Enjoy and as always, constructive criticism welcome :)
...
I had every intention on playing the role of the caring, considerate stepfather when I married Holly Park. She was a gorgeous woman with shoulder length black hair, a round face that oozed friendly, and large blue eyes. She was on the thicker side, with plump, soft breasts and thick hips. After the death of my wife almost five years prior, she was the first person I let in. She was my dream girl. She came with a package though, a mousy little girl named Annabeth. Annabeth looked nothing like her mother. She was a dirty blonde with light blue eyes and an angular face. She was thin, almost waif like and, at seventeen, looked like she was done growing. She didn't particularly like me, but then again, at seventeen, she didn't like much of anything apart from her friends, her cellphone and her locked bedroom door.
A week after the wedding, I moved Holly and Annabeth out of their shoebox two-bedroom apartment downtown and into my bigger townhouse in the city center. It was closer to mine and Holly's office where she worked as a legal clerk and I worked as a finance lawyer, and closer to the community college Annabeth took classes at. We became, for all intents and purposes, a family.
All was well for the first two years. Annabeth was adjusting well, Holly was working nonstop, trying to get a promotion at work and I was happier than ever. But, as the saying goes, after joy comes sorrow.
"David!" Francine, my secretary barged into my office one Thursday afternoon. "You will never guess who I saw on my lunch break." Francine was a hell of a gossip, but it made for an interesting work day. I set aside the finance reports I was reading and gave her my full attention.
"Who?"
"Your wife." Francine looked like the cat that caught the canary. "She was having lunch with one of the partners."
"Nice." I smiled. Holly was gunning for a promotion; I suppose she was doing whatever she could to get it. Good for her.
"No. Not nice." Francine slid her phone across the desk. "This wasn't some innocent coworker lunch break." I picked up the phone. Holly was leaning towards my boss, Grayson, a huge smile on her face. The man hand one hand on the table and one hand underneath it, clearly stimulating her in some way. I wanted to scream.
The next photo showed the two of them just as they were about to kiss. My mouth was instantly dry. I couldn't believe Holly would do something like this. Swiping again was all the evidence I needed. They were full on making out in the restaurant, garnering some strange looks from the other patrons.
Lightning fast, I sent the pictures to myself, already considering my next move.
Francine seemed to understand that I needed space and excused herself. She was such a gossip that by EOD the whole office would know my wife was having an affair with the boss. The embarrassment was almost too much to bear.
I finished up my tasks for the day and headed home early, still fuming. I had a few hours before Holly got home from work and I used that time to carefully pack up her side of the closet. I placed three massive suitcases by the bedroom door and sat on the bed.
Annabeth came clattering home, chatting on her phone and slamming her bedroom door. If she'd seen the suitcases outside she didn't say anything. She began to play her usual after school playlist so loud the walls practically shook but I was used to it by then.
I helped myself to a few glasses of scotch and sat alone in the kitchen wondering whether it was appropriate to order take out on the night you asked your wife for a divorce.
Holly came home later than usual, and she froze when she saw me waiting in the dark for her. Placing her handbag on the bottom step, she walked in, flicking the overhead on.
"What are you doing here all alone in the dark?"
"How was your boyfriend?"
"What are you talking about?" She sounded genuinely confused. "I have had a hell of a day, I really don't need whatever it is you're about to start, David." Chuckling a little, she threw the refrigerator open. Her actions were deliberately nonchalant, and I saw through her act immediately.
"I'm not trying to start anything. I'm simply stating facts." I drained my glass. "You were making out with a name partner in the middle of a crowded restaurant during lunch, Holly. Are you that dumb?" I scoffed. Her face was in the refrigerator so I couldn't see her full reaction, but she froze.
"Who told you?"
