Just a short story to make you think. What if it happened to you? Would you do as Angie did?
Edited by LadyCibelle with typical care and comments.
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Angie makes a discovery.
Angie Harmon sat on the floor of the laundry room, holding one of her husband Cliff's T-shirts in her right hand. The perfume was the first thing that caught her attention, but then she noticed the lipstick stain she found around the collar. The color was called Passion Pink, one she was familiar with from shopping with her daughter. It matched the shade she found on the white dress shirt she held in her left hand. Both were in the laundry she collected this morning and were on top of the pile, indicating they were placed there last night before Cliff took his shower.
Shaking with anger, Angie stood up, threw the offending articles of clothing across the room to land on the floor beside the ironing board. "That son of a bitch!" she thought to herself. "That dirty rotten selfish son of a bitch is cheating on me!" She stared at nothing in particular as she digested that painful fact.
Angie and Cliff Harmon had been married twenty one years. They had one daughter, Sophie, now twenty, who still lived at home with them. She was 'finding herself' before heading off to college. Right now she was working at a local clothing store catering to young people. Sophie was a beautiful young woman and never gave her parents trouble. She was saving as much as she could for later, when she did go to college.
Angie and Cliff had what she once believed was a happy home. She and Cliff met in college where they attended the Kokomo branch of the University of Indiana. She was majoring in education while he was pursuing a degree in engineering design. She lived nearby in Marion and had family there while Cliff lived further away in Ft. Wayne. They dated their senior year and their relationship became exclusive by mutual agreement. When they graduated, they continued their relationship and worked hard to find jobs where they could be together. Cliff found a job working at the Chrysler Delco plant in Kokomo and she was able to land a teaching job in the city schools there. After a year of living together, Cliff proposed and Angie accepted. They were married soon after in her hometown with a beautiful ceremony planned by her mother and sister.
Angie's family was a close one with her mother Cecile Walker, her sister Rachael and a younger brother Paul. Her father had been killed in a car accident when Angie was just starting college but fortunately, there were extenuating circumstances and there were lawsuits. Cecile was awarded a major payout which allowed Angie to continue in school.
Rachael turned down the offer of college to go into a beauty salon business with one of her friends. Paul graduated college with Rachael and Angie helping pay for some of the expenses. Paul was now a practicing attorney and had his own practice specializing in family law. They continued to stay close, even after all the years apart.
Cliff's family was more traditional. His father was a doctor, a surgeon specializing in cardiology. His mother was a full time society maid, hosting all kinds of charity affairs. Together, they were in the society pages most of the time. Cliff did not share their refinement and tended to be more conservative in action and needs. His degree in engineering was a small rebellion against his father but there was no animosity between them.
All of this ran through Angie's mind as she walked out of the laundry room toward the kitchen. She went to the pantry, moved some cans aside and pulled out a bottle of Scotch. She took the bottle to the counter, grabbed a water glass from the cupboard, walked to the refrigerator for ice cubes, then back to the counter where she poured a good three fingers of the scotch over the ice. She swirled the amber colored fluid over the ice, just chilling it before taking a healthy swallow. She waited for the inevitable, and shuddered as the grimace overtook her. The heat scorched her throat and mouth, even as it settled in her stomach. She hated scotch: she really, really hated it, but it had the kick necessary to drown her pain. She looked at what remained in the glass, then drained it with one more swallow. She almost threw the glass into the sink, but pulled it back at the last minute. She carefully set the glass aside and put the scotch back where she found it.
Thus begins the story of Angie Harmon, pudgy housewife, angry woman, vengeful spouse and scorned lover
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With the discovery of Cliff's cheating, Angie's life was about to change. The first thing she did was ask herself what she felt. Did she love Cliff, even with his cheating? Could she live the remainder of her life without Cliff in it? Could she divorce him? Did she even want to divorce him? And what did she need to do? Should she confront him and demand he stop? Should she continue to monitor his activities and gather evidence? Should she get even by having her own little fling? All excellent questions.
There was more. It seemed so easy in the stories in the magazines when she read about infidelity. It was just a matter of confrontation, apologies, sometimes revenge and then move on stronger than ever. It seemed like a lot of bullshit to Angie. She had so many questions it would take her weeks or months to figure out all the answers. And she wanted those answers. To divorce Cliff was not an answer since she really loved Cliff with all her heart. That was something she couldn't change. It made her hurt when she found out about his cheating but she couldn't help herself. A divorce would hurt her as much as it hurt him.
Angie went through a lot of turmoil, blaming herself, blaming Cliff, wondering why he would do this, wondering what it would be like to have her own lover. But to make her story a lot shorter than it actually is, we'll skip a lot of that useless crap. Let's see what she does first
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Angie went upstairs after finishing the scotch; shaky and unhappy. The scotch had filled her with warmth and some liquid courage so she walked into the bathroom, took off all her clothes, stood in front of the full length mirror embarrassed but determined, and looked hard at herself: body and face. After a good long, piercing look, one word escaped her mouth: Yuck!
Angie had to face facts. She was drab! From head to toe, she was drab; dull, overweight, slump shouldered and slovenly. Her hair, once a deep reddish brown was now just drab brown. No luster, no shine, no body. And there was some gray beginning to streak it. That had to change. And her body: where had all those folds come from? That was just fat, plain and simple! And her breasts: her breasts were sagging, even more than they should at her age. They were large enough, but now that they were unrestrained by her support bra, they sagged! Who would want a woman who looked like this? Certainly not her husband! That was clear as shown by the proof. Certainly not a lover who would be repulsed by what she saw.
Angie was ashamed at how she had let herself go over the past few years. The mirror didn't lie! It was there to see, and it was no wonder that Cliff had strayed. And she had allowed it to happen! Wasn't that why he looked elsewhere? If she was a guy, would she want to have sex with her if she looked like this? Hell no! While that didn't excuse what that asshole Cliff did, she could certainly see how she had made him look elsewhere. The important thing was her body was not something that she could use as a weapon to lure him back home where he belonged.