The Unfaithful
How many times had this man made love to her?
How many times had she blushed at the way he looked at her, or giggled at his beautiful childish antics whenever he had the time to do so?
How many times did he come home bearing gifts of small stuffed teddy bears and chocolate turtles once he got home from a long day at work?
Out of all those countless romantic instances, they still found themselves here – bolted into the uncomfortable dreaded leather seats that were situated in the front of their marriage counselor's mahogany desk. The two pain stricken lovers were sitting on opposite sides, with one clutching hard onto the wood of the armrest until his knuckles turned a lighter shade and the other picking at the soon to be to discarded wedding band on her ring finger.
Dr. Straub sighed and cleared his throat from the thick tension the two produced. "Mr. and Mrs. Powers, I think we to find some sort of starting point. Almost like we're going to relive out the day where you both decided you didn't want to be husband and wife anymore. Mr. Powers would you like to go first?'
Keith slanted his eyes over to his wife, drinking in everything he's missed about her in the past six years. The small freckles at the peak of her nose, a small scar at the tip of her bottom lip where a previous piercing resided in her younger rebellious years, or the slight quiver of her shoulders when she was about to let her emotions get the best of her.
"I never stopped wanting her," he spoke softly, speaking his words directly to her.
She scoffed and threw her head back at her husband's untruthful words. "Did you want me when you slept with your personal assistant?"
"Okay," Dr. Straub interjected, "I can see we're going to start with Mrs. Powers first. What I want you to do is remember that night. Remember the point when you realized you were finished with this marriage."
The moment still shown itself clear in her memory, illustrating how her deepest fears about Keith's new P.A. came true.
"I wanted to surprise him," she chuckled bitterly, taking a chunk of her bottom lip between her teeth to stop the tears that were already surfing their way down her flustered cheeks. "We hadn't done anything spontaneous in a while and I figured I would pick a regular Tuesday to try something new. So, I had on some lingerie and a huge trench coat; I even stopped by his favorite sushi place to pick him up some lunch."
From the corner of her eye, she saw her husband tearing up at her words. Guilt pierced straight through him as he relived what he had done, what he thought she wouldn't see. He was unfaithful, something he preached he would never do.
"And there he was, banging her against his desk. Gripping her like she was his wife! Touching her like she belonged to him! Fucking her like she was the one with the ring! He hadn't even looked up until I threw his lunch all over them."
Keith looked directly into his wife's sorrowful brown eyes, croaking out the only words he could think up, "Baby... I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry I married you."
Dr. Straub adjusted the glasses the were perched on the bridge of his nose, glancing at the couple once again. He's dealt with failing marriages like this day in and day out. Men and women cheating like it's a sport, and with every case there was no real reason as to why. Most of the time the spouses confessed that it was an act of impulsive, and yet that still never truly answered his question, "Why did you do it?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know," Dr. Straub questioned.
Keith shook his head, lowering his gaze down to his lap, staring down at the insignificant seamed pattern of his tailored pants. Unknown to everyone else in the room, he was speaking the truth. He hadn't known what compelled him to cheat. He had an amazing, beautiful, caring wife that he came home to every night. The love was there, and the sex even after a long six years had him yearning for more.
