CHAPTER THREE
SIDE TO SIDE
It was the thrust that the community needed. A biking event was scheduled with the precarious weather in mind, something that would come off as a challenge to keep visitors coming to the town well into the unpredictable fall. Marquette was chilly, covered with a light layer of snow and ice that still let the grass show along the roadside. The streets were blocked off, the tents erected, complete with warming stations and self-standing propane heaters for the participants. The music poured in from the speakers, Michael Waite, a local, was performing in the Ramada tent inviting visitors to sit and drink, even dance, while their more ambitious partners competed in the race for a t-shirt, while experiencing the most treacherous of conditions.
Bobbie found herself unable to look away from the long beautiful stranger sitting cross-legged next to the popcorn maker. It was seeing perfection that made her stare unabashedly at the woman in the high back chair. The chain dangling from her waist had a gold heart bobbing at the end. It swayed in perfect time with the swelling beat. After Bobbie's drink was emptied for the second time the slight buzz in her head made her feel brave enough to walk over to her.
"I get it." she said
"Excuse me?"
"I see what my husband does."
The woman laughed recognizing who it was, finally. "I did you a favor, trust me."
Bobbie pulled her jacket tight and went running for the street. It wasn't what she expected. She thought there would be answers, she thought she would feel relief. Instead, she had to stop herself from running back to the intoxicating stranger and throwing herself against her to feel the suede leather jacket in her arms. It had been a while since she first realized she didn't love her husband, let alone desire him the way a woman should.
Spring seemed like a strange time to be considering starting over, especially ironic since the promise of new growth wasn’t anywhere visible on the sleet covered roadways. She felt the traitorous knife between her ribs. She hoped somehow he might ride past them and catch her there with Sylvia, spending time under the canopy with the lust of his life.
She knew it, that first night when she spotted Ethan through the curtains. When they were together that morning he was on fire. The flames in his eyes burned into her. His touch in the shower was the first time in months she felt anything smoldering behind the flat lips. He was an ugly man; that could account for it, she thought. He irritated her, he breathed into her neck, bungling when he touched her like an amateur, despite being together for five long seasons.
It was the last time she was going to show up for one of his events. It was the last time she was going to fix him food, do his laundry, there were so many things she was not going to miss. Before she finalized anything, she decided she would find a way to pay him back for his disgusting betrayal. She could pay him back and at the same time…she could finally see where her desires would lead her.
She stopped instantly, sliding forward in the dusting snow. She turned around and headed back under the tent.
