Whore.

Chapter 34: Zaijian

My mouth was dry. Rita was staring at me in shock and confusion. Mrs. Beedham still held my hand, looking stern. She was probably trying not to make a scene. My eyes darted around the room quickly. Nobody else was looking at us, or knew of our little conversation.

"I-" I started to explain myself but I couldn't form a coherent thought.
"Michael, what's going on?" Rita finally found her voice.
"Stay out of this, Rita. This is between me and him. Let's go outside."

Brianna let go of my hand and walked to the back door. I felt the urge to make a run for it, but that would definitely create a scene. Obviously, she wanted us to settle this as quietly as possible. I couldn't ruin all that by freaking out. My heart was still thumping in my chest as I walked behind her. I wasn't scared she could get physical; I could easily take her down in a fight. I was more scared she'd get verbal. There were too many listeners here. Not to mention children. I met her sitting outside on a low stone fence which surrounded some azaleas. I stood in front of her. I couldn't risk getting too close.

"Come sit," she said coldly. "We have a lot to talk about."

I slowly walked over to sit beside her, maintaining eye contact all the way. I wanted to catch any intentions she might have. Though with her cool and collected poise, I couldn't predict the kind of person she would be.

"How long have you been having this affair with my husband?"
I did a mental count. "About six months. Our first meeting was in April."
"Really. Figures."
"I'm really sorry if I caused any problems between you two. I was just doing my job."
"Which is what? Breaking families apart?"
"I'm a whore. I got paid."

She looked at me with an expression I couldn't understand. It seemed like a little blend of surprise and pity. I continued to look at her, not smiling. She seemed to stare at me for a few minutes before she did something I couldn't expect.

She burst out laughing.

I had never been more confused in my life.

She laughed for a long time. I looked around. The only other people who were in the yard looked at us briefly, probably thinking we were sharing some joke. I waited for her to finish. I was yet to get the joke. She wiped a tear from her eyes.

"You should have seen your face," she laughed. "You were totally scared shitless."

I was surprised. Did she just swear? I would never have taken her as the type to utter a single inappropriate word. I still felt confused by everything though.

"So...you're not angry with me?"
"No," she laughed. "I should be thanking you. You probably just saved my marriage."
"How?" My fear was gone. Now I was just surprised.
"Jonathan has been so uptight for years. I used to think he was just a nervous type when we were dating but it only got worse after we got married. We were rarely intimate and it frustrated me. A woman has needs, you know."
"Okay..." I urged her to continue.
"I knew something happened in April. He came back one day, actually looking happy. The stress lines on his face had eased a bit. He laughed a lot more. Tracy enjoyed being around him for once. I even liked his attitude. But then I got suspicious. I thought he was cheating on me. So I started watching him after he came home, but he never slipped up. I never found some other woman's perfume on him, or kiss stains, or anything. So I let it go and thought 'hey, maybe he's following some self help book or something'. We still had sex very few times and I considered having an affair of my own. I nearly got into it, I mean, I had a few offers and I knew a lot of men who were interested but put off by this." She held up her ring finger. "And then last week, he tells me he's gay, and he's been having an affair with some guy named Michael."
"That would be me," I said. For some reason, I felt the urge to smile. But I wanted her to finish the story first.
"I was a little shocked for a minute. Then I felt relief. It was like everything made sense: his constant stress, the way he seemed to hurry his way through sex, even his exaggerated homophobia. Once we talked about it, we worked something out. And, no, we're not getting a divorce."
I raised my eyebrow at her. "So you're going to stay married to him, even now that he's gay?"
"Yes. Tracy loves her father regardless. Besides, he was gay from the moment I married him. And now we have Robertson." She winked at me. I frowned a little.
"Robertson?"
"He's bisexual."