing as asking a woman her age.

Me: 1987. I’m 30. Finally hit the freaking 30. Ugh.

Gage85: Ah, 30 isn’t so bad.

Me: I suppose. So, you really live in Florida?

Gage85: I do, and actually close to you. You’re in Melbourne?

Me: Yeah. You?

Gage85: Cocoa Beach. So close!

Me: Wow. That’s pretty cool. Small world…

Gage85: So, what brings you here?

Me: Honestly, I’m not sure…you?

Gage85: Same. Looking for something, I’m just not sure what exactly.

Me: Same boat. You’re married?

Gage85: Yeah. Ten years. You?

Me: Yes. Twelve. Any kids?

Gage85: One son. He’s five, and he’s pretty freaking awesome…the only thing that keeps me hanging on. How about you? Kids?

Me: None. He never wanted any, and I knew that, just hoped he’d change his mind.

Gage85: I’m sorry. Is that the only problem?

Me: HA! That’s far from the only problem. There’s actually a few. I’d rather