Gone

Breezing into the kitchen and praying like hell she avoided the man she lived with, Bryn plopped her glass into the sink and turned on her heel to head back upstairs. Hearing movement on the same floor she was in, she hesitated, ears pricked for the sound so she could determine where exactly it was coming from.

Finally locating the sound as she recognized it as the floorboards of the living room, she backtracked several steps and took the side entrance to the kitchen instead. Casting a glance over her shoulder as she took the first step of the stairs, she then hurried up them and shut the door to their bedroom as she entered.

Flipping on the light, she headed towards the bathroom intent on taking a shower and then going out for the evening with a group of her friends. Emerging ready from the bedroom an hour later, she headed downstairs tucking her cell phone in her bag.

“Bryn?”

Freezing at the bottom of the stairs, Bryn waited for the body of the man the voice came from to appear. Stomach filling with nerves as Matt walked into the foyer, she sucked in a breath.

“Where are you going?” Hazel green eyes filled with confusion, Matt stared at his wife, heels making her legs look impossibly long under the short dress that she wore, cleavage displayed a little more than he’d prefer, but tastefully.

“Out with the girls.”

“We had dinner plans ourselves, you know.” Shaking his head, Matt dropped arms that he had crossed over his chest and sighed.

“We did?” Chewing on her lip, Bryn tried to remember any plans that they may have had, their mutual calendar escaping her at the moment.

“We did.” Nodding in confirmation, Matt took a step towards her. “Can the girl’s night be put off? We haven’t been out in a while by ourselves.”

Shaking her head, Bryn tried to ignore the fleeting look of disappointment that crossed her husband’s strong features. “We’ve had this planned for a few weeks.”

“And we had dinner planned for over a month, but whatever.” Waving his concern away, Matt took another step closer. “You go out with the girls. I’ll stay in. Call if you need me to come and get you.”

“I will.” Nodding and swallowing, Bryn felt her phone vibrate in her purse. Hurriedly pulling it out, she touched the screen and read the message that had come through. Smiling, she shot off a quick reply and took the last stair down. “Thank you.”

“Yeah.” Feeling her lips brush over his cheek, Matt laid a hand on her arm. “How about a proper kiss since I’m giving up our night out?”

Quickly pressing a kiss against his lips, Bryn felt her phone vibrate once more and turned to leave.

“You want a jacket? It’s a little chilly for a Cali night.”

“I’ll be fine; we’re going to a club, so it would be cumbersome. See you later.”

“Yeah.” Mumbling the word as his wife tore out of the door as if her heels were on fire, Matt turned and sank to the step she had just moments before vacated. Wondering just where the perfume she had been wearing had come from, he dropped his head into his hands and tried to figure out how to fill his unexpected empty evening.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Groaning when she felt her phone vibrate once more, Bryn looked down at the offending device. “Jesus, he never is like this when I’m out.”

“It’s okay.” Chuckling, her dinner partner stared at her across from the table.

“No, no it’s not.” Shaking her head, Bryn turned her phone off and shoved it back into her bag, happy that the person she was with didn’t seem to mind the intrusions so far this evening that had crept up to be an annoyance.

“He’s just concerned is all. Did you at least answer this time?”

“I turned it off.”

Eyebrows winging up, her dinner partner stood and held out his hand. “Well, then, shall we take leave of the restaurant?”

Nodding, Bryn stood up, her gaze scanning the restaurant they were in. Startled when she saw one of her husband’s band mates on the other side of the dining room, she hurried to turn around and placed her hand into one that was held out. Shivering as she walked out arm in arm with the man who had taken her to dinner, she looked over her shoulder quickly, catching Brian’s eyes as she did so.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Bryn?” Groggily sitting up as he heard the front door to their house shut, Matt sat up on the couch he had fallen asleep on hours before. Hitting his cell to find out the time, he stood up fast, concerned by the hour that it was.

“Yes.” Popping her head into the living room, Bryn saw that that Matt had obviously fallen asleep based upon the lamp being on, the TV tuned into what was now a late-night infomercial and the open beer bottles was littering the surface of the coffee table. One thing her husband had never been was a slob, despite his many other faults.

“Have a good time with the girls?” Shuffling towards Bryn and hiking his basketball shorts up with one hand, Matt scratched his tattooed stomach with the other.

Nodding, Bryn stepped back when he reached her. “I did. I’m going to head up, shower and then hit the sheets.”

“What? No kiss?”

“Sorry.” Turning around quickly, Bryn placed her lips upon her husband’s and stepped back.

“I love you.” Dropping the hand he had lifted to cup her cheek, Matt stared into her green eyes.

“I love you too.” Voice catching, Bryn turned and took off.

Watching as she tore up the stairs, heels hooked over her fingers, purse securely under her arm, Matt let out a breath he had been holding, the phone call and his thoughts from earlier smashing into his brain as a reality.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hefting the last of his suitcases into the truck he had lovingly restored, Matt looked up at the window that had served as his bedroom for the past seven years. Refusing to feel anything but determination, he stepped back and headed towards the door.

Walking inside, Matt looked around the foyer of the home he and Bryn and bought years ago when they were first married. Jaw hardening, he let out a long breath and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. Letting it flutter to the table beside the door, he turned and walked out making sure the lock was set.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shutting the door with her foot and balancing pizzas, Bryn entered their home hours later. Calling out for her husband, she dropped her keys on the table beside the door, brows drawing together when she saw an envelope with her name on it in Matt’s distinctive scrawl.

Setting the pizza boxes on the bottom stair, she grabbed the envelope and tore it open.

Bryn,

You were out all night again. You’ve been doing that a lot lately.

Four months ago I got a call from Brian when you were supposedly out with the girls. He told me something I found interesting, something that I couldn’t fathom at the time. Thinking that he had to be mistaken, I sent you a few messages that evening, all of which were not returned. Not even a simple ‘I’m okay; will text you later’ as I usually get if you’re out with the girls, which by the way, wasn’t true as I talked to Lacey later as she called the house for you as she couldn’t reach you on your cell.

Things were confirmed when you walked in the door at four in the morning. You could barely look at me, acted like it was a personal offense that I had asked for a kiss of welcome home from the woman that I married and loved with all my heart. I don’t think those things would’ve bothered me if you hadn’t smelled like his cologne. He was all over your skin. He was all over your heart, your body.

The past few months in our home have been hell. I’ve held on as long as I could; I even tried what you decided to do. I went out on nights that you decided you were going to. On nights that you decided that it was okay to lie and tell me you were working late, or on weekends going shopping. I met another girl, one that I came home smelling like a few times, but oddly enough you never seemed to notice.

You barely look at me anymore when you talk to me. We even talked two months ago about the distance that is between us, and even though we have been working on it, two wrongs don’t make a right and things will never be the same again. I can’t have my heart broken repeatedly, and even when I slept with the other woman, to see why it was so easy for you to do so, my heart broke as she wasn’t you, she wasn’t my wife, the one that I should be with, the one that I loved and pledged myself to.

I can read between the lines, Bryn. I’m not what you want or obviously need any longer. I’m gone, I’m moving on. I can’t take it anymore. Where did our love go? How long will it be until you’re sitting at home and he’s doing to you what you’re doing to me?

Love,

Matt

Sinking to the floor, Bryn felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Numb, she dug it out with cold fingers the letter she held clenched in her other hand. Reading the message, her heart shattered as the pizza boxes finally lost balance on the stair. Ignoring the sauce and melted cheese that slid across the hardwood floor, she stared at the screen on her phone, eyes burning with tears. Finally realizing the man she had been meeting for the past six months meant less than the man she held the letter of, she knew it was too late to redeem anything.