Sweet Revenge

SWEET REVENGE

         She didn’t want to cry; it was unprofessional. But how could she sit in her lonely, steel cubicle and not feel the pain? For months, she had suppressed her true feelings, unwilling to let him know how much he meant to her. She was a married woman and loved her husband, or at least that’s what she told herself. But during the past two months, they had worked so closely on this case, sometimes late into the night. Unlike her husband, he was exciting and energetic. She didn’t mean to fall in love with him, it just happened.

         She set her glasses on the desk and pulled a tissue from her desk drawer. She wiped her nose and tried to get back to her typing, but she couldn’t concentrate. The tears began to well in her eyes as she remembered what it was like when she first starting working for him. He was an intelligent, handsome attorney fresh out of law school, eager to make an impression with the partners; and she was a young and beautiful newlywed, who had just finished her paralegal course. For the first three years, they flirted and occasionally had dinner together after a late night at the office and her husband never questioned her about it. It wasn’t until he lost his job that the late nights at the office occurred with greater frequency.

         They had been working feverishly on the Complaint for one of their biggest clients. It was after nine when they finished and he invited her to dinner. Dinner and many drinks stretched out to midnight and he drove her to his place. As he kissed her passionately, she realized how much she wanted to be with him. For the next two weeks, they worked late into the night and returned to his apartment, and every night when they had finished making love, she would say, “I love you.”

         But last night, he said, “Listen Sandy, I like you. It's been fun and you’re a great secretary, but I don’t love you. I think we should just keep our relationship professional.” She was devastated, but when she returned home, her husband greeted her with the same warm embrace and unquestioning love.

         When she arrived at work the next morning, he was busy organizing papers in his briefcase for a hearing which would last all day. He handed her some revisions for the Complaint and acted as though nothing had happened the night before.

         As he walked out of the office, he turned to her and said, “Be sure to finish the revisions on that Complaint. You can sign my name, but make sure it's filed today by five, without fail. I’m screwed if we miss the statute of limitations! You can leave a copy on my desk. I have a dinner date but I’ll be back later,” and he walked out.

         Her body started to shake and she felt nauseous. Her chest was aching as she tried to suppress her tears, but couldn’t. She laid her head on the desk and wept. When the phone rang, she sat up, wiped her nose and picked up the receiver. “Smith, Klein and Hornsby. How may I direct your call?”

         “Hi honey, it’s me. Is everything okay? You sound like you’ve been crying.”

         “I’m fine. It’s just been really hectic this morning. Today is that deadline to file the Complaint that I’ve been telling you about and my boss has been yelling at me.” She lied about the yelling.

         “He doesn’t realize what a great secretary he has. Pretty soon, I’ll have a good job and then you can leave him,” he answered.

         “I’m sure he appreciates me,” she told her husband. “If I have to put up with his verbal abuse, I will. We need the money.” She couldn’t tell him the real reason for her tears; that she loved another man who was only using her.

         “I should be hearing about that job soon,” he assured her, but it didn’t help to ease her pain.

         “I have to go,” she said and hung up the phone quickly so she could think. Feelings of guilt engulfed her and she started to weep; she had been unfaithful to the man she loved, the man who trusted her and loved her unconditionally. At this moment, she loved him more than ever and vowed to herself never to release her guilt by confessing, or to ever let it happen again. More than anything, she was determined to make it up to him; she would be more supportive until he got a job and would show him how much he was appreciated and loved.

         She wiped her tears and began making the revisions and finally finished at three. As she was preparing to leave for the courthouse to file the Complaint, her husband called. “Honey, guess what. I got the job! I’m the new Vice President of Purchasing. Isn’t that great? Now you can quit that crappy job and I’ll take care of you.”

         “Oh, honey, that’s great. I’m so happy for you. I’ll see you soon,” she said and hung up the phone. She knew what she had to do.

         She packed up all of her personal belongings and put them in a box. She looked at the Complaint that was sitting on her desk ready to be filed. She signed his name on the original, took a copy and then ripped the original into little pieces and threw them in her trashcan. She placed the copy on his desk with a note “Sorry, you missed your deadline,” and then she left, for good.


1st Place in "A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words" photo prompt contest 2007