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Two Wrongs

A Tale Of Love and Deceit

By Blue DymondPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
2
Two Wrongs
Photo by Oliver Frsh on Unsplash

Roger sat in the old bar chair nursing a drink in one hand and smoking a cigarette in the other. He stared off into nothing as he went over more excuses, he could give his wife as to why he lost another job. “Ro” she’d say in exasperation. “This is the third job this month. How are we ever going to be a family when you can’t even support the two of us”. He smirked as he imagined walking up to her and kissing her perfect pink lips before placing a kiss on her forehead.

He would tell her how much she brightened his life and that no matter where they were as long as he had her he was happy. She’d blush and forget about all the negativity she was getting ready to cloud his mind with and then they’d spend all evening wrapped up in each other before he woke up the next morning on another job search.

He knew that his antics would only last so long though. Daisy wanted a family, and she wouldn’t allow them to start until they were financially stable enough to afford a child. He knew that eventually he would get home and she would be gone.

He threw his drink back enjoying the burning as it made its way down. Holding up his hand for the bartender he pointed to his empty glass once they made eye contact.

“This is the last one boss and you’re cut off” the bartender warned as he poured him another double of whiskey.

Roger didn’t argue. He’d been at the bar for hours taking shot after shot trying to ease his anxiety enough to go face his Daisy.

“ugh, this place was way too hard to find. I have no idea why you chose this atrocity out of all the places we could’ve met.” A high whiny voice complained. Roger looked as a woman with dark hair and brown eyes sat next to him.

Knocking the next drink back he enjoyed the burning sensation once again as it finally numbed his anxiety like he’d wanted.

“Okay, so its all here. All twenty thousand of it.” The voice shrilled again.

Roger put out his cigarette tired of the smoke wafting into his face. He only smoked when he drank and wished that he’d never picked up the bad habit. Daisy had already told him that he’d have to quit when they finally did start a family. Another thing he’d have to give up.

“So, you going to count it or what?”

Roger turned to the lady annoyed at how squeaky her voice was. He was shocked as he realized that the annoying banshee was looking directly at him.

“Lady, what?” he stuttered in confusion.

“Its all here- oh let me get you the address” She shrieked loudly going in an oversized red tote bag to pull out a black leather notebook with an elastic band around it. With a fuzzy red and glittery gel pen she wrote down an address and slid it across the bar to him.

Roger looked around trying to figure out what was going on. The bar wasn’t at capacity, but it wasn’t empty either. “Maybe she just has me confused with someone else” he thought looking down at the address she’d written down.

2785 W. Williams Way

“I’m sorry but you may have me confused with someone else” He voiced his thoughts while scratching the back of his head. He was starting to feel the onslaught of the drinks he’d devoured and was worried that he was imagining the whole ordeal.

The woman rolled her brown eyes and smacked her red cherry lips in annoyance. He watched as she bent over the stool picking up a black leather tote bag. Opening it she held it between their barstools leaning it his way so that he could see inside.

Roger felt his body go into fight or flight mode as he scooted away from the bag as if it held a lethal weapon inside.

“lady I’m sorry I don’t know, uh, you got the wrong person” He tried telling her again as she closed the bag and dropped it back to the floor in between their seats. Pulling out a mirror and a tube of lipstick she slowly began applying the red cherry color before smacking her lips together dramatically.

“Cut the act. Nobody in here cares. They’re all drunk out of their minds. Just do the job that I’m paying you to do. I won’t see you again and you won’t ever see me. I drove two cities over to this disgusting place of your choosing. Now take the money and make sure my husband is dead by tomorrow night” She squeaked before grabbing her red tote bag and making her way out of the bar.

Roger looked down at the black bag in fear. His brain couldn’t wrap around the fact that she’d left something so valuable just sitting in an old rusty bar. Looking around again he made sure he wasn’t being watched before leaning over and picking the bag up.

Placing it in his lap he opened it slightly to make sure his eyes hadn’t deceived him before. His eyes widened in disbelief once again as he looked at all the wrapped bundles.

“hey, need me to call anyone?” The bartender asked knocking on the bar in front him.

Roger jumped closing the bag quickly.

“n-n-no” he stuttered standing.

