Illicit Affairs

Listen To Your Heart

Alice drives home in a blur, not even registering her surroundings as her mind races. She knew there were risks to starting a relationship with FP while still married to Hal, she knew that, she just thought that despite those risks, she would have control over it. Especially when it comes to how the news broke.

She pulls into her driveway and takes a deep breath as she clenches the steering wheel, she knows he's going to be mad, she doesn't blame him, but it does scare her, and she partly wishes she had asked FP to come, just for her own peace of mind.

It's a shaky step forward as she storms into her house, the door swinging loudly shut behind her. "You're home early." Hal quips, sitting in the dining room with a smug smile on his face.

"How could you?" She seethes.

"Me?" Hal scoffs. "Sit down, we clearly have a lot to talk about."

She doesn't move. "Was it you?"

"What ever do you mean?"

She bites her cheek as she tries to keep her composure, what she really wants to do is slap the cocky grin off his lips. "Was it you who published those pictures?"

Hal shrugs. "What if it was?"

"Why would you do that to me?"

"Me?" He shakes his head, standing up and stepping over to her. "What about you? You're the one cheating on me with someone you barely know. And in your office? Really, Alice?"

She steps back as he gets closer, not noticing the way her hands begin to shake. "You weren't supposed to find out like this."

"So there is something to find out? This isn't just a booty call?" She shakes her head in shame. He runs his hand over his face, clearly angry. "Of course not."

"I didn't plan for this to happen, Hal." She insists. It is the truth, even though she's sure that's what every person who's ever been caught cheating says.

"Did he force himself on you?" Hal asks, the question insulting.

"No, of course not. How could you even say that?"

"I'm just trying to understand, Alice. Before you left for Bali, you told me there was nothing to worry about-"

"There wasn't!"

He scoffs again, turning around to grab something from the table and tossing it at her chest. "This begs to differ."

It's the newspaper. "Hal, I swear, when I told you that, there was nothing going on between us."

"Really? Not even a thought? A brief moment where you thought, "oh he's attractive"."

"So what if there was? I wasn't going to act on it!"

"What changed, Alice?" Hal barks. She stays silent, which only serves to make him more angry. He grabs her arms tight in his hands, yanking her close as he repeats his question with a yell. "What changed?"

"I don't know." She squeaks out, seeing the fire in her husband's eyes, his grip tightening as his jaw clenching. "Hal, you're hurting me."

He shakes his head, letting her go with force and she stumbles just a little. "How do you not know what made you decide to betray me?"

She's quiet for a moment, her eyes stinging with tears. "He sees me... Actually sees me, all of me."

"Yeah, no kidding." He digs, sitting down at the table again.

"I can be myself around him," She begins. "When I was with him in Bali, I wasn't worrying about being perfect, or having a hair out of place. I was happy, and relaxed, and he didn't care that I wasn't as perfect as I appeared. He liked me for me."

"And I don't? I've given you everything, Alice. A roof over your head, security, love-"

"You May love me, Hal. But you're not in love with me, and there is a big difference."

"And he is?"

"I don't know that yet, but he could be." She wants to believe that he is.

"So what are you saying, you want a divorce?"

She takes the seat across from his, her voice softening. "Hal, we both know this hasn't been working for a while."

"We can make it work." He insists.

"This isn't a marriage, Hal. A marriage should be fifty-fifty, not eighty-twenty." She tells him. "Ever since we got married, things have changed. You're not the same man I fell for in high school. And I guess, that's okay, because I'm not the same girl."

"This is insane, Alice." Hal groans, running his fingers through his hair. "You're really just going to give up on our marriage like it's nothing, for some... stranger?"

"I'm crazy about him." She tells him, smiling a little. "I may even be in love with him. And even if it doesn't work, even if he and I crash and burn, so be it, but I'd always regret not at least giving it a real, true chance."

"I feel like I don't even know you anymore. This is coming completely out of left field."

"Is it?" She raises an eyebrow at him. "Think about it Hal, if you really wanted to work things out with me you wouldn't have published those pictures for everyone to see, you would have confronted me about it. Now if we were to stay together everyone would talk, I know that, you know that, that's why you did it this way. It's the coward's way out, this way you get off scot free, and only I think of you as the bad guy, everyone else in town pities you, and you get to start fresh with no hassle."

"Now matter what way this happened, people were gonna talk, it's human nature. I'm still going to be this sad sack of a man who was cheated on."

"You're worried about what people will say about you? I'm the one who's indiscretions were published on the front page of the town newspaper. I'm going to be known as the town whore." She stands up in a huff. "Believe me, Hal, whatever they say about you will be one hundred times better than what they say about me."

"Where are you going? We're not done here."

"Yes, we are. I'm done anyway."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave and run back to that scum bag?"

"Hal, even on a good day you are half the man he is. So call him whatever you want, I don't care what you think, I'm happy with him, happier than I've been in years." She glances up the stairs. "I'll get in touch with the lawyer, and I'll come get my stuff later, you can choose whether you'll be here or not."

"Not. I can't even look at you." He decides on the spot. "And you can leave your key when you do come."

"Fine." She opens the door, but pauses, turning back to him. "You know? It didn't have to be this way, I was going to tell you last night. We could've handled this like adults, but you chose this way instead. As far as I'm concerned you brought this upon yourself."

"Get the hell out." Hal mumbles angrily.

She slams the door shut behind her as she walks outside, feeling like the biggest weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.