Chapter 6

I woke up about 2 hours later still in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I had cried myself to sleep right there in the car. I was thinking about going home but remembered that I left my tools at Jessica's. I dug in the console for the Trac-phone that I normally kept there for emergencies.

I called home, "Hello."

"Hi Robbie, it's Dad. Could you look on the caller id box for the number that called around 1?"

Robbie found the number and gave it to me. "Dad, mom got called into work just after you left."

"Ok. Thanks. I have to go. I'll see you when I get home."

"Ok. See you tonight."

I got off the phone and called the number that Robbie had given me.

"Hello."

"Hi Jessica. It's Rob. Is Julie still there?"

"No, she left about an hour ago."

"Do you still need that faucet put in?"

"You bet. I want my sink before Monday. I was able to get a hold of a plumber, but they won't be available until then."

"I'll come over and finish the job. I need to get my tools anyway."

I drove over to her house. When I knocked on the door she was very relieved to see me.

"Thanks for fixing this. You're a savior."

It took me about 20 minutes. I turned the water on and found no leaks. That made me very happy.

"It looks like you have a sink again."

"Thanks Rob. You want another Pepsi. You deserve it."

I accepted and she brought me one. We went out to the living room and sat down.

"Rob, what happened while I was gone?"

"What did Julie tell you?"

"Nothing. She came out of my room about 5 minutes after you left. She had to wait a while for her clothes to dry then left. I asked her about it, but she didn't answer any questions. You nearly ran me over, she won't talk, and my room reeks of sex. I'm rather stumped."

I stared at the floor feeling very guilty. "Julie seduced me."

"So you got lucky."

"No I didn't. I'm married and have 3 kids. When my wife finds out, I'm going to be in deep shit."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I hope she takes it well. You seem like a nice guy. You don't need something like that."

"Tell me about it. If you don't mind, I have to get going. Thanks for the Pepsi."

"You're welcome. Thanks for being good at plumbing. Good luck with your wife."

I collected my tools, thanked her again. We said our goodbyes and I left.

Knowing that Melanie wasn't going to be home was a bit of a relief. It was going to delay the inevitable but still give me more time. It was getting late when I arrived home. It was already 6pm and Becky had dinner going. I took a shower first thing upon getting home. I still felt dirty when I got out, but there was nothing that I could do. I went and checked my email and found nothing of note. I looked over on my desk and saw my favorite picture of Melanie. I started to cry again. How could I have been so foolish? I had to turn the picture so I couldn't see it.

I was just finishing eating dinner when the phone rang.

"Hello."

"Hi honey. I just called to let you know that I will be working a double tonight. Somebody on the overnight shift called in. It's my turn for the mandated overtime. They didn't care that I was already working an extra shift on my day off."

"Ok. I guess I'll have to miss you tonight. Love you."

"I love you too. See you in the morning."

With that she hung up. That would delay the inevitable. I don't know if the delay was going to be good or bad. If I could tell her quickly, I would have less guilt to deal with. I would also have to deal with her wrath though. Damn no win situations.

The phone rang again about an hour later. This time it was Julie.

"Hello."

"Hi Rob." She sounded very subdued. Not her usual perky self that I had grown to know. Maybe she actually felt a bit of guilt. I hoped so.

"Oh, hi Julie. How can I help you?" I was not trying to sound pleasant when I said that.

"I'm sorry about what I did. After you ran out like you did, I realized how stupid I was. I'm sorry."

"Well it's too late now. The damage is done already and cannot be taken back."

"Listen, that's not the only reason I called. We still need to get the project done. I have a good start but I'm having trouble getting the code to work."

"I kinda forgot about that. Send it to me via email. I'll check it out here and send it back the same way. I'm not going to have time to get together before it's due." I said that knowing full well that I had time tomorrow, I just didn't want to get anywhere near her for a while.

"I hadn't thought about e-mail. What's the address you want me to send it to?"

I gave her my home address. I never use the college address at all. I had all of that e-mail forwarded to me anyway.

"I'll send that out in a few minutes."

"Ok, thanks."

"Oh, and I'm sorry again Rob. I was out of line earlier."

"Yeah, I noticed. Listen I have to run. I'll talk to you later." With that I hung up not giving her a chance to add anything. I was not happy with her after that stunt she pulled. I was going to need time to get over it.

Ten minutes later I was at my computer getting my e-mail again. I didn't really want her message but I still needed to think about my grade. If I blew it off I would also get a failing grade. That wouldn't help me as much as it hurt her.

I worked on the program she started for the next hour and a half. I found quite a few bugs with her logic. I was able to get them cleared up pretty quickly and even add a few nice touches of my own. When I was satisfied with the finished product, I sent a copy back to her. I also put in the message to get it ready to be handed in. That I know she could handle. After that, I went to bed very alone.

The next day I barely saw Mel. She got home at 6:30 am and had to be back at work at 2pm. I was not going to get a chance to talk much today. That was only serving to delay the inevitable. I sat down and watched football all day. I only stopped to take Melanie to work. Many days she would catch a ride with a co-worker or she'd have her friend Christy take her when I was at work myself. Since I was home it was my job. I still couldn't look her in the eye. When she arrived at home that night, she was too tired for anything. I was relieved a bit at that.

The week went by pretty quickly. To be honest, I couldn't think about anything but how I would tell Melanie what happened. I felt like I was on an island by myself with no food or water.

Melanie came home on Wednesday night and told me that she was going to be working the overnight shift for the next few weeks. It seems one of the nurses from the overnight crew had gotten hurt and was going to be out for 2 months. That was the majority of the excitement for the entire week.

I was surprised when I arrived home Friday night to find her getting ready for work.

"I thought you were off tonight? You never work Friday or Saturday nights."

"Well I'm covering for Jen. Her days off are normally Monday and Tuesday nights. That means I'll be working Fridays and Saturdays for a while as well. I'm sorry that I'm going to miss you. It's been lonely not having you hold me at night."

"I'll miss you at night too." I heard a horn blow outside. "That sounds like your ride. I'll see you in the morning." I gave her a hug and she left.

I still haven't had a chance to talk to her about Julie. It was delaying the anger that she is going to have toward me. The cost was becoming all of the guilt I was feeling. The longer this went on, the worse I felt about it. Her not being around was not making my feelings any better.

Saturday morning came and as always I was up early heading toward the bathroom. Today was different in the fact that the boys were still in bed. I took care of business and headed back to the kitchen. Melanie would be home in twenty minutes so I decided to start breakfast. When she arrived at home I had made her an omelet with sausage links and a tall glass of orange juice.