The drive home was an agony. Part of me hoped Peter would not be home when I got there but the rest of me desperately hoped that he would be. When I turned onto our street and saw his car in the driveway a wave of emotion hit me and I lost my confidence. Tears streamed down my face and I felt short of breath.
There was no way I could face him at that moment so I headed for the levy along river road, a quiet place where I could compose myself before going home to him. Ridiculous as it sounds I felt he would just look at me and know that I'd been unfaithful.
An hour later, makeup reapplied and my eyes dry once again, I went home. Peter was in the back yard happily staking the tomato plants he loved to grow so he didn't see me quietly slip in the side door.
A shower and a change of clothes helped me prepare to greet my husband for the first time since I had cheated on him. The comfort and safety of our own home was calming, and it helped me make up my mind to say nothing of what had happened at work. I was determined to find a way to make things right again without the awful admission of what I had done.
With the cheeriest face I could muster, I swept through the garden gate and embraced my husband. He wrapped me in his arms like he always did and kissed my neck in the way I had come to love. For a long moment, I just clung to him wanting to feel the reassurance of his strength and his love for me.
"You're late Babe," he murmured into my neck, "I was getting worried about you."
"I had some work to clean up," I lied, and immediately regretted it.
"Jane from your office called," he said, and a chill ran up my spine. "She said she hadn't seen you all day and wondered if you weren't well."
"Jane?" I blurted. "Why would she..." and I stopped. The alarm in my voice was obvious and I paused hoping to get a little more control before continuing. "Jane isn't in the same department or even on the same floor. I'm surprised she would know if I was in or not."
"Oh," he laughed. "She clearly thinks you're much better friends than you do. She said she's been seeing quite a lot of you lately."
Peter had his head down cutting suckers off the tomato plants and I couldn't see his full face to know whether there might have been more to the conversation than he was letting on. My heart was thumping hard and I could feel my face was flushed and hot. I wanted to change the subject away from Jane but I was afraid I'd miss out if there was more to the story.
"Well, I'm really surprised that she would call," I said in what I hoped was my disinterested voice. "She must not have enough to do these days."
"She wanted you to check that website you two have been discussing," Peter reported vaguely, and I almost stopped breathing. My mouth felt dry when I croaked out "What website?"
"She didn't elaborate; just said you'd know. I assumed it was an inside joke between you two. She seemed to think it was pretty funny."
Determined now to end the discussion of Jane I asked, "Are you almost ready for supper?" I'm getting hungry."
"Oh, give me twenty minutes or so ... I have a few more plants to finish here. We can go down to the pub for wings if you feel like it."