Today, Harry has been working from home and had been in his office all day, not once coming out to eat because of how busy he was. His phone however, kept going off upstairs every three minutes. The annoying ringing noise kept coming from the bedroom and when I reach it, it stops.
When I checked the caller ID, it was an unknown woman's name; Lilian.
With furrowed brows, I go downstairs to Harry's office, only to see him nodding at the computer screen, signifying he was having an online meeting. He catches glimpse of me and cocks an eyebrow to which I put up the phone.
"Gerald, I'll give you a call back." Harry says, hanging up the video call. He looks up to me while stretching his arms. "Yes, Rosie?"
"You left your work phone upstairs," I say, handing him the phone. I watch as he looks at it before putting it face down on the desk.
"I was wondering where it went." he says, looking up at me. I knew I probably shouldn't be getting thoughts inside my head about Harry ever possibly cheating. I mean, Harry was...lets face it, my husband is a sight for sore eyes, without a doubt.
I knew women in his office were attracted to him, I mean from the times I've been there, I always catch them sneaking glances his way, and I couldn't blame him, he's my husband after all. But that doesn't mean I have to be okay with it.
I bite the inside of my cheek before mustering up a sentence. "Who's Lilian?" I ask making Harry furrow his eyebrows. "The person who kept calling."
"My new assistant, Lilian?" he says almost in question, as if that was something I already knew. "Remember my old assistant Debora went off on maternity leave? They found me a new assistant two days ago, she's been a real life saver."
I nod. "I don't mean to sound weird, but, how come you didn't ask me?"
Harry looks around confused. "You?" I nod. "You need to be qualified, babe. Also, I can't have you working under me, it's frowned upon. Also, the kids?"
"How hard can an assistant job be? You take calls, set up appointments, cancel things, make reservations." I ramble and watch as Harry bites the inside of his cheek.
"An assistant is much more than that," he says, sitting down on his desk. "I could be a real pain in the ass as a boss, trust me." he winks at me making the weight to be lifted off my shoulders a bit. His hands go to my waist as he pulls me in-between his legs. "Do you trust me?" Harry asks, rubbing my shoulders and placing a single kiss on my chest.
"Of course I do." I reply. I had my arms crossed in front of me but he removes them and places them around his neck. He hums against my skin and continues to pepper kisses on my chest.
"Good," he says. "We made vows to each other, those actually mean something to me." As soon as he places a chaste kiss to my lips, his phone rings making him groan.
"I was going to get started on dinner anyway," I chuckle as I pull away. "What do you feel like eating?" I ask as I'm about to leave.
"Well, I would love to say you, but I kind of promised Liam I'd go out for some drinks with him and some of the guys," he says. "if that's fine by you?" To say I was surprised was an understatement. Harry never really went out anywhere on the weekdays, he always stayed in with us, then again maybe that's why he thought I was being clingy.
Of course, I didn't want to be the paranoiac wife and prevent him from going out, I mean he works hard every day and doesn't really go out. "Oh," I say. "Who's going?"
"Just coworkers," he says scratching the back of his neck. "Liam, Matt, Niall, Lilian." he shrugs.
"Your new assistant?" I say, swallowing the growing lump in my throat.
Harry nods. "The guys wanted to invite her since she's new and all." he explains and I nod, ignoring the fact that I was internally screaming and on the verge of having an anxiety attack. He takes my silence in mind. "Hey, I love you, okay?" he kisses the top of my head. "I'm a married man." He lifts up his hand with his ring finger and shows it to me with a smile.
With one last hug, he goes off upstairs to the room to get ready, leaving both phones in this office desk. I stayed by the doorway of his open office and looked back at the phones, biting my nails as it dinged with the location to the bar he would be at.
Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.
I ignore my subconscious as I go towards his iPhone, copying the location with my phone before leaving his office with a guilty mind. It's not that I don't trust him, I just have this gut feeling that something isn't right.
I called the neighbors, asking if their daughter could watch the kids for me for a while, happy when she agreed.
Harry ended up leaving around ten thirty after saying he would be back later and after two minutes, I follow the GPS on my phone towards the direction in which he left. I drove slowly out of our community and after ten minutes, I arrive to the bar.
BATHTUB GIN & CO.
I make sure my headlights are off as I sit in my car, looking around for any signs of Harry. I see Liam outside with two males before a skinny blonde woman with a short haircut in a black dress that complimented her long legs joins the group of men, greeting them with a kiss on the cheek.
What if Harry decided not to show up and is on his way back home? Panic begins to wash over me before I see his black car reach a parking spot next to the woman's white Mercedes, but he doesn't get out. Instead, I receive a message.
HARRY.
Just got here, I shouldn't be long. Can't wait to be next to you, I love you. Talk soon. H .x
And this is a sign I should go home and sulk in my regret of having followed my loving husband to a bar with coworkers.
And his assistant.
"Shut up." I groan to my subconscious. I send a quick text back before turning on my car. As I'm about to leave, I watch Harry get out of the car and be greeted by Lilian with a hug and a kiss to his cheek making my knuckles whiten around the steering wheel.
I see Harry take a step back from her before they all go inside the bar and I am able to leave, feeling guilty and angry over that snake putting her lips on the face of my husband.
"It's fine, they're just having drinks. Harry will be home soon." I say to myself, trying my best to calm down my running mind that kept making up theories of her own.
As I'm turning on our street, headlights shine bright on my mirrors making my eyebrows furrow. It was a black truck, but I guess I couldn't really say anything, I mean everyone around here owns expensive trucks and cars the same color.
Once I park in the driveway, the truck stops a few houses down on an house that was on sale. I stay in the car for a while, getting that same uneasy feeling back making me call Harry but much to my dismay, he doesn't answer.
I watch as they roll their window down, a hand coming out with a cigarette in-between the fingers. As I exit the car, my phone turns on with a new message from that same unknown number.
UNKNOWN.
Need some company?
I look away from my phone towards the SUV to see the man roll the window back up before they drove in reverse out of the neighborhood.
I quickly go inside the house, locking all the doors and windows before I bring in the kids to Harry and I's room, locking the door.
—
Rachel Taylor as Lilian Hutton