The Unfortunate Death of Jameson Vander

Imagine for a moment you are stuck in a most unfortunate situation. Be it a loveless marriage, an entirely one-sided friendship, a thankless job, etc. For Felicity Vander, she was unfortunate enough to be in a predicament where she dealt with all three nearly each and every day. It was the 29th of April, some say one of the best dates of the year. For Felicity, it was her wedding anniversary to her husband, Jameson. Once upon a time, they had been college students, so in love with each other. Jameson had majored in literature and Felicity was busy with her double major of both advertising and Latin.

Thirteen years and one child later, they were still married. Although if one were to ask Felicity’s opinion of the whole marriage, the last word she would use to describe it was happily. After Jameson had published his book series, “Broken, but Not Beaten,” he had become increasingly insufferable. Felicity found herself relating very deeply to one of the book’s minor characters, Sandra, the forgotten wife and mother, who was always finding herself casted aside by the big adventures and desires of the main character, Paul.

Felicity had stopped reading the first book after chapter five, where Paul was finding himself terribly attracted to one of his co-workers, Janet. The description of Janet’s character had not been even remotely close to Felicity’s appearance, but of one of Jameson’s editors, Rebecca. Felicity had actually found herself chucking the book against the wall. Paul was a married man who found himself unhappy at every turn with his life, but he was some sort of optimist, who refused to let life kick him in the pants.

She found herself unable to continue reading as Paul started having an affair with Janet, a very predicted situation that any fool would see coming, but Felicity would never tell her husband that, afraid to hurt his feelings. She even offered him advice to offer to his marketing team in order to promote the next two books that he managed to crank out.

Jameson had given her one of the first copies of each printout, but she hadn’t the heart to tell him that she held the first book with such distaste that she swore to herself she would never read another word of the dreaded series. Felicity found herself at work, listening to the ongoing workplace gossip filtering around the stereotypical water fountain.

Someone was secretly dating someone else or someone thought another co-worker’s baby was ugly. Felicity struggled today to shut it out. She wanted to be done with work early in order to rush home and make her husband a nice dinner to celebrate their anniversary. It was a Friday and their daughter, Violet, would be staying overnight with Felicity’s mother. A perfect night for reconnection and subpar lovemaking.

She stared at her computer screen and glanced down at her paperwork before her. She rubbed her aching temples and gave an exasperated sigh. “Hey, Liss!” Someone shouted, causing her to jump in her seat. She turned and saw her friend, Eliza Sherman, whom she had met in college and who had been maid of honor in her wedding. Eliza’s hair was pulled into a tight neat bun today and she was dressed in her beige power-suit. A personal favorite of hers and it was well known around the office that Eliza wore this suit when she was closing a deal.

“I take it you have a meeting about the Shaymen account today?” Felicity asked teasingly. Eliza waved her off.

“You know me,” she said nonchalantly. “always have to wear my best suit on closing day.” Felicity rolled her eyes and crossed one leg over the other as she leaned back in her chair. “Tonight’s the night, right? You ready?”

Felicity sighed heavily and clasped her hands together in front of her. “I’m really hoping so,” she said bashfully. “Jameson has been hard at work on another book deal and this is the only free night in Violet’s schedule where she can spend the night with my parents. Just trying to get the rest of this work done so I can be off early. Get the house clean, make his favorite dinner, and have a chance to make myself look presentable.”

Eliza wiggled her eyebrows slyly. “Sounds like fun!” she said excitedly. She clapped her hands together and pointed towards her own cubicle. “I have to get ready for my meeting though. Just wish we could have our own offices. I’m so sick of all the gossip!”

Felicity chuckled in agreement. “So do I! Good luck.”

“You too, boo!” Eliza exclaimed before hurrying back to work. Between the pair of friends, Eliza was always coming to Felicity for support, encouragement, and ideas for various pitches for accounts Eliza wished to obtain. The saddening part is when Eliza did obtain the accounts, no credit was awarded to Felicity.

There was no time spent listening to Felicity’s tears and fears revolving around her suspicions that her husband was surely cheating on her. It wasn’t that Eliza didn’t care about the things going on during Felicity’s life, as Eliza constantly reassured her, but because she was unable to give advice revolving around marriage and motherhood.

Eliza’s life consisted of dates with various men and on the nights when she didn’t have any dates planned, she’d go to a local bar and find herself a date anyway. There were no days spent driving a child to and from school, or soccer practice, or ballet lessons. On the rare occasion when Jameson decided he wanted to go out for a date night, which was maybe once every few months, Eliza always seemed to be busy, saying she wasn’t “good with children” and that she preferred her “bachelorette life” as opposed to motherhood.

