This, That, and the Other

I heard the car door slam, and immediately looked at the clock. Jesus Christ, it’s after four in the morning, I thought. My heart sank. I know she’ll deny that she’s having an affair. She’ll tell me that she had to work late again tonight on that “special project.” Yeah, I’m sure that the “project” her boss, Dan, has her working on with him until the wee hours of the morning nearly every night over the past few weeks, has been quite special, at least for the two of them.

I turned on my side and pretended, as I’ve done nightly since her “project” kept her out late, to still be asleep when she walked into our bedroom. Her late night routine was always the same. She’d undress, get into her pajamas, go into the bathroom to wash off her makeup and brush her teeth. Then she’d come back in the bedroom, crawl under the covers, being careful not to disturb me. And when the alarm went off a few hours later, she would act like nothing untoward was going on. But I knew what she and Dan have been up to, and it was going to come to a head right now.

I flicked on the light and sat up in bed. “No, Elaine, I’m not asleep. I am always awake when you’ve been coming home at three or four in the morning from you so-called special project with Dan,” I said. “I’m not stupid. I know what’s going on.”

“Oh honey,” Elaine said. “I was going to try and let you sleep and tell you first thing in the morning, but the project is over. Dan and I finished it tonight and we’re making our pitch to the investors tomorrow. Honey, if this deal goes through, the investors will be buying our company and we’ll be millionaires!”

“Millionaires?” I said. “Oh sweetheart, I’m sure you and Dan will have a successful pitch tomorrow. And Elaine, I want you to know that I never lost faith in you. I love you.”

Elaine looked at me. “What did you mean when you said that you’re not stupid?”

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Written for Scott’s Daily Prompt, where we are supposed to include the sentence, “I heard the car door slam, and immediately looked at the clock,” in our post. Photo credit: oneclock.co.