Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER 1
Mark and I attended Vassar together. He was in his senior year when I was a junior. We met at a soiree our houses held together for a worthy charity, and it was love at first sight. I can still remember all these years later the way I felt the first time we met.
He was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen, and I thought my heart would burst from all the feelings that erupted within me as our eyes met across the room. I felt lost and adrift when he turned away without acknowledging me, and the feeling was so poignant that, too, has been embedded in my mind.
I didn’t know that he’d later ask around for my number and call me before the night was over. I vividly recall knowing then and there that this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. There was nothing standing in the way of our young love.
We came from similar backgrounds and pedigrees and were both on track to realizing our academic dreams. We were married three weeks after my graduation and I gave birth to our girls almost exactly nine months to the day. Our son was born eleven months later.
Now, the kids are all in their first year of college, and we’re empty nesters. I was looking forward to this new phase in our lives because even with household staff and me being a stay-at-home mom for our entire marriage, we had never really been alone, him and I.
That didn’t stop the closeness we shared over the years or hindered our romance in any way. There were still date nights, and at least once a year, Mark and I took a couple’s vacation while the other three were spent with the kids.
Once the kids were in school, I gave more time and attention to my charities and volunteer work, organized parties for my husband’s business associates, and was the ultimate soccer mom.
All in all I gave my best for my family and remained an avid lover for my husband. That spark I felt for him that first day never dimmed and only grew brighter due to the love and admiration he showered me with.
So it was a blow to the system when, on my way back from a luncheon a few towns over, I saw my husband, not at the office as I expected him to be, but getting into his car that had been parked on the street in this town where neither of us frequented.
I was about to honk the horn, thinking that he may have had a lunch meeting, which wouldn’t be that abnormal given the nature of his profession. As a venture capitalist, he spent more time in restaurants and other similar settings than in his office.
As my hand moved toward the horn, I saw something that broke me. I even released a yelp of pain as the woman walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. The embrace couldn’t have been that long but there was no mistaking the intimacy.
I don’t know why I didn’t announce my presence or how it was that a cold numbness took over me instead of the hot rage one would expect. I sat and watched with dry eyes as he climbed into his car and drove away while she got into hers that had been parked behind.
I’m not sure why I followed her instead of him or how I had the presence of mind to capture images of her license plate. Or why I stopped a few cars back when she parked, why I snapped images of her on my phone.
It was only when she disappeared inside the building that I recognized it as one of ours. I’d driven back to my city and not even realized it. I sat there for what felt like hours, but by the clock, it had only been half an hour before driving home on autopilot.
He wasn’t home when I got there, which was for the best because I needed time to get my thoughts together. I couldn’t acknowledge the pain in my heart because that would not help me much at this time. Anger had no place here; I needed a cool head.
I walked up the stairs to our bedroom and into the walk-in closet to change into my one-piece bathing suit. Swimming always relaxes me and gives me time to look inward.
I didn’t let my emotions win, no matter how hard they tried, as I threw myself into the temperature-controlled water. My arms and thighs burned as I swam lap after lap.
The more I swam, the harder I pushed myself, the clearer my head became. The first order of business is to find out all I can about the young lady and go from there. It didn’t matter how long it had been going on; once was more than too much. All I had to decide now was what I wanted to happen.