The Secret Behind the Door

“I will go and find him, Sis. Just stay here and entertain everyone. It won’t be long. He couldn’t have gone far,” she giggled as she turned to leave to look for her brother-in-law.

“Tell him we are about to cut the cake,” Polly said with a big smile and waved the cutting knife meaning for her sister to hurry along.

Janet left the kitchen where everyone was standing waiting for the guest of honor to appear to help his wife, her sister, cut their 15 year anniversary cake.

“Where in the heck did he disappear to?” she angrily muttered to herself. “He knew they were about to cut their celebratory cake.”

Janet’s clacking on the tiled floor of the living room could be heard as she left heading upstairs. She knew Stewart’s office was the room next to their bedroom so that was where she assumed he would be. She could hear his voice and it sounded like it was coming from the balcony off his and her sister’s bedroom. Not wanting to go through the bedroom, she decided to go though Carla’s, her niece’s bedroom, and call out to him from the window.

She lifted the window and started to shout out to him when she picked up on his conversation. She leaned back into the bedroom but continued listening. She was hoping she was not hearing what she thought she heard.

“I can’t come tonight. I am sorry, but I told you Polly insisted on this anniversary party here at the house tonight. Yes, I tried to talk her out of it, but she was persistent,” he said to the person on the other end of the phone.

Janet continued listening to a one-sided conversation.

“I don’t know how long it will last but probably until 10 or 11:00. By the time she cleans up the kitchen after everyone leaves, she will be ready for bed. I will already be in bed pretending to be asleep. I can’t easily leave until I am sure she is asleep. That is the best I can do. I miss you too. I will see you around midnight. Just stay awake till I get there,” he chuckled.

Janet slowly lowered the window and quickly stepped across the carpeted floor and went out the door.

She waited for a minute and called out loudly, “Stewart. Stewart, where are you? They are waiting for you downstairs.”

He stepped out of the bedroom and frowning said, “What’s up?”

“Polly sent me to find you. They’ve been waiting to cut the cake. Come on,” she said.

“There was no need for you to come find me. I was in the bathroom. I didn’t think I had to tell anyone I had to go for God’s sake,” he said angrily.

Realizing he was lying, Janet walked swiftly away and hurried downstairs. She reached Polly’s side followed by Stewart.

“Come on honey. They want to take pictures,” she happily called out to her husband.

With big smiles they posed side by side, hands on the cutting knife for the photographer as they sliced the cake. Polly was laughing as she fed Stewart a piece as he did for her. He grabbed Polly and gave her a big kiss for the camera.

By 10:00, Stewart and Polly stood in the doorway waving their guests goodbye. Janet stayed to help her in the kitchen. Stewart gave a quick kiss to his wife and went back upstairs to their bedroom.

“It was a great party, wasn’t it, Janet?” Polly asked.

“It was a wonderful party. The cake was delicious,” Janet replied back. “Now let’s get this kitchen cleaned up and I will be on my way.”

After the kitchen was clean, she walked Janet outside to her car.

“Is everything cool between you and Stewart?” Janet asked.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. I was just wondering. Glad to know things are great between the two of you.”

“Janet, what have you heard? Do you know something that I don’t?”

“No, Polly. I was just wondering.”

“Well, don’t wonder anymore. We are fine. Be safe going home. We will see each other tomorrow.”

After Janet left, Polly began thinking and wondering why her sister had asked her if everything was o.k. between Stewart and herself. Shaking her head, she went upstairs expecting to find him awake and in a romantic mood especially tonight. Listening to the annoying drone of snoring coming from him, Polly felt a big letdown.

“Is there something going on that I haven’t been paying attention to?” she asked herself. “He must be tired,” she thought as if he did anything to help with the party tonight. "It must have been tiring going up and down the stairs all night with phone calls. So much for celebrating our anniversary.”

She tossed the new sexy satin gown aside and pulled on her every- night cotton pajamas and crawled into bed.

Janet sat in her car waiting till she saw his car come down the driveway and onto the street. 11:30 p.m. "He should be coming any minute. Oh Janet, you need to stay out of this. It’s not your business,” she whispered to herself as if anyone could hear.

She reached to start her car and decided to scratch this idea and go on home. She was about to drop the gear into drive when his car eased onto the street. Her heart began pounding hard inside her chest. "Maybe he is just going to the store,” she hoped.

She waited and watched. Thankfully the street lights lit the highway which allowed her to follow without headlights. Through the misty night, she watched him drive into the parking lot of the Brunswick apartment building. Keeping her distance, she drove on by and came around from the other side. He stood outside the car and then reached back in and pulled out something. It appeared to be a bouquet of flowers. He walked up the steps, rang the doorbell and waited a moment or two. The door opened and a lady spoke and took the flowers and wrapped her arms around his neck. He kissed her and she pulled him inside.

“What the heck?” Janet asked herself. “Who on earth is that?” She couldn’t see what the lady looked like but could see she was tall and seemed to have long hair. Stewart is about 6 feet tall and this lady was a few inches shorter, maybe 5’8” or 9.

Janet gripped the steering wheel tightly and banged her head on it from frustration. Anger built inside as she held her breath. She blew the air out and quietly shouted, “Stewart, you S.O.B. You ARE cheating on Polly. “We are fine,” Janet recalled what Polly had said earlier.

