Alicia had been distraught the night that Saul made love to her then threw her out of his room; professing his love for that bitch wife of his.  She’d needed to get away from him, so she’d quit her job.  She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him everyday and not being able to have him.  Why couldn’t he see that they were perfect for one another?  His wife didn’t know him; she didn’t know the REAL Saul.  Only SHE knew who the real Saul was.  He wasn’t some family man, content with the mundane life he’d been stuck in for 25 years, she was sure of that.  No one could fuck like that and be happy at home.  He’d liked rough, kinky sex and Alicia was sure he wasn’t getting that from his frosty, boring wife.  He’d never said that, but she knew it was true.  He was just infatuated with Lynne; he was stuck in his marriage because she’d gotten pregnant and trapped him.  “Maybe I should have done that; gotten pregnant”, Alicia thought.  If she had, he’d be by her side right now.

That didn’t matter now; he’d refused to see her in the 6 months since their last time together.

“It’s that wife of his.  Well EX-wife now”, She thought. “She divorced him; cast him away like he was garbage.  Her Saul didn’t deserve to be treated that way”.  She deserved to be punished.

***************************

Lynne was eating her lunch at her desk when Malcolm stopped by her classroom.

“Not eating in the lounge today?” Malcolm asked.

Lynne jumped at the sound of his voice.  “Oh, you startled me.  No, no lounge today.  I have some tests I need to grade; It’s a working lunch for me.”

“Oh, well I’ll leave you to it, then”.

“No, wait!”  Lynne cringed inwardly.  She sounded a little too eager for her liking.  “Um...I’m just about done.  Want to keep me company?”

Malcolm’s stomach did a little flip flop.  Alone time with a goddess?  Only a fool would pass that up.  “Sure, if it’s not going to be a distraction.”

Lynne dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand.  “Of course it’s not.  I asked you, remember?”

Malcolm entered the room, pulled a chair up to Lynne’s desk and sat down.  As he sat, she leveled one of her devastating smiles on him.  This woman would be the death of him.  But what a way to go.

She watched him take out his sandwich and begin eating.

“Is that peanut butter and jelly”, she said with a chuckle.

“What?  It’s the only thing I know how to cook!”  They both laughed.

“Now, that is just sad”, Lynne laughed. “So how’s your first week going?”

“Pretty good.  Although I have a feeling that by the end of the school year Kevin Blankenship will have me contemplating homicide”.

Lynne laughed.  “Oh that will happen before then, I can assure you”.

Malcolm laughed and smiled at her.  “He’s got a great smile”, Lynne thought.  She immediately admonished herself.  It was too soon after her divorce and she knew that she was still too raw to be thinking of another man that way.

“So what brought you to Connecticut?  This is a long way from Phoenix”.

“Oh, basic break up story.  Girl meets boy, they fall in love, get married and four years later boy catches girl in bed with boys cousin”.

“Oh god!  That must have been so awful for you.  I’m sorry”.

“Well, unless you mentally compelled them to betray me,  you have nothing to be sorry for”.  Malcolm said with a wry smile.

“So how long have you been divorced?”

“Going on three years now.  I’d finally started getting over things after a year, but then they announced that they were pregnant and getting married and I knew it was time to get out of there.  It was just too much”.

“I can understand that.  I-I’m divorced, too.  It’s been three months since it finalized.  H-He cheated”.

“Well, he was a fool”, Malcolm said, softly.  He looked up and their eyes locked.  She blushed and looked away.

Just then the bell rang signaling that lunch time was over.  Malcolm wanted to ask her out to

dinner or lunch or to just watch grass grow, but he didn’t want to move to fast.

“Well the young ones are returning.  I better get back to my room.”  He got up, returned his chair to the original position and walked towards the door.

“Malcolm”, she called out before he walked out. “Thanks for keeping me company”.  She smiled.

“Any time, Lynne”, he replied, returning her smile.  “Yeah”, he thought, “She’s going to be the death of me”.