Seducing my ex husband back

IRE'

ears of

es to dest

ill fizzing in the bottle downstairs while my w

t me ba

n my own bedroom doorway, watching my life

********

lled into our driveway at 8:47 PM. The Dom Pérignon sat in the pa

going to chan

on account. The one Rich

ng me had not been the biggest mistake of his career-his words, n

ered into his phone, thinking I was out fro

life. I don't know why I thought ma

o remind my husband exa

as I shifted in the driver's seat, the black

is "useless" wife had just saved his company

ch me afterward, like he

way like a promise kept. He was hom

aybe he had already heard about the

red BMW crouched besi

mach cl

mentioned c

everything and nothing. She had been my maid of ho

ked eve

she told me she

on I had bought to celebrate. 'She is probably he

hought it. Richard had forgotten o

ybe thi

red-soled Louboutins Richard had bought me for our firs

-tocked in the silence, mar

ounced off the walls,

len

ext to the fresh orchids I had arranged t

ys had to be per

ing off my heels. The hardwood

sound that made my blo

, breat

em

knuckles went white. Each step up was a count

e as I climbed-Richard and me cutting the cake, dancing our firs

py? Or had I just been pretending s

ng. Rhythmic. Intimate. Punctuated by gasps and

pleasure: "Fuck, just like that

physical blow. Better t

permission, carrying me down the hallway to our bedroom. T

on top of

during all those lonely nights when Richard "worked late." Her manicured nails, the same shade of red I had

ife did not

hands that had barely touched me in months, the same hands that

ad been saving hi

r b

our anniversary. The throw pillows I

ep more nights than I cared to count, won

ed this. I've mi

is

t te

irst time my best friend had be

had Richard spent between her

at me over coffee while his com

e I cried about feeling disconnected from

count suddenly f

ss wife" he had called me during our last fight. Now

een hopin

the room. For a heartbeat, I saw everything.....g

aught. Relief that he did

s voice was ice-cold, like I was the help wa

'I'm

sn't what it

that I had inter

de with mock horror. "Oh my God, Claire!" She

een ever

n her "new boyfriend." The scratches on Richard's

l l

ddamn one

words squeezing out of my throat li

eady gathering. "You have to understand. We didn't m

ust ha

ther. Like they had had

I threw up from food poisoning. Who had helped

at he was losing interest and as

my face while plannin

ding' at steal

he question ta

he body I had worshipped, the man I had given ever

it ma

out stronger than I fe

be, or irritation. Like I was being difficult by a

x mo

mon

year o

oming home to me with

nger, why he flinched when I touched him, why he had started working la

to keep from falling. Black spots danced at the edges of

deliriously as consciousness slippe

So proud. So ready to prove that I

voice sounded far

in three years of marriage that had

that while I had been planning our fut

ness claimed me was Richard's voice, sh

look what y

s. I was on the floor, my cheek pressed against the cold ha

leave her there,"

e," Richa

and listened to the soun

for a few blessed moments, I did