"Murphy's Law" Rooney had called it.
Suddenly the memory of their chance meeting came rushing back. It had been years since they had seen each other, and yet it felt like yesterday.
Was it just her imagination or had Rooney grown into an incredibly handsome man? Just the sight of him took her breath away.
She glanced in the mirror, appalled at her appearance. Her hair looked horrible and this dress was such an awful color on her. Corbet hated when she wore it, but she had long since stopped trying to please him.
With a sigh, she tried to push the image of her husband out of her mind. What had she ever seen in him?
After graduation, she lost contact with Cathleen and the boys from St. Basil. Then one night, she ran into Corbett while out with some of her college girlfriends. He asked her out to dinner, and she reluctantly accepted.
She began to realize that the slime from high school had been transformed into a sweet, caring (and incredibly handsome) man.
When did that happen?
A whirlwind courtship led to an elaborate wedding, followed by children; one after the other.
As the years passed, Corbet began to change, and this time not for the better. Before she knew it, she was married to a stranger; an angry, unhappy workaholic for whom she could do nothing to please. She began to wonder if he ever really loved her at all.
A glimmer of hope filled her as she pulled into the driveway of the house she shared with Corbet and the kids.
She would give anything for her husband to take her in his arms, and sweep her off her feet, spinning her around; just as he had done when she accepted his proposal.
Just as she stopped the car, he appeared at the back door, an angry scowl on his face.
Determined to be a good wife, she got out of the car and smiled at her husband.
"Hey, Honey."
"What took you so long?" he shouted, startling her with his harsh tone.
"I was getting the car checked, Corbet. They wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with it."
"And did you tell them about the squealing?"
She sighed. "Yes, Corbet, of course I did."
"What did they find?"
"Nothing; they checked everywhere."
"So is it fixed?" He asked.
She could hear the anger in his voice, rising to the surface.
"Well, I took it to the garage and-oh Corbet! You'll never guess who was working there! He said to tell you hello! It was R-."
"I don't want to hear about your girlfriends from college, Jeanine!" Corbet interrupted. "The issue here is the car. So is it fixed or not?"
"Th-that's what I was going to tell you. When I got the car to the garage, the engine noise stopped. They called it Murphy's Law or something like that."
"Damn it, Jeanine!" He yelled. "I thought I told you to get that done today!"
His cruel outburst caused her to jump in surprise.
"Corbet, they didn't find anything, I sw-swear." Jeanine said.
Tears were rising dangerously to the surface, but she refused to let them fall. Corbet hated it when she cried.
"Corbet, I'm sorry. I-I'll go back tomorrow and get them to look again, okay?"
"I don't believe that for a second." He yelled. "Why do I even bother asking you to do things?"
Wordlessly, Janine walked into the house, not caring that she bumped into him.
It was only when she was in bed with the lights out that she cried.