Holiday Hearts by Dara Girard

Author:Dara Girard [Girard, Dara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ilori Press Books LLC

The Other Woman

The size 42DDD wasn’t hers.

Andrea Hartnett looked at the bright pink bra she’d found in her top lingerie drawer wondering if she should feel perplexed or enraged. If her husband was cheating, why would this bra end up in her drawer? Wasn’t it something a wife would find underneath the bed, in the backseat of a car, or in her husband’s jacket pocket?

If there was another explanation, what could it be? They’d had two kids—ages five and seven—within ten years of marriage and the thrill was definitely gone. Andrea glanced out the bedroom window as the descending darkness of night slowly devoured a bleak winter sun. Boredom settled on them some days more than others, but was that anyone’s fault? Wasn’t that normal? Robert was a good man, good husband and father.

But had he gotten tired of it all?

Had he met someone at the play dates he went to with the kids?

Was this his way of rebelling against his role as a househusband? The arrangement worked for them, but at times she wondered if he missed an outside work life. If he missed being an electrical engineer and the chance to discuss the newest changes in his field, instead of the latest action figure. She knew he’d finished his holiday shopping—he was always orderly and regimented—she hadn’t even started hers.

Should she confront him or be subtle? Andrea turned the object over in her hand, seeing the lacy white trim, feeling the satin finish, a flash of something crossing her thoughts—a familiar sensation or memory—before it was quickly gone. How could one be subtle about something like this? Did she approach him in the kitchen and calmly say, “Darling, I found someone else’s bra in my drawer? Do you know how that happened?”

Did she really want to know?

Did she just want to pretend?

Andrea hurriedly shoved the bra back in the drawer when she heard footsteps approaching. Moments later, Robert, came into the room carrying a laundry basket stacked with freshly washed clothes that reminded her of the scent of tulips and roses in the sunshine. He set the basket on the bed then lifted up her cream blouse and held it up with a flourish. “Tada!” he said with a big grin, his teeth white against his cocoa skin.

She frowned. “What?”

“I got the wine stain out.”

Yes, she remembered being upset that she’d ruined the blouse after only one wear. She’d been at a holiday office party where her colleague, Mona Shan, had gotten tipsy and splashed Andrea’s blouse. Mona had apologized profusely, but Andrea silently wondered if she was really apologizing for getting the promotion Andrea had worked two years for. But Andrea had laughed and made a joke, pretending that nothing bothered her and the tense moment was quickly forgotten.

But she hadn’t forgotten it. The wine stain and Mona’s sloppy apology burned in her chest like acid. That evening, Robert had found her sitting on the side of their bed in tears. She told him about the stain,

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