Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Continuation of Chapter 173!
When Gale finally returned to work a few days later Madge felt her heart breaking for him all over again. There were heavy bags hanging under his eyes and his scruff was getting a bit out of hand. Madge wheeled her chair over to his cubicle and tried to be as normal as possible, knowing he wouldn't want to talk about the affair at work.
"You look like shit, Hawthorne," she chirped.
His lips curled upwards, only slightly. "I feel like shit, Undersee," he murmured. He hadn't been sleeping and his chest was always tight. She wheeled back to her cubicle for a moment before returning to him, a cup of coffee in her hands. Gale sighed gratefully, reaching for the paper cup. "You're a Goddamn angel." He sipped greedily and smiled at her. "Thank you."
"You'd do the same for me," she said, and she meant it. He smiled at her for another few seconds before she took a deep breath, "I should get back to work."
Their day went on as they usually did only Gale was a lot quieter than usual. He would call over the cubicle wall at times but mostly he kept to himself, diving into his work and refusing to think about anything else. By lunch time he was thoroughly exhausted and his coffee had started to wear off. He and Madge sat in their usual spot as they ate but she didn't push or pry, knowing if he wanted to talk about his wife that he would. And of course, he did.
"I had to go back to get clothes," he said after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. After the first night at Madge's apartment Gale told her he didn't want to be a burden and instead crashed with his friend Thom. "She was waiting. Wants to uh," Gale narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Says she wants to work through things."
Madge dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "Is that what you want?"
"No." Gale had loved his wife. He wanted a family with her, they'd been trying for months without success. He loved her more than anything. "Absolutely not." He couldn't pretend like the affair hadn't happened, it hurt too much either way. He couldn't be with her and refused to be her fallback. "I can't even look at her without getting angry."
Madge reached across the table and rested her hand atop his. "Hey, it's okay," she told him. He turned his hand slightly so he could hold her fingertips and then squeezed lightly. "You have every right to be angry," she said strongly. "Everything you're feeling is valid."
Hesitantly he tipped his head into a nod. "Thank you," he murmured. "Honestly. For all you've done."
Madge felt her hand burning and smiled, pulling away from him and quickly drinking from her water bottle. She felt selfish, honestly. Gale was such a great guy, she's always thought so. Truth be told she was disappointed when she found out he was married. Though she did want to be there for him, affairs were heavy and divorce even more so, she also slightly hoped it would help him see her differently. His wife was just caught fucking her professor and Madge is already trying to redirect the attention on her, the guilt is strong.
Obviously she'd support him whatever his choices, even if that meant working things through with his wife, but for now it was nice to have her look at him like she could fix him.
"I'm always here if you need me," she said. She didn't know if his smile made her feel better or worse.
Things progressed like that for the next few weeks. Gale would let her know the process of divorce that he was in and they'd eat lunch together every day and soon enough his teasing returned. The bags under his eyes faded and he remembered to get his own coffee and he smiled, just like he used to.
He came into work late one morning and Madge cocked an eyebrow at him but he shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. He had his own coffee so she hadn't any reason to talk to him so she went right to work. Finally, a little bit before lunch, she rolled her chair over and peeked into his cubicle. He was typing frantically and only slightly tilted his head in her direction.
"Hey," she said softly. "You okay?" Gale grunted and set his jaw. "That's not really an answer."
"I don't really have one," he muttered back. Madge pulled herself more into his cubicle and he sighed, lifting his fingers from the keyboard and flexing them. "Heather called me last night and she was fucking hysterical," he said, his eyes on the computer screen. "I couldn't even understand what she was saying."
"You don't—I just wanted to see if you were okay, you don't have to talk about it."
"The guy she slept with has a wife and he's not leaving her to be with Heather. So she called me. I don't…" he drops his elbows to the desk and then places his head in his hands. "I don't fucking understand." He scrubs his face a few times before stilling. "It hurts," he croaked. Madge rolled all the way into his cubicle and rested her hand lightly on his back. "I want this over. Now. Right now, but I have to wait six fucking months to be separated from her and," he shakes his head again. "I'm so tired."
"It'll all work out," Madge told him quietly. "You've just got to make it through these months. One day at a time, okay?"
He pulled himself up to look at her and felt his chest tightening. The way Madge looked at him made him feel like a different person, the person he was before all of this happened. Their eyes met and he found himself nodding slowly. One day at a time. It'll all work out.