Felicity turned herself back to her files and took a few deep breaths before diving back in to her work. A few hours later, it was quitting time. Felicity hurriedly packed up her things, making sure to clock out via her computer, before bouncing off towards the elevators. As Felicity made her way through the parking garage, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket.

She was disappointed to see that her husband had not responded to her happy anniversary text, or any of her texts for that matter. She sighed heavily and began to type another text to Jameson. Her fingers froze over the send button and she shook her head, realizing she didn’t want to ruin her surprise for him. Felicity then deleted the text and finished her way to her vehicle.

On the drive home, Felicity felt all the butterflies swarming in her stomach. Thirteen years she had spent as Jameson’s wife. Granted the last few years had been difficult given the fact that their attempts for a second child ended in vain and misery. Something in Felicity’s body was preventing her from having another child, much to the couple’s terrible disappointment. It was around then that Jameson had begun to drift away from her.

Not that she had been very forthcoming herself. Her interest in sex had been driven into the ground and her countless therapy sessions did little to fix her self-esteem issues, but that was all going to end tonight. She had bought everything to make Jameson’s favorite meal and hid it in the fridge in the garage. She pulled into their driveway and rushed inside, excited to get everything started.

She changed out of her work clothes into jeans and a low cut blouse, an outfit very similar to the one she’d worn on their first date. She donned an apron and started the food. Somewhere in the den, she heard a loud ping. She recognized it almost immediately as the sound of an incoming email. Felicity wiped her hands on her apron and walked into the den, searching for her phone.

Another ping drew her to Jameson’s desk in the corner where his laptop sat atop. She sighed heavily. Jameson normally never left his laptop out, saying he was worried Felicity or Violet would try and sneak a peek at one of his newest works he had begun. Evidently, the new book deal revolved around one of his “best work yet,” according to one of his editors and his agent.

She turned, ready to leave the room and get back to her dinner, when another ping drew her back to it. She stared at the laptop and it pinged once again. It was almost as if it were teasing her, beckoning her to come look. Felicity glanced back into the kitchen, where the smell of dinner had begun to waft through the rest of the house.

Felicity patted her hands against her thighs nervously, thinking about the consequences she’d face. She knew something was going on with her husband and this may be the only opportunity she had to find out what it was. The laptop pinged again and she hurried to it. She sat at Jameson’s desk, much like she had seen him do many times versus spending time with their daughter, and turned the laptop towards her.

She opened it carefully, almost as if she was afraid it would explode in her face. She saw the notifications from Jameson’s email, but they were unreadable if the computer was locked. Felicity groaned and glanced towards the kitchen, half expecting her husband to be coming through the door at any given moment.

Another ping had her head snapping back in the direction of the laptop screen. There was over twenty notifications from Jameson’s email account. Felicity took a deep breath and clicked on the notifications. The login page popped up as expected and Felicity began to type in his password, seeing as how he never bothered to reset it or make it something that wasn’t totally predictable in the first place.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the email thread she was now looking at.

[email protected]: Oh, love, how I miss you so. My heart how it aches.

Felicity’s eyes widened in surprise. Clearly, whatever was going on between her husband and this mystery person went far beyond the sexual plain. Somehow that made the discovery more painful than if she had found out he’d been having an affair in the first place. She continued to read the thread.

[email protected]: I miss you too, dear. Remember to be nice to Liss tonight. It IS your anniversary after all ;)

[email protected]: Felicity and I won’t be doing anything tonight I am sure. She never wants to do it any other night so I’m not holding my breath. Not when I can swim through the depths of your gorgeous mind.

[email protected]: I’m js. I get that the woman is a bore, BUT she’s going to try being romantic and if you don’t reciprocate those efforts than I am going to have to deal with it. :( For me please…just buy the damn woman some flowers.

Felicity raised a brow. She knew the woman Jameson was talking too. There was only one person who called her Liss... Suddenly, Felicity’s stomach clenched and she charged to the bathroom. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the porcelain toilet while she emptied the contents of her stomach. The tears burned her eyes as she threw up and as the vomiting began to die down, the tears still continued. She sank to her knees and clung to the toilet, crying.

‘Fucking Eliza,’ Felicity thought angrily to herself. She rose to her feet and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She stared at herself in the mirror above the sink. The eyeliner and mascara she had applied earlier was smeared and running down her cheeks. She pulled a washcloth from the cupboard and wetted it with warm water.

Felicity washed her face gently. She felt something deep within her burning like a fire. A fire of pure undiluted hatred that burned deep within her loins. She had been betrayed in one of the worst ways possible. She could’ve handled the other woman being Rebecca or some random Jane off the street, but Eliza? Her best friend?

Felicity finished cleaning herself up and she was gritting her teeth so hard that her jaw was beginning to hurt. She chucked the washcloth into the basin of the sink and stormed off to the laptop, knowing she had more to read before Jameson returned home.

