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Chapter Nine: What Really Happened or the Fly Returns to the Spider's Parlor
So Drake wasn't going to tell Dr. Reynolds about Debra. He was, however, going to have a talk with Debra. He was not happy with the things she'd said to Christine. Debra had been on vacation for a week, but she'd finally returned. Drake walked into the office building the morning she came back. Debra hadn't come in yet, so Drake went into his office to work on a few things. He was very absorbed with what he was doing when he suddenly realized it was getting close to noon, and he was supposed to meet Christine for one of their lunch dates. He'd better talk to Debra now.
Drake stood up and walked into the lobby.
"Can you take a break?" Drake asked Debra.
"Of course," she said. "Why?"
"I wanted to talk to you. Somewhere privately because I don't want to embarrass anyone."
"I see," said Debra. She followed him into a room in back of the reception desk, and he shut the door.
"Why have you been talking to my wife?"
"I think I can talk to anyone who walks through the door, thank you very much."
"You had no right to tell her the things you did," he said.
"Oh, so you didn't want her to know?"
"Know what?"
"About us?"
"Are you insane?" Drake exclaimed. "There is no 'us.' The only 'us' I'm a part of is my family. My wife and my daughter."
"A psychiatrist asking someone if they're insane. That's a little ironic."
"Look, I'm in love with my wife. If you can't deal with that..."
"So, you can't be in love with two women?"
Drake couldn't believe that. What kind of girl decided to be the extra girlfriend? Who didn't want someone who was their's?
"If there's no convincing you that that's not going to happen, just stop looking at me. Don't give me another thought, and leave my family alone."
"What's she have that I don't?"
"Don't go there..."
"Why not? Because you can't think of anything?"
"Because I could come up with so much that we'd be here for quite a while," he responded, raising an eyebrow and wondering what she was trying to get at now.
"I doubt that."
"Get out."
"You invited me in, Dr. Parker. You shut the door, Dr. Parker." She began to advance. Drake stayed back against the wall. The woman had to be nuts.
She finally stopped right in front of him.
"Get out, or I'll report you to Dr. Reynolds for sexual harrassment."
"You wouldn't do that to me," Debra replied. She leaned forward and pressed Drake against the wall. She covered his mouth with hers. Drake couldn't back away. Not with the wall there. He tried to slide down and away from her and nearly fell over. He thought he heard a door slam, but that must have been in his confusion.
"Get. The. Hell. Out." Drake was angry. What did she think she was doing? And what a suffocating kiss. No wonder she couldn't get a man who was single. Drake rushed past her and stood outside by the reception desk.
"Dr. Parker?" said Barb.
"It's nothing, Barb," he replied. "Don't worry about it." He returned to his office and sat down at his desk. He lay his head against it and didn't move for a few minutes. What was he going to tell Christine? He'd said he'd talk to Debra. Well, he talked to her all right. If he didn't tell Christine, she might find out some other way, and he didn't want that. She wouldn't trust him if that happened. He didn't want to drop that at lunch. She hadn't felt well that morning. No, that was a lot to tell her just now. But how was he supposed to tell her? Should he tell her? No one had seen that. Drake decided to wait for a few days to see if anything came of it. If it did, he'd tell her, but he just didn't want to worry her now, not when she was recovering from a week long illness.
Suddenly, Drake's cell phone went off and he noticed it was Christine. Was he late?
"Hey," said Drake, "what's up?"
"I can't come to lunch today," said Christine.
"Why not?" Drake asked.
"I don't feel well. I'm just going home."
"Are you okay?" Drake asked. "Do you need anything?"
"No," Christine responded. "I'll be fine. I just feel sick. I'm getting a sub for the rest of the day."
"Okay," said Drake. "Take care of yourself. I'll see you at home. I love you."
"I love you too," she replied.
Drake had to admit, she still sounded very sick. Her voice was shaky. After they hung up, Drake pulled a new journal article over to himself. He'd suddenly lost his appetite from the incident with Debra. Drake decided not to tell Christine for now. She was sick, and she didn't need that at the moment. He'd discuss this with her later when she felt better and would have the strength to deal with it.
