My Body is a Cage and Other Stories

We agreed to meet at the diner while he was at work. At first, I planned on convincing
her to leave him, hurt him, break his heart somehowso he would come running back to me. A
little talk woman to woman.
She was tall and had on black cowboy boots, the kindI swore never to wear as long as I
live, but she made them work. Jesus Christ, her jeanswere tight. She had to be at least six feet
tall. She didn’t have flaming locks of auburn hair,it was brown. I wondered how the hell my
husband managed to rope her in. He was handsome, butnot the kind of handsome that could
have landed him this woman. But then again, she didhave on cowboy boots. Maybe she roped
him in, physically, with a lasso. Somehow that mademe smile and as she sat down in the booth
across from me, she smiled back, thinking me friendly.And I tried to be, and it wasn’t hard with
her. She had these irresistible brown eyes that mademe almost forgive him for cheating. Her
smile was less of a breath of spring and more justlike a normal smile, though it did brighten her
face and the air around her no doubt. She had a dimpleon her left cheek.
She listened. I told her how I began suspecting andthen saw the text messages, and I
rambled some but she didn’t interrupt me. She lookedso intently at me I had to stare at the
laminate table top every once in a while just to havea break. She told me about how she had
come up to him one night when he was at Mick’s barwith some friends and struck up a
conversation. She never noticed a wedding ring, sohe either hid his hand or slipped the ring off.
At the end of the night, they agreed to meet againand they did. Again and again. She never
would have had he told her about me. She told me shewas sorry. I told her the same. She asked
me what I would do after that, and I had no answer.I didn’t want to go home, or stay in the diner,
or do anything, really.