Michael and Susan

Chapter 1 (Susan): Waited

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA 

I sighed, and began putting the stew in a Tupperware container. Despite it being Saturday, my husband had been at work all day. He'd been working so many extra hours lately, I felt like I never saw him. Being at home with nothing to do but keeping house, cooking and sewing got lonely.

My friends were busy with their children, but Michael and I hadn't been so blessed yet even though we'd been married four years. It'd been terribly discouraging and between the long-time disappointment of not having children and the more recent disappointment of my husband never being home, I was at odds as to what I could do to help my spirits along. If you're reading this anywhere but on wattpad where you can read it for free, you're reading a story stolen from groveltohea. I needed something more than volunteering at church on three different committees.

In desperation, I'd secretly become an Avon lady. Ding, Dong, Avon calling! Somehow, even though Michael had always told me that he didn't want me working because I could do the most good in our home, I'd discovered that I not only loved selling Avon, but I was actually good at it. For the last four months of the six I'd been selling it, I was in the top three for my district. I made my calls during the day and still hadn't told Michael.

That was because I was saving all the money I made to buy him a used Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He'd always dreamed of owning one, and I'd thought I could help that along by earning the down payment for one. So far, I had a nice little nest egg saved, and I'd been extremely frugal with my grocery allowance and pin money Michael gave me each week, which allowed me to put anything leftover into the Harley fund. Even if I couldn't have my dream of children yet, Michael could have his dream of a motorcycle. My husband worked hard, and he deserved to have some fun.

With the stew in the refrigerator, and not knowing when Michael was coming home since he wasn't answering his phone at work, I felt completely at odds and didn't feel like sitting down with the mending. Sighing, I decided to give my best friend Linda a call.

She'd withdrawn more and more from me in the seven months since her husband had been killed in Korea -- right before he was supposed to come home. But despite her pushing me away, I still reached out and called her, trying to get through to Linda in her grief. I'd had her over to our house often at first to get her out of her house, but I think seeing me so happy with Michael hurt her, and she grew even more distant with me.

Maybe she'd be willing to come over more often if she realized Michael wasn't home, which seemed to be the norm now instead of the exception. I was hoping she'd eventually meet someone who would help spark her interest in life again because she was honestly one of the most beautiful women I knew with her lush brown hair and hourglass figure.Her phone rang once, twice --

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Linda, it's Susan. How are you?"

"Um, fine --"

Then I heard a voice in the background.

"Just finished painting the garage, Linda. Smells good in here. Dinner ready yet? Oh, sorry -- didn't realize you were on the phone."

I knew that voice.

"Is that...Michael?" I asked her. Swallowing hard, I gripped the phone tighter, waiting for her to confirm what I already knew. That was my husband's voice, the dead giveaway his deep, southern drawl that you didn't typically hear up here in the Midwest.

My husband was over at Linda's, painting her garage, which meant he'd been over there a while. No wonder he hadn't answered his phone at work. And he was planning on having dinner with her.

I won't be home for dinner tonight, Suze. I'm working late.

It's going to be another late night, honey.

Go ahead and eat without me. I'm not getting out of here anytime soon.

From there, it didn't take me long to figure out that Linda had begun to distance herself around the same time that Michael had begun working late.

Linda sucked in a breath and hung up on me, and I didn't bother calling her back. Since Michael had our car, I couldn't exactly go running to the other side of town where she lived and confront the two of them. Instead, I sat on the couch and waited for Michael to come home.

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA