THE FAIRY RING

    Van Michaels shut the kitchen door with a resounding click.  The sound echoed through the empty house reminding him Jenny was gone. The book tour had taken a lot out of him this time.  It had been a month since she'd filed for divorce and he'd gone on the road, burying his pain in his work.

     Tired and lonely he flipped on the lights and set his laptop case on the kitchen table only to find a brown wrapped package waiting for him.  He eyed it warily with dark intriguing eyes. Who could have left the box?   Jenny?  A stalker?  Not Jenny, she'd taken all her belongings the day she left and mailed her key to his hotel suite.  He didn't wonder so much as to who left the box, but more importantly, what was in it? He made his usual inspection of the house, assured himself that all was in order, except for that box. 

     He avoided the box for the next hour and turned on the television to watch the evening news while he ate takeout in his easy chair.  A perky blond reporter spouted off the doom and destruction that had taken place earlier in the day, a gruesome car wreck, a corrupt politician’s hearing.  He tried to pay attention, really, but thoughts kept returning to the box.  It had no return address, so sending it back wasn’t an option.  He decided to ignore it a little longer.  In the morning he'd take it by the post office and let them decide what to do with it. 

        He showered, changed, then headed back downstairs for his laptop.  Maybe he should work a little while more before bed.  Van sat down at the table and started up his computer, but he couldn’t concentrate.  Every few minutes he’d look up from the screen and find himself staring at the box. 

     Van heard his cell phone ringing inside his jacket.  He dug it out, checked the id, and flipped it open.  “Jenny?” 

        “Van.”  She replied timidly.  "I wondered if we could talk?"

        “You haven’t spoken to me in weeks, Jenny.  Why call now?  I’m tired.  I just got in.” Van returned.  “Can’t this wait until the morning?”    He felt her hesitate on the other end of the line.  Van had always been able to read Jenny like a book.  He knew whatever was bugging his soon to be ex-wife would not be put off until morning. 

       “I need to see you.  It's important."

Van looked down at his pajamas, then over at the box, and sighed.  Maybe he could just take a litte peek and tape it back up before morning.  “I can meet you at O’Malley’s in twenty minutes.” 

      “That’s great. Um. I’ll see you there.”  Jenny expelled her breath in relief.

     Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of O’Malley’s Pub.  He spotted Jenny immediately.  She stood awkwardly with her hands in the pockets of the denim jacket she wore under the awning of the bar and grill. 

      “Thanks for meeting me.  Can we go in?.”

Van began to wish she’d just get out what she was trying to say and get it over with.  He really needed to sleep, and he was still wondering what to do about the box. 

       “I need to get back to work.  Out with it Jenny.  You’re circling around something.  I don’t feel like being sociable.”

Jenny stepped closer. 

       “I haven’t been honest with you, Van.”

       “Oh, really, Jenny, what can you possibly do that could hurt me any worse than you already have?”  Van spat back, suddenly wishing he’d ignored the phone and had opened the box which had been plaguing him since he’d gotten home. 

      “I didn’t file for divorce.  I couldn't.  I love you, Van, and I’m so proud of how hard you’ve worked and all you become.”

      “Then why the charade?  Why hurt me this way?  I've worked hard to give you a good life.” 

      “When you would leave on your trips, I would come home to find a box on the kitchen table.  I just opened it the one time, but there were women’s under things in it and love letters.  I thought you were having an affair.  I only used your work as an excuse.”  Jenny began to cry.

    “What?  I would never do that.  I love you.”  He thought of the box on the table and knew that it would have been Jenny who found it if she had not left.

    “I'm sorry and I want to come home.”   Van didn’t think. He merely held his arms open and welcomed her. 

        Later, Van went into the kitchen. “Whatever it is, it isn’t worth my Jenny.”  He grabbed the box and tossed it into the pond.  As Van slid under the sheets and pulled Jenny to his side, the pond exploded in the night.