Challen and Addy

Chapter 9 (Challen): Perk Right Up

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

"Get rid of the balloons. I don't want them," I said to Jennifer as I walked into my cubicle.

"Should I just leave them here?" she asked loudly, having followed me into the cubicle. Clearly not listening to me, she put the bouquet of balloons on my workspace.

"No," I said turning to her, raising my voice. If she wanted to make this public, I'd oblige her. "I want you out of my cubicle, and I want you to take your unwanted balloons with you."

Her eyes widened and her voice dropped.

"Look, I know you're upset about your wife and all, but that's no reason to be nasty to me. I just want to be a good friend to you during this."

"I'm being nasty because you aren't listening. Told you we aren't friends anymore. We're colleagues. That's it."

"Well, these are just balloons from a colleague who's missed you, then."

I was tired and in no mood for this situation I'd created. I picked up a pen from my desk and proceeded to pop all ten balloons, knowing everyone could hear the noise, then threw the deflated mylar mess in the trash.

"Got the message? Get out of here."

This time, I didn't turn my back on her until she walked out of my cube. Only then did I feel it was safe to sit down at my computer and lose myself in emails until it was time for my team meeting.

We ran through everything we needed to cover in the hour I'd allotted, then I went in to see my boss.

"How's Addy?" he asked.

"In rough shape. She has a lot of healing to do and then a lot of rehab." And then she wants to divorce me.

He gave me a shrewd look. "What happened with Jennifer and the balloons?"

I give him a look, not surprised office gossip had reached him in just over an hour. "She came to see me at the hospital, Roger. Me. Didn't ask about my wife."

"Are you surprised?"

"What does that mean? Yeah, I was surprised. When someone's been in a terrible accident, you normally ask how they're doing before you ask how someone's holding up."

"You think that's all it was?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You and Jennifer spend a lot of time together," he said cautiously.

"We did. I won't be spending time with her going forward."

"Look, I'm just going to be blunt: is the break up going to affect your ability to work with Jennifer on joint projects that require both of your teams?"

"Break up? We were friends, Roger. That's all it ever was. I was spending too much time with her, but it was related to working out and our shared hobbies and work. I told her at the hospital that I wouldn't be doing anything outside of work with her anymore. We'd interact at work when necessary but that was it."

"OK, Challen."

"If you're implying that Jennifer and I ever crossed that line, you're wrong."

"There are a lot of lines, Challen." He leaned toward me with a sigh. "Not many people know this, but I was married before I married Cara. My first marriage ended not because of a physical affair but because of an emotional one. I'd backed right into it without even realizing I was taking a series of steps that were taking me away from my wife, and each step was pushing the boundary a bit more. I lost my childhood sweetheart over it because I started talking to another woman instead of my wife. She understood me. She got the pressure I was under at work. She was easy to be with. She wasn't always on me about something. Began spending time with her outside of work, lying about what I was doing. Was the biggest mistake of my life."

"What happened?"

"My wife saw us having dinner one night when I'd told her I had to work late. Accused me of having an affair, which I didn't get since I'd never even kissed the other woman. That's when I was introduced to the term emotional affair."

"Emotional? I don't have feelings for Jennifer and I never hid that she and I were working out and spending time together."

Why did everyone keep trying to make more out of this than there was? 

He spread his hands as if to say he'd done all he could. "Look it up if you want or don't. My objective here is to make sure that work isn't going to be affected by whatever it was between you two that's ended."

"My work and my team's work won't be affected. I promise you that."

"That's all I need to know. Now, let's talk about the next two months and priorities."

Driving back to the hospital thinking about what Roger had talked to me about made me feel even more unsure than I already was. Emotional affair. There was a term for my friendship with Jennifer?

My first stop was the nurse's station, where I asked if Addy had changed her mind about letting me into her room. The nurse looked at me with pity.

"No, Challen, she hasn't."

I nodded. "Thanks. Please tell her I'll be in the waiting room if she changes her mind."

When I sat down at the table in the waiting room, instead of working, I Googled emotional affair. Also called emotional infidelity, I discovered. I read several articles about what they were and then looked at the signs. 

Secrecy. No, I wasn't secretive. Maybe about the lunches?

Sharing things you should be sharing with your spouse/SO. No. I didn't talk to Jennifer about Addy. She guessed shit, but I didn't discuss my marriage with her.

Spending more time with other person rather than spouse/SO. Definitely yes. I was guilty of this.

Being defensive about other person. Absolutely yes. I'd always gotten defensive with Addy when she told me she didn't want me spending so much time with Jennifer. I'd defended my right to spend time with a friend who shared the same hobbies I did and told Addy she wouldn't have a problem with Jennifer if she'd been a man.

Comparing your spouse/SO to other person. This one hurt to admit, but it was a yes. I'd liked that I'd found a workout partner who liked to get out and was fit enough to keep up with me. I'd wished many times that Addy would get more interested in exercising.

Inappropriate text messages or calls. No. We texted strictly to set up times to go biking or hiking, but nothing beyond that.

I was about to keep going down the list of signs when I saw a tall man heading toward my wife's room. 

Hold on. 

He was about ten years older than we were, wearing jeans, a black T-shirt and a leather vest with some logo on the back. The man had two full sleeves of tattoos, and he checked her room number against a piece of paper in his hands before he opened the door and walked in.

He obviously wasn't wearing scrubs or a white lab coat, and he had on a visitor badge so who the actual fuck was this? He just walked right into my wife's room?

I headed to the nurse's station. "There's a strange man that just walked into my wife's room."

"Yes. We saw."

"You're just going to let some stranger walk into my wife's room?"

"Oh, we know him. He's the hospital chaplain."

"He's a biker. How is he the chaplain? He's not even dressed like one!"

"We try not to judge," she said, smiling sweetly at me -- she knew I wasn't pleased. She also knew I'd been banned from my wife's room so she probably had figured out that I'd been an asshole to Addy. "He helps out when the regular chaplain's on vacation or sick, or whenever he's in town and has some time."

"Why is he in my wife's room?" Addy and I weren't religious, and we didn't go to church.

"Well, maybe she needed some cheering up." The nurse made a dreamy face and leaned toward me, her hands resting on her work station. "And honestly, if that man walked into my room, he wouldn't even have to say a word and I'd perk right up."

After narrowing my eyes at her, I walked to my wife's room and leaned against the wall, waiting for this chaplain to come out so he and I could have a chat.