Celia came hobbling around the corner to see her fiancee Nick standing at the large windows in their living room next to a statuesque blond woman. They both had their back to her and the woman was holding a bottle of wine.
“You. Bastard.” Celia could barely get the words out around the rage that was bubbling up inside of her.
Both of the people standing in her living room spun around. Nick’s expression flashed from surprise to something else that Celia could not quite get. She may have recognized, had she not been glaring at the blond woman. The tall, strikingly beautiful, blond woman. Her long hair pulled half up and spilling down her shoulders. She was wearing khakis and a cream colored top that was sleeveless and showed off her toned, tan arms. Celia would have hated her even if she had not been standing in her apartment. With her fiancee. About to drink wine and try on silk lingerie.
“Celia! You’re home early!” Nick recovered and started towards her.
The words were innocuous. They were exactly what she expected her hear. But not with that tone. That tone of surprise mixed with that other thing. The back of Celia’s mind was trying to tell her what it was. But she was too busy trying to burn the blond woman to cinders with her eyes. Dimly, she heard Nick exclaim something inane about her foot being bandaged up. She did not bother to look at him.
“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?” Celia asked, cutting off Nick.
She saw his face go slack in the corner of her eye. He had finally read her expression. “Celia, I didn’t expect you for another couple of hours.”
“Well that’s obvious.” The blond woman still had not moved. She was looking at Celia with a curious, slightly guilty expression.
“I should go.” The blond woman said. She started to walk to the door.
“No. Stay. You two were obviously planning one last fling before I got back. I’m sorry I interrupted.”
Nick’s jaw dropped. But the blond woman’s face did not so much as twitch.
“Celia, I don’t think you quite understan..” He started to say.
Celia broke off her glare at the blond woman and turned to her fiancee finally. She saw the shock and guilt on his face, and in his stance. His defensive posture infuriated her as much as finding them here together. Her hand flew up and she pointed in his face. “I always knew it. I always knew you were a pig. How long has this been going on? How long did it take before you had her here in my bed? What did she seduce you? You always were weak, Nick. I knew you were weak. Weak and pathetic. We only started dating because I knew that I could control the relationship.”
Nick looked stricken. The blood drained from his face. He opened his mouth and closed it like a fish. The blond woman had walked past them as Cecelia started to speak but stopped at her words. Celia could not see her, but could sense her presence behind her as she continued.
“Nothing to say? Just going to stand there? At least be man enough to admit it. Admit that you have been cheating on me. Admit what I always knew, that you are a slimy pathetic boy pretending to be a man.” Tears were welling up in Nick’s eyes now. “Oh, are you going to cry? Such a little girl. I can’t believe I let you into my house, let alone my bed.”
“With that be all, Mister Nelson?” Came the question from behind her.
Celia’s eyes went even wider. “A hooker? You brought a hooker into my house? I knew she was too pretty for you. Better than you deserved.” She was shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Actually, I’m an event planner. Nick was working with me to plan his proposal. To you. Tonight.”
The words were quiet, but the effect was overwhelming. Celia felt the fire in her belly doused in the blink of an eye. She was just left with a buzzing noise in her ears. Before her eyes, Nick went from pale and shaking, on the verge of tears, to red faced and angry. He stood taller and set his jaw. “That will be all, Miss Turner. Thank you for your help.”
“Oh, God, Nicky.” Celia whispered into the deafening silence. The room was spinning. She felt like she was going to be sick. “Oh God.”
The front door closed, but Celia did not hear it. All she heard was the buzzing like a host of cicadas in her ears. For an eternity, she stood, swaying and looking into Nick’s eyes. Those sweet, gentle brown eyes. He was a good man. Soft spoken and taciturn. So unlike her father. But in that moment, so much like him. A small part of her knew that she was deflecting. She was buying time. But no matter how long they stood there, she did not see the one thing she wanted in his eyes.
There was no forgiveness.
“Nicky, I’m so sorry. It’s the pills. I’m on these pain pills…” Again she felt the world spinning. She wanted to sit down, but she could do nothing but stare into Nick’s eyes. The silence stretched between them for seconds, minutes, days, years. Neither of them moves.
Celia opened her mouth again to speak, but didn’t.
After an eternity, Nick shook his head once and walked out the door. Celia succumbed to her spinning head and collapsed to her dark, tasteful, hardwood floor.
