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

“I’m going to go get my feet wet.” I said.

“I’ll join you.” He replied.

We walked down to the water and it felt refreshing against my hot skin. I’d lived in Florida my whole life and still never adapted to the hot weather. It was like a totally different kind of heat. I was never big on frolicking in dirty ocean water, so after walking around for a few minutes, I headed back to our chairs and umbrella. I made myself comfortable and grabbed my book. Despite the person accompanying me, relaxing on the beach with a book made for a great day. Marcus pulled out his tablet and started typing away.

“Work stuff?” I asked. The small talk was my attempt to act like I actually cared.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Nothing major, just responding to some e-mails.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” I said.

“Well I said I was going to put work away for a few days.” He said.

“Really, I don’t mind. You do what you have to do.” I insisted. That was my way of saying, keep doing what you’re doing and leave me alone.

I grabbed my cell phone and took a picture of my legs sprawled out on my beach chair with my book in my lap, the ocean in the distance. Underneath it I wrote relax and sent it to Gage.

Gage: You should be with me.

Oh, how I wished I was.

***

That evening, Marcus dressed in a pair of camouflage shorts and a black polo. He didn’t often go for such a casual look, so I assumed our dinner place wasn’t as elegant as he usually selected. I threw on a blue dress with my silver, dressy sandals, and twisted my hair into a cute bun on top of my head.

We arrived at one of those beach side restaurants, and I followed him inside. I pretended like I didn’t notice him try to grab my hand as we weaved through the people. It was packed, but we luckily didn’t have to wait, and were escorted to our table immediately. I wished he’d go to these kinds of places more often. I didn’t understand why everything always had to be so fancy.

He ordered a beer and I opted for a fruity drink. Hopefully if I had a few, it’d make me fall asleep quickly. Then I could check day one off, and the weekend would be over sooner. I hated not talking to Gage as often, and I hated that I was so far away from him.

“How’s everything at work?” he asked. Like you care. That’s what I wanted to say, but I played along.

“It’s good. My boss keeps dropping hints that he’s going to retire and I’m going to take over his position, but I keep telling him that he can’t retire yet.”

“Why not? Don’t you want to move up?”

“Well, yes, I do, but I’m not ready for him to go. He’s seriously the best.”

“That’s great, but if you want to move forward in your career, you need to take what comes to you. Sounds like he’s been talking to his boss, and seems like you’d be a good fit for the job. If you really want to move up, you need to take opportunities like this.” He said.

He was such a jerk. Of course he would say something like that. He didn’t think about other people’s feelings. It was all about him.

“I know that. Work will just be so much different without him there.”

He shrugged a shoulder and took a sip from his beer. I wanted to reach across the table and shake him. He was so cocky and full of himself, it made me sick.

I was in a bad mood for the rest of the dinner, but I pushed through. I listened to him ramble on about work, but it went in one ear and out the other. He’d lost me earlier with his smug attitude.

Back at the hotel, we crawled into bed and he turned on the TV. Back in the day when we would go on these weekend getaways, we’d spend time binging TV shows and watching movies, but now, all I wanted was for darkness to consume me. I was over everything.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and began tracing circles around my stomach. He placed a kiss on my ear and I shivered, disgusted at the touch. He probably thought it was because I was turned on. Oh no, buddy.

“Babe, it’s my time of the month.” I lied. He thought it was “so gross” and “unsanitary.” He refused to touch me during that time. Tonight, it was my saving grace.

“Damn,” he said, pulling away.

I did a mental fist pump and closed my eyes, hoping to soon fall asleep. Between the extreme heat and the alcohol at dinner, I was drained. I fell asleep with thoughts of Gage lingering in my mind. Even though I didn’t get to see him every day anyway, I felt so far away, and I missed him.

The weekend took a turn when I awoke the next morning to find Marcus gripping the bathroom countertop and moaning in agony.

“Oh my gosh. What’s wrong?” I asked frantically.

“Abby, call 911,” he said.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Maybe I didn’t like my husband very much, but I still cared for him. Hearing him instruct me to call 911 was one of the scariest moments of my life. I ran to him and placed my arms on his shoulders as he winced in pain.

“What’s wrong?” I asked frantically.

“Chest pains.” He said, clinging to his chest. “Bad. I can’t breathe.”

I picked up my cell phone and called the emergency number. I rattled off our hotel information to the operator, and then helped Marcus to the room where he sat on the bed. I slung