"Okay, this conversation is over. When you are done acting like an ass, send me the papers." I'm turning to walk away when I see her rear back, surprising me, as she slams her fist into the side of my mouth.
"You bastard! You don't get to make all the decisions. You don't get to decide when this is over." I've never in my life hit a woman. I sure as hell would never lay my hands on Sarah. But this woman standing in front of me, is really testing the limits of my self-control. I dab the blood from my lip, snatch my jacket off the back of the chair, and stride out the door before I can say or do something I will forever regret.
Standing in front of my car, I pat down my pockets trying to locate my keys. "Fuck." I mutter when I remember putting them on her table, along with my cell phone, when I first arrived. It sucks that I forgot my keys, but without my cell phone, I can't even call Caleb for a ride. I have no choice but to go face that crazy woman again.
I wait a few minutes giving us both time to calm down after our heated argument before walking back up to her front door knocking quietly. "Who is it?" I hear her sing-song from the other side.
"It's me. I left my keys and phone. Can you just hand them to me, and I'll leave you alone."
"Oh, no problem, sweetheart," she says, cracking open the door.
Sarah is standing in the doorway with a shit eating grin on her face and holding my phone to her ear when she drops the bomb on me, "I was just chatting with Jesse."
Jesse
"WELL, HELLO, officer," I say when Brett's number pops up on my phone.
"Jesse?" I hear a woman’s voice on the other end of the line. I pull my phone away from my ear checking the caller ID again. Yep, it definitely says Brett.
"Yes."
"Hi, this is going to sound strange, but I found your phone number in my husband's phone. I know this is crazy, but we have had some infidelity issues in the past, and I had such a bad feeling when I ran across your number."
"Um, okay?" I stumble out.
"Do you know Brett Sharp?"
"Yes," I whisper as my heart drops to my stomach. Brett's words from the Bears game flash into my mind. “I'm married.”
This must be some type of mistake though. He specifically told me he lost his wife in a car accident. Crap, what if he lied to me? I don't know him outside of the coffee shop, who knows what he has going on at home. Felling sick, I walk towards the bar stool to sit down before my suddenly flimsy legs give out underneath me.
"Well, my name is Sarah Sharp, I'm Brett's wife." And with that one sentence, all of my fears are confirmed. "I just wanted to speak to you myself, make sure he wasn't cheating on me again. I'm sorry. I know how awkward this must be for you. Trust me, I'm embarrassed myself. It's just that I love him so much, but sadly he has a bit of a wandering eye, if you know what I mean. I just can't seem to convince myself to leave him, though. Jeez, now I'm just rambling. Anyway, I'm sure there is some explanation for all of this and I'm just overreacting. Do you work with Brett?"
"No," I say nothing else, trying to keep the tears that start to pool in my eyes out of my voice.
"Do you know him from the gym then?" she asks with a weird jovial tone to her voice.
"No." The tears start to flow down my cheeks and into my lap. It's ridiculous to feel this upset over a man I have been seeing for five days, but I stupidly thought Brett and I had something special. After hearing that he has been unfaithful in the past, I know those were just my own misguided feelings. I'm nothing special to him at all.
"Well, can you tell me where you did meet?" she snaps. I can't even be mad at her attitude. She is just as much a victim here as I am.
"He…um, comes into Nell's coffee shop for breakfast every morning. I work there, so we met a few months ago, but only started seeing each other, uhh, romantically a few days ago."
"Oh gosh, I can't believe he is doing this to me again! Are you sleeping with him?" she asks a little too calmly for a woman who just found out her husband is seeing someone else. Jeez, he really must do this a lot, for her to be taking it so well. I'm more of mess than she is right now.
"Um..." I drone out, trying to buy myself some time to figure out how to answer this question. I don't know this woman, and I surely don't want to explain to her that, yes, I've been naked with her husband, but not actually had sex with him. Crap, Brett is someone's husband! I'm assuming she would consider what Brett and I did on Monday night to be cheating, so I decide to just give her the abridged version, sparing us both the pain of the details.