itsawonderfilledlife

This is another post in a series, about a woman named Amara. Every Friday I will post another segment in this story.

A noise from Joe’s cell phone on the table, plucked Joe from the moment. “My phone, not now,” Joe thought as his lips touched Roxanne’s for the first time. A kiss that he had been anticipating for months.

The first time they had met was at an annual general meeting for their employer, in Boston. She had held the elevator door for him as he was running for it, hoping to get on, so that he would not be terribly late for a session he was leading. Then they ran into each other again later in the week, at a coffee shop where they remembered meeting in the elevator, and shared a table and the fastest hour of Joe’s life. After that, the emails back and forth … just to keep in touch. Then she and her husband separated, and the emails became more personal, Joe taking the part of confidant and encourager. With more and more often there being talk of when they would see each other again.

Joy never seemed to need him anymore. They were living two very separate lives, under one roof. She with her running around doing things for their daughters, or her mother, and he working. Living with Joy had become more of a sibling relationship than a married couple one. He sometimes wondered if it would just be better for their daughters if they too were to separate, like Roxanne and her husband.

Recently, Joe was able to convince his superior (and himself) that he needed to personally check on the running of the office in Vancouver. The office which Roxanne was responsible for. So they were able to spend his two days there together, without raising an eyebrow. Of course neither one of them admitted to their self that they both had intentions that were anything but platonic. After arriving the day before, when Roxanne picked him up at the airport. The only time they had spent apart was during the night. Now, only about twenty-four hours after Joe touched down in the city, they were kissing, passionately, in his hotel room, admitting the desire they both had been feeling for the other.

This expression of passion felt so good to Joe. It was something that he and Joy had not shared in a very, very long time. And he could tell that Roxanne was fully responsive to him.

Again the noise from his cell phone, another text was coming in.

“I really do need to check this.” Joe said, with great regret. He walked away from Roxanne, who was standing by the door in his hotel room, to the table where his phone was lying. When he picked it up, he saw two messages, both from Joy, his wife, “love you” and the second, “Mom is in the hospital. It’s been an ordeal. Text me when you have a moment.” His heart felt like it was stopped. He kept reading those two words, over and over. “Love you” was not something that Joy had said to Joe is so long, it was something Joe had not said to Joy in as long. It was something he almost said earlier to Roxanne.

“Are you going to leave me here at your room doorway, or do you want to invite me in to stay?” Roxanne said, purring.

Joe read the two words again, and a feeling of dread, a feeling of regret gripped his being. He had made such a big mistake, and he had been moving towards an even bigger one. What would Joy think? What did he do? What would the girls …”

“Hello … Joe, you do remember that I am still here?” Roxanne asked cheekily.

“Uh, Roxanne, I need to go home, it’s an emergency,” Joe stood, grabbed his carry on bag and started filling it with the contents of a dresser drawer. He did not face or even glance up at Roxanne, who was standing there, but just moved around the room, filling his bag.

“Do you want me to drive you to the airport?” Roxanne asked, with great pleading in her voice.

“No, I will take a taxi.” Joe replied, still not making eye contact with her.

Roxanne turned, and walked through the door, shoulders hanging.

She did not even ask what the emergency was. Joe pondered, as he packed up his laptop.

He grabbed his bags, checked out of the hotel, and hailed a taxi to go to the airport. Joe was heading home … needed, and … loved.

Unfading – Part 1

Unfading – Part 12