Obsessed With You

by Jennifer Ransom

  Number one: Sudden changes in his appearance like alterations in his hair or clothing to try to look better.

  No, Cathy thought. Aaron always looked great. He couldn’t look any better than he did.

  Number two: his attitude toward you dramatically changes, such as getting irritable with you or starting fights and storming out.

  Cathy had to say no to that one, too. Aaron was always agreeable and never irritable with her.

  Number three: He’s become distant because he can’t handle having two relationships at once.

  That was another no. Aaron was always loving and caring.

  Number four: Guilty behavior as in showering you with gifts and affection to hide the affair.

  Cathy thought about that one. Aaron was always affectionate and he sometimes bought her surprise gifts like jewelry or flowers. That hadn’t changed. But, as she thought further about it, he had texted her a lot more than usual since the woman called. Simple texts saying “I love you” or “I miss you.” He had always done that, but not several times a day as he had lately.

  Number five: He displays secretive or unusual behavior such as being elusive about where he is or shutting down the computer when you walk into the room.

  Aaron’s schedule was so busy and erratic, she had never cared to know about every appointment he had in a day. Often, he had appointments with clients after hours or on the weekend. It was hard to know if anything changed there because his schedule was always changing, always different. As far as shutting down a computer when she entered a room, Aaron used his laptop in the living room, openly.

  Number six: You never see him anymore; he’s working late or traveling for business a lot.

  Well, that had always been the case so it was hard to detect any differences there.

  Number seven: He’s frequently unavailable or unreachable.

  Again, that had always be the case with Aaron due to the nature of his work. He did always get back to her, but sometimes it would be hours later. Aaron was working hard to maintain good relationships with his clients because he planned to start his own company in a couple of years and hoped his clients would follow him. That had always made good sense to Cathy. Was it possible all of that was just a cover so Aaron could have the freedom to have affairs?

  Number eight: Your gut tells you when something is wrong.

  Cathy’s gut had told her no such thing.

  Number nine: He’s different in bed, wanting it more or less than usual.

  Cathy and Aaron had always had a healthy sex life. That never changed.

  Number ten: He starts talking about a new woman in his life, like a new coworker or business associate, because he’s lessening his guilt by being half-truthful or because he loves to say his mistress’s name. But she’s “just a friend.”

  Cathy thought about that one for a while. Aaron talked frequently about people he met through his work, both men and women. Occasionally, he mentioned his secretary, Marsha, a plump woman who he said was a whiz and understood the business better than any secretary he’d ever had.

  He talked much more frequently about Mrs. Davidson, an attractive middle-aged widow who Aaron wined and dined at least once a month. Cathy had even been to some of those dinners. Could it be Mrs. Davidson? She was only forty-two and took excellent care of herself. Cathy dismissed the thought instantly. The self-possessed and wealthy Mrs. Davidson would never stoop to such a level. It was clear she liked and admired Aaron, but she had never gone gaga over him like a lot of women did.

  Aaron mentioned various women he met through the course of his business, but none he mentioned frequently. Except for Mrs. Davidson, and that was because she was a number-one client with a huge portfolio. He wanted her to remain his client when he started his own company.

  Number eleven: He’s overly defensive.

  Aaron was never defensive. He was the most self-assured, straight-talking person she’d ever met.

  The article had been an exercise in futility. The only thing Cathy had to go on was that a woman was calling her saying she was having an affair with Aaron. That was it.

  Then she went a step further and keyed in “woman calling you saying she’s having an affair with your man.” Her heart fell as she read the opinions of people in forums. The overall consensus was that the woman was telling the truth and that the man is a liar. Either believe your man or work through it with him.

  Or leave him.

  Chapter Three

  Cathy changed into jeans and a T-shirt before going downstairs for a glass of wine. She sat on the couch, which looked drab and shabby in its new surroundings, and stared at the fireplace. It was surrounded with hand-made green tiles and may have been the feature that sold them both on the Craftsman-style house.

  Aaron texted her around six. “Sorry, the meeting ran late and now we’re going out to dinner. I’ll be late. I love you.”

  The seed of doubt that had been planted in the back of her mind came to fruition full force. Why did Aaron always text her? Why couldn’t he just call her, at least some of the time?

  Because text was safer. No chance of one-on-one interaction if she had questions.

  She didn’t text him back.

  Her doubt grew stronger as the night wore on. Aaron could really be doing absolutely anything right now and she would never know the difference. He could be at dinner or he could be in a hotel room with his mistress, drinking champagne and having sex.

  Women were drawn to Aaron, and not just because he was so handsome. He had an air about him that was attractive, and women—men too—just wanted to bask in his light. Women flirted openly with Aaron even when Cathy was on his arm! She had come to accept it as part of the deal. She was secure in his love for her.

  Maybe she shouldn’t have been so trusting. Maybe a man like Aaron needed more than one woman. She saw it on the news all the time, powerful men having affairs while the wife waited for him at home, having no idea what her man was doing. Until it came out in the news. What amazed Cathy was how most of those women, who had been publicly humiliated, stood by their man. It pained her to look at them as they stood stoically by the podium as their man made his apology.