The more she read, the more anger she seemed to find buried deep within her. She never knew it possible to hate two people so much before in her life. Her parents had always raised her to remember that she didn’t hate the person, she hated their actions, because to truly hate someone was like poison to her heart. The email thread between Jameson and Eliza went back months upon months, for over a year as it were!

In this thread, they referred to Felicity as boring, uninspired, and in one email they agreed that her vagina wouldn’t be a “barren wasteland,” had she eased back on working and her alcohol usage. They blamed her for her not being able to get pregnant! She closed the tab and replaced the computer on the desk.

Felicity found herself taking a deep shaky breath, forcing back the tears that threatened to come. She knew what had to be done.

Around five P.M. she heard Jameson’s car pulling into the driveway. Felicity had just taken the first sip of her third glass of wine when Jameson entered their home. She gave him a faux smile as she spotted the bouquet of violets in his hand, her favorite flower. Jameson returned her smile as he held the bouquet out to her, his eyes glued to the dinner she had prepared.

He was dressed in a dark gray pinstriped suit with a hunter green tie. “This looks delicious, sweetheart,” he said without even looking at her. Felicity took the flowers from him, biting her tongue as she thought about the surprised look on his face if she asked how he felt about giving her flowers at another woman’s suggestion.

She reached beneath the sink, grabbing the crystal vase she hadn’t needed to pull out for so long. Felicity removed the crinkly plastic wrap from around the flowers and placed them into the vase, filling it with lukewarm water. She turned to find Jameson already seated at the table. The candles she had lit casted a dim lighting across his face, illuminating his wrinkles.

She left the flowers on the counter and joined him at the table. She ate her meal slowly just as he did. “This tastes wonderful, Felicity,” he said sweetly. She smiled at him and nodded her head.

“Thanks. I left work early to get the house all ready for tonight. Vi is with my parents so we have the house to ourselves,” she replied, noting that Jameson’s eyes were glued to her new outfit. She had ditched the jeans and blouse for a navy blue skintight dress that had been hidden in the back of her closet for the last three years. She had bought it while it was on sale, but Jameson hadn’t shown much of a desire to see her in the dress…until now.

“That dress new?” He asked, his eyes glued to her exposed cleavage. She shrugged her shoulders as she swallowed another bite.

“I’ve had this in my closet for years,” she replied matter-of-factly. “But you were so busy finishing the last book of your series that you never gave me a reason to really wear it.” Jameson’s face fell with realization and he sighed heavily as he slowly set the fork down on his plate.

“Shit…of course, now I remember,” he said, running a nervous hand through his graying hair. “I’m so sorry, Liss. You’ve been here through everything from the countless rejection letters, the endless nights of editing and writing, me skipping out on birthdays and anniversaries. Not to mention all the time I spent up at our cabin in Vermont. You never complained. You never asked for anything in return and I basically just took you for granted. I am so sorry.”

Felicity glanced at his plate, noticing the food was over half gone already. “You know it’s strange...but I can’t remember you ever really calling me Liss. You tried to once, but you said it didn’t quite roll off the tongue like Felicity.”

Jameson chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders. “What? I can’t try to change up some things after thirteen years?” Felicity laid her fork down and rested her chin on entwined hands as she stared back at him.

“I never said that,” she replied calmly. “but the only person who has called me that consistently over the years is Eliza. That’s all.” Jameson shrugged his shoulders again and sighed.

“Must’ve heard it from her then,” he said dryly. “How is she doing by the way? She’s dating that guy, right?”

Felicity scoffed and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I do know that whatever guy she is seeing she may want to be careful about it. She told me today that she got chlamydia from one of the guys she’s seeing.” She relished in the fact that Jameson’s eyes widened and then it was like he was forcing himself to calm down to avoid showing off his guilt.

“Wow,” he said slowly. Too slowly. “I hate to be one of the guys she’s seeing then, but anyways, darling, I’m stuffed. Thank you for a wonderful meal, but I should probably get some writing done tonight. Editors’ orders.” He rose from his chair and slipped into the den. Felicity nodded her head understandingly and downed her glass of wine. She refilled it almost in the same motion and followed him.

Felicity sipped on her wine, watching as Jameson rushed to his computer. He sat at the desk and shot a curious glance in Felicity’s direction. “I’m sorry, darling, did you have something else?” She shook her head and leaned against the door frame.

“Nothing, nothing,” she replied, feeling delighted as his face became more and more concerned. She looked down at her wine glass and swirled it. “So…Eliza huh?”

Jameson tore his eyes away from his screen and raised a confused eyebrow at her. “Eliza what?” Felicity stepped more into the den, the light hitting her just right.

