Chapter 14

She called Jeremy that evening.

"Jeremy, Terry hired a private investigator. He knows all about us. He says I have to end it with you or our marriage is over."

"Perhaps it's just as well, Angilee. I've decided to complete my final semester of college on the coast -- UCLA or USC, I haven't decided yet, but I'll be moving in the next few days. I was going to call you tomorrow."

Her heart sank even though she knew she should feel relieved.

"You're quite a woman Angilee. I have enjoyed your company and your body. If you'd like to come with me..."

Here it was, she thought, the temptation of which the old woman had warned.

"I... I... can't. As much as I love being with you, I just have too much to lose," she said, her heart breaking.

"I understand. Then I guess this is goodbye."

"Yes..." she said quietly. "Jeremy, I love..."

"You love exquisitely," he said, not wanting their goodbye to become maudlin. "Good bye, Angilee."

"Good bye Jeremy."

She hung up quickly so he could not hear her cry.

The next few days were especially difficult for Angilee, having lost her lover, and now Terry, while not openly hostile, cold and formal with her even after she informed him she had broken things off with Jeremy. She felt isolated and alone. She finally reached Donna and they had dinner together, but her friend's attempts at consolation and encouragement only heightened Angilee's sense of loss and feelings that her relationship with Terry was doomed to a marriage for the sake of the kids and nothing else. Perhaps she should have agreed to go with Jeremy, but then her loss of Amy and Mary Beth brought her back to a reluctant resignation that she had done the right thing. She fervently hoped she could improve her relationship with Terry, but he rebuffed all her advances.

Angilee was miserable.

She had tried to keep all mention of the affair, or even that anything at all was wrong, from the kids when they returned from camp. But she wondered if Terry had said anything to them because twice she had caught them whispering when she entered a room and they had quickly tried to act nonchalant. Besides, her birthday was this weekend and while she certainly expected nothing from Terry, the kids usually teased her and made a big todo. Last year they had even baked her a cake, with Terry's help. It was supposed to have been a secret but Mary Beth had spilled the beans much to the chagrin of Amy. Mary Beth had been forced to take an oath that she would never again reveal a secret and only then was she forgiven. But the kids had said nothing at all about her birthday and inwardly, Angilee wondered if, somehow, they knew and were determined to punish her as well.

She struggled through the middle of the week, her nights lonely after seeing the kids to bed, sharing a bed, but nothing else with a husband who now not only showed no interest in her sexually, but also slept as far on his side of the bed as possible, denying her any form of intimacy whatsoever. As if to add to her misery, her yearnings returned, her mind replaying the erotic adventures she had experienced with Jeremy and the others. Again she tried masturbation, but again it fell far short of providing what she needed so badly.

Saturday, her birthday, dawned with the kids charging out to play after breakfast and no mention of her birthday from Terry. Today was a scheduled day off for him, but he, despite her efforts, continued to be distant and cold which was beginning to tell on Angilee. She wondered how much longer she could endure a life without love, without sex.

She struggled through the day, trying to keep her mind off of Terry's indifference and off her craving to be filled and sated.

"Mom wants me to bring the kids over to spend the night," Terry announced later that afternoon after talking with his parents.

"Oh, but..."

"But what?"

"I... nothing," she added, heartbroken that her birthday would come and go without any mention from Terry or the children and because she was obviously not invited to join them on the trip.

"We'll be back sometime tomorrow," he announced.

Angilee helped the kids pack their overnight bags and while they kissed her good bye, she could feel them holding back. She became more convinced than ever that they somehow knew and were determined to see her punished.

She saw them off that afternoon and settled in for another lonely night. After a bite of supper which she found tasteless, Angilee sat down with a murder mystery, hoping to distract her mind from her misery and the yearnings which were growing stronger with each night she spent without sex.

The phone rang.

"Hello."

"Mrs. Angilee Carver of 2245 Highland Drive?"

"Yes."

"Mrs. Carver this is Jim Benton from the Food Feast Supermarket. Your name has been drawn for a hundred dollar gift certificate, good for anything in the store."

"Is this a joke?"

"No joke, all you need do is come down and claim the certificate."

"Well, I'll be doing some shopping on Monday. I could pick it up then."

"I'm sorry, but the promotional rules state that the certificate must be picked up by midnight tonight. "

"You want me to come down there tonight?"

"I'm afraid so, if you want the certificate. I apologize for the inconvenience, but the drawing took place this morning and winners were supposed to be called right away. Our assistant manager who was to call and inform the winners, called in sick and no one realized that the winners had not been notified until just a few minutes ago."

"Oh, all right," she said, thinking that the supermarket was not all that far away and besides, it might take her mind off things better than the book in which she had already lost interest.

She slipped on a jacket and drove the several blocks to the market, still half expecting it to be a practical joke of some sort. Yet Terry was not the type for practical jokes, especially now that he would hardly give her the time of day and she could think of no one else who would pull such a stunt.

She walked to the service counter and, to her surprise, was indeed presented with an envelope which contained a one hundred dollar gift certificate. She decided to do a bit of shopping while at the store. Even though dressed in a casual skirt and blouse, Angilee unknowingly caught the attention of a young man who came on to her until he discovered she was married. His hasty retreat struck Angilee as a painful reminder of what her life, from now on, would be like. Unsatisfying at home and a constant temptation which she must resist in the outside world.