I'm Like A Lawyer by May Clarke

Chapter 1: Truth Hurts

Sloane

It was a Thursday afternoon in early November when the power at work went out, causing her to have an unexpected half day.

Sloane Parrish works as a court stenographer in DC. She captures live testimony in her own shorthand to rewrite in full for the transcript after the fact. It wasn’t a hard job. She enjoyed doing it day in and day out. She especially enjoyed doing it from home.

Due to the power outage, Judge Morrison puts her current case on recess until the power comes back on and sends her home to finish typing her transcripts.

She would get paid for the whole day but she didn’t have to work it all. They’d never know. It was a win-win. She picked up lunch on her way home. She expected the house to be empty and to be able to put on her music in the background while she typed away.

Then, as she pulled into her cul-de-sac, she sees her best friend Kelly's van in her driveway beside her husband James' truck.

At first, she was excited just for Kelly. She missed her friend, then she thought she'd get to see Adam, too. The little guy had started talking almost in full sentences. He was so fun to be around now. Being his god-mother was such a gift.

So, with a pep in her step, she grabs her things and starts heading inside with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey!" she calls out, cheerful as ever.

There was no one in the main room, and the kitchen was empty, too. Sloane put her stuff on the table and called for James, specifically. "Babe?"

Nothing.

She heads up the stairs, thinking maybe Adam had an accident and they'd be in the bathroom, but no. Their bedroom door's closed, and that's when her heart starts to drop. She presses her ear to the white wood and instantly knows what's happening on the other side. Skin slapping together, moaning, heavy breathing... they were having sex.

Together

In her bed.

In her home.

Her best friend and her husband.

She leaves quickly. Rushing down the stairs, she grabs all of the things she came in with and heads out again. She doesn't know where to go, so she gets in her car and starts driving. She wants to throw up, scream, and cry, and part of her wants to swerve into oncoming traffic and end it all... But she can't.

She shakes her head, pulls herself together, and does the rational thing. She drives back to work.

With no power, she has to trek up all 20 floors worth of stairs. Up and up, around and around, she's too out of it to care that her breathing is heavy, her thick thighs and wide calves are screaming at her and sweat starts to gather at her lower back. She wasn't built for this many stairs in a row.

But it gives her time to think. Recalling everything from the last few months, it should've been more obvious that he was cheating.

James was always spending time with Kelly, but mostly because of Adam. He wanted kids so bad. He was always pestering her to get pregnant and Sloane just wouldn't… Adam was the closest thing he had to a child of his own, being his god-father. He spoiled that little boy, so it wasn't a shock when he started spending more time with him and Kelly.

It was strange how he wasn't home as often.

How often he'd ask questions about Sloane's schedule and when she'd be home. He didn't bug her about what he wanted for dinner. He was doing his own laundry... or someone was doing his laundry, in her home with her machines.

"Fuck," she gasps as she leans against the railing on floor 11. Breathing hard, she shakes her head as everything starts making sense.

He's been too nice recently. She filled her birth control without a fight about when she'd finally have his baby... he knew more about Kelly than she did. Hell, Kelly hasn't even texted Sloane back in 3 weeks. Not since James came home from a day out with her and Adam and complained about how much of a dick Kelly's husband is.

Flopping down on the couch with a sigh, he turned to her, waiting for her to ask the question.

Sloane gave in, "what happened?"

"Can you believe Erik is picking his job over his family? He was given an offer to switch to an office job within his unit so he'd be home at 5 pm every day and never miss dinner with his wife and kid, and he said no..." he scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Kelly's thinking about making the separation a full on divorce..."

"Seriously?" Sloane was so surprised that Kelly hadn't said anything about it to her. Actually, she hadn't said much about anything lately. Sloane heard the most about Kelly from James. "I mean, I knew she was upset he was gone so often, but is that something to get divorced over?"

"Uh, yeah?" James looks at her like she's insane.

"He's an asshole. He never wants to spend time with her, and she's literally a dream wife. He would rather spend all day in another state looking at pictures of murdered people and interviewing psychopaths than be a real father."

"A dream wife?" She repeats, astounded that he'd say that to his wife about another woman.

"Yeah, she stays home every day and watches their kid, and she makes him dinner, and she cleans up after him. Her house is spotless and—“

"Cause she has hired help when he's away,"

Sloane reminds him. "She can afford that thanks to his interviews with psychopaths."

"Still, she's great. She deserves better," James

mumbles and then leaves the room.

That was the last time she heard him talk about Kelly and Erik, and it was also the last time she really heard from Kelly herself. She called to ask how Kelly was doing, but Kelly couldn't talk. She was going to meet with a lawyer. So James was correct. Kelly's marriage was ending.

It was sad, but it happened.

More than 50% of marriages end in divorce, which means that one out of every two couples will always end in this way.

Turns out, when Kelly and James are involved that statistic jumps to 100%.

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