Josephine and Charlie had been together for as long as she could remember. Childhood sweethearts who built a life together and welcomed two children, their union seemed picture perfect, both from the inside and out.
However, what Josephine could never imagine was that her fairytale would crumble because of a single bottle of men’s hair lotion.
Sharing her story, she explained that her husband’s head was as bald as a billiard ball so when she returned home one day and spotted a bottle in the bathroom labeled “Potion for Thick Voluminous Hair,” she was confused.
She picked the bottle and showed it to Charlie, who was sitting on the couch switching between the TV channels. Once he saw the bottle, his face drained of color faster than a sink full of dishes.
His initial silence was defeating. “Charlie,” Josephine said, “Whose hair lotion is this? You never told me you’re taking treatment for hair growth?”
Staring at the bottle and then at his wife, his jaw clenched hard, he asked, “Where… where did you find this?”
“In the bathroom, where else?” she answered, her temper starting to simmer. “Care to explain?”
“WHAT??” he yelled, pinning the whole thing on Josephine. “So, you’ve been CHEATING on me?? How else could it have gotten there?”
“You’re accusing me of cheating? Charlie?? Come back here and explain,” she shouted, but Charlie simply turned away.
The days that followed were quiet. Josephine couldn’t help but think of the bottle and how it got there. But then, all of a sudden, she remembered seeing their neighbor, an 18-year-old girl named Susie, buying exactly the same bottle some days prior. She also recalled Susie stopping by and asking from Charlie to help fix their faucet, so maybe it was then that she left it at their place. Not surprisingly, the thought of Charlie having something to do with Susie, although he could be her father, also crossed Josephine’s mind.
In order to clear her doubts, she decided to invite Susie and her dad over for dinner one night. As they chatted, she casually mentioned the hair lotion, and to her surprise, Susie’s dad said it was his and that he left it there when he came to fix something for Charlie.
In the pursuit of answers, Josephine decided to check the cameras the following day. What she noticed was that Susie’s father visited their home way too often, and that she had no idea about that. After this, things got even more confusing for her to be able to untangle the truth so she decided to confront her husband yet again.
“Charlie, you’ve got some explaining to do,” she said, not assuming the reality she was going to face.
Panicked, Charlie uttered, “He… he was just helping with repairs.”
“Repairs?” she pressed, her voice laced with suspicion. “Every single time I wasn’t here? Come on, Charlie, level with me.”
Running his hand over his head, Charlie’s face etched with worry. He hesitated for a long moment, then blurted out, “Alright, fine. There’s more to the story, but please…” He trailed off, his voice cracking. “Please, Josephine, you gotta believe me… I never meant to hurt you.”
As she stared at him with a racing heart, Charlie gathered the courage to confess, “I… I’ve been having an affair.”
Charlie’s admission felt like a massive blow. “An affair? With Susie’s dad?” His words sounded like a cruel joke.
“You’ve been having an affair with a MAN?? How could you do this to me… to our family?” she screamed.
“I love you, Josephine. Always have. But…,” he tried to explain. “I’ve been struggling with my sexuality for years. I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself.”
Josephine was crushed. She felt that her entire life was a huge lie and everything she believed she had built with the man she loved was nonexistent.
“So all these years,” she choked out. “You were living a lie?”
“It wasn’t a lie, Josephine,” he argued. “I love you, and I love our kids. It’s just… there was this part of me I couldn’t ignore anymore.”
“And you decided to act on it with Susie’s dad??” she sneered, as fury welled up along with the hurt.. “How could you betray me like that?”
“It wasn’t planned,” he faltered. “We just… connected. He’s lonely, Josephine. His wife passed away a few years back, and—”
Josephine didn’t have the strength to argue or to accept the reality, so she asked from Charlie to leave. His footsteps receded to the room upstairs, and she curled up on the couch, crying her heart out.
A few days passed by and Josephine received a message from Susie’s father. He wanted to meet her and talk to her. With a deep breath, she answered, “Alright, I’ll be there,” a wave of unease twisted in her gut.
They met at a café the following day, and he confessed, “Your husband isn’t the only one at fault here. I pursued him. I knew he was struggling, and I took advantage of that. I’m sorry.”
Feeling anger, Josephine told him, “You destroyed my family. Do you know that?” As he nodded and stared at the floor, he said he was sorry.
Josephine knew that a simple sorry wouldn’t fix anything. All she knew was that she couldn’t stay with Charlie any longer.
Her marriage, which was built on secrets and unspoken truths was over.
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