Mrs Dandridge
The entire trip home I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Thats odd to say, right? I dont mean it in "that" way. I just mean that shes such a mysterious girl. Shes never uttered more than three words to me. But she is very intriguing to say the least. I know she's been through some things but I dont know to what extent. I know there has to be a reason she was stealing from that store. She would not tell me though. Or whenever I tried to get her to open up she would change the subject. I gave her my number because I wanted her to know I'm here for her. She doesnt need to steal or God knows whatever else. Shes a brilliant student. Never been into trouble, keeps to herself. I just want her to trust me. I want her to know im here.
I pulled into the driveway and noticed the black Audi sitting out front. Sighing, I pulled into the garage, and shut off my engine. I needed to mentally prepare myself to enter this house. Knowing that my soon to be ex husband was already inside doing God knows what. I grabbed my purse off the seat and the trash bag out the back as I exited the car and headed inside. I walked into the kitchen and sat my things on the counter. I kicked off my heels and grabbed the mail that sat at the desk. Seeing nothing that looked important enough to open, I tossed the envelopes back on the desk. I went over and grabbed a bottle of wine off the rack and pulled a glass from out of the cabinet. Pouring myself a tall glass of the sweet red wine. Instantly feeling myself relax as it went down my throat.
My relaxation was cut short as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I rolled my eyes, as I did not want to see him. Not tonight. Well, not any night actually. But especially not tonight. The footsteps got closer, and I decided to grab the bottle of wine and head upstairs before he could throw any bull shit my way. There were two ways to get to the stairs in my house. From the kitchen, there was a formal dining room which you could walk through and get to the stairs faster, rather than walking around the hall. I made my way through the dining room, just as he was entering. Fuck.
"Rosalynn." He simply said. "Jack." I acknowledged him. He looked like he had just gotten out of the shower. His dark hair was wet, and he was shirtless. Simply in a pair of pajama pants with slippers on his feet. "You're home late tonight aren't you? Where've you been?" He asked. I proceeded to move around him when he grabbed my arm. "Hey, it was just a question, thats all." I snatched my arm away from him. "Thats none of your business Jack. Why are you even here?" He shrugged his shoulders, "I still live here Rosie." I rolled my eyes. I used to love when he called me Rosie. A nickname from my childhood but now whenever he says it I feel sick to my stomach. "Hardly. I want you gone Jack. I've been nice to let you stay this long. You really need to get your own place." I moved around him and he grabbed my arm again, "You are still my wife Rosalynn." "Yeah, dont remind me! The sooner we sign those fucking papers the better! In the meantime, by this time next week I want you and your shit out of my house. I mean it!"
I went up the staircase and into my room, shutting the door behind me. I sat my wine down on the dresser before throwing myself on the bed. The situation between Jack and I is nothing short of complicated. I recently filed for divorce and it has been a long and slow process to get rid of this man.
I used to be so madly in love with him.
We met my junior year in college, and he was in his senior year. He was charming. Had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. He literally swept me off my feet. He was perfect. We dated throughout my term at college, and on my graduation day he asked me to marry him. Shortly after my twenty-third birthday we got married on the beach. A small wedding—nothing too extravagant. We were a simple couple but life was amazing. We had friends, family everything was exactly how it should be. But as the years went by things just started to change. At least for me.
Jack was a lawyer working at the local firm, but whenever the position of partner came he was always overlooked. And Jack was very hardworking and he definitely deserved the title. So after another year or so when he didn't get the promotion yet again—he decided to leave the firm and venture off to start up his own company. It was a decision he made for the both of us. I had no input whatsoever. He made us pack up our lives and move from our hometown of Dallas, Texas to the great state of California.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with California. But I am certainly a country girl at heart. And I always will be. I didn't know anyone out here, we didn't have any family here either. The stress of starting his own company began to take a toll on our marriage. We weren't necessarily broke, but only having one source of income living in California... yeah. Things are expensive. I was lucky to even land a job at the High School. Eventually the company took off and things started to fall into place. He was bringing in more money than ever. Things just seemed... good. That was until I mentioned starting a family.
