Page 30 of Hotwife
“I should have lost my medical license. No, when I didn’t lose it, I should have given up medicine. But did I? No, instead I uprooted my new wife from her home, her family, and flew her across the country. I abandoned you, Dot. Fuck.”
He was crying now and so was I.
I peeled back his arms and slid in between them. “I love you, Cedric,” was all I could say. As my eyes grew heavy in his arms, I heard his whispers of love. The room fell silent, and a weight felt like it lifted.
So why did my mind still wander to what may wait in my handbag? Why did it feel like a vital piece was still missing?
* * *
Laughter and the smell of coffee pulled me from my sleep. Waking in Cedric’s bed felt foreign, but right. With a stretch, I padded into the kitchen and stopped. Ced was talking to a woman with her back turned to me. He met my gaze and widened his eyes in an “I don’t know” kind of look.
Spinning around, she smiled, and my hands flew to my mouth.
“Try ignoring me now.” Crossing her arms, she painted on a bad portrayal of anger.
“Oh my god, Odette, get over here!”
With a giggle, my sister pattered over and flung herself into my embrace. My heart swelled with emotions. “What are you doing here? Did you come with Mom and Dad?”
“I’ve got some meetings today. I’ll let you two catch up,” Cedric said, walking over and planting a kiss on my temple. “I’ll text you.” I nodded, smiling at him sweetly.
“Nice seeing you, Odette. Please stay as long as you need.”
She nodded. “Will do, Doc.”
Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms as Cedric disappeared, as all good husbands should when their wife’s best friend / sister randomly shows up on your doorstep. “What the actual hell is going on, Odie?” I asked, grabbing the latte Ced left on the counter for me. I sank into my spot at the breakfast table across from my sister, who by the looks of the empty plate, had already helped herself to some breakfast.
“Hey, he made you pancakes?” I asked, eyeing the maple syrup.
“I guess Cedric just likes me better. Hey, is he looking for a sister-wife?”
I narrowed my eyes and took a sip of vanilla and cocoa. “We’re Baptist not Mormon. Mom and Dad don’t know you’re here, do they?”
“I’m twenty-three, Dolly. I’m a grown ass woman. But no, they don’t.”
I tapped my foot. “Well? You have my full, undivided attention.”
“I got married,” my sister blurted out.
My coffee almost sprayed from my mouth like some cartoon character. “You did what? Odie, you could have done so much better than Steven Greene and you know it.”
“I know, that’s why I didn’t marry him.” She sat back, clutching her mug and taking a confident sip. “Ced put your pancakes in the oven to keep warm, by the way.”
“Okay, the talking in riddles is getting old. I’m not a goat trying to cross a bridge. Talk.”
“My wife’s name is Caroline, and she’s back at the hotel dying to meet you.”
* * *
After floating to the oven, retrieving my breakfast, and placing it in front of me with a flourish, my sister went back to her coffee like she’d just told me about the premier of her favorite television show.
“Okay, very funny. Now tell me the real reason-”
Odette grabbed her phone off the table and clicked a button, illuminating her screen saver, and shoved it in my face. Skeptical, I snatched it from her hand and inspected the photo.
A beautiful woman, around the same age as Odie, hugged her neck and was kissing her cheek. Her black hair long and wavy. My sister was smiling- no- beaming. Sitting the phone down, my eyes landed on Odette’s extended hand. An onyx stone glimmered atop a rose gold band. “I have black onyx for her. She has ruby red for me. We picked them out last week.”
“Odie.” I breathed, trying to process what my sister was telling me. “You’re married?”