The Sweetest Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

for certain that I was
never going out there. I called Kate on her cell phone and got her
voice mail.
    “ Kate, please call me,” I
said. “I’m really sick.”
    Twenty minutes and several
bathroom visitors later, Kate finally called me.
    “ Your husband asked me where
you are,” she said. “I told him you’re not feeling well.”
    “ Thanks, Kate. This is worse
than I thought. I’ve got to get out of here and get home. Can you
tell Jim for me? I can’t go out there this sick. And can you handle
everything in my place?”
    “ Of course,” Kate said. “I’ll
be happy to handle it. You just get yourself home.”
    Relieved, I slunk out of the
bathroom and out the back door of the gallery. It was raining lightly
when I walked out, through the parking lot to my car. But I didn’t
care if I got wet. I was humiliated. As I drove home, I started to
wonder how I was going to keep my job if I couldn’t even do the
tasks I was responsible for.
    When I got home—sweet home—I
poured myself a glass of wine and went upstairs. I turned on the TV
in the bedroom and started watching Out of Africa. I lay there for a
long time awake, but Jim never called me. He knew I was sick, but he
never called. The reception was over at nine and he should have been
home shortly after that.
    But he didn’t come home after
that. I fell asleep at eleven and Jim still wasn’t home. I don’t
know when he got there.
    I woke up at seven the next
morning and Jim was already gone, probably to the gym. Unlike me, he
liked to keep himself fit. He showered and changed into his suit at
the gym, which was two blocks from his office. I wouldn’t see him
until that evening—if then.
    I decided I wasn’t going to
work. Make my illness stick. I didn’t really have anyone to call to
say I wouldn’t be in since Sheila was out of town on an advancement
trip. I was the head of my own department, so I called Carly.
    “ I’m too sick to come in,”
I said.
    “ What’s wrong with you?”
she asked with concern.
    “ I’ve got some sort of
stomach bug. I’ve got fever and chills. It’s awful.”
    “ Do you think you should go to
the doctor?” she asked.
    “ I will if things don’t get
better soon,” I said.
    I felt a pang of guilt when I
hung the phone up. I made myself a breakfast of bacon and eggs to
make myself feel better. I watched the “Today Show” as I sipped
my coffee. When that was over, I sat at my computer and went on
Facebook.
    Dammit! Carly had already posted
photos from the reception. She must’ve taken them with her phone
because the university photographer was never that quick in getting
our photos to us.
    And there was Jim with Kimberly.
He was in a lot of the photos. He had stuck by Kimberly like glue! I
was enraged. He hadn’t even bothered to check on his sick wife!
Yeah, I wasn’t sick—except sick at heart—but he didn’t know
that. He had chosen to stay at the reception, laughing it up with
Kimberly and being her escort for the evening. In front of my
co-workers. I was humiliated.
    I ate some ice cream. I watched
game shows. I ate some cookies. Jim called around three.
    “ Hey,” he said jovially.
“Carly said you were sick last night and then you were asleep by
the time I got home.”
    “ Why didn’t you call to check
on me?” I blurted out.
    “ I didn’t think you’d want
me to bother you,” he said. “They said you were hanging in the
bathroom, so I thought. . . .” He trailed off.
    “ You’re a real prince,” I
said slamming the phone down.
    Jim texted me later to say he had
to work late on a brief and not to wait up. He’d get supper brought
in.
    And that was how it went after
Kimberly Williams arrived in town. Jim became busier than ever. He
couldn’t make it home for supper anymore most nights. That was when
I tried the HCG diet, and that was when I failed once again to regain
my youthful figure.
    And then I found him in bed with
Kimberly Williams. I recognized her instantly as she pulled