“I don’t understand why he would do this to me.” Julia cried on the phone.
“You don’t know he is having an affair for sure, Julia, he might be telling the truth and really going out with his friends.” Maria replied in a sincere tone.
Julia threw down her phone as fast as she could in disbelief of what Maria had said. Julia thought Maria was on her side, she thought she was a true friend. Julia believed that her husband, Charlie, was having an affair. Julia noticed how Charlie was going out after working at his low paying job at a local bank and having a drink with his friends. She was not believing his actions for one minute.
“Julia, I am going out for a little bit to have a drink with my buds at the Louis Bar and Grill. I will be home later tonight.” Charlie yelled from across the room.
“Okay, have fun Charlie, be home to say goodnight to your kids.” Julia replied without any sense of emotion. She thought about this for a long time and was very concerned with what was truly going on with Charlie. She was so overwhelmed, tears began to slide down her face. Her white cheeks started to turn red with fear.
The next night, Charlie did the same thing. He came home from work, gave his excuse to Julia, and left quickly. These nights were repeated for weeks, until Julia couldn’t deal with it anymore. She had to do something about it.
Weeks later, right before Charlie could leave, Julia stopped him.

“Charlie, what is going on. You go out every night with your friends. I worried there is something bad going on.” Julia admitted.
“There is nothing wrong, Julia, just having some fun with some friends after a long day at work. Is that to much to ask from you?”
“No it’s not, its just im-”
“Then I will see you later tonight Julia.” Charlie scrambled to find his wallet and car keys. Charlie swung open the sky blue door, looked back at Julia, and left. Julia was not happy with what was going on. She had enough of his excuses and she had to find out what was really going on.
Charlie whipped his jacket from the golden hook hung on the door of his closet and threw it on. He slipped into his newly shined black shoes and drove off. Julia stared as he pulled out of the driveway. She was tired of his excuse and wanted to figure out what was really going on. She quickly threw on a sweater, ran out of their mobile home, hopped into her car and began to follow Charlie. Her car creaked every time she put on the breaks. She was coming up to the bar and grill that Charlie said he was going to. She slowly started to put her breaks on, expecting Charlie to do the same, turning into the bar parking lot, but Charlie kept on going straight.
“Where the hell is he going?” Julia whispered to herself quietly.
She decided to pick up her phone and call Maria.
“Maria, you won’t believe what just happened.” Julia screamed. “Charlie told me he was going out to the bar and grill to have a few drinks with his friends. I got tired of listening to his excuses, so I followed him. We drove by the bar, I am still following him now. Where do you think he is going?”
“Honestly Julia, i’m not sure, but I can promise you that he isn’t having an affair.”
“How can you say that, he lied to me, who knows what he could be hiding. He must be cheating on me, what else could he be doing? He stopped! I will call you back in a bit!”
She noticed he stopped at a fast food restaurant called Quicky Chicky. He got out of his car and walked in with a bag. She decided to park and follow him into the restaurant. When she arrived inside, the door to the mens bathroom just shut.
“What the heck is going on?” she demanded to herself.
She sat in a booth waiting for him to walk out. Her hands were trembling in fear, she was shaking like she was about to present in front of the whole world. This was the moment she would find out everything that was going on between her and Charlie. At the moment right before Charlie had come out, everything started to click for Julia. She had put the situation together as if it were a puzzle, and she had just put the final piece on. Right as she started to realize what was happening, Charlie walked out the mens room.
“Julia, what are you doing here? Did you follow me here?” Charlie exclaimed.
“Charlie, what are you doing, why are you dressed in a Quicky Chicky outfit?”
“I… I don’t know how to explain this. I haven’t been going out with friends Julia. I have been working a second job secretly because we need to get our son into college. We weren’t making enough money to get even close to it. I am doing this for our kids Julia.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this Charlie? Why did you have to lie to me about it? You had me so worried! I thought you were having an affair! For weeks I have been crying every night after you left because I was worried something was going on. I didn’t know to deal with the situation which is why I had to follow you, to see where you were going.”
“I just didn’t want you to see me like this. I didn’t want this to become a big deal. I was afraid that if the income did not start to increase that you would leave me. I just wanted you to be happy, and I want our kids to get the best education they can, you all deserve it.”
“Charlie, you don’t need to go through all of this to make us all happy. I don’t need money are cool materials, I just want you to be happy, Charlie. We will find another way to pay for college.”
“How do you expect to get the money?”
“I don’t know, Charlie, but we will come up with something. It doesn’t have to be this hard on you.”
Charlie looked into her glimmering eyes with a grin and wrapped his arms around Julia with a tear running down his hot red cheek. They both squeezed tightly relieved in their own separate ways. Crying tears of joy, Charlie went to see his boss before they left.
“Sorry Jack, it was a pleasure to work here, but I quit. Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s me” Charlie exclaimed to Jack was he threw the uniform on the desk. He smiled and walked out with Julia in his arms. Julia felt as if her brain had been completely washed and refreshed back to normal. She felt sorry, about not leaving Charlie alone. What she found today, had saved her emotionally.