When You Least Expect It (26 page)

             
After the emotionally draining phone call, Ray decided he just wanted to go to bed.  He went upstairs to see what his mom was up to and to his surprise, she had already gone to bed. Ray shook his head; it was like being at home.  She couldn’t even wait to say goodnight.  Ray headed back down to his old room.  He should hear tomorrow about his apartment and prayed that something came up.  He couldn’t take much more of living here.  He curled up in the fetal position, and before his mind could start wandering, he fell asleep.

~~~

             
After Ray’s phone call, Carrie interrogated the girls.  She wanted to know what his plans were.  All they would come up with was that he was taking them to dinner tomorrow night.  This pleased her.  She would be able to talk to him in person.  She had not had the chance to tell him about the interesting letter she received via email today.  She was glad, it would be ten times better seeing his reaction in person. 

             
Carrie went to the computer and logged on.  Besides, for the top ten lists of places Ray could live, she wanted to print out the letter from Mandy40.  She wanted to watch Ray’s face as he read it.  She wanted to watch him feign innocence and pretend there was nothing between them.  Carrie laughed out loud!  She had been livid after reading it.  The audacity of some Internet woman writing to her was unspeakable.  Then as if that weren’t bad enough, when she tried to write her back, she got an undeliverable address.  Mandy had written her this letter, and then deleted her account.  Carrie drummed on the keyboard as she waited for the letter to print.  Somehow, she’d get back at this Mandy woman.  She didn’t know when or how, but she would.

~~~

             
Ray was ecstatic!  There was an opening at the Portland House.  He was going to be able to move in on the weekend, just three days away.  During his lunch hour today, he was taking over the security deposit and signing the lease.  Finally, something was going his way.  He sat at his desk, tapping the phone with his pencil, a mile a minute.  He wanted to call Amanda.  She’d already left for work, but he had her work number.  He’d never used it, but he was contemplating using it now.  Would she get in trouble?  Would she feel uncomfortable? 

             
Before he could pick up the phone, Chad came over and asked him to go to coffee.  Reluctantly he agreed.  It would give him a minute to mull over the question at hand. 

             
“I’ve been meaning to ask you Ray, what’s going on?”  Chad had noticed that something was amiss with his co-worker.  He seemed very distracted, or even, disinterested.  It was unlike him, so Chad had decided to be forthright and just ask him.

             
“What do you mean?”  Ray didn’t want to have this conversation.  He knew exactly where Chad was going with this.

             
Chad dove right in.  “You haven’t been yourself lately.  Are you all right?  Is it home?”

             
Ray sighed.  He might as well get this over with; it was going to have to come out eventually.  “I’ve left my wife.”  Ray looked at his shoes.  Why did he feel like he was a monster here?  He looked up at Chad.  “I couldn’t take it anymore.  I decided that at age forty two, I needed a chance to start over.”

             
Chad’s eyes opened wide.  “Get out!” He slapped Ray on the shoulder.  “It’s about friggin’ time!  You’ve been unhappy in that marriage since I’ve known you.  You have a right to be happy, Ray, and I’m glad you finally figured that out.  Where are you staying?”

             
Ray sighed, this time with relief.  “My mother’s for now.  I just found a place I can move into this weekend.  I’m pretty excited about it.”  Ray was astounded that he would actually get some sort of support from his co-worker.  Divorce was usually a dirty word in the stodgy computer company.

             
“That’s great, Ray.  If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.” 

             
Ray felt overwhelmed by this support.  He hadn’t expected it.  “Thanks Chad, I’ll let you know.  Wait, I could use some manual labor when I move this weekend.” 

             
Chad laughed.  “Come on Ray, I don’t like you that much!”  He slapped Ray on the back.

             
Ray laughed, too, “Asshole.” 

             
They walked back to their cubicles, Ray feeling better for the moment.  He was truly appreciative of the support given by his friend.  He had been reluctant to tell people, but maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  
              Back at his desk, he picked up the phone to call Amanda at work.  He’d decided she wouldn’t have given him her work phone number if she never expected him to use it.  He dialed her number, hoping she’d answer.

             
On the other end, she’d just arrived at work.  She was out of breath and feeling harried, Mariah had been less than understanding about the fictitious car situation, and had given her a hard time.  She threw her purse on her desk, and barely getting situated when the phone rang.  Not being ready to start her day, her first instinct was to ignore it and go get a cup of coffee, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mariah at the copier so she picked up.  “This is Mandy, how may I help you?”

             
“You could jump up and down for joy and be happy for me!”

             
   “Ray, hi!  I didn’t expect to hear your voice at work.  What am I jumping up and down about?”

             
Ray was relieved she wasn’t upset about him calling her at work.  “I got the apartment.  I’m moving in this weekend.  Is that cool, or what?”  Ray found that sharing this news with Amanda made it more real, and much more exciting.  He felt exhilarated.

             
“That is way cool!  I’m so excited for you.”  She was thrilled to hear how happy Ray sounded.  “It sure feels like things will soon fall into place for you, Ray.”

             
“I hope so.  I could use a little good luck.  At lunch today, I’m going to go and sign the lease, so it will all be official.  I’m so happy, Mandy!”

             
“That will be a big step.  Do you have furniture?

             
“No, unfortunately, I’ll have to go buy everything.  Just the basics though; a couch, TV, a bed, dishes.  I have to start from scratch because I don’t think Carrie will let me have anything.  Tonight, I’m going to go see my daughters, so I’ll ask her to see just how unreasonable she is going to be.”  Ray laughed.  He didn’t expect Carrie to be anywhere near reasonable.

