*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events I experienced firsthand; used with permission.
My husband and I worked together briefly. In fact, we met at work.
When we worked together, we had the same shift, so we rode to work together in the same car. At the end of the shift, we rode home together, also in the same car. We spent coffee breaks together, and we spent lunch breaks together, and I know it sounds like a lot of togetherness, but bear with me. There's a point.
A mutual coworker began claiming my husband was trying to woo her.
To tell you the truth, I would have believed her if she hadn't made one big mistake. This woman claimed my husband placed flowers on her car windshield every day during lunch break. That was impossible.
"He's never out of my sight at work," I told another mutual coworker who was helping to spread the rumors about my husband and his perpetual gifts of flowers.
"He couldn't bring the flowers into work with him because I walk into work with him. He couldn't put them on her car during breaks, because we take breaks together. I know where he is at all times throughout the workday right up until the moment we leave together. How could he be putting flowers on another woman's car?"
My husband was guilty of a lot of things. This was not one of them. It was strange and annoying to know he was the subject of this rumor when there was no logistical possibility of it being true.
The only problem was nobody would believe me.
Unfortunately, I never went directly to the source of the rumor and confronted the woman myself. That would have been the only way to get to the bottom of it, but I didn't have the nerve. I wish I had.
I wasn't angry. I was annoyed, but I wasn't angry. I glanced at the woman's car now and then when I could just to see if someone was dropping off a bouquet. If someone was leaving her flowers every day, then where were they?
I did ask my husband about the flowers, just to do my due diligence. He had the same argument I did. When could he possibly have found time to bring her flowers during the workday when he was never out of my sight? Sure he took bathroom breaks, and I wasn't with him then, but where did the flowers come from, how would have paid for them, and where did they go?
There just wasn't enough evidence to bolster her claims. As I said, my husband did a lot of questionable things. This just wasn't one of them.
In the end, I just let it go. What would you have done? Comments are welcome.
Why would you want to Buy Me a Coffee? I am a full-time writer and a full-time unpaid caregiver to my 82-year-old father, who lives with Parkinson's. Your tip or donation allows me to provide for his care and comfort around the clock while working from home. Thank you.
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