Consequences by Cynthia Victor

Consequences by Cynthia Victor

Twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth did not plan to break up his marriage when she had an affair with her law school professorBut she didFifteen years later, she's still coming to terms with the consequences of her youthful infatuation: trying to love a stepdaughter who hates her, financially and emotionally supporting an ex-wife who will never forgive the betrayal, and enduring the relentless overtures of a sister-in-law who's determined to be her best friendAs her sister-in-law plunges into a reckless affair and her stepdaughter aggressively explores her sexuality, Elizabeth finds herself forced to reconsider her definition of love, commitment, and responsibility--a process that finally releases her from the shackles of her past mistakes and shows her the way to her own happily-ever-after

TEASER

What's that?

--This? NothingA photograph

He looks at the photograph, and demands a story I don't want to tell

Isn't this what all women want? A lover who as passionately interested in the quotidian details of their boring, dysfunctional lives as in their desirable bodies?

NoNot meOr do I? I start to talkI tell him aboutabout all of themAnd, inadvertently, meThings I've never put into words for anyone before

That's the game you and I are playingDo you not know that? I am looking for the keyYou're trying not to give it to meBut you want to play, and so you keep on talking, and so eventually, you will

I'm careful not to say too muchI am not going to take my sociopathic lover of the moment into the tragedy of my life

Why not? Tragedy is eroticThe things that make you laugh don't arouse, loverCheck yourself

Really? I'm doing this? Why?

Because you want toBecause you're compelledDoes it matter? Just talk

SoI do