             
Neither did Amanda.  “Starting from scratch won’t be so bad, Ray. It’ll be exciting.  I wish I were there to help you with all that shopping!”

             
Ray smiled to himself; little did she know how much he wished that too, and it had nothing to do with shopping. “I do too, Mandy.”

              “Well, good luck tonight, Ray.  Let me get back to work.  Or rather start work, since I’ve been here a total of ten minutes.” 

             
“Wow, you were really late.  I’m sorry about that Mandy.  I didn’t realize we had talked so long.”

             
“It’s okay, I’m glad we cleared the air.  It was worth it.”  She wondered for a moment if she should mention the note she had sent Carrie. 

             
“I better let you go.  Take care, I’ll call you soon.”

             
The moment had passed.  “You too, Ray.  Take good care.”

             
After hanging up, she found herself on the way to the lounge for a cup of coffee.  Right when she was wondering when she would get to work today, she found Mariah enjoying her third cup of coffee for the morning. 

             
“Hey Missy, is it break time all ready?”

             
“Don’t worry Mariah, I’m taking it to my desk.  I need my cup of caffeine to get me going.”  Mandy poured herself a cup and headed out.

             
“Sit with me a minute, Mandy.  I haven’t heard you talk about your Internet guy in awhile.  Have you heard from him?”

             
Reluctant to give her too much detail, she sat and simply said, “Yes, we still talk.”

             
Mariah sipped on her coffee waiting for more.  She knew she wouldn’t stop there.

             
“In fact, he’s left his wife.”

             
Mariah almost choked on her last sip.  “What?” 

             
“Yes, recently.  He’s with his mother right now, but he’s moving into an apartment this weekend.”  Amanda casually sipped on her coffee, enjoying the reaction she was getting from Mariah.

             
“I can’t believe it.  Why did he leave?” 

             
“He was miserable.  I’ve told you.  He’d been planning it, but things just got moved up a bit.”  Amanda went on to tell her about the letter and the packed up den.

             
“Oh my God, Mandy, you’re the other woman!”  Mariah covered her mouth with a napkin, her eyes as wide as saucers.  She just stared at her friend, not able to believe it.

             
“No I’m not, Mariah!  Why would you say that?  I’m freaking three thousand miles away.”  She rose to leave.  How dare Mariah call her ‘the other woman’?  “Ray was unhappy before he met me online.  Normal people don’t decide to pack up and leave their families because of words on a screen, or even a voice on the phone.  Don’t be saying that, Mariah.”

             
Mariah started laughing hysterically, which of course, only infuriated her more. 

             
“Mariah!”

             
“I’m sorry, Mandy, but I think ye does protest too much.”

             
Amanda stormed back to her office, hearing Mariah’s cackle all the way down the hall.

~~~

              Ray drove up the driveway, already feeling like he didn’t belong here.  At least, until his children ran up to the car.  He once again had to fight the feeling that this was where he belonged, with his children.  He got out of the car and the girls came running up to him.  They enveloped him in hugs.

             
“Hey kids! How are you; ready to go eat?”  Ray missed them so much.

             
“Can we go get pizza?”  Nikki had not let go of her father’s hand yet. 

             
“Yup, get in the car, and I’ll tell your mother.”

             
They got in while Ray walked up to the door, where Carrie was waiting to hand him two pieces of paper.  For a minute, he thought they were divorce papers.  “What’s this?”

             
He looked down and noticed one was a list of apartments around this neighborhood.  He looked at Carrie quizzically, eyebrow arched.

             
“Those are the apartments I find appropriate for you to live in and take the girls,” she stated simply.

             
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Ray laughed uncharacteristically loud.  “You aren’t going to tell me where I can and can’t live, Carrie.  Wherever I choose to live will be fine for the girls, too.  Don’t worry about it.”  He rumpled up the paper and gave it back to her.  Then he started reading the letter.  He read faster and faster, unable to comprehend it.   “Where did you get this?”

             
“Why, I got it from your Internet girlfriend, of course.  She emailed it to me.  Now what do you think of her?”

             
Ray wanted to bash the smug look off her face.  He searched for something to say, and wondered what Amanda would say in this situation.  Then it hit him; exactly what it said in the letter.  “I think of her what I always have.  Someone I talk to online; a nice person who yes, I could talk to openly.  I’m a little surprised at this response, but she’s just trying to defend herself against your very inappropriate letter. She’s not my ‘girlfriend’ Carrie, and nothing you can say is going to make her so.  Got it?” 

             
Carrie was beside herself. Ray wasn’t going to talk to her as if she were the village idiot.  “No, I don’t ‘got it’!  If it takes me forever, I’m going to prove that you left this house because of her.  I’ll take you for everything you have, Ray Knight.  You might think you have the upper hand in this so-called divorce, but you don’t…I do.  Adultery is not taken lightly in Maine, and I’ll take it to the fullest extent that I can.” 

             
Ray lost all control.  He grabbed her by the arms and started screaming, forgetting that the girls were watching from the car.  “You go ahead and do what you have to do.  You’ll never prove adultery because there was never any!  What I can prove is that I stuck in this loveless marriage for almost twenty years, working and supporting this family, while all you did was throw away everything I earned so we have nothing to show for it now.  You go ahead and take me for everything I have, Carrie, because I have nothing, thanks to you!”  He pushed her away and walked towards the car.  Carrie was still screaming behind him, calling him every name in the book.  He got in his car and yelled out the window that he was taking the kids to eat.  He didn’t know if she heard him, and he didn’t care.  He was so angry that he had trouble keeping himself from shaking.  He drove fast and furious, not knowing where he was going.