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TOE Short Story :: Home Early – Chapter 1

ChurchPunkMom

Jenna stood outside the door to her apartment, fumbling with her keys. She still had trouble remembering which one went in this lock, having only lived there a few months with her new husband, Shane. Finally, she found the key she was after and extended it toward the lock. Jenna stopped short, noticing the door was not quite shut all the way. She gently pushed it open.

Stepping inside the small second floor apartment, she wondered for a moment at the unlatched door. She put away her keys and purse and quickly dismissed it due to her rushed morning. Getting up late, not feeling well, she’d hurried out the door to make it to the art studio by 9am. Never mind that it was all in vain as Jenna’s customer hadn’t even shown up. So back home she went, hoping to return to her warm bed.

Taking off her jacket and throwing it on the couch, Jenna headed down he hall toward the bedroom. The door was only open a crack instead being flung wide as usual – definitely odd. As she neared the door, Jenna heard Shane’s voice – the sound left her feeling both comforted and concerned, he shouldn’t have been home from work for several more hours. Jenna’s heart began beating hard and her hands were clammy as she pushed open the door.

There was Shane, naked in their bed with his body tangled with another woman. The woman saw Jenna before he did and had to tap him on the shoulder as he was still lost in his thrusting and oblivious to the intrusion.

Intrusion. What an inappropriate word for such a scene. Discovery made more sense, or even interruption perhaps, but intrusion was what it felt like to Jenna as she stood in the doorway of her own bedroom watching her husband of only seven months realize he’d just been caught cheating. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion, seconds feeling like minutes and minutes like hours as she stood staring at this strange woman tugging her sheets to her naked breasts.

Shane slid to the edge of the bed and reached casually for his underwear.

“It’s not what you think…” Shane said quietly as he put on his underpants. It was, quite possibly, the stupidest thing Jenna had ever heard Shane say. “I mean…” Shane ran his fingers through his short sandy blond hair, “awe, shit… I can explain, Jenna… really..”

Even the woman had a look of bewilderment in her eyes as they waited for Shane to continue and offer up whatever brilliant explanation he had. But Jenna was lost, mentally floating away and using a good portion of her focus on not allowing her churning stomach to hurl its contents right on to the bed with her unfaithful husband and his mistress. She directed her gaze upon the real intruder in the room.

“Get out.” she said quietly and carefully through her tightly clenched teeth. The woman moved slowly toward the edge of the bed, obviously not thrilled with the idea of Jenna seeing her naked body. She sat up on the other side of the bed, feet landing on the floor with her long brown hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders, coming to rest on her bare chest. It was Jenna’s side of the bed.

“Get out!” Jenna said again through her clenched teeth, a bit louder this time. She could see Shane flinch.

The woman let out a sigh and stood up, reaching for her clothes at the foot of the bed. She was several inches taller than Jenna and rather skinny. She didn’t have much in the way of curves and her small pointy breasts looked like they belonged on a teenager. Her plain looking features were drawn into a rather unhappy and frustrated expression and Jenna wondered why she was feeling so intimidated in the presence of such an unassuming and not terribly attractive woman.

Shane still sat at the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. The woman barely gave him a sideways glance as she finished buttoning her blouse, picked up her purse and walked out of the room.

::ChurchPunkMom also writes at Embellished Truth and Polite Fiction::

April 29, 2009 7:23 pm

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