Housewife Gone Wild

Chapter 11

Yvonne froze. It was the first time she’d ever seen Jared and me fight. Before, whenever we argued, I always gave in first to keep the peace. But today was different. I didn’t apologize or back down.

“Daddy, Mommy, please stop.” Yvonne burst into tears. She clung to Jared’s arm, wiping her eyes. “I don’t want you to fight. Please don’t do this.”

Jared looked at me, his voice cold. “Work isn’t negotiable. You can keep your little hobbies, but you’re not walking away from our family.”

He bent down, lifted Yvonne into his arms, grabbed her tiny backpack, and walked out.

I didn’t shed a single tear. To be honest, I wasn’t even mad. I had seen this coming.

“Mrs. Holcomb, are you okay?” Wendy and Joyce asked, voices worried..

I smiled, “I’m fine. Sorry about the mess–can you clean it up?” Then I grabbed my purse and car keys and left.

I drove around aimlessly, the wind whipping through the open window, lifting my scarf. Behind my sunglasses, my eyes started to burn.

I married a rich guy and lived this shiny. To everyone else, I should’ve been carefree and happy. And maybe I was, once. But I’d got stuck in my head, slowly falling apart.

I thought after that fight, Jared wouldn’t ask me to lunch. But around eleven, while I was sitting in a café, sipping bitter coffee, he texted to ask where I was.

to him. He told me to meet him at a restaurant downstairs from his

up my makeup. If Jared wanted

the noisy crowd went quiet. The guys couldn’t even look me in the eyes. They got all polite, keeping their voices low. Some mumbled “hi,” and I smiled back. Others tossed out compliments, and I gave

made my way to Jared, who stood there in a crisp suit, over six feet tall, looking sharp. I was killing it–absolutely

I saw Tracy, sitting right beside Jared. She had on a gray

acted casual, but her watch was a quarter–million–dollar piece, her necklace worth tens of thousands. She was subtly flexing her

glanced up at me but

their food. Halfway through the meal, some guy

his sharp mistress on the other.

did him a favor, acting like I had no clue who Tracy really was. I smiled, worked the room, and kept up appearances. Guys were checking me

drunk quite a lot, a faint flush coloring

1/2

to toast, Tracy stepped in. “Mr. Holcomb can’t drink more,”

guy quickly smoothed things over with some glib remarks and dropped the idea

company, and everyone treated her with

at me. But I acted like I didn’t catch it.

seemed off today, her face blank

up, and I got

leaned into me, his hands reaching out to wrap around me in