There I was, cheque in hand, in my car, trying to figure out if it was wise to bank the cheque since I had arrears pending and seriously it was such a good deal that some small devil in me was thanking Sandra so much……and back to reality Michelle was my friend and at this particular moment she was my priority. Sighing with relief I was out of the drive way. My mind kept wandering off and of course the angry drivers kept hooting at me to get out of the way.
My mind was so occupied that I had missed a call from my husband. I had to stop at a petrol station to call him back. He sounded really pissed but that did not bother me so much because his next statement pissed me off so much I almost cursed out loud. “Sandra was here to see me, we need to talk immediately,” he said. The name Sandra makes me want to throw up or should I say like a friend of mine who has been having dreams of strangling her? Sandra had become a pain in places that I cannot mention but really she had gone over board.
I jumped into my car and was speeding more than I usually do. I could see the other motorists shaking their heads in shock. Like I cared, I was about to strangle a woman who had given me an endless zero cheque but had the audacity to go to my house, for a reason that I could not comprehend. The questions in my head were whirling around and I almost felt dizzy. I reached home in less that thirty minutes and my husband was waiting for me at the door. I tried to read the expression on his face and his body language but zero.
I noticed that he was not in his usual mood. I did not even go far; I sat down on the sofa and beckoned him to go on. We had been married for long and my husband avoided arguments like the plague, but knowing him, I could feel one brewing (like in cartoons when their faces turn pink and steam comes out of their heads).
I was ready for whatever was coming. He started by asking why the hell I was borrowing money from Sandra, and that was the main reason Sandra had come over. “She says that she gave you a large sum of money that you had borrowed to start a business. She even showed me the page she had recorded in her cheque book which was dated three months ago, “he said pacing back and forth (he was really making me dizzy). He looked at me waiting for an answer. Knowing him, I shut up and waited for him to unload what that conniving (mmh looking for a word so harsh that she would die if I uttered it). Sandra had really crossed the line. “There is something else she left with me in an envelope. Don’t try and deny this one because it is very true and this is evidence enough,” he said sadness in his voice.
I picked up the envelope and there I was in a photo hugging Eugene, a long lost school mate I had met at the mall one day. I never thought of denying, so I kept quiet until he finished. “Is that all?” I asked. He nodded and sat down. Now it was my turn to pace back and forth (pay back for dizziness was a B****). In my head I wanted to lash out at my husband because he seemed to believe Sandra more than I, and I was in a trance because I was not sure what to tell him. I coughed and then turned to him and asked him, “How long have we been married? And I refer to the photo which you seem to believe more than me. That is Eugene, we were in the same university and I bumped into him when the kids and I had gone for lunch the time you were out of the country. Remember I told you. You have to believe me I would not cheat on you and I have no reason to.”
I had to say something about the cheque. I had not checked the date on the cheque when I received it, I guess at that moment I was not sure what to do with the cheque. I took my handbag and removed the cheque and showed it to my husband who as soon as he looked at the date gave it back to me. He looked furious and asked me “T, what is this? I mean you needed money and you could not ask me, your husband?” A moment of silence because I had to wait for him to calm down and then I told him, “Sandra gave me this cheque today because she knows I am aware of what she and Michelle’s husband have been doing. It is meant to be a buy off for my silence. Believe me or not that’s the whole truth”, I said and went to the bedroom.
After this fight a week later, my husband had been out of the house for some hours each time he left the office and I was always suspicious because he was not the kind of person who went out after work. Recently he had been coming late and receiving text messages late in the night. I was never a snoopy person but I had to get to the bottom of it. On this particular occasion he was in the bathroom and there it was in black and white…SANDRA….messages at midnight and during the day meeting at places so expensive my husband never even took me to such places on top of that seductive messages that I could not even read, am a very imaginative person but I was not sure what was going on and I was not going to ask him until he decided to tell me himself. Sandra in my mind was time to get rid of her…and this was ultimate.
I know I was being selfish because my first agenda was Michelle and here was this mad woman called Sandra up in my business seducing my husband. I told myself, “T, you are bright it is time to end this.” That night I cooked his best meal and as a family we had a splendid dinner. I told him that I was going to invite Sandra for lunch over the weekend. The cloudy look on his face said it all, either he knew I was up to something but he was not happy. That did not move me.
I started thinking of ways to destroy this once and for all. That night I went over to Michelle’s because I had to tell her. This had gone too far and I needed my best friend. I had given Michelle a call and she was really apprehensive because I hinted it was about her and we needed a quiet moment alone to discuss. I felt as if I didn’t want to do this alone but I needed my conscience clear. I picked Michelle from her house and went to one of our favorite places.
I did not beat about the bush; I went straight in with it and said, “I think Sandra and your husband are having an affair.” She looked at me shocked and nodded as a sign for me to go ahead. “ I don’t want to judge but I think it is true, she was in my house to see me and said nasty things to my husband and left a cheque behind which I believe was a buy off and I had to tell you,” I said. I knew I had bended the truth but it was enough to convict her. She wanted to see the cheque and I drew it out of my purse and gave her.
“What the hell?” she asked. I nodded and told her that Sandra had no reason to hand me over such a cheque unless she had something to hide. I also told her about the text messages she had been sending my husband and the places they were meeting. “It’s plain nasty for her to do that, am not sure what to do. I have not confronted him yet but let him tell me himself. I am having her for lunch this weekend are you game?” I asked.
Hey what do you say we bank that cheque and go shopping?
~ Michelle
In the time I had talked to Michelle she was very quiet about it. I was not sure what she was thinking. Finally she spoke, “I have known all along and it has been a secret that I have been keeping and I did not want to bother you with it. You know that I don’t like when people are up in my business.” I could not believe it. I mean how in the world were we friends if we could not talk? For a moment I felt so stupid for thinking that all this time I was doing an honorable thing for her and yet she actually knew it. Michelle noticed the look on my face and knew that I was mad and said, “Hey what do you say we bank that cheque and go shopping?” I looked at her with a grin on my face and said nothing. I feigned tiredness and drove her home and was back to my house.
Is Michelle who she says she really is? Am I a bad person to think her a bad person? Sandra is now my biggest problem since Michelle seems to have handled her business way in advance. Waiting for Sandra, but is it worth it? I mean or will she fade away in the background?
Editor’s Note:
Part 1 of the series – How can I tell her…or do i just shut up?
Part 2 of the series – Talk about wrong timing
Part 3 of the series – Duped And Deceived
Part 4 of the series – Big Shock!