Desperation

A week had passed since the thorn of Jacin and Jody’s marriage pricked George’s heart. Tension filled their home like the hot, heavy air in a sauna. Jacin’s fervent apologies and guilt-fueled acts of redemption managed only to push the thorn in further, reminding George of Jacin’s deception.
Banished from their bed, Jacin lay outright on the living couch, an old floral bed sheet draped over his body, and Hansel and Gretel (their two dachshunds) curled up at his feet. Stephen King’s Desperation was propped open on his chest. As Jacin read: "It was not terror this thought called up in his mind and heart but despair, as if the image of Brian’s fingers laced together in his coffin proved that nothing was worth anything, that doing never once in the world stopped dying ..." his mind drifted to the memory of that frightening day eight years earlier when he rushed Jody, his then-roommate, to the hospital after she collapsed on the Gallivan Center ice rink, her knee popped out of its socket. At the time Jody didn’t carry health insurance and because of the doctor’s persistent recommendation for surgery they agreed to a shotgun City Hall wedding and an update to Jacin’s health insurance policy. The marriage was to be annulled shortly after Jody’s surgery, but because of certain hurdles in obtaining an annulment in Utah, they continually postponed it. Then, by the year’s end, they realized the tax break for married couples was worth staying married ... at least for the time being. And as years passed, the tax refunds outweighed the annulment.
Then, when Jacin and George first met each other at a mutual friend’s Halloween party, their attraction was as mysterious and brooding as the night. Jacin arrived with Eddie and Josh dressed as the original crime-fighting trio, Charlie’s Angels. George, a vampire who resembled the saddlebag-skinned George Hamilton in Love at First Bite, was quickly taken by Josh’s attire. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought to himself, "Sabrina looks like a haggard, butch Russian wrestler." As the night progressed, they walked circles around each other, sizing each other up. Finally, excitement erupted, breaking fever in their groins. They embraced, lips locking in each other’s essence. Those in the room around them disappeared from existence one at a time until Jacin and George were left alone, weightless and fused in passion.
After they returned to earth, and Marilyn Monroe, Tinkerbell, merman and others redeveloped like photos, Jacin took George’s hand and led him out to his Ford Bronco. They barreled into the backseat, giggling mischievously. They tore at each other’s costumes like rabid dogs, the stiff October air biting at their bare skin. Jacin leaned forward between the front seats, popped open the glove compartment and fumbled for a condom. Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds later, heaving chests and deep satisfied breaths had fogged the windows beyond transparency. As they lain wrapped in each other’s arms on the backseat, Jacin felt the urge to tell George of his marriage to Jody, but as the words reached his lips, they immediately disappeared. Each passing day since, the words failed to reappear.
Now George sat in bed, knees up near his chest and arms resting on them. He stared blankly at the platinum and white gold wedding band radiating from its velvet ring box resting in his hands. He thought about the man he loved who, at this moment, was 40 feet away on the couch; and he thought about the night that first began their life together. With the exception of a handful of verbal standoffs about flirting with other guys, looking at internet porn and leaving shoes in the middle of the room, George believed their love was seamless and eternal ... until now. He suddenly snapped the box shut, turned off the bedside lamp and definitively decided to return the ring the next morning.
Just as George was drifting off, the bedroom door creaked open. He opened his eyes and could only make out a beaten down silhouette of Jacin standing in the doorway.
"I love you George ... more than I know how to show you. I’m really sorry I kept the marriage from you all these years, but it’s such an old part of my past I never even think about it anymore."
George rolled over in the bed so his back faced Jacin, as if building a wall to protect himself from anymore pain.
Jacin continued, "We have a good life even with our problems, and our love for each other is strong enough to overcome the problems. This is our life ... I’ll fight for it and I hope you will, too."
Jacin hoped for a response, but none came so he slowly shut the bedroom door behind him on his way back to the couch.
To be continued…