He watched her with a smoldering gaze as she reached out to touch him, her hand tentatively brushing over his hard, throbbing manhood.
Melanie's eyes strayed from the romance novel she was reading to the recliner where her husband sat engrossed in a television show. He always seemed to have an excuse lately when she hinted at wanting to have sex. An evening together had become rare for them due to him constantly working late. She had begun to work overtime herself after their son went away to college, because she wanted to avoid being alone in an empty house.
Her sexual frustration was only a small part of her dissatisfaction with her life. Raising her child had distracted her from her unfulfilled dreams, but now the monotony of her life was glaringly obvious to her. She supposed that this was her midlife crisis, although it was still just a vague restlessness.
She set the book aside as she decided to reenact the scene in real life. Her husband didn't notice her approach him, and he didn't look away from the TV even when he realized that she was standing beside him.
"You going to bed?" he asked.
Her previous suggestions for him to join her had been met with promises of soon or in a little while, and she would be left waiting so long that she fell asleep. This time she was taking a different approach.
"Not yet," she replied.
Melanie took off her t-shirt and dropped it on the floor before moving to stand in front of her husband. He'd always enjoyed looking at her breasts, and she wasn't wearing a bra since it was just the two of them at home.
He looked uncomfortable rather than aroused, however. "I'm sorry, Mel. I'm just not up for it tonight."
"It's been three months!" she exclaimed.
Even that encounter had felt like they were just going through the motions, and they hadn't had sex for weeks before that time. It had been much longer than that since he'd shown any real passion for her at all.
Feeling undesirable, she had gone on a diet and started exercising on her long-neglected treadmill. She had lost a measly five pounds in that time, but she felt a little better about herself. Melanie still carried most of the extra weight that had gradually crept onto her body over the years. As much as she lamented over her fuller figure, it had never deterred her husband from having sex with her in the past.
"What's going on, Scott?" she demanded.
He wouldn't meet her gaze, and it made him appear guilty to her. A suspicion that she'd never had before made her question him incredulously. "Is there someone else?"
Now he looked up into her eyes, and his pained expression confirmed it before he did. "Yes."
She was stunned, barely comprehending this new reality.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for it to happen."
Melanie struggled to make sense of it. "What…who is she?"
"We work together," he replied. "We were just friends, and then…" He trailed off before continuing. "We didn't intend for anything to happen, but it just did."
Her shock gave way to anger as she listened to him describe it as something that happened to him rather than as something that he did. "You just happened to cheat on me?" she fumed at him.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"Are you?" she retorted. "How long has this been going on?"
"The details don't matter," Scott stated. "It's not even about that. You and I haven't been happy for a long time, and now that Jason's grown, we don't need to stay together for his sake."
His words sank in, and Melanie felt herself sinking too. Her husband was telling her that he wanted a divorce while she stood topless before him. She had never felt more pathetic in her life.
Her steps were heavy with the weight of her depression as she turned away from him and left the room. She walked upstairs and slumped down on the bed to stare listlessly at the carpet.
He was leaving her for another woman, someone that he worked with. Melanie worked in a factory with lots of men, but nothing had ever "just happened" with any of them. Scott had hired in with her right after high school, but he'd quit only a few months later. He claimed that he needed to do better for his family, and Melanie had continued working in order to support them while he went to college. Her mother watched Jason so that Melanie could work.
Scott had left her behind in the factory for a college degree and a career. She had put her own ambition on hold to help him succeed. The plan had been for her to go to college after he got a job, but she had to keep putting it off for him. He couldn't take on making dinner and helping Jason with his homework, because he was working late to impress his boss. Once he got that promotion, he had more responsibilities, so he still didn't have time to accommodate her going to college.
Melanie had suggested that she quit her job and go to classes while Jason was at school. Scott talked her out of it, saying that it was better to have two incomes in today's economy. That hadn't been a concern to him while they were living off her income, but she let him convince her like she had since the beginning of their relationship. Scott always got his way, starting from when she'd surrendered her virginity to him and gotten pregnant their junior year of high school.
She'd given him her youth and postponed all her dreams for him. Now he was leaving her for another woman, and Melanie would be stuck in her tedious job until she retired. She was only thirty-six, but it seemed like she had nothing left to look forward to.
As if to mock her, Scott came upstairs this time, but she was still going to be left lonely and rejected.
"I'm moving out," he informed her.
"With your girlfriend?" Melanie enquired in a listless tone.
"No," he answered. "She's married too."
Her anger sparked again. "You've got a lot in common," she noted with derision.
Their selfishness was going to destroy two marriages. Oddly enough, it made her feel less lonely in her misery. The woman's husband was being betrayed by his spouse too.
Melanie suddenly needed to get out of this house that she'd shared with Scott. "You stay," she said. "I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
She put on a shirt, still not bothering with a bra. "Why should you care?"
He followed her downstairs. "I still care about you, Mel. I never meant to hurt you."
She snorted at that. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she agreed. "You didn't even think about me at all. It's all about you."
In her agitation, she left the house without her shoes. She had no destination in mind anyway, only wanting to escape the situation in this moment. The wind blew her hair back as she stepped outside, and she saw heavy storm clouds in the sky.
"There's a tornado watch," Scott informed her a moment later. "I just got the alert on my phone. You shouldn't go anywhere until it clears up."
Melanie's childhood wish to be swept up in a twister and transported to Oz resurfaced now. Disappearing into a magical, Technicolor world would be a welcome escape from her problems. She would be in no hurry to come home.
Lightning flashed across the sky, and the sound of thunder exploded above their heads.
"Come inside," Scott urged.
In opposition to his suggestion, Melanie ventured further into the open. She watched the dark clouds, waiting for them to swirl into a funnel. "Leave me alone," she told Scott.
"Mel," he pleaded.
She whirled on him. "You can do what you want, and I can do what I want. So leave me the hell alone!"
"Mel," he began again. "You're upset right now. Just—"
She spun away from him in disgust and walked quickly toward the backyard. No shit she was upset! How would he feel if she had cheated on him?
The depressing thought that he might not care slowed her steps. She halted and looked up at the sky just in time to see another streak of lightning. The thunder was so loud this time that it made her jump.
"Mel," Scott called out to her from the back door. "Come inside."
Ignoring him, she went to stand beside her favorite tree. She loved to sit beneath its shade and read a book on a nice day. Stepping around the plastic chair she used for those occasions, Melanie stood gazing at the trunk in the dimming light. Her fingers traced over the initials Scott had carved into the bark years ago.
That was the last thing she recalled when she woke up somewhere else.
Notes:
This was the story I was working on until I got stuck a few chapters in and abandoned it for Crush. It's the first adult story I've written, since I prefer YA. I was just curious to see if anyone would be interested in reading it if I ever get back to writing it.