We were already four years into our marriage and we had yet to have any children. Whenever I mentioned it, he shut me out. He would always say "now isn't the right time" or "the company is doing so well we don't have time to raise a kid" blah blah blah. Knowing how he felt about the situation, didn't make things any better when three months after that I had to tell him I was pregnant. And that conversation did not blow over well.
He totally blew up on me. He said we were not ready for a baby. He couldn't commit to raising a child when he was already 'raising a company'. We had a huge fight as he kept telling me I had to get rid of it. And there was no way in hell I was going to do that. The whole thing put a strain on our marriage as if it hadn't been there before. Regardless, I was excited to start that chapter of my life even if it meant I would be a single mother. But sadly, it never happened. I think the stress of everything just got to me. I wasn't mentally in the head space to prepare for a baby. With all that was going on with Jack and I ... I don't know. We argued constantly whenever we shared the same space. It was horrible. But when I told Jack that I had miscarried he tried his best to console me but failed miserably. It was almost as if he was relieved. In fact I knew he was.
And thats when I knew I no longer desired to be in this marriage.
From then on—everything he did annoyed me. We started to grow apart but neither of us wanted to admit it. Our marriage was in shambles. But for some reason I wouldn't leave him. I knew it was over, he knew. But we never made that step. To this day I have no idea why I stayed in an unhappy marriage. Even when I had a feeling Jack had become unfaithful. Which turned to be true, I stayed. I just wouldn't even let him touch me. Resulting in a two year drought. Yes, I haven't had any physical interactions in two years. Knowing I should've just left, I had nothing to lose. I still had a job, the house was in my name—seeing how he didn't have a dime when we moved. I don't know what was stopping me. But Jack was all I knew. I didn't want to pick up and move back to Dallas. So instead of leaving, I stayed and let myself be miserable.
But a couple years ago I went out to a bar. And it was only after I arrived I realized what kind of bar it was. I never got out much, only if I was with Jack and his friends from the firm and there wives. But I knew there was a bar about half an hour from me. So while my husband was out being unfaithful—I'm sure, I decided to doll myself up and take myself out for a drink. Once I got to the club, I took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. I looked around and noticed a few sets of eyes watching me. And they all belonged to women.
It wasn't until a young woman approached me I realized what I had gotten myself into. And she was beautiful I have to admit. Beautiful golden hair, about my height. Gorgeous brown eyes and the tannest skin ever. Her name was Elizabeth and she was also a teacher, but for kindergarten. We talked for a while and she made a few advances at me. She told me how beautiful I was, and how shes never seen anyone like me. She told me I had the cutest dimple amongst other compliments. But as clueless as I was I didn't even notice her flirtatious behavior and we literally talked for hours. She then flat out asked if I was sure I was a lesbian because I had been ignoring all of her advances and I almost chocked on my drink. I told her I was not, and she proceeded to ask what was I doing in a lesbian bar.
Mindfuck for sure.
I explained I had never been here before and just came out to get a drink. Long story short, we laughed about it and exchanged numbers. We're actually very good friends now. But that night made me realize something I had been missing from my marriage. Attention. I admit, it felt pretty good to even have women admiring me. Giving me compliments, making me feel... wanted. Which is something my husband had stopped doing a long time ago when he decided to give that attention to another woman.
So here we are. After six years of marriage and eight years of being together, I decided to file for a divorce that very next day. And honestly it took that night at the bar for me to realize I didn't deserve to be unhappy. And that there were even women who would love to even get to know me. And thats all it took. So I'm about to become a single woman, who is almost thirty years old with no children.
I heard the front door shut as I ran the water into my jacuzzi tub. Hoping he is gone for the weekend. I let him stay in one of the guest bedrooms since I filed. Trying to be nice and give him time to get a place of his own. But here we are two years later —he has yet to sign the divorce papers — and my patience is wearing thin. Once the bath was drawn, I stripped down and climbed inside. Finally relaxing after an eventful evening. Im hoping Charlotte will at least text me over the weekend and let me know she was doing okay. She's a beautiful girl and I have a strange feeling she is in that house all alone. There are so many questions I want to ask her. And tomorrow I plan on trying to piece together whatever it was she had thrown out. I cant quite figure out why, but she is heavily on my mind...