Passion In The Game

Space

Anthony had been talking to Ariane for at least two weeks now. They hit it off exactly like he and Rayna did when they met at Wisconsin. She was beautiful and could be any man's dream. Anthony enjoyed her company. They would meet up here and there and lengthy phone calls. Rayna caught onto it. Usually if he was on the phone for a while, it was either business or his dad. Rayna knew it wasn't either one of those choices by the way Anthony saw sweet little compliments and the way he laughed at whoever was on the other end of the phone.

She mentioned it to Alexis and of course her response was to go through his phone. Rayna trusted her husband and didn't think he would be doing anything wrong. As suspicious as Rayna was, the last thing she wanted to do was go snooping around. Whatever it was as taking most of Anthony's attention and it was really getting to Rayna. Anthony was outside sitting in the lounge chair texting Ariane for what seemed to be all day.

Rayna came out and straddled him. "Who are you talking to, babe?"

Anthony was a little surprised at her just hopping on him. "Uh, just someone I met at that charity event awhile ago."

"What are you guys talking about?" Rayna said.

"Just talking." he said.

"Okay, well.." she said getting up and sitting in the lawn chair next to him. "How about you talk to me?"

Rayna extended her hand out for Anthony to take. He looked at it and the longer he took the more Rayna's hopefulness dropped. She was about to pull away but, reached and grabbed it. He entwined their fingers before leaning over and kissing her knuckles. It warmed Rayna up inside where as with Anthony, he felt something missing.

"So how has work been?" Anthony asked.

As Rayna went on about work, Anthony began to listen. However while looking at her, he trailed off. He started thinking about Ariane. Rayna just kept going and going and Anthony wasn't even on the same page with her.

"You aren't listening." Rayna said scoldly.

Anthony snapped out of it. "I'm sorry, baby. Why don't you start from the beginning?" Anthony's phone rang signaling a text message. He picked up his phone and opened it to see a funny text. He laughed and let go of Rayna's hand to response.

Rayna got up and retreated back into the house. She couldn't believe Anthony had totally disregarded her. Anthony came back inside and met Rayna in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, honey. Come on, talk to me." Anthony said.

"Fine. Let's talk about who is on the other side of that phone." Rayna said frustrated.

"It's nobody, baby." he said.

"A nobody who you've been on the phone with for weeks. A nobody who constantly makes you laugh and smile." she said. "Give me a name."

"They aren't important." Anthony said.

"Really?" Rayna said putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes. They aren't important, honest." Anthony said.

His phone rang again and he looked at his notifications. Rayna rolled her eyes and went into the pantry.

"Look, that was Terry. That's different." Anthony said.

"Either way, that phone has more of your attention than I do." Rayna said coming back with a package of popcorn. "I don't text or play on my phone when we talk. Neither should you. It's disrespectful and frustrating as shit."

"Language." he said. Rayna shot him a death glare as she put the bag in the microwave. "I'm sorry. How about we go out tonight? No phones, just you and me. A nice place. It's supposed to be great outside tonight, we can eat out on a patio."