Love of a Lifetime

Chapter 3

Joanna

“Go after him before he does something he'll regret. He may be mad now, but he's reacting to emotional overdrive” Rachel's voice was sad but firm. I knew I would need to go after him. After the multiple bombshells that were dropped on him in the past hour, it's a wonder he's still standing. It's a miracle that I'm still standing, but I've also had wine to help drown my sorrows in.

There's only one place he would have gone. He would have gone home to confront Mike. Rachel trailed behind me as we all climbed in my car.

“You don't think he’ll do anything stupid do you?” she was silent, but I knew the answer myself. We drove the short 15 minutes it took to get to my house, well my old house, and sure enough his truck was parked in the driveway still running.

I could hear the yelling from outside. Shouting from both Gage and Mike. When I got through the door it was clear that I needed to calm one if not both of them down. Pictures were smashed, there was glass everywhere. I rounded the corner to the living room to see Mike pinned to the wall by Gage. Both of them were nearing 6 foot tall and well built but seeing our 17 year old holding such an advantage over him was shocking.

Mike's eyes met mine and they bugged out.

“Why?” Gage shouted.

“Why would you do this? I thought you cared about us? Was it worth it you f*****g prick!” his voice cracked with emotion the more that he spoke. I walked up behind him and put my hand on his shoulder causing him to jerk before turning to meet my gaze.

“Let him go sweetie…” he shook his head in refusal. “Gage, let him go…” My voice was soft and he slowly released his grip on his dad and Mike sagged against the wall while Gage fell into my arms.

“It's okay sweetie. Everything is going to be okay. Rachel is in the car. Grab a bag of clothes and go to the car.” he nodded and walked away.

“Jo…” I held up my hand to him.

“Save it…I'm grabbing a bag myself and staying with Rachel for a few days.” he stepped towards me causing me to step back. The hurt in his eyes was evident, but it was his own fault.

“Can we please just talk about this? I made a mistake, yes, but we can fix this!”

I scoffed. “A mistake? An accident? What did you accidently fall and land in her p***y?” he hung his head. “And the worst part about all of this is, it wasn't even a complete stranger. Lisa. My best friend. How long has this been going on?”

“Well?” I probed when he didn't answer.

“This was the first time in years that I've been with her…” he wasn't looking at me, he refused to look me in the eye.

“Wait….you said in years. What did you mean?”

When he raised his head he had tears in his bloodshot eyes. “We called it off when Brian proposed to her. I'm telling you all of this so we can air it all out. So we can move past it. We had been seeing each other since highschool.”

I felt a pressure in my head and my heart sinking to my stomach. I looked to the stairwell and saw Gage sitting on the stairs listening intently.

“Why then? Why continue to be with me? Why even see me at all if you were with her too? That means you had been having a whole other life for 10 years. I-I can't… I don't understand. Why did you marry me, lead me on, continue to sleep with me, frequently by the way, if you were with her?”

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. I was way past angry at this point. I picked up a vase of flowers that he had gotten me two weeks ago. Now that I think about it, those flowers were probably an apology for everything. Gripping the vase hard enough I was sure it would shatter. I chucked it. It hit the wall next to him shattering to pieces.

He didn't flinch, he didn't move, he didn't even bat an eyelash. He was taking my temper tantrum and letting me get it all out.

“ANSWER ME.”

“Because I love you. I still do.”

I cut him off. “Bullshit. If you loved me you wouldn't have strayed. You wouldn't have kept it up for 10 goddamned years. So try again.”

“I do love you. But it's possible to love more than one person. I thought I was in love with her too, but I was wrong. I didn't know she was seeing brian until 6 months before the proposal. It felt so wrong. I felt used. She was seeing both of us, using both of us for money, she was getting a high off the rush of getting caught. She was vindictive, so I cut it off. I broke up with her.”

A half choked cob and laugh left my lips. “Then how in the hell did I catch you balls deep in her this afternoon?”

He let out a deep breath. “I truly don't know. She had been there to see Brian but he was in with a patient. She had waited in my office for him and one thing led to another. I don't want to be that asshole and say she came onto me but she did.”

I walked up to him and slapped him so hard that his head whipped to the side. “You should have said no. You should have called security. You had so many opportunities. I don't know if we can fix this Michael. 10 years of infidelity out of a 17 year marriage. Do you know how many people Lisa was sleeping with in college? You could have given me a f*****g STD! Even when I was pregnant! All of those appointments you missed because you were busy were you out f*****g her? All those conferences out of town, was it her? I don't understand it. You just shattered every bit of trust and faith I had in us. What was so wrong with me that you couldn't be faithful to me? You know how hard my life was before I met you. You know how important family is to me! Growing up in the foster care system, I didn't have a family! You were my family. Lisa was my family. I hope it was worth it. I hope she was worth it.”

He put his hands on my shoulders trying to calm down my ranting. Gage stood up from the stairs and started towards us. “Take your hands off of her. Or I will...” I had never heard that authority in his voice. Mike stood back and held his hands up.

“We can fix this...I've been faithful for 10 years. Not once have I strayed in that time. Well, except today. But it's not you. It's never been your fault. I could break up with you or leave you because I loved you. I couldn't bear to lose you. I didn't want to live without you. I was going to call it off when you got pregnant but she convinced me to stay. She tried many times to get me to divorce you, but I just couldn't. I won't. And don't say we were your family like it was past tense. We ARE family. I can fix this. I can't live without you…”

“Well, it looks like you're going to have to figure out how to. I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this. I am going to leave now. I'm staying with Rachel. Goodbye, Mike.” I whispered and walked away.

Gage had two bags in his hand. “I packed your bag too…” he had a far away look in his eyes.

“I didn't want you to hear any of that...I'm sorry, son.”

“Gage!” Mike called out. He stopped walking but didn't turn around. “Please...just take care of your mother… I love you. Both of you.”

“Save it, dad. If you loved us, you wouldn't have destroyed our family.”