straight to her voicemail again and he had to refrain from throwing his cell phone at the wall.
***
Misty pushed the ignore button on her phone sending Aaron's call straight to her voicemail. It was like the four dozenth time he'd called. She knew it was mean and immature to ignore him, but she didn't have it in her heart to tell him it was over.
"Is there a particular reason you keep ignoring his calls?" Amanda asked.
"I'm scared." Misty pushed her rigatoni around on her plate. "I've known him two days and he's already trying to claim me."
"What's wrong with that? You like him don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. I like him a lot. That's the problem."
"This is about Richard isn't it?"
Misty stood and took her plate to the sink. She dumped her food into the garbage disposal and turned it on before rinsing the plate. "Things went really bad with Richard."
"Tell me about it," Amanda said with genuine interest.
Misty studied her sister for a moment. Amanda had opened up last night about her problems with Scott and her affair. It was only fair that Misty divulge some truth, in the spirit of sisterly bonding. She sighed, went back to the table, and sat. "In the beginning Richard was great. In my eyes he could do no wrong. The sex was incredible, but when I started working at the school things changed. He became jealous and possessive and controlling. I mean, really controlling. Every day when I came home he'd accuse me of cheating on him."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Each time I'd prove him wrong, but it didn't seem to help. Then he started drinking and staying out late. When he would come home he'd pick a fight with me and call me all sorts of names."
"Did he ever hit you, Misty?"
The concern in Amanda's voice was touching and a little weird considering she'd never seemed to care about Misty in the past. Misty shook her head. "No. He never hit me, but we'd always end up in bed and he got rough a few times." She laughed sardonically. "That's one thing that never changed. We were always good in bed."
"Is that why you left? Because of the drinking and the fighting?"
"That was part of it. Another part was that I found out he'd been having an affair with his assistant and his accountant. When I confronted him about it he laughed and told me those were just the beginning, that there were more I didn't know of. It was almost like he was bragging about it."
"How many more were there?"
Misty shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care. One was too many. It was only after I learned about the affairs that our sex life ceased to exist. I should've left then, but I didn't. I stuck around for almost a year hoping we could work things out. God, I was so stupid."
Amanda reached across the table and put her hand over Misty's in a comforting manner. "There is nothing stupid about wanting to make your marriage work."
Misty smiled weakly as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. "I did everything I could to please him, to make him fall in love with me again. I gave up my job. I stopped going out with my friends. I became the perfect, happy little housewife he'd always wanted. None of it was good enough. He continued to drink and have his affairs while I was at home, alone and miserable." She wiped her tears and sniffled. "I tried to leave twice and both times he refused to let me, telling me I was his that I belonged to him, and then he threatened me with violence. I knew he'd never actually hurt me, but his threats scared me nonetheless."
"Oh my gosh, Misty, I had no idea he did that to you."
"Third time was the charm. I finally managed to leave him. He was furious, especially when he was served with divorce papers at work." Misty laughed. "You see? That's why I had to leave Carnegie. I couldn't stand to be in the same town as him."
"And I gave you so much shit about it." Amanda groaned. "I'm so sorry, Misty."
"Don't, Mandy. You didn't know. It's fine."
Amanda lifted her water glass in a toast and said, "Here's to
***
Misty pushed the ignore button on her phone sending Aaron's call straight to her voicemail. It was like the four dozenth time he'd called. She knew it was mean and immature to ignore him, but she didn't have it in her heart to tell him it was over.
"Is there a particular reason you keep ignoring his calls?" Amanda asked.
"I'm scared." Misty pushed her rigatoni around on her plate. "I've known him two days and he's already trying to claim me."
"What's wrong with that? You like him don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. I like him a lot. That's the problem."
"This is about Richard isn't it?"
Misty stood and took her plate to the sink. She dumped her food into the garbage disposal and turned it on before rinsing the plate. "Things went really bad with Richard."
"Tell me about it," Amanda said with genuine interest.
Misty studied her sister for a moment. Amanda had opened up last night about her problems with Scott and her affair. It was only fair that Misty divulge some truth, in the spirit of sisterly bonding. She sighed, went back to the table, and sat. "In the beginning Richard was great. In my eyes he could do no wrong. The sex was incredible, but when I started working at the school things changed. He became jealous and possessive and controlling. I mean, really controlling. Every day when I came home he'd accuse me of cheating on him."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Each time I'd prove him wrong, but it didn't seem to help. Then he started drinking and staying out late. When he would come home he'd pick a fight with me and call me all sorts of names."
"Did he ever hit you, Misty?"
The concern in Amanda's voice was touching and a little weird considering she'd never seemed to care about Misty in the past. Misty shook her head. "No. He never hit me, but we'd always end up in bed and he got rough a few times." She laughed sardonically. "That's one thing that never changed. We were always good in bed."
"Is that why you left? Because of the drinking and the fighting?"
"That was part of it. Another part was that I found out he'd been having an affair with his assistant and his accountant. When I confronted him about it he laughed and told me those were just the beginning, that there were more I didn't know of. It was almost like he was bragging about it."
"How many more were there?"
Misty shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care. One was too many. It was only after I learned about the affairs that our sex life ceased to exist. I should've left then, but I didn't. I stuck around for almost a year hoping we could work things out. God, I was so stupid."
Amanda reached across the table and put her hand over Misty's in a comforting manner. "There is nothing stupid about wanting to make your marriage work."
Misty smiled weakly as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. "I did everything I could to please him, to make him fall in love with me again. I gave up my job. I stopped going out with my friends. I became the perfect, happy little housewife he'd always wanted. None of it was good enough. He continued to drink and have his affairs while I was at home, alone and miserable." She wiped her tears and sniffled. "I tried to leave twice and both times he refused to let me, telling me I was his that I belonged to him, and then he threatened me with violence. I knew he'd never actually hurt me, but his threats scared me nonetheless."
"Oh my gosh, Misty, I had no idea he did that to you."
"Third time was the charm. I finally managed to leave him. He was furious, especially when he was served with divorce papers at work." Misty laughed. "You see? That's why I had to leave Carnegie. I couldn't stand to be in the same town as him."
"And I gave you so much shit about it." Amanda groaned. "I'm so sorry, Misty."
"Don't, Mandy. You didn't know. It's fine."
Amanda lifted her water glass in a toast and said, "Here's to
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