Drake didn't know why Christine still didn't feel well, but he decided to try and do something nice. He picked up some flowers on his way home and tried to be there earlier. He was greeted, as normal, by Angela.
"Daddy!" she called, giving him a hug.
"Hi," he said. "Where's Mommy?"
"She's in the living room. She's been tired. She doesn't feel good still."
"I heard," Drake said. He took Angela's hand and headed into the living room. "Hi," he said. "How do you feel?"
"Not much better," Christine replied.
Angela hurried off to play upstairs while Drake sat down next to Christine on the sofa.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I was hoping these would cheer you up," he continued, indicating the flowers.
"Thank you," she said quietly. She took them into the kitchen to put them in a vase.
"I can do that," said Drake.
"It's fine," she replied.
Drake had no idea why she was responding the way she was. She sounded exhausted.
"I don't think I'm up to dinner. I'm going to bed," Christine said. "Will you and Angela be all right fending for yourselves?"
"Of course," Drake replied.
"Ouch!"
"What's the matter?"
"I just hurt myself on a thorn. It's nothing." She turned around. There were tears in her eyes. It was an awful lot of tears for a thorn, Drake thought.
"Go get some sleep," Drake said. "We'll be fine." He kissed her forehead before she left the kitchen and headed up the stairs. That was the shortest they'd ever spoken to each other when he came home. Drake wished he knew what to do to make her feel better, but he had no idea what he could do.
Drake finally made his way to bed that night after putting Angela to bed who decided that night to be insistant that she wanted Mommy to read to her. Drake finally told her she would just go to sleep without her story if she didn't cooperate. He told her Mommy needed sleep because she didn't feel well, and how would she like it if someone dragged her out of bed to read to them if it was her?
Drake sat on the edge of their bed. He leaned over Christine and kissed her.
"I'm sorry you haven't felt better," Drake said. "I hope things change tomorrow." He kissed her again. "I love you."
Christine must have been asleep because there was no response. Drake sighed, changed into pajamas, and pulled the covers over himself before turning out the light next to him on the table beside the bed.
He couldn't sleep. It was like he couldn't get comfortable. He turned several times before finally drifting off into a sleep before he'd wake up suddenly. There was a knot in his stomach, and every minute that went by, he felt it tighten even more. It was one of those knots that no matter how you sat or lie down, the pain wouldn't go away. He even tried curling himself into a ball, but that did nothing.
Why did he feel so much guilt? He knew why. He had to tell Christine, but what was he supposed to say? How was he going to tell her what happened? He just couldn't tell her now. He'd deal with the pain in his stomach to save her a little. He knew it was going to sting when he told her what happened. He knew her first response wasn't going to be an understanding one. He knew there was going to be an argument. Those things couldn't be helped. But it would hurt her so much worse when she wasn't well. He knew he'd probably brought this on himself. So much for trying to save everyone some embarrassment. If he had just gone to Dr. Reynolds in the first place this wouldn't have happened. Then he got the bright idea to talk to Debra himself. Now he was going to hurt his wife. She'd always been so understanding before, but what was going to happen this time?
His thoughts turned dark. What if she didn't believe him? What if she thought everything had been true? That Debra had told the truth and that he lied? But there was no reason for her not to believe him, was there? The only thing was Debra. They were supposed to be beyond that, but this would bring it back. And what if she didn't believe him? His worst thought, the one thing that would kill him, was that she would leave him. But that was too depressing to think about. He hadn't done anything. And Debra had kissed him. It wasn't like they'd somehow slept together. There was no way things could get that far without his realizing it. It was only a kiss. Yet, Christine was the only woman who should kiss him that way anymore.
No. She had to believe him. He'd never lied to her before, so there was no reason for her to believe that would happen now.
Drake lie on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He was torn. How was she going to respond? He knew she wasn't going to like it. He sighed and glanced over at her sleeping quietly beside him. He had to do what he could to make her believe him. He turned toward her and wrapped his arms around her. He softly whispered, "I'm sorry," before attempting to fall back asleep.
