"You can't!" he said.

"Just watch me," she hissed.

"Just stop for one second, Sandra. Think of the consequences!" he raised his voice.

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

"I will not let you do it!" he warned her.

"What are you going to do? Follow me around 24 / 7? Stand by your phone at home to filter the calls?" she mocked.

"You will not ruin my life. Or yours!" he said through clenched teeth.

"What life?!" she sobbed, grasping his shirt, "The only life I have now is with you…"

"But Alex…" he said, his resolve liquefying.

"Alex has a lot of admirers John. We have an understanding…" she said, her voice trailing off.

"No, no, no. You've got it wrong. I…" He shook his head tiredly.

"You can't leave me John. Please don't leave me," she cut in before he could finish.

"I don't want to Sandra. But…" he stopped short.

"We can make it work, I know it..." she said between broken sobs, "I have enough money for us to start over somewhere new. Somewhere people don't know us. We can take Ricky with us. He'll love it in Whitewater. My old house… we can renovate it! It will be everything we'd ever wanted John!"

"Oh Sandra… I can't." he said in resignation.

"But you said so yourself! You don't love Carol anymore!" she said, her voice shaking with frustration.

"No. I don't." he mumbled, "… but it's more complicated, Sandy."

"No! It's not complicated John!" she yanks her arms from his grasp, "I love you, you love me! You've spent most of your weekends here in San Diego with me…"

"It's not just about you and me!" he yells at her.

"Who else is there? You're not in love with Carol. I've nothing left with Alex. Your son Ricky will be fine coming with us, you know he will," she pleaded.

John sighed, his shoulders slumped in resignation, "You really can't see, can you?"

"See what?" she demanded, "All I can see is how you're growing distant each day. It's like the more you spend time here with me, the deeper you get involved again with Carol!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he growls at her.

"Those little trinkets that you buy back for her – the gold necklace, the silk scarf – all those little trinkets you insist on buying for her while you're here!"
she said, her voice quivering, "Sometimes I don't know if you're really out of love with her. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not just a past time for you!"

"For the last time, I'm not in love with Carol!" He shouted.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were here." Alex apologized, halfway through the front door.

"No, it's okay Alex. I was just leaving." John stammered.

"Have you told her?" Alex asked.

Sandra looked at John, bewildered, "Told me what?" "I tried to…"

John said nervously, going for the front door, "I don't know if this is a good time Alex."

"Okay, then I'll tell her." Alex turned to Sandra, "John and I are in love, baby."

"What?!" Sandra gasped, "What are you talking about? You're a lesbian!"

"Yes, well I thought I was," Alex said, turning to look at John, "Until I met John. You shouldn't have brought him here. You were right. He is quite a man."

"Alexandra, you bitch!" Sandra hissed, her hands clenched in anger.

By Sal, an ex-travel writer, now struggling housewife and aspiring fiction novelist. She lives in Malaysia with British husband and dreams to publish her first novel and adopt a Siamese cat one day. Though not necessarily in that order.

Read more about this author's life at Aquarius Sal