Mrs. Wrong Last Name

Chapter Thirteen

She sat there next to him with the Ole Misses right across from them. He spoke and she stared straight ahead planning her next move.

A blue Tiffany box sat in front of her but she hadn't even made an effort to touch it.

"You look absolutely peaked, wife," he said. He smiled broadly and put an errant piece of her hair behind her ear. The movement was tender but she actually flinched from his touch.

"Yes, I thought at the airport she looked pale," offered Ole Miss #2.

"I AM pale," she said. "On purpose."

He laughed and grabbed her forearm and squeezed gently. "She is super pale and by design. She wears hats and sunglasses, sunscreen everywhere. She is obsessive about her skin. People all the time take her for much younger than she is, don't they, wife?"

She strained to smile. This really sucked.

Ole Miss #1 started in, "I had NO idea when we met at the airport that he was your husband! Such a small world!"

Truly it seems to be she thought. And then she had another fleeting thought about ending up in Sardinia and that made her scowl.

The men settled into discussing acquisitions and exports and she asked the flight attendant for a double. Just an hour or so ago she had zero intention of drinking or sleeping on this flight but circumstances had changed considerably. And though she was not thrilled with her current circumstance she was at least safe.

She remembered when they were young and various problems they somehow made it through, some of them she felt at the time they wouldn't. She thought about the other great love of her life and the same types of things they had gone through. How she ended up here at this very moment with this particular man she had no idea. Even though she thought she had made a decision about her future and theirs she realized she really hadn't. If she was sitting next to one of them and wondering about the other there was a major problem.

He had her arm in his right hand and an old fashioned lowball in his left. He held the glass with his thumb and first two fingers and she wrapped both her hands around hers and held on for dear life.

Ole Miss #2 was staring a hole in the side of her head but she refused to make eye contact with her. With headphones on she just might get through this.

Lauryn Hill was preaching to her from Miseducation. Lord this woman was a lyricist.

There was only one incident where the both of her loves could have met... It was in the early 2000s- she had taken The Husband home to Texas and several friends wanted to go to a particular hang out. As she realized they were actually going to go there she was almost sick. What if Mr. Wrong Last Name was there? How would she react? Would the two of them fight? That would be terrible. But would it be worse if Wrong Last Name just got up and left? God there was no way to salvage the situation and she prayed for the least bad option.

That Wrong Last Name wouldn't be there. And thankfully he wasn't.

She thought about all the years and all the might have beens on both sides. All the times the three of them could have run into each other and how hard she tried to make sure that never happened.

"Honey, I know you don't seem to feel well but I have something blue in front of you and you haven't even looked at it," he said, pressuring her.

"Eek!!! All I have been DOING is looking at it!" Ole Miss #2 was WAY more excited about it than she was and the two of them ganged up on her to force her hand.

She took the headphones off and looked at it, but just couldn't do it.

"I want to go to the restroom first to splash some water on my face," she said. Ole Miss #2 jumped up immediately and followed. Curiosity? Moral support? Who could be sure.