  Aaron had been up front with her about the women he had dated. There had been quite a few over the years, brief relationships for the most part. He told her that he would know for certain after a few months—if it lasted that long—if the relationship had a future. And none of them ever did have a future until he met Cathy.

  He proposed to her in the middle of a park on a beautiful early summer day. He told her he had found the woman he could commit to for his entire life and hoped she felt the same way about him. He offered her a beautiful blue sapphire ring—her birthstone—surrounded by diamonds. Cathy knew the ring was very expensive, but she didn’t really care about that. Aaron was wealthy, but that’s not what she loved about him. She loved him, the essence of him. He was a good man, and as the saying went, they were hard to find.

  The memory of that day in the park confused Cathy further. How could that man be cheating on her now? It didn’t make sense. But her doubt screamed at her to pay attention. If it was true that Aaron had been unfaithful and she married him anyway, the marriage would ultimately be destroyed by it.

  If she married Aaron a week from tomorrow, she would continue to have doubts. She knew that. As it was, she sat there in her new expensive house—purchased by Aaron— without a job. She would be totally reliant on Aaron to give her money and might be more inclined to look the other way at his dalliances. Isn’t that how it was done? It would be a matter of self-preservation.

  Cathy kept trying to push her doubt away, but it always returned. At eight, she turned on the outside lights for Aaron and got herself another glass of wine. That’s when the doorbell rang.

  Cathy felt very vulnerable knowing someone—a stranger, no doubt—was on her doorstep in the dark. She didn’t go to the door and the bell didn’t ring again. After five minutes, she crept through the hallway
into the foyer and looked out the peephole. There was no one there. Against her better judgment, she opened the door slightly and saw a large envelope sitting on the porch. She grabbed it and slammed the door, locking it.

  Her name was printed neatly across the white envelope. Cathy tore it open and took out a single photograph. A dark-haired man lay on his side in a bed. It could definitely have been Aaron, though it was hard to tell. But that’s not what got her attention. It was the tie that hung off the end of the bed that caused her heart to stop.

  Cathy had ordered the silk tie from a shop in England, and it had been expensive. It was silver and blue striped, with a thin red stripe for accent. Cathy had anguished over it, wondering if Aaron would like it. To Cathy, it was classic and conservative. Elegant. When Aaron opened it on his birthday in March, he was genuinely pleased. He wore the tie frequently.

  It wasn’t a tie you could get in the States. It was a special design carried only by a British clothier. And there it was, hanging off the bed like it had been thrown there in a fit of passion. Thrown there by someone eager to get his clothes off.

  Cathy turned the photo over. “Last month” it said simply, again in the neat print.

  Cathy burst into tears. Her fantasy world of a wedding, a house to work on and call her own, children, completely slipped away. And she was left with only confusion and a world of hurt.

  Her phone pinged briefly letting her know she had a text.

  “Did you get my text earlier?” Aaron asked.

  She thought about not responding again, but instead she wrote, “Yes, see you when you get home.” She didn’t want to give Aaron a warning of what awaited him.

  Then she sat down on the couch and called the only person in the world she could call. When she heard her grandfather’s voice, she started sobbing all over again.

  “Honey, what is it?” Grandpa asked several times before Cathy collected herself enough to speak.

  She explained everything to her grandfather, but spoke in vaguer terms about the birthmark. That was too embarrassing to discuss with him. But he got the idea.

  “I agree, it doesn’t look good for Aaron,” Grandpa said. “You should think long and hard about following through with the wedding if you have any doubts about his fidelity.”

  “How can I not have doubts?” Cathy said.

  “I don’t know the answer to that,” Grandpa said. “You have to follow your gut.”

  “My gut tells me that I don’t know Aaron at all,” Cathy said. “It tells me I would be a fool to marry him under these circumstances.”

  “I think you should talk to him before you make that final decision,” Grandpa said.

  “I don’t have a job anymore,” Cathy said. “I don’t even have a place to live anymore. Only this fancy house. I have nothing.”

  “Now you know that’s not true, honey,” Grandpa said. “You’ve got me and the cottage. You’ll always have a place to live.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Cathy said.

  A week ago, Cathy had been happily anticipating her wedding, her honeymoon, and her life as a partner and wife to Aaron McMahon. Now, she was shattered. She could have been spending the evening looking at her Pinterest and making plans for her new house. Instead, she was pacing the floor, drinking wine, and waiting for Aaron to come home.

  Cathy heard him open the kitchen door at 11:17. She sat and waited. He walked down the hallway and started up the stairs.

  “I’m in here,” Cathy called to him.

  “I’m sorry I’m so late,” Aaron said as he came toward her. He was wearing the tie.

  “Who were you with?” Cathy asked, hearing the accusatory tone in her voice.

  Aaron sat down beside her and looked at her.

  “I was with the Parkers, that older couple who own all the artwork.”

  “Hmmph,” she said.

  “Who do you think I was with?” Aaron asked, beginning to catch on that something was amiss.

  “I have no idea,” Cathy said. “I have no idea what you do all day and all night. None whatsoever.”

