Page 71 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

“Oh, dear, no no no!” Kyra rushed to reassure me. “She’s not aging physically, just mentally and emotionally. Physically, you’ve suspended her. She doesn’t even need food or sleep.” She clapped her hands. “Ingenious!”

I still felt a bit worried. “So you don’t think so much solitary confinement is… an overreaction?”

Brie shook her head. “Callie, you’re too nice for your own good sometimes.”

“I find it quite brilliant, from an ethical standpoint,” Kyra said. “I don’t think you have to feel guilty at all. The moment she deserves to be released, the moment she’s genuinely transformed into a safe person to have out in the world, the curse will end, and she’ll be normal-sized and free. It’s totally in her power to save herself. All she has to do is grow as a person.”

Maddox, Brie, and I all exchanged glances. We looked at the snow globe. There was a long beat of silence.

Brie jumped in. “Seems like this could be a while, right?”

“That would be my guess,” Maddox agreed.

“So, any instructions?” I asked Kyra. “Do we have to make sure the snow globe gets light or stays warm or anything? Or do we just put it in the corner of the living room and wait for her to pop out?”

“Oh, there’s no reason for you to be burdened with this. I have a storage room for these kinds of cursed objects in the back. When, or I guess if she emerges, we’ll get her oriented about what has happened and send her on her way.”

My shoulders relaxed. I was relieved to not have to lug Maddox’s mistress around with me.

As one of Kyra’s employees picked up the snow globe to take it to the storage room, I wondered if I was watching Gwen go to her final fate. If she never found any decency within her, this could be the end of her run. Magically suspended, ageless yet hyper-aging, trapped forever with nothing but her own thoughts about what kind of person she was.

We said our goodbyes to Kyra, and then Maddox and I parted from Brie outside the shop.

As we began our walk back to the convention center on a path through the pines, I was frustrated. So much potential time at the job fair lost in handling this infuriating situation.

But on the plus side, I hadn’t accidentally killed Gwen. And I was still feeling a rush from how I had pulled myself together during the curse, after thinking I’d lost control. That gave me an awesome power high that I was still riding.

Maddox had been trailing a few steps behind me, and now quickened his pace so that he was at my side. He cleared his throat. “Callie, I’m so sorry about all of that. I can’t believe I brought someone like that into our lives.”

“I couldn’t believe it either. At first. But I believe it now. I meant it when I said I see how you two fit together. She might be your soulmate.”

“Everything you said was absolutely true. Gwen is awful. Cruel, mean, nasty trash. Nothing about her is special. She was just easy. I’m completely disgusted at myself for ever being drawn to her at all.” His shoulders slumped. “Seeing her, it really drives home what a piece of shit I was. I wish I could undo it. I’m so ashamed I got in bed with… well, anyone else, but especially someone like her.”

I said nothing and didn’t look at him. We walked a few more moments before he continued.

“And especially compared to a woman like you. In every way that Gwen is awful, you are⁠—”

“Enough,” I interrupted. “I’m not interested in hearing your bullshit right now. I get it. You want out of your curse, and you’ll say whatever you think I need to hear to get me to forgive you. But let’s stop pretending. We both know you’re just spewing lies to trick me into thinking you’ve changed.”

He flinched. He was a good actor. That looked like it really hurt him.

“I wonder, now that Gwen is off the table, is there a specific other woman you’re dying to go back to? There must be one, right? Who’s the woman you can’t wait to look up again, if you ever get your curse lifted?”

Maddox’s voice grew husky. “Only you. You’re the only woman I want.”

The outrageousness of that brought me to a halt. Maddox was a few steps past me before he realized and turned around. All was quiet on the path around us. No one else was within view.

Let’s show him what I thought of his pronouncement.

“Maddox, when we get back home, I want you to schedule my next three-way with Duke and Ryder.”

He looked away miserably. “Okay. I’ll text them.”

“Listen to your instructions. I said when we get home. I don’t want you to text them. You’re going to do it in person. You’re going to go to work, go into their offices, and tell your buddies to their faces that after being with them, your wife finally knows what it feels like to be fucked well, and that she is dying to have them back for the next round. Do you understand?”

“I’m so sorry, Callie,” he whispered hoarsely.

“I don’t care. I admit, you got to me last night. But I am so glad to have run into Gwen and gotten this reminder of exactly what you chose over me. I know you’re hoping that I was going to thaw and forgive you and you could go back to fucking everything that moves⁠—”