Suzy and Jeff had been together since high school and had been engaged for the last three years. Sure, everyone joked about them taking their sweet time to get married but there was never a doubt in her mind that they’d spend their lives together. Jeff was the exact opposite of Suzy, very quiet and serious to her loud and outgoing personality.
To Claire, he seemed to dote on Suzy, and she seemed to breathe life into him. She felt so guilty that she’d not been there for Suzy and, come to think of it, she’d not told Suzy she would be out of town either. Great, my friend in need thinks I bailed on her this weekend! Score: crappy weekend - 3, Claire - 0.
Claire picked up the phone and walked into the living room and settled herself on the couch to call Suzy. A low quiet voice answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Suz, it’s me, Claire. I’m so sorry, I just got your message; I was out of town. What in the world is going on?” Suzy started to cry; raw, seemingly uncontrollable sobs were coming so fast it was as if a dam had collapsed. “Suz, hold on, I’m coming over there right now,” said Claire in an urgent voice.
“No,” Suzy managed to get out between sobs; Beth is here.”
Beth was Suzy’s younger sister who lived across town and worked as a school teacher. Claire knew they were extremely close and immediately felt better knowing Beth would slay dragons to protect her sister.
“Can you talk Suz?”
Suzy took a couple of shuddering deep breaths, trying to get herself back under control and Claire held the phone in silence, giving Suzy the time she needed to compose herself. “I… I was just so shocked, Claire,” began Suzy weakly. “I thought we were happy. We hadn’t been fighting, the sex was still good, and he didn’t have any of the usual signs. He wasn’t late coming home, didn’t switch brands of underwear and hell, he didn’t even start gelling his hair,” finished Suzy in disbelief.
She had no idea what hair gel had to do with infidelity, probably something from Suzy’s bible, Cosmopolitan. “Suz, how do you know he’s involved with someone else? Maybe he just needs some time alone?”
“I saw text messages on his phone and not the 'reminding him of his appointment' type, the ‘I want to stick my tongue down your throat’ type. The funny thing is I was not suspicious at all. I grabbed his phone thinking it was mine since they look alike; I was scrolling through the phone looking for a number that Beth had texted me earlier. At first, I was just confused as to what all the text messages were and who Melissa was. I opened the first one, still thinking that someone had the wrong number and had sent me all those messages by mistake. I read through probably fifty messages and each one seemed to unfold a life and a part of Jeff that I didn’t know existed.
"I was so shocked, the messages and his replies were so out of character for the Jeff I’d known all those years. When he walked back in and saw me holding the phone, he didn’t even bother to make excuses. It was almost as if he was relieved that I’d found out. I swear Claire; it was the most surreal moment of my life, and you know that’s saying something."
Claire was glad to hear the smile she could detect in Suzy’s voice and her attempt at humor when she finished her sentence. “Did he move out, Suz?” asked Claire.
“Yeah, the rat bastard was packed and out the door within the hour. I think he must have had the suitcase half packed already and waiting for the opportunity,” Suzy wearily finished.
“Suz, I don’t know what to say, I can’t believe it. Maybe you guys can talk and try to work through things. He might just be confused, and it’s possible he didn’t have sex with the girl.”
“Bullshit! Trust me, without going into a lot of disgusting details, he did have sex with the slut dentist; she drilled more than a hole in his mouth, that’s for damn sure.”
Even clearly upset, Suzy as usual had a way with words; she gave new meaning to ‘making a sailor blush.’ “Are you sure you don’t want me to come over there?"
“I’m not much company Claire; I want to continue this outstanding pity party that I’m hosting for myself today. Tomorrow it’s over and I’m going to forget the scum bag ever existed."
"So where were you this weekend?” Suzy suddenly asked.
Claire had hoped to get off the phone before Suzy brought that up. “I had to work.” In a vain attempt to change the subject, Claire quickly asked, “Are you feeling better?”
“Wait, you had to work all weekend? You never do weekends,” said a suspicious Suzy.
“It’s the merger with Mericom, there were some important changes that had to be made this weekend; that’s all,” hedged Claire.
“You were in the office with smoking buns all weekend?”
“Well um, not exactly in the office,” Claire replied evasively.