chapter 5

Divorce. What an intense word that she never once thought she would have to use. Her husband did not love her, it was very obvious, even a blind person could see it, but she still loved him; however, it seemed her love wasn’t enough for her marriage to be alright anymore. She sighed deeply, hands gripping the railing tightly. From her point of view, she could see the entire living room and she gazed at it sadly. From the high-scale furniture to the matching carpet and drapes, all of which she had single-handedly picked out in a bid to make this house a home. It all seemed worthless now. She gazed at her son’s room and she decided not just yet.

Logan did not return home that night, choosing to remain with Christa, and she was happy about that. She did not know how she would react to him when she saw him. He was acting as though she were only dependent on him, and she supposed he was allowed to feel that way because she had let him have that kind of power over her, and that was a terrible mistake on her part. Marybeth crawled back into her bed, locking the door behind her as she did.

Logan had checked himself and Christa into one of the many hotels affiliated with his family- specifically his uncle. He got one room for him and Christa and together they entered the elevator to their floor. Christa, still annoyed with him, was pouting.

“Christa,” He said softly to her, “we really couldn’t have stayed back at the house especially not after how I hit my wife.”

“Ugh!” She wailed, “Your wife. Your wife! I am so sick and tired of hearing that, I should be your wife, me! Not some washed-up nobody you picked up from the streets to replace me.” She protested stomping her foot.

Logan rubbed his temple weakly, and a stray thought entered his head, how he wouldn’t have decided to marry Marybeth if Christa had not left him for the first man she saw who had more money than he did. No, he shook his head, he shouldn’t be having thoughts like that, he loved Christa and Christa loved him. Things would work out for them.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” He apologized, holding her by her waist and pulling her closer to himself, “You know I can’t ask for a divorce, she has to be the one to want it.”

“Then why can’t we just shove our relationship in her face. If she knows that you love someone else, she would leave you alone.”

Logan barked out a laugh at that, “Leave me? I don’t think she’s even physically capable of doing such a thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I was still in love with you and she knew that, yet she pursued me relentlessly. So, no, I don’t think she’d care if I was having an affair.”

“That’s so sad and very degrading of her,” Christa said in mock sympathy.

By now, they had gotten off the elevator and entered their room. Christa slumped on the bed, lying back and stretching her arms wide.

“It is very sad and degrading,” Logan responded. He would never admit to Christa just how much he relished the hold he had over his wife. She was incapable of leaving him, and he had no intention of making Christa anything more than she was. The bitch left him and came back when she saw he had more money than her current boyfriend did, she had no loyalty. He would keep enjoying her and once he was done, he would send her on her way. After this whole thing was over, he would find ways to appease Marybeth. He thought deeply that she could never stay mad at him forever.

“Well, so what are you going to do get rid of your wife so we can finally be together?” She asked sitting up on the bed and beckoning him with her finger.

He walked towards her, hands in pockets, stopping right in front of her and she gazed up at him, smiling.

“Guess, I’d just have to make her suffer. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Oh? Someone’s confident.”

“That’s because I know it will work. Just imagine someone you love treating you like you are worse than trash, it would break her.” He said. Yes, it would work, and after he’d broken her so terribly he would swoop back in and pick up the pieces, making her entirely dependent on him and then, together with their son, they’d go far away where someone like Christa wouldn’t be able to find them.

“That’s so evil.” She said, smiling even more at him, and started to unbutton his shirt.

The doorbell rang. Marybeth was in the living room, relaxing, her son was at school, and Logan still had not returned. She glanced up but made no move to answer it knowing that someone would answer it. A moment later, one of the staff joined her holding a large bouquet of flowers- red roses to be precise. She sat up alarmed.

“What’s that doing here?”

“It was a package that was delivered to you, according to the courier ma’am.”

“Throw them away. Whoever sent them does not have my best interests at heart, seeing as how I’m allergic to roses.” The staff started to walk out. “Wait. Is there a card?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Please clean up the card and bring it back here, I want to see who it’s from.” She said to him and he nodded his head, leaving the room quickly but returning soon after with the card in hand. He handed it to her, gave a small bow, and left.

She opened it up, revealing a handwritten note in what she imagined to be the florist’s handwriting, and the message however was not:

I hope your marriage stays as sweet as these roses smell. Oh, wait; you can’t smell them, can you? Oh well. Imagine the scent instead. Much love. Lance.

Of course, it was Christa, and she was dumb enough to put in her real name; she didn’t mind Marybeth knowing it was her. Marybeth folded the note back carefully placing it back into its envelope. She would be keeping the card. What she would use it for, however, she didn’t know yet.

She placed it on the table and returned to the show she was watching. Whatever games Christa had decided to start playing, she was in no mood to play them with her.

Christa glanced at her phone; she was dressed in a robe, still in the hotel room. The text she received pleased her greatly, and she let out a wide grin, twirling around the room happily. She wondered if the recipient of the package would understand what it meant- that the roses were probably going to be the last thing that would be sweet in her life, because with what she and Logan had planned for Marybeth, she would want to return to how life was before the roses arrived. She let out a wild and loud laugh and sighed contentedly.