Elude [H.S.]

TWENTY

It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and I was currently in the kitchen, making myself some salmon with mashed potatoes for dinner, when I hear the front door. I glance at the clock to see it's only fifteen past five and my eyebrows narrow.

Conrad is never home this early when he gets off at five.

"Conrad?" I ask, dropping the masher I was using on the bowl of potatoes to head towards the foyer.

"Yeah, it's me, Maeve."

My eyebrows narrow when I see him setting his briefcase on the table in the foyer, shrugging off his suit jacket.

"What are you doing home so early?"

"I needed to talk to you," Conrad says and points his finger towards the living room. "Let's sit down."

I stand there frozen at his words. What could he possibly have to talk to me about that's this serious?

Does he know?

I can't imagine that he does. He wouldn't be this calm. He'd be yelling and screaming in my face, I'm sure, if he knew.

Conrad walks past me and into the living room which knocks me out of my trance. I follow behind him and he walks over to the bar cart to fix himself a drink while I sit on the couch, ankles crossed and my hands clutching the edge of it.

When Conrad walks back over I can his hand slightly shaking as he lifts his glass to take a sip of his drink. He sets it down on the coffee table in front of me before his eyes meet mine.

"Maeve, I..."

He doesn't even finish his sentence before his knees clash against the ground and he wraps his arms around my middle. Tightening his hold, he tugs me closer to the edge of the couch and buries his face into my stomach.

"I-I'm sorry," he muffles against my shirt and it almost sounds like he's crying. "I'm so sorry."

I feel him inhale deeply and I stare at the wall across from me. I still haven't found it in myself to touch him yet. I'm too stunned.

"Maeve," he croaks out as he lifts his head and I look down into his eyes and that confirms that he truly is crying. "I don't know how to get you to forgive me for what I've done with Heidi but it's over now, I promise."

His eyes search my face for any type of hint of how I'm feeling and I'm sure my expression is showing one of shock.

"She's gone - I've fired her from the company and I've told her to find another job. I won't be seeing her any longer."

Bile rises in my throat and I have to will it down. How am I any better than him in this situation? I've had an affair of my own and here I am letting him beg on his knees for me to forgive him.

I slowly lift my hand to cup the back of his neck - the other resting on his shoulder.

"Y-you're done?" I whisper, feeling tears of my own burning in my waterline.