The Key

The Key Part 1

It was the morning after one of Jessica and Morgan’s famous arguments. You know the kind, she said and he said and then he had to one-up her with a zinger of a put down. They awoke about ten minutes apart. Jessica went downstairs to feed the one thing they both loved, Stormy, their cat. As Jessica looked at the barely clean kitchen, she felt that coffee and food in that order would be a good start. They had finally promised to start with a new beginning as they fell asleep. The last sound heard in the bedroom was the drop of water from the leaky faucet in the bathroom.

Who cares about his coming home late by about one hour, again!

Why did he always have to walk right in and give her the cold “Hi Hon,” and then go to his holy study when he got home!

Didn’t he read the fine print on their marriage certificate that said six months was not the time to act like old time married couple like Paul and Carolyn down the street?

Why Jessica’s parents had been married for 35 years. Today her mother and father still acted like it had been only 35 days. They had that special eye contact and electricity that said so much more than a love poem could express. And it didn’t have to be an anniversary for some flowers to show up in her father’s hands for her mother.

Morgan came down stairs and went right through the kitchen. He leaned over to pet Stormy who immediately purred. He then lifted his head as he sniffed the air as Stormy went to her food bowl.

“Ah. Fresh coffee.” He gave Jessica a peck on the cheek and said “Thanks Hon.” His eyes then landed on the cereal boxes that she put out for him to choose his breakfast for that day. He reached past it and picked up her toast and started walking out the door. “Oh hon, we might have another meeting for all of the department heads, so I will call if I am going to be late. I know that this bothers you. I’m sorry,” with a small shrug to his shoulders. He looked for a reaction that might tell if Jessica was going to try to stare him down before she launched into her “Why you again?” tirade.

Jessica gave a small flinch and put on a weak smile. “Well as long as you let me know so I can have dinner ready when you get home. Love you.” she said as she walked over to the kitchen counter. She picked up the cereal boxes and got out more bread to toast.

Morgan went outside to the garage and got into the car. He opened and closed it as softly. He started the car with a couple of revs and was gone. He was in the kitchen for less than five minutes, but it seemed like he was there only one. As Jessica started putting the bread in the toaster, Stormy came up to her and rubbed her leg. Then Stormy walked out of the room to go to the living room to find a warm place for a nap.

The day was so uneventful that Jessica did a little writing on her blog as the laundry was being washed. She next addressed her younger sister a birthday card. Finally, she decided on the groceries for the week and made up the list. As a special treat, she wanted to make Morgan’s favorite beef dinner to show that she was in a good mood.

As she was walking out the door, the phone rang.

“Oh hon. This is Morgan. I am sorry but I will be late tonight.”

Jessica felt a slight knot of anger in her stomach, but she kept it from becoming a big knot. Finally she said, “Well I appreciate your call. I was just going grocery shopping. I am going to make that beef dish you liked so much. I thought that I would make that great salad with the special dressing too.”

“Oh terrific! Can’t wait. Oh and by the way, since you are going out, I forgot to ask you if you were going out. Maybe you could pick up a suit that I took to the cleaners on Monday. It’s my brown suit. I think the cleaner is close to your food store.”

“Okay. I think you are right. Anything else you want me to get for dinner or pick up?” she asked as her stomach was relaxing a bit.

“No. But I might be home a little after eight.” he said as a buzzer sounded on his end.

“That is a late meeting. You must be busy so I’ll see you later tonight. Love you.”

“Yea, bye.” and then there was a click.

Jessica just stood with the phone in her hand. She tried to count how many times in the last two weeks that he had been late. She thought that it was about four times. To her that sounded like too many. She put the phone down and went to get her purse and list.

The food store was definitely crowded today. Double coupon day usually was. The fun part of this store was that she always saw at least one of her old school friends, or neighbors who were also shopping. It was nice to say hello or get some unsolicited gossip. However this was not one of those days. Jessica slowly gathered her several items. Unfortunately, she had more than fifteen items so she had to use the regular checkout line. These lines were usually very long and slow. Up ahead were two older ladies who she though she had seen in the store once before.

“You know, she got a new job at this new company in town.” said the lady with the big flowered dress and large brown purse.

“Uh huh.” responded the skinny, short lady with blue sweater that seemed to bring out the blue in her eyes.

“But she said one of the department heads wanted her to do some extra work in a branch office.”

“What kind of work? Where is the other office?”

“Well she wouldn’t say, but she will be coming home late and asked me to keep her kids until she got home. “

“Are ya going to do it?”

“I’m their grandmother. And she really needs the money since her husband walked out on her. I just hope that she isn’t being used.”

“What do ya mean?”

The lady in the flowered dress looked around and saw Jessica staring at her. Jessica turned her head to pretend to be picking out some candy on the rack beside her.

“I’ll tell you later. You’re next.” replied the lady and helped her friend move her cart forward.

Jessica’s turn came after that. She hurried out the door. She knew that her meat dish had to cook slowly so she had to hurry home and braise the meat before she could put it into a pan for slow cooking. After that she had to set up the rest of the dinner. One last errand remained on her list. The dry cleaners was only a five minute trip away.

As luck would have it, someone was pulling out of a space. She rushed right in and got in another line. This one was shorter.

“Oh hello, Mrs. Matthews. How can I help you today?” asked the short store owner with a slight accent. His face was cheerful every time that she had seen him.

“My husband Morgan said that he dropped off a suit on Monday. Is it ready?”

“I’ll check. We have been so busy since many suits came in after New Year’s Day.” He turned around and began humming a pleasant tune.

He went to the back and returned with a nice brown suit in a plastic bag. On it was a note that said there were items in the pocket to be returned.

“Oh here’s an envelope with a couple of things that he forgot to remove. We pride ourselves on clean, pressed clothes and all items returned.” he said with a smile. He took her credit card and gave it back with a receipt. Jessica checked the front of the coat just to make sure that all of the buttons were there and walked out.

There were a few clouds in the sky. The sun was just half way down for the end of the day. Jessica opened the car door and hung the suit up on a hook in the back. Then she got in on the driver’s side with the cleaner’s item envelope. She pressed it to see if she could determine what was in it. But her curiosity got the better of her and she decided to open the envelope. Her hope was that it was not Malcolm’s and that she could return the wrong item the next day.

Out of the end fell a gold looking motel key that said “Rest Up Inn” and room number 6 on it. She sat in the car for what seemed an hour until she heard a car behind her honk. It was another customer who wanted her space.

She put the key in her pocket and turned on the ignition of her car. She felt as if her breathing was about to stop. She remembered that Morgan was late on the Friday before. She thought that it was odd that he came home in his gym clothes that evening with no suit to bring in but when her mother called for her opinion on a cruise for her parent’s anniversary, she did not give that a second thought.

Jessica drove down the street slowly. She did not see that the envelope had fallen on the floor of the car when she had to stop suddenly for a red light. It seemed that her mind had one more thing that she had to work on and this time it felt very serious. Tears seemed to be getting ready to come cascading down her cheek when she pulled up into the driveway. If all her pieces of the puzzle were fitting together, she thought that she might have a picture of the end of her marriage.

End of Part One
Part Two will be added in a few days----please keep your fingers crossed for Jessica!