My Dirty Affair

Chapter Five

Two hours later the refrigerator and cabinets were stocked with food, dishes, and silverware. Ellis finally replied to my message only an hour after I sent it to him. I contemplated calling him, wanting to be hear his voice, but I knew he and his father needed to spend time together. I settled on the couch, propping my legs on the coffee table as I surfed through channels on the television. As I'm searching my mind suddenly wanders to Jon, wondering what he could be doing right now or if he was busy. I got to know him a little bit more at the pastry shop, but not enough and I found myself curious. There was so much I wanted to learn about him—

My cell phone rang, shifting my thoughts to the present and my husband, whom I desperately wanted to speak to and see, but it wasn't him. Instead, I was getting a call from his father Robert. "Hello?"

"Melinda, hey, I was wondering if you and Ellis would like to go out for dinner tonight."

"Yeah, sure, Rob. But, isn't Ellis with you? I thought you two had brunch earlier."

"No, I'm not aware. My wife and I were out of town and we just got back. I haven't talked to him since the wedding. I wanted to have dinner so I could catch up with you two."

Strange. Where could he be? If he weren't with his father, then where would he be? And, more importantly, with who? "Okay. I'll check in with him and I'll call you back."

"That would be extremely helpful, thank you. I tried calling him twice before I called you, but he's not picking up." Another red flag, but I kept myself composed despite my heart jumping a beat. "He said we were having brunch, are you sure?"

"You know, come to think of it, it was one of his friends. I probably got you two confused."

"Okay, you let me know if you two can have dinner tonight."

"Alright." I said and disconnected the line.

After, I tried calling Ellis, but I was immediately sent to voicemail. "Hey, Ellis, I was wondering where you are. Robert called asking to have dinner tonight, which is weird because you two were supposed to be at brunch and spending time together. Anyway, call me back."

I went back to channel surfing, occasionally glancing at my phone to make sure I don't miss a return call from my husband, but it never came.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Wake up." A soft voice gently coaxes me awake, followed by a feather-like kiss to my lips and that'd been enough to spur a reaction from me. "There's my girl."

"Ellis?" I blink a few times focusing on his image. "Where have you been?" I started to sit up, but Ellis stopped me. Shifting, I make room in order for him to join me on the couch and he wraps his arms around my waist, curling me into his chest. "I went out with some friends."

"Friends? I thought you were going out with your dad. He called and said he wants to have dinner, but . . ." I looked toward the window and found that it was night time, I'd been asleep longer than I had liked.

"I talked to him and we made plans to have dinner tomorrow night. It's a good thing I did too because I found you asleep when I got home."

"You didn't answer your phone."

"I was busy."

"You were busy?" I repeated, unable to believe the oldest lie in the book. His arms tighten around me when I tried to pull away. "Ellis, no one just lies about where they've been unless they're hiding something."

"You're right, I am hiding something."

My heart rate skyrocketed, one of my greatest fears upon entering this marriage was coming to life. "That's not funny."

"It's not."

"Then what the fuck are you hiding or not telling me?"

A minute stretched out between us. I saw him juggle the question in his mind, keeping his expression neutral so that I wouldn't detect the next lie that was undoubtedly about to come out of his mouth, but then he tipped his head back and laughed. "It's not funny, Ellis. What are you doing?"

He stopped laughing long enough to explain, although vaguely, "I got you something."

"What?"

"A post-wedding present I've been working on. I was hoping it'd be ready before I got there, but I had to work on some stuff. I couldn't be distracted."

"Ellis, stop being vague and tell me what the damn present is."

He laughed again. "You cuss a lot when you're mad."

"Get away from me." This time when I tried to wiggle him off, he didn't stop me. I shot up from my position and stood.

"Mel—" Ellis said, trying to stop me.

"No, I can't believe we're already at this stage in our marriage. I would've expected the lying to come ten years in, but not now. Our wedding was perfect, our honeymoon was perfect, and now—"

"Melinda—"

"You know what, my dad warned me about this, but I ignored him. I defended you against him, but now it looks like he was right. You son of a—"

"Melinda, for fuck's sake let me talk!" I'd never heard Ellis use that tone unless he was being serious and right now he was. I stopped talking long enough to let him sit up and when he did he reached for something on the coffee table and when he turned back to me he held a black rectangular jewelry box in his hand. My legs became weak as I sank back on the couch and opened the box. Inside was a silver necklace and at the end was a locket with two blended hearts, on the back of the locket was the date of our wedding.

"Ellis, it's beautiful."

"Through the wedding expenses, I managed to save enough on the side for this. I think about you everyday and I want you to have this that way you'll think of me everyday too."

"Oh, baby, I think about you everyday. I love you." I climbed on to his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck to bring his lips to mine. Okay, bomb officially diffused.

"I forgive you for bitching at me." He breathed when he broke the kiss.

"Sorry about that."

"I would never keep anything from you. I'm in this until the end of the line."

"So am I."