  “What’s going on?” Aaron said.

  “I got another call from that woman,” Cathy said flatly.

  “I thought I blocked those calls,” Aaron said.

  “She called me at my office. She knows where I work. Or worked.”

  Aaron sighed. “What did she say this time?”

  “She knew a lot about you. She knew about your sister.”

  Aaron winced. “A lot of people know about that,” he said.

  “She said you have a birthmark shaped like a strawberry,” she said.

  “So what?” Aaron said. “Somebody could’ve seen that at the gym.”

  “And she talked about your other birthmark,” Cathy said triumphantly, though she didn’t feel like the winner.

  “Oh my God!” Aaron said loudly. “Someone is trying to destroy me!”

  He turned to Cathy, who was trying to hold back her tears.

  “Cat, you know I’ve dated women in the past,” he said softly. “They would know about those things.”

  “Are you saying this is an old girlfriend doing this to us?” she asked tearfully.

  “I can’t think who else could be doing it,” he said.

  She reached over to the photograph lying on the couch beside her.

  “I got this tonight,” she said handing it to him. “Someone rang the bell and left it on the doorstep.”

  Aaron took the photo and looked at it.

  “That’s not me,” he said. “That doesn’t even look like me.”

  “It could be you,” Cathy said. “This man has dark hair like you.”

  “But it’s not me!” Aaron said.

  “But that’s your tie! The one I special ordered for your birthday. No one else has that tie.”

  Aaron looked at the photo again.

  “I agree that’s like this tie,” he said loosening the tie and removing it. “But that is not me. I swear it’s not me, Cat.”

  “I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she said.

  “Someone’s out to get me,” Aaron said. “But I have no idea who.”

  “Do you really expect me to believe that?” Cathy asked.

  “If you believe in us, then I do expect you to believe that,” he retorted.

  “I did believe in us. But now I’m starting to feel like a fool.”

  “No, Cat. Don’t say that,” Aaron pleaded. He took her hands in his and looked her straight in the face.

  “Cat, you’ve got to believe in me. I’ve been faithful to you. I don’t want anyone else. I want to marry you!”

  Cathy wanted to bury her face in his chest and cry. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

  “This has been a long day for me,” she said getting up. “You can sleep on the couch tonight. I’m going to bed.”

  “I’ve got to meet David Ayers at the golf course in the morning,” Aaron said. “He’s about to sign on, and I don’t need to cancel on him.”

  “Fine,” Cathy said. That was just fine. Aaron’s dedication to his work had never bothered her before. His late hours, his erratic schedule. She understood he was working toward a goal, one that would benefit both of them. But now, she saw down the road of her married life with Aaron. His getting home late many nights, meetings on weekends, on the computer at all hours. It suddenly didn’t seem good enough for a whole life.

  She stomped upstairs and pulled a pillow off the bed. She grabbed the blanket and threw both down the stairs where they landed in a heap. Then she went back to her lonely bed and cried herself to sleep.

  The next morning, Aaron jostled her until she woke up. She looked at him with puffy eyes.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours,” Aaron said softly. “We’ll work all of this out, I promise you. I’m going to find out who’s doing this to us. Please believe that I love you.”

  Cathy didn’t say anything. Aaron kissed her lightly before he left.

  He left, in the middle of a crisi
s. That’s what her life held for her if she stayed with him. He wouldn’t be there when she needed him. And what about any children they might have? He would be too busy with business—or affairs—to spend time with them. Be a father to them. It was all so crystal clear to Cathy.

  She had lived in the new house for two nights, so nothing was unpacked. It would be easy to put the boxes of clothes in her car. That’s really all she needed. Except for only one item she cared about.

  In the kitchen, Cathy opened two boxes before she found what she wanted. The blue ceramic bowl that had belonged to her grandmother. Everything else—the pots and pans, the dishes, the utensils—she had bought after she moved to Atlanta. Those things didn’t matter to her. Nothing mattered but the old blue bowl.

  Upstairs, Cathy put on her jeans and T-shirt. She looked in the closet. The only thing hanging there was her wedding dress. She had searched through every shop in Atlanta to find what she wanted, a simple dress, gathered at the waist with capped sleeves. She had planned to wear her mother’s pearl necklace and earrings. All so simple and elegant.

  Cathy left the dress in the closet and began to drag the boxes of clothes to the kitchen. She dragged them into the garage and opened her car. Two of the boxes fit neatly in the back seat, but the third box was too bulky for the trunk. She opened the box and picked up armful after armful of clothes and threw them in the trunk.

  Back inside, Cathy took her sapphire ring off and set it on the bathroom counter. She got her laptop and purse. In the kitchen, she picked up the blue bowl and glanced around. The empty house was huge and silent. She had nothing in it she cared about. The house was never going to be hers and she had been foolish to think it could have been. It would have been an unhappy house, full of suspicion. There wasn’t enough expensive furniture and decorations in the world to change that.

  She was seventy-five miles down the highway to Florida before she pulled into a gas station and sent an email to Aaron. It was only eleven and he probably wouldn’t even be home yet. But he would get the email soon, she was sure of that.