She got on the road again and continued driving further south. Suddenly she was in Springfield, which was next to Eugene. She’d always wanted to go there so she took the next exit and ended up downtown.
She pulled off the freeway into the business district and started to look around for a cheap hotel.
She passed the Hilton and shook her head. That was beyond her price range at the moment.
Finally she found a little dive of a place and pulled in.
She walked inside, more tired than she could remember being in a very long while. The man behind the counter was leering at her and frightened her a bit with his missing teeth and foul odor.
“I would like a room for the night please,” she asked quietly.
“Do you have a credit card,” he hacked out at her.
“No, I have cash,” she responded not wanting to use her credit card and not trusting the man to have her information.
“Well, we normally require a credit card in case you steal anything...” He leered again.
“Oh, then I guess I’ll have to find another place,” she stated calmly, even though she felt as if she was going to fall over at any moment.
“I guess we can do it on cash this time,” he said a bit desperately. She wasn’t going to stay in the place if there was not a double lock on the door. She didn’t trust the guy at all.
“Thank you,” Amy responded and then filled out the necessary paperwork, received her key, grabbed her car and drove to the parking spot in front of her door.
She wearily got out of the rig, grabbed her suitcase and then opened the door. She gasped a little bit at the smell of cigarettes and stale beer. She sighed and stepped inside. She was too scared to even open a window as the neighborhood she was in didn’t seem the safest. She was not going to be Mrs. Anderson anymore and would have to get used to life like it had been before her marriage.
She didn’t really care about the room; she was just so empty from the betrayal of her husband cheating. She’d been in his arms the night before and then he was in the arms of another just a few short hours later. Thank goodness for her exhaustion because she fell into a restless sleep almost immediately.
“Well then where the hell did she go,” Lucas shouted to his cook Rosa. He knew it wasn’t her fault Amy was gone but he had no one else to take his fear and anger out on.
He’d come home, anticipating holding his wife in his arms. The roses were clutched to his chest.
He’d opened the door and called out to her. When there was no answer, he hadn’t felt panic yet, just headed up the stairs, where he figured she was taking a nap.
She’d been far more tired lately and he’d been worried about her health as well as that of his son’s. He smiled as he thought about the fact that he called the baby a boy and she called her a girl. Neither of them cared the sex of the baby, as long as he or she was healthy and safe.
He quietly stepped into their bedroom and looked around. He frowned slightly when she wasn’t there but then figured she was in the bathroom. He walked over to the door and she wasn’t in there either.
He was turning to walk back out and ask Rosa where she was, when he happened to glance over and saw her ring sitting on the table above a piece of paper. Instantly he was furious. She’d left him. He felt it. She’d told him she loved him and still walked out. He would drag her back no matter where she’d gone and then take his child from her and then he’d be the one leaving.
She wasn’t going to make him into a fool and leave him standing there alone and vulnerable.
She’d lied to him. She told him she loved him and then she walked out on him. He was sure she had taken all she could get her greedy little hands on in the process. The whole time she’d just played him.
He slowly walked over to the paper and looked down at it, not wanting to know what she’d written but unable to stop himself.
Lucas,
I’m so sorry you weren’t able to love me. I can’t help how much I have fallen in love with you, even though that was never the arrangement between us. I can no longer live here with you, while you are leaving me to be in the arms of another woman. I know you love our child and I will not try to keep her from you but I have to get away for the sake of my own health right now. I will contact you after the baby is born and we can arrange something at that time. I will return the car to you just as soon as I can get things worked out. I’m not trying to take it from you; I just had no other way to leave.
Amy
He read the note about ten times, not understanding what was going on. He wasn’t cheating on her. Why would she think he was? He went from anger to confusion in the space of a heartbeat.
He calmed down and re-read the note once again. He needed to find out what was going on and not just jump to conclusions.
He slowly walked down the stairs, almost as if he was in a trance. He walked into the kitchen where Rosa was cooking. “Hello Mr. Anderson, you’re home early today,” she said as if nothing was wrong. This attitude made his temper come to the front again.
“Have you seen my wife?” he asked with a bite to his voice. She turned towards him with her brows puckered. “She left a while ago,” she said perplexed, as if he should know this. That was when he shouted at her.
He immediately felt bad and calmed himself down. “I apologize Rosa,” he said. “It’s just that she’s gone and all I have is this note,” he said as he thrust the note in front of her.
She scanned the note and then her breath hitched as she re-read it. She looked up at Lucas with some suspicion on her face. He knew Amy had become friends with Rosa and the two of them spent a lot of time together.
“I didn’t cheat on my wife,” he began defending himself. He didn’t need to explain anything to her, but he didn’t like the censure he saw in her eyes. She immediately looked down, as if she knew she’d been glaring at her boss.
“It’s not my business,” she stated to him.
“Can you tell me where Amy has been today?” he asked Rosa.
“Didn’t you see her Mr. Anderson? I packed her up a lunch and she was bringing it into your office. She said she wanted to surprise you with a romantic lunch because you’ve had to work so late every night. She was very excited when she left,” she said.
“She came home much quicker than I had thought she would, but I assumed she’d just forgotten something, because she was only here for about fifteen minutes and then rushed back out the door without saying another word,” she finished.