Cheating and Manipulation on Peak

                                    

                                          
Over the next few days, things began to resume a bit of normalcy. The
topic of what happened was done with being discussed and as far as I was
concerned, we've moved on from it. We spent the next couple weeks
getting the house ready for the warmer weather that the middle of the
year brings with it, as well as finalizing our vacation plans for July.
When I said a bit of normalcy, I meant that there was something
different. Something I couldn't pinpoint.
It's like that something you catch in the corner of your eye and when
you look, it's gone. That's what this was like. I didn't ask about it
because I had nothing to ask about really, so I just paid close
attention to what was going on and hoped to nail down what it was that
was nagging at me. It very well could've been stress from work, we were
under the gun with three new clients, but as it turned out, that wasn't
it and I wasn't imagining things.
Me: Carol? *I called to her from the bedroom* Could you come here
please?
Carol: *came into the room, where I was standing by the closet* What's
up?
Me: *pointing to the array of women's clothing hanging in the area that
normally my clothes would be in, taking up one fourth of my area, and
these are not in her size*
Carol: What about it?
Me: *I moved to the dresser, opening up my drawers and showing the
women's underwear and other bits of clothing taking up a fair portion of
my space and again, not in her size*
Carol: Bill, what's going on? Could you hurry up, I have dinner in the
oven.
Me: What do you mean what's going on? What's with this? Why are there
women's clothes in my space and where's my stuff?
Carol: Oh that. It's just a few things that Jack gave me to keep, just
in case you changed your mind.
Me: That isn't going to happen, you can put these in a box or send them
back.
Carol: It isn't like they're hurting anything, now come on. Foods just
about ready.
She left and I wasn't far behind her, asking questions that she
deflected while getting the food for dinner placed on the table. I was
quiet while we ate, answering her minimally while she talked about
regular everyday things like nothing strange was going on. it was
starting to get irritating the way she was pushing this aside. It was
like this the next few days until I cornered her at last.
Carol: Why are you so upset and making a huge deal out of nothing Bill?
If there's no next time, then there's not. Just consider the clothes
there stored until he picks them back up. That make you feel better?
Me: A bit, yes. *it didn't really but this was starting to get silly*
Carol: Good! Now can we please move on from this?
But that wasn't the end of it. Other items crept in. A new makeup case
that she said was samples she was trying out, and she did try them, but
I had a feeling it was something else. Different shampoos and
conditioners, again they were being tried out. I would have flipped out,
but this isn't entirely out of the norm. Sometimes she does get things
to try out from her friend who does market research, but this was
awfully coincidental. The crux came when there were two sets of heels,
still in boxes, in the top shelf that were clearly my size. She again
said they were from Jack.
Carol: *huffed* Fine. Okay! You caught me. These things are all for you.
You're getting a makeover.
Me: Say whosawhatsa?
Carol: We've decided it's time for Melanie to return on a semi regular
basis.
Me: Who is this we and what makes you think I'll do this?