Two Pink Lines

5

He had spent the rest of the day cuddling with Alice on her couch, just enjoying the feeling of holding her in his arms. It was disappointing to both of them when they saw the time and knew he had to go.

Summer was much better, the kids stayed out late or would stay at a friends house so there was no need for either of them to rush out.

He drove back home as slow as possible, really not wanting to deal with Gladys. She's only been there's for a day but he was already tired of her. There was a reason he had sent her the divorce papers.

Maybe if she had of showed up earlier, he would of been open to working on their marriage. But he's happy now, head over heels in love with Alice, there's no way he's going to jeopardize that.

"Dad!" Jellybean excitedly speaks when he walks in the door. "Come look at all the stuff I got for school."

He smiles and heads into the kitchen where she's got her school stuff laid out on the table. "Looks like someone's changed their tune about going to school."

"Well I still don't want to go but new clothes and stuff really helped."

"I'm glad. What else did you and your mom do today?"

"We got some lunch at the mall after we finished shopping, we just got home like an hour ago."

"Sounds like you had a good time."

"We did." Gladys answers, coming into the kitchen as well. "Did you and Fred get lots done?"

"Yeah, still got a few more days of work but we're done for the day."

"Well that's good. I didn't know you and Fred were still close."

"Yeah, well when you've known someone your whole life you don't exactly drop them that easily."

She bites back an insult, knowing that's probably how he feels about Alice too. "Guess I'll have to reconnect with some of my old friends. It's always good to have a friend in town."

•

She's been watching him like a hawk since she came to town, all the while reporting back to her partner in crime.

She watches him intently as he smiled at his phone, constantly asks where he's going whenever he leaves the house. She's even drove by Alice's house a few times too, wanting to see if she can find something incriminating about the woman so she can take her down too. But unfortunately, there's not a crack in the facade she's worked so hard to build up over the years.

"Have you got any sort of plan?" Hiram asks as Gladys sits across from him.

"No, him being in a relationship with that bimbo makes things a lot more difficult. Everything was so carefully thought out, I don't know what to do now."

He sighs. "It's been two weeks since you got to town, surely you've thought of something. We can't keep people waiting much longer, Gladys."

"I know that, I just don't know what else we can do. The only thing I've thought of is getting him out of the picture."

"Woah, are you talking about killing him?" He seems caught off guard by the thought and Gladys raises an eyebrow, she knows what he's done in his past.

"No, I don't want to go that far, just maybe something that would create sympathy. A heartbroken wife, abandoned by her husband? No one would suspect me of anything."

"Ok, so what exactly are you thinking? Do you want to expose his affair with Alice?"

She shrugs. "I've thought about it."

"The problem with that is, he'd still be around for the kids. He could expose you right back." Hiram explains.

She sighs dramatically, slumping back in her chair. "Well I've got no other ideas, so I don't know what we're going to do. I've tried to convince him to work on our marriage but she's got him wrapped around her finger."

Hiram thinks for a moment, his eyebrows creasing together, deep in thought. "Maybe I've got something that could work." He starts. "We'll have to work out some of the kinks but I think it could work."

She raises an eyebrow at him and leans closer. "I'm listening."

"Do you know when his next shift is at the diner?"

"Thursday. Why?"

He smiles devilishly. "I've got the perfect way to take him out of the picture, something that will have no one on his side and there won't be any chance of him getting in the way of us."