Love after Life

...comes out to light

While Chrissy stays home with the kids, let's see what Tony gets up to! Take it away, Tony!

I drove all the way to Amberville so I could have Gabe's redhead friend fix my wife's phone. The phone was, well, in pieces, that's the best way I can describe it. That's what we get for buying cheap stuff. I sighed to myself; a part of me was worried I was now on the chopping block at my job, but another part of me was happy as heck to be out of there.

I entered Gabe's store, Gatekeeper, where Gabe and his friend were already waiting for me. His friend, a woman named Daisy Derriwinkle, is a nice enough gal. She's also pretty easy on the eyes, and she'd be hot if you were into that nerd girl aesthetic. Personally, I don't even know what type of girl I like anymore. I've been with Chrissy so long that I'm not able to see myself with anyone else. I barely remember what attracted me to Chrissy in the first place.

"Hey," I said to Gabe and his friend while handing her the phone. "So, here it is."

"Broken screen, battery's out," said Daisy as she continued to list my wife's phone's problems. "Dang, remember when Nokia phones were invincible?"

"That really feels like a lifetime ago," Gabe chuckled.

"Can it be fixed?" I asked.

"It'll take me a while, but sure," said Daisy as she grabbed her backpack and began to take out some tools and parts out of it. While she worked, Gabe and I had a chat.

"Nice store," I said, looking around. Gabe's store had many shelves stacked with all types of games, cards, and figurines. He also had several tables that, besides Daisy, had a couple of teens playing card games. At the far end of the store he had a TV. "You must be proud."

"I do good business," he said. "And honestly, I like what I've got going on in here. This store is my baby."

"Must be nice, working for yourself," I said. "Not having a boss yell at you, tell you how worthless you are, make your life a living hell..."

I noticed my eyes were starting to sting the more I talked, so I stopped.

"You OK, man?" Gabe asked, and even Daisy looked a bit concerned for me.

"Yeah," I said, sighing. "Sorry, went on a tangent."

"Dude, that wasn't no tangent," said Gabe, looking uncharacteristically worried. "That was something ya had in ya a while now."

"I'd rather not get into it," I said, crossing my arms as I looked around the store, occasionally gazing at Daisy as she fixed my phone.

"Ya know, when I first got this store up and running, a part of me was nervous," said Gabe. "But Mr. D kept telling me to believe in myself and my vision, to put in my blood and tears, and that in time I'd see the fruits of my labors."

"Who?" I asked.

"My dad," Daisy chimed in.

"Yeah, Daisy's dad taught me all about owning and operating a business," Gabe said, smiling. "If not for him, I'd be..."

"In my shoes," I finished for him. "Good on you, man. The rat race ain't for everybody."

"Sounds to me like you want out," said Gabe as he leaned on the counter.

"I got a family to feed," I said, looking down at the ground. "I can't quit, even if I want to. But boy do I want to..."

There was a silence between us, which got broken when I noticed a baseball on Gabe's counter. "What's with the ball?"

"Oh, that?" Gabe asked, chuckling. "Jolie dragged me to the batting cages yesterday, and I kept this ball as a souvenir. By the way, that's a friend of mine; you don't know her, don't worry."

"Anything going on between you two?" I asked, grinning.

"WOOOAAAH, no way!" Gabe chuckled. "We're just friends, that's all!"

"Jolie and Todd take turns dragging Gabe out of his store now and then," Daisy chimed in. "To prevent him from being here all the time. By the way, want me to do a system restore?"

"Yea, sure," I said. "Can I see that ball?"

"Sure," Gabe said as he handed me the ball. As I touched it, a wave of nostalgia hit me; memories of afternoon practice sessions, games on the weekend, crowds cheering my team on, of going to baseball games with my friends, eating peanuts and crackerjacks at the stands...

My eyes were stinging, but a smile was on my face.

"I wanted to play baseball growing up," I said, smiling at the beautiful memories. "I was almost gonna make it, but I got Chrissy pregnant, and, well, that was that."

"Damn," said Gabe, shaking his head.

"Uhhhh," Daisy spoke up, looking a bit flustered. "Hey, buddy? Sorry, the system reboot kinda restored your deleted text messages, aaaaaaand, uh, they kinda popped up?"

"That's fine," I said. "That's my wife's phone; I doubt there's-"

"Oh," she suddenly lost all color on her face as she stared at the screen. "Uhhh.... Gabe? What's the protocol here?"

"Something wrong?" I asked, giving Gabe the ball back. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

She hesitated to give me my wife's phone, looking nervously at Gabe for some reason.

"Give him the phone, Daisy," Gabe said, his voice sounding rather commanding. Hesitantly, she returned the phone to me.

"I'm sorry," she said, tearing up a bit. "I didn't..."

"What?" I asked, looking at my wife's phone. I saw she had been texting someone named Angie.

"What are you wearing?" Chrissy had texted Angie.

"Just my underwear," Angie had replied.

And it got saucier from there. Apparently there were also pictures involved, but those didn't reappear.

"Daisy, thanks for your help," said Gabe as he rushed to my side, grabbing my arm and leading me to a chair I could sit on. "Go home, OK? Let me handle this."

My wife is cheating on me.

"So," Gabe began as Daisy, and apparently the other customers, began to leave. "I'm willing to help you out, dude. I know what she did was heinous and-"

My wife is cheating on me.

"-I'm sorry, I never expected this out of her," he continued. "I can't imagine how you feel-"

My wife is cheating on me.

"-I hope you understand, you're not alone in this," Gabe continued. "I'm here, I'm on your side, and-"

My wife is cheating on me...