Page 3 of Written in the Stars
SERENITY
I’m giddy and nervous all at once. My heartbeat is racing and I can’t wait to see the man I love with all my heart. It’s just a typical Friday night, and since he’s been working late pretty much every Friday since I can remember, I decided to get all dolled up and bring my sweet Walter dinner, surprising him at the office. He never used to work late, but recently, it has become more and more frequent, which I’m guessing is because they’ve picked up so many recent cases. Walter Zeller is a lawyer, and one of the top attorneys in the firm. He’s on his way to becoming partner someday, I just know it.
As I’m about to ring the buzzer to be let in, Mr. Cravingter, a partner of the firm, comes rushing out. His white hair and kind eyes would never reveal the fact that he’s a hardcore lawyer that hardly ever lost a case. He’s a shark you don’t want to mess with.
“Hello, Serenity! How are you, dear?” he asks as he holds open the door for me.
“I’m well, Mr. Cravingter, thank you. And yourself?”
“Fine, thanks. Can I help you with something?”
“No, just here to surprise Walter with dinner I made. He’s always working late, so I figured it would be nice for us to eat together for once.”
He looks at me with a puzzling gaze. “I’m sorry, Serenity. I haven’t seen Walter since four this afternoon. I was the last one in there besides the guard at the front desk. There’s no one from the firm inside… everyone’s already gone home to start the weekend.”
I furrow my brows. No one from the firm? Surely he’s missed him somehow. “Really?” I flick my wrist over to check the time.
Seven forty. He would have called me by now.
“Well, I’m just going to go in and see if I can find him. I haven’t heard from him all afternoon.” How can he be the last one here? Walter has to still be here. Where else would he be?
“Alright, dear. It was good seeing you again.”
“You too, Mr. Cravingter,” I reply with a smile.
But something inside of me feels off. Something just doesn’t seem right.
Still, I shake my head and continue onward.
As I carry the tray of lasagna to Walter’s office, I feel extremely proud of myself. I hardly ever cook, but being that our wedding is just a month away, I want to show him I can be domesticated. I’ve been watching cooking shows, taking notes, and downloading apps on my tablet. Sometimes I’ll follow along with the new recipes I find.
I continue walking through the halls of the building and find it pretty strange that no one seems to be here. The guard at the front desk had easily let me pass, but that was because he recognized me from previous visits here to see Walter. All the lights are dimmed and not a peep can be heard. There are usually people here working late during the week, but I figure no one is left because they probably want to get their weekend started.
As I approach the doorway to Walter’s office, I find it peculiar that his door is cracked the tiniest bit. Usually it’s wide open, unless he has a client in there or something. I walk in and see him with his back turned, and as I make my way in, softly calling his name, I see him with his pants around his ankles as he buries himself deep inside of Dora, his twenty-two-year-old secretary.
My mouth hits the floor. “Oh my God!” I bellow, dropping the glass tray of lasagna.
A mess of food and glass pieces litter the floor.
Startled, Walter immediately turns his head around to face me, screaming my name. “Serenity!”
You’d think he’d get off of her, or rather out of her, as soon as he saw me? But he doesn’t. It takes him a moment to register the image of me walking in on them before he moves off of Dora and picks his pants up.
Dora, thankfully still covered in a bra, pulls her black pencil skirt back down and then rushes over to where her shirt lies on the floor to the right of his mahogany L-shaped desk. Unfortunately, as he moved away from her, I got a front-row view of her perfectly round ass.
“You piece of shit…” I whisper, staring at him in disbelief. And it’s as if I’m seeing him for the first time. I don’t recognize this man. I don’t know who he is. Where is my beloved Walter, and what has this asshole done to him? My heartbeat is running at a million miles per minute. I try to let the scene of what I’ve just witnessed sink in, but it doesn’t. It can’t. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. This isn’t my life. I’m not the girl who gets cheated on by her fiancé. I’m not the girl whose heart is breaking into pieces, realizing what she just saw.
But I am…
“Baby, please. I can explain… This is not what it looks like.”
I raise an eyebrow as his words bring me back to reality. I look about his office and realize that at some point, Dora ran out. Coward. “Not what it looks like?” I question, repeating his words back to him. “I need to go. I have to go. I’ve got to go.” I swallow the hard lump that has formed in my throat and clench my fists open and shut. My breaths become erratic, and I feel like there isn’t enough air in the world to oxygenate my lungs.
I turn around, and without another word to the scumbag, run out of there as fast as my leg can carry me. Still, I hear Walter continuing to run after me, calling my name, but I refuse to turn around and face him once more.
Now it makes sense why all those nights ago he’d stay late. Come to think of it, hadn’t it started all but six months ago, right around the time he told me the firm had gotten a new secretary?
Dora, he explained, blonde and beautiful, was right out of college with a great head on her shoulders.