Not knowing what to do now, Janet waited for whatever was to happen next. She had no idea what to expect. She knew she needed to leave. What good was it to sit out here and watch? She couldn’t tell Polly what she knew. 2:00 a.m.

The porch light came on. They (Stewart and the lady) held each other in an embrace. Finally the last kiss was shared and Stewart turned to head to his car. He said something over his shoulder in answer to whatever it was she expressed.

As he crossed the parking lot, Stewart was looking around making sure he was not being watched. Janet ducked down in the seat. She heard his car start up. His headlights shown across the way. She sat up and watched as he backed out of the parking lot and onto the street. Janet followed.

To make sure it was him, she watched the taillights turn up the driveway to their house. He opened the garage door, drove inside, closed the door.

Janet started to leave but noticed the light in the living room had come on. She could see her sister through the partially curtained window standing in the middle of the room. Stewart walked up to her and put his arms around her shoulders. It seemed he was trying to calm her down.

“You promised, Stewart! You promised you would stop seeing her.” She stomped her foot and balled up her fingers into a fist. She continued, “Once again you are lying to me. I know where you went tonight. You just can’t help yourself. You left my bed for hers again!” Polly screamed.

“It’s not what you think, Polly. She would not stop calling me here at the house tonight. So I told her I would see her one more time. And I was going to tell her ONCE again, to her face, that it was over between the two of us. That’s why I went there. It isn’t what it looks like, honey. I love you and I don’t want this to come between us like it has before. I want our marriage to work. Please believe me,” he said. He continued, “We have a beautiful life together. We have a 14 year old daughter, we have a big, beautiful house that you dreamed of and my law firm is doing outstandingly. Why would I throw all that away for another woman?”

“I wish I could answer that, Stewart. Why would you?” she asked.

She then stormed away and went upstairs to her bedroom. The house vibrated from the hard slam of the door.

Stewart’s phone rang. He glanced upstairs and stepped outside to answer the call.

Janet watched.

The next morning:

“Hey Polly,” Janet said to her on the phone. “We were going to go do a little shopping today, remember?”

“Sure, and we will do lunch at that small quaint restaurant in the mall,” she replied.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll be there in an hour to pick you up,” Janet said.

She arrived an hour later as planned and walked into Polly’s house.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yeah. Let me get my bag.”

The 20 minute ride to the mall was a quiet one. Janet broke the ice by asking what was wrong.

“Nothing is wrong. Why do you keep insisting there is something wrong? Everything is fine,” Polly answered sharply.

“Ok, Ok. Chill out. It was just a simple question.”

Janet was patient and waited for her sister to open up. But she said nothing. She knew Polly and she couldn’t help but notice a sadness in her throughout their lunch.

“Do you want to pick something up for Stewart for lunch and take it to him at work? That would be a nice surprise, wouldn’t it?” Janet asked.

The underlying plan was to see if Stewart was in his office. "I am really staying out of this affair, aren’t I?” Janet asked herself.

“Yeah. I would like to do just that,” Polly snapped.

An hour later Janet said, “I’ll stay in the car while you take it in.”

Polly jerked the car door open. With the take-out in her hand, she jogged to the elevator that would take her to Stewart’s office. Janet sat quietly listening to Neil Diamond on the radio when another elevator opened and Stewart stepped out with the woman he was with last night.

“Oh gee whiz. I am just going to shut my eyes and not witness anything,” Janet said to herself.

With one eye open, she watched Stewart open the car door for HER and then got in himself. Janet watched them drive out and turn right. She let out a long held in breath.

Within minutes, Polly was storming out of the elevator, approached the car and slung the take-out on the floor.

Playing dumb, Janet asked her sister, “Was he not in his office?”

With tears streaming down her face, she looked at her sister and sobbed out the words, “He is with HER again. I don’t know where they are.”

“They turned right at the exit out of here.”

She side-glanced her sister and through tearing eyes she asked, “Do you think we can follow them?”

After searching up and down the streets, they decided it was a mute cause.

“Just take me home, Janet.”

It was quiet between Stewart and Polly that evening until the phone rang.

He reached for it and Polly put her hand over his.

“Stewart, please don’t answer.” He looked down at her on her knees before him. “I was praying she wouldn’t call and don’t tell me it’s a call from your mother. I know it isn’t. I am begging you not to go. My heart is on my sleeve. We don’t have to live like this. This is killing me. With tears streaming down her face, she cried, “What is she giving you that I am not? Tell me, Stewart, and I will do it to make you stay. I have given you the best of me but apparently my best isn’t enough because you will go to her again and keep lying to me. Don’t you see, you are lying to both of us? We both have been competing for your love. And we have so much to lose, Stu. Fifteen years of a life together, our daughter, our home. All of this isn’t enough to keep you here though, is it?”

When he didn’t utter a word, Polly got up off her knees. "I am not going to compete with her anymore, Stewart. I will not wait for you. I don’t know how long this fling has been going on but I refuse to live like this. I am so tired of this game. So just go. But this time don’t come back,” she stuttered.

He turned to go. “Stewart, it doesn’t have to be this way. I am begging you to stay.”

Refusing or unable to speak, he went upstairs. When he came down, Polly was sitting in front of the fireplace wrapped in a blanket. Stewart had a bag in his hand. With saddened eyes, she watched him walk to the door. He did not look back. He just opened the door and walked out.

“I will give you a call in the next couple of days,” he said.

10:00 that evening. She picked up the phone and dialed her number.

“Hello?”

“Janet?”