I Could Rest Beneath Your Smile

Brooklyn sat on the couch in her living room, her arms folded over her chest. After Jocelyn had talked some sense into her, she realized that she had been too hard on Max. It wasn’t his fault that he had to go on the road trip, and she now understood that. She had blown everything out of proportion, and she owed Max an apology.

She had called him and told him that she was sorry and that she wasn’t angry at him, but that she had merely overreacted at the entire situation, and that she would make it up to him when he got home. That had been four days ago. Now, she wasn’t feeling the same way.

Two days ago, she had received a manila envelope in her mailbox with her name written on the front of it. She had immediately called Jocelyn and Tia, worried that she now had a stalker like Tia had a little while ago. The two came over, and Brooklyn nervously opened the envelope. However, she never could have predicted what was inside.

She emptied the contents into her hand, and was shocked by the picture of Max leaving what appeared to be a bar hand-in-hand with some young brunette girl. The next picture showed them getting inside a taxi together, and the two seemed too cozy. Finally, there was an anonymous note to go along with the pictures.

I just thought you’d like to know that your husband isn’t as faithful as everyone believes. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. What you do with this information is up to you, though.

--A helpful friend

Brooklyn had waited to see if Max was ever going to confess to her what had happened between him and this girl in the pictures. Brooklyn wasn’t a hundred percent sure that he had slept with the girl, but in her heart she knew it was true. Every time she talked to him on the phone she wondered if he was going to tell her the truth, but he never did. And, that angered her even more. If he thought he could cheat on her and get away with it, he had another thing coming to him.

So, now Brooklyn sat on the couch, her foot tapping impatiently on the floor, waiting for Max to get home. The team’s plane would have landed thirty minutes ago, so he should have been walking through the front door at any moment. Suddenly, she saw Max emerge through the front door, his bag in his hands, which he immediately dropped just inside the door. “Brook!” he exclaimed excitedly, a grin spreading across his face.

Brooklyn, however, remained where she was, her arms still crossed over her chest, a frown on her face. She watched as Max’s smile slowly faded away, a concerned expression appearing in its place. She waited on him to say something, but he didn’t. Furious, she stood up, grabbing the manila envelope next to her throwing it at him. “You care to explain this?” she screamed at him.

Confused, Max bent down to pick up the envelope, which had fallen on the floor, opening it up and retrieving the pictures out of it. “Brook, I was going to tell you,” Max began, his heart sinking as he realized she already knew what he had done.

“When?” she yelled. “After you got caught, right? You thought you got away with it, but guess what. You didn’t, Max. How could you? How could you fuck another girl?”

“Brooklyn, I’m sorry,” Max said sincerely.

“I don’t want to hear it, Max. If you cared about me or the kids at all, you never would have done it,” Brooklyn stated.

“Brooklyn, I love you and the kids!” Max exclaimed loudly. “You know that!”

“How am I supposed to know that when I find out you cheated on me?” Brooklyn questioned. “From some anonymous person, at that!”

“I was going to tell you! I was!” he insisted. “I wanted to tell you in person, though. I couldn’t do it over the phone. Listen to me, Brooklyn, I fucked up, and I know it. But, I regretted it the moment after it happened. I did it out of stupidity, and I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you or the kids. You three are my world, and I love you more than anything else.”

“You should have thought of us before you fucked someone else,” Brooklyn told him.

“Brook,” Max began.

“Get out,” Brooklyn interrupted.

“What?” he asked.

“Get out,” she repeated in a low voice. “Get out of this house. If you want to see the kids, I’ll take them to Tia’s or Jocelyn’s, and you can visit them there without me around.”

“Brooklyn, this is ridiculous!” Max cried. “I know I fucked up, but seriously—”

“I’m filing for a divorce tomorrow,” she stated. “Now get out of here.”

Max stared at her for a moment, but he knew she was being serious. He picked up his bag that he had just brought in with him and walked out the front door, knowing that trying to talk to her when she was this angry was just going to cause even more problems. He only hoped he could talk to her and convince her that he was in love with her and only her, and that he was remorseful for what he did before she went and filed for divorce.

***

Max lightly knocked on Kris’s door, embarrassed at the fact that his wife had kicked him out of their house, and even more embarrassed for the reason she had kicked him out. He didn’t really know where to go, but he decided Kris’s place would be the most logical since he knew the stupid mistake he had made.

However, for a moment, he had forgotten that Tia lived with Kris, and he was a little taken aback when she was the one that answered the door, wearing only a robe. “Shit,” Max muttered, looking at Tia, realizing he had interrupted the two of them.

“Come on in, Max,” Tia told him, stepping aside to let him walk in.

“Max, you have the worst timing ever,” Kris told him, shaking his head, as he walked out of the bedroom, tossing a shirt on over his head. “What are you doing here anyways? Did you tell Brooklyn?” he asked, lowering his voice, making sure Tia didn’t hear him.

“I didn’t get the chance,” Max muttered, as Tia looked at him curiously. “I’m assuming you already know, right?” Max asked her, knowing that Brooklyn would have already told her and Jocelyn what had happened. Tia nodded her head, and Max looked back at Kris, who looked utterly confused.

“What do you mean you didn’t get the chance?” Kris questioned, ignoring the fact that his girlfriend already knew what was going on.

“Brooklyn already knew,” Max told him. “Someone sent her pictures, and she knew.”

“Why aren’t you over there right now apologizing or something?” Kris asked. “I’m sure she didn’t forgive you that quickly, or if she did, you two would be going at it right now. And, if she hasn’t forgiven you, then why are you standing here talking to me and not her?”

“She kicked me out,” Max said lowly.

“She what?” Tia exclaimed, and Max turned to look at her to see her eyes wide open. He was surprised she didn’t already know that. He assumed Brooklyn would have told her and Jocelyn her plans of kicking him out and filing for divorce.

“She kicked me out,” Max repeated. “And, she says she’s filing for a divorce,” he added.

Now it was Kris’s turn to be shocked. “She’s what?” he yelled.

“She’s filing for a divorce,” Max said once again.

“What did you say to her?” Kris questioned.

“Nothing, really,” Max said. “She already knew that I had cheated, and she told me she wanted me out of the house and that if I wanted to see the kids, she’d take them to Jocelyn’s or Tia’s and I could see them there, but she wouldn’t be there.”

Tia looked surprise at the last part. “Max,” she began, but then stopped, not knowing what to say to him.

“What am I going to do?” he asked quietly, his eyes glistening with tears. “I fucked up, and she’s never going to forgive me. I lost my wife, my kids, my everything.”