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Roger raked his fingers through his hair, which was something he did when he was nervous.
“I’m not sure. Are you going somewhere will this interrogation?” Roger asked.
“As a matter of fact, I am. Are you cheating on me, and have you been for a long time?” Sophie asked. She made a Herculean effort not to cry, and so far, she was successful.
Roger was silent for too long, and Sophie was sure he was trying to come up with a story on the fly. She realized at that moment how gullible she’d been and how he thought she was still that way.
“Cindy and I have been working closely for the past month, and it just happened. In her words, we’re twin flames,” Roger said.
Sophie tried not to laugh.
“We’ve been married for over a quarter of a century, and you fall for that. How old is she, twenty-five?” Sophie asked.
“Cindy is thirty. Give me some credit. I’m not going to fall in love with someone younger than Malcolm,” Roger said.
"My life is disintegrating before your eyes, and you casually tell me you're in love with another woman,” Sophie said incredulously.
“I’m in shock that you found out months ago, and you’re just now telling me. Do you know the pain I’ve been going through having to keep my relationship with Cindy a secret?” he asked.
“Did you seriously just ask me that question?”
“Sophie, you were a great wife, and we had a lot of fun. We made this house a home and have a wonderful son together. I’ll never lose respect for you, but it’s time for us to explore what else is out there. I deserve it and so do you.”
“I suggest you go find Cindy tonight. I want this place to myself so I can scream at the top of my lungs and break a few plates.”
“Don’t break anything of mine,” Roger said. As if there were anything of his – everything in the house was theirs.
Sophie hadn’t responded to the comment; she just pointed for the door.
Sophie looked up, and she was stopped at a green light. She had probably been there a while, and thank goodness there was only one car behind her. She took the back way to her mother’s house, and she waved apologetically to the other driver.
Sophie had received a text from her mother while she was daydreaming. Sophie, I’m at the market and I won’t be long because there isn’t much I need. I’m planning on making soup for dinner. Let yourself in. Love, Mom. Sophie smiled. Her mother would probably never figure out that full sentences did not have to be used in the text.
She wished that Roger had not come into the wine bar the previous night. Sophie had not been obsessing about him for days before Malcolm arrived, and then she saw him. It was a good streak she had going, and now it was destroyed. Depending on what Nora said the next day, Sophie might have something new to occupy her mind.
She pulled into her mother's driveway. Vera lived in a two-bedroom brick ranch, and Sophie figured she was still holding out hope that she would move in someday. There was a chance that Vera might need her someday as a caretaker, but she didn’t know when that would be. At that point, Sophie wouldn’t hesitate to move in.
Sophie let herself in and turned on some lights as she waited for her mother. Will came running at her and nipped at her legs. She wasn’t a fan of the yippy dog. Sophie wondered if her mother had gone through her father’s boxes. There were three banker’s boxes that she claimed to have not opened in the years since Bill’s death.
Before she could take a look inside, her phone buzzed. “Hi, Mom, is everything okay?”
“Fine, but I ran into Gladys on my way in and lost track of time. I’ll be fifteen more minutes. Will I make you late for work?”
“Nope. I don’t have to work. Take your time and get some soup for me, too. I’ll stay for dinner,” Sophie said.
“How’s Will?” Vera asked.
“He’s wonderful,” Sophie fibbed.
After she hung up, Sophie started to go through the boxes. She didn’t think it was an invasion of privacy since she had told her mother in the past that she would help go through them. She was just curious about her father and would love to find out something about him that she didn’t know. The boxes were going to be put in storage before he died. They had been in the trunk of his vehicle at the golf course.
Sophie checked her watch, and it had been ten minutes, and there seemed to be nothing interesting. She pulled one last envelope from the bottom of the box and opened it. It was a picture of her father with his arm around another woman. She turned it over, and it said Lisa.
The dog barked, and she heard the door begin to open. Sophie closed the box and put the photo in her bra.
6
Sophie embraced her mother as Will nipped at their heels and yipped.