“I mean…you’ve been screwing Eliza. Fucking Eliza…I knew she had a thing for you back in college, but I never suspected you’d actually cheat on me with my best friend!” Jameson’s eyes grew wide with realization and he slowly rose to his feet.

“Now, Felicity, I don’t know where you’d get an insane idea like that, but I can promise you. There’s nothing going on between me and Eliza.” Felicity began to shake her head and reached her hand just beneath the skirt of her dress, withdrawing a small handgun she had strapped to her inner thigh. She raised it and pointed it at him dead center.

“You promise, huh? Well, that just makes everything all better now, doesn’t it?” She asked sarcastically. Jameson put his arms out defensively.

“You don’t want to do this. Think about Violet.” Felicity rolled her eyes.

“Oh you want me to think about Violet? Well, what about when you were screwing Eliza? Did you ever stop to consider how this might all affect her when I found out?” Jameson glanced from the gun’s barrel to Felicity’s eerily calm face.

“Honestly,” he started off cautiously. “I did think about Violet, but I was so consumed about doing what felt best for me in the moment, which is wrong. I never should have done that to her, or-or to you. I’m sorry, Felicity, but killing me is going to do far more damage to Violet than if we get a divorce.” Felicity’s eyes widened in shock.

“What?” She spat venomously. She stalked further into the den, her aim never lowering. “Who said anything about a divorce?” Jameson’s hands began to shake as his lower lip began to tremble.

“I-I was going to bring it up…eventually I mean, but I wanted us to discuss separating. I…I wasn’t sure if Eliza felt for me what I feel for her, but she must if she told you about us.” Felicity scoffed and gave a cold chuckle.

“Oh! You think Eliza would have the balls to tell me that she was screwing my husband? No, no, honey, I hate to disappoint you, but Eliza didn’t have the nerve to come clean. I found out from your computer. You were smart enough to hide your affair from me, but not smart enough to reset your password.” Her voice was cold and she raised a brow at him. “You must’ve thought I was the dumbest woman in the world. Or that I’d never become curious about why your computer is pinging all through the night.” Jameson turned his eyes to the ground in shame.

“You don’t understand, Felicity. I’ve been going through a lot, and Eliza was just there.”

“And I wasn’t?!” She shrieked. “Who stayed up with you while you cried every night after you got those rejection letters? Who worked their ass off at a job doing something they found out they didn’t even like so that you could pursue your stupid dream of being a writer?! Oh wait that was me! Eliza didn’t even watch our daughter on the rare occasion when you decided I was worthy enough to take out! Oh! There’s the other thing! Eliza doesn’t want children. Not even step children. She starts seeing a guy and it gets to be that time when normally you’d meet your significant other’s children, she just breaks up with them! She leaves them, Jameson.”

His jaw dropped. “Well-well I…feel that what we have is different,” he stammered.

Felicity drained her wine glass and set it on the coffee table, giving off a wicked laugh. “You really are a stupid man,” she said harshly. “Eliza has a pattern! It’s never changed in the entire time we’ve been friends. She has told me countless times how she has never wanted kids. That’s why she’d never watch Violet! She doesn’t even like to babysit them. When I asked her if she’d like to be Violet’s godmother, she practically begged me to pick someone else! Jameson, even if you did leave me, she wouldn’t marry you. Not as long as you wanted to be active in Violet’s life. Is that something you’d be okay with? Being with a woman who wants nothing to do with your daughter? Our daughter?”

Jameson opened and closed his mouth a few times and plopped himself down on the couch, completely oblivious to the woman aiming the loaded firearm at him. “You really think our relationship wouldn’t stand a chance?” He asked disappointedly.

Felicity lowered the gun, taken aback at his reaction. He seemed quite heartbroken over the idea that Eliza would never be with him because of their child. He sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand with tears brimming in his eyes. He nodded his head slowly as if an idea had just come to him.

“I think you’re right, Felicity,” he said softly as he turned his gaze towards her. “If I agree to give you full custody, will you grant me a divorce?”

Felicity’s jaw dropped in sheer shock and tears began to burn in her eyes. “You’d seriously trade your own child just to get your dick fix?” Jameson turned his sorrowful eyes at Felicity and nodded his head slowly with a quivering lip.

“Will you let me live if I let you keep Violet?” He asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Felicity glared back at him and gritted her teeth as she aimed the gun at him again. Without another thought, she pulled the trigger. A loud bang echoed through the house and she jumped back in fright. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the hole she’d just shot into her husband.

She dropped the gun to the floor and clasped her well manicured hands over her mouth to mask her screams of horror. Blood trickled out of the corner of Jameson’s mouth and his head lolled back against the couch. Felicity fell to her knees and vomited her wine and dinner back up onto the carpet.