Grabbing the last fifty dollars out of his wallet he placed it on the bar and made a beeline for the door. Once he was outside, he ran the whole mile and a half home leaving his car at the bar. Even in his drunken state he knew he wouldn’t be able to explain where he’d gotten the money if he would have gotten pulled over.

When he got home, he dropped the bag by the couch along with his jacket before laying on the furniture. He decided he would wake up first thing and go deliver it to the police along with the piece of paper with the address scribbled on it. He figured they would be able to find the woman with that bit of information and that maybe the husband would give him the money as an award for coming forward.

Content with his decision he slipped off to sleep dreaming of what his future with Daisy looked like. He dreamed of adding a wraparound porch and decorating a pink nursery for his future daughter with the reward.

When he awoke the next morning, Daisy was sitting in her favorite chair across from him with her arms folded and a grimace on her face. The details of the night before were fuzzy, but the hangover explained at least one of the reasons his wife was upset with him once again.

“Why wouldn’t you have just told me? To think, my mother had convinced me to finally just pack up and leave.” She spat tossing the bag in front of him.

The sinking feeling the sight of the bag caused did not mix well with his hangover. He sat up, slowly piecing together the events of the night before. The lady with the red cherry lips, the address, the husband she wanted dead.

“Daisy honey listen- “

“Don’t you honey me Roger Wilkins. I’ve been begging you to save money and to keep a good job so that we can have a baby. Yet here you are sitting on thousands of dollars without saying a word. Is my mother, right? Did you just want to leech off of me the rest of your life?” She asked her anger dissolving as tears filled her eyes.

It was taking him a moment to keep up with the conversation. His head was pounding, and his stomach was somersaulting something fierce. The bag was sitting between the middle of them opened with the money on full display but in the moment the only thing he could think about was Daisy leaving. He knew that she was at her wits end with his inability to keep a job and his lack of restraint when it came to drinking.

His good moral went out the window as he thought about the love of his life leaving him. Daisy was the only one who believed in him when everyone else claimed that he would never make it. While he knew their judgement was correct, he loved her even more for seeing in him what he failed to see his self, that he could be a good husband and father.

Standing up he walked over to his wife and kissed her perfect pink lips before kissing her forehead.

“You know you are my spring flower that brightens my day year-round. As long as I have you, I’m a happy man. I put this money aside with the hope of being able to afford the family that you crave” He whispered.

Just like he knew she would, she smiled wrapping her arms around his lean body. He looked down at the bag of money with a seed of fear growing in his belly or maybe it was the aftereffects of the alcohol. Either way he knew that his wife’s happiness was the most important at the moment and even though he wished he could be a better human being it just wasn’t going to happen that day.

All day they stayed wrapped around each other talking nursery themes, home additions, and baby names while actively trying for the family that they’d wanted for so long.

In fear of running into the lady with the cherry red lips Roger made sure to never enter the bar again. Him not having a drinking spot any longer made him break the habit all together. He got a job at the local food mart stocking at nights to help Daisy with their twins during the day. For months, up until the twins started to take away most of his free time, Roger would scour the morning paper and news looking for anything about a man murdered mysteriously. Every day that he came up empty he told his self that he saved that mans life that night in the bar. That its because he took the money that the murder never happened.

Life was better than he’d ever imagined until one late evening while he was stocking the red apples, he heard the annoying squeak of a voice he knew all too well. The voice that he knew would be engraved in his mind for as long as he lived.

Turning slowly, he watched as she walked down the aisle pushing a cart with a tall gentleman next to her. They didn’t seem to be at riffs, and he couldn’t quite understand what would’ve pushed her to request her husband be killed.

Everything felt like slow motion as she laughed an annoyingly high-pitched laugh at something the man said before turning around. Her eyes wandered across various fruits and vegetables before she landed on him.

Roger felt the same fight or flight response he’d felt the first time she was in his presence. At that time, he was a drunk with only a wife to lose. At that time, he didn’t know how much better his life could be. Now, he had everything to lose and he would do anything to protect the life that he’d made with his Daisy.

He narrowed his eyes at the woman as she smiled evilly, the white of her teeth causing the cherry red of her lips to stand out even more.

fiction
2

About the Creator

Blue Dymond

A little bit of everything from Psyche, to fiction, to poems. Come take a look around, we're all friends here!

Instagram: @thatgirlbluedymond

Facebook: Blue Dymond

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