Axel remembered he had laundry to do. That provided him a brief respite instead of going to bed.
If someone had told him a few years ago this was where he’d be right now, he would have laughed in their face.
His wife? She loved him. She was the best thing in his life.
He had a great job, and a decent home he wasn’t in danger of losing. His car was paid off and ran well.
He was lucky.
Blessed, some might say.
Happy.
When he tried to look back to visualize his descent from where he’d been to where he now found himself, he could clearly see the slow, gradual decline. Even his waist was trying to increase a little, gravity inexorably tugging at him in that way also, not just metaphorically and emotionally.
Last he’d heard, Linda had married the guy she’d been cheating on him with, and they were expecting a baby.
It was midnight before he conceded the day over, knowing he rapidly approached that zone of “up too late” versus “lying in bed and hating himself.”
He’d still lie there hating himself, even if it wasn’t necessarily all his blame to bear.
Still, he was the only one there to blame, at this point.
Alone.
Chapter Three
Wednesday morning, Skye tried not to make much noise as she got ready for work. She’d discovered yesterday morning that, since her father’s retirement, her parents had gone from asscrack-of-dawn risers to sleeping late.
She envied them.
Maybe that’ll be me, one day.
As she drove to day two of her new job, she thought about her life and how she’d arrivedhere.
This hadnotbeen her plan when she’d attended college. She’d wanted a degree in English, then be a teacher while she tried her hand at writing.
Thenhehappened.
She’d been in the process of getting her teacher’s certification when he’d walked into her life, spun it upside down and inside out, and she’d lost sight not only of her life plan, but ofher.
If he hadn’t cheated on her, lied to her, they would have had a perfect life.
Well, sort of.
She would have remained his devoted slave.
Even despite him being a cheapskate.
Even despite his asshole family, who’d pretty much hated her on sight and gave plentiful and thinly disguised, less-than-veiled insults about herEnglishdegree.
They were less than impressed he hadn’t married a business major, or at least an accountant, someone they could press into use in one of the dealerships.
She’d always felt inadequate at family gatherings. Like they believed Kelly had dressed up a mongrel stray and that at any moment she was liable to take a shit in the middle of the dinner table or otherwise embarrass him.
Had not escaped her notice there were plenty of times she hadn’t been invited to functions where other spouses had been included. Someone usually made sure to tell her that after the fact.
Kelly—short for Kellog—had always attended.
