Free A Cry For Hope by Beth Rinyu Page B

just started on Monday so I’m still in the process of learning who everyone is.” I smiled even wider. Finally. Someone who didn’t actually see me as “poor Hope”.
    “Jamie told me that he was expecting you. You can go on back.”
    “Thanks and good luck.” I smiled.
    “Thank you.”
    My head remained down, hoping to go unnoticed by anyone else as I made my way to Jamie’s office. I knocked lightly on his door and entered. He got up from his desk and smiled. My eyes instantly moved to his left hand. I smiled to myself, seeing that he was still wearing his wedding band.
    “I’m sorry. I’m a little early. Surprisingly, I didn’t hit much traffic.”
    “That’s okay.” He leaned down and kissed me softly on the cheek.
    “My mother made your favorite mint brownies. I left them on the kitchen counter,” I said.
    He bit his lip and gazed at me like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t get the words out.
    “Hey Jamie, here’s that -.”  I turned around to find the redhead from the party. She covered her mouth when she saw me. “Oh, I'm so sorry,” she said. I instantly felt the bile rising in my throat, coming face-to-face with this woman once again and knowing what had happened, or maybe was still happening, between her and Jamie. A million heart-wrenching thoughts raced through my mind. She knew what it felt like to have his lips on hers. She knew what it felt like to have my husband inside of her, and the look of desire in his eyes just as he would come undone and release himself. These were things that only I was supposed to know.  Things that only heandI were supposed to have shared.
    I ignored the pain in my heart and the churning in my stomach. The only emotion that came to the surface was anger. “Are you?” I asked. She was speechless as she looked at me sympathetically. “Are you sorry that you’re fucking my husband, or are you sorry that his poor, pathetic wife was stupid enough to show up here to have lunch with him today?”
    She swallowed hard and shook her head.
    “Hope?” Jamie gently said, clearly sensing my anger.
    “You know what, Jamie? I knew this was a bad idea. Meeting you here and knowing that your lover works here? Just another way that you can rub salt in my wound.”
    She stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights, before finally hanging her head low and walking out of his office.
    “Hope, listen to me.” He placed his hand on my shoulder.
    “Get the hell off of me! Don't touch me! Why do you take such pleasure in torturing me?”
    “That's not what I was doing, Hope.”
    “Well, what the hell did you think you were doing by asking me to meet you here when you knew that she was going to be here?”
    “I didn't even think about that Hope. I just needed to talk to -.”
    “ You needed!? Everything is always about what you need! Go talk to your little whore, or is she only good for one thing? The one thing you’re unable to do with your own wife, I might add!” I realized that I was shouting a little louder than I should have been, but I didn't care.
    “Hope, please stop! This is my work.”
    “Yeah, and this is my life, Jamie,” I said, unable to fight the tears. “I'll take the blame once again. I should have known better than to meet you here. I should have known better than to meet you at all. We are not ready for this yet.” I took a deep breath, ignoring the sadness in his eyes. I exited his office, looking down at the ground and ignoring the stares as I walked out the door.
     
     

 
    I got into my car and took a deep breath. I wiped the last of my tears away, feeling like I didn’t have any more left inside of me. Stupid, stupid, stupid! You asked for it! I started my car and couldn’t get out of that parking lot quickly enough. I was almost back to my mother’s when my phone began to ring. I switched it to speaker. “Hey, Nick,” I answered.
    “Hey, Hope. How did it go today?”
    “Not good.”
    “What happened?”
    “Well,