The Scent of a Woman

The evidence I gathered and all the clues were just pieces of the puzzle that would turn out to be Dick’s mid-life crisis. I have previously mentioned the new style of underwear and all the “shopping” he was doing, but there were other things that were out of the ordinary for him. He definitely dressed better…and smelled better too. There was this odd little bottle of cologne that appeared in the bathroom closet after he returned from one of his “guy trips” . He never wore cologne. I was allergic to an array of brands. He could never keep it straight which ones bothered me, so, he just found it easier to not wear any. That way he didn’t have to look like an ass for wearing the wrong one for the hundredth time, making me sick from the smell. Now, all of a sudden it didn’t seem to matter. He’d splash that crap on and out the door he’d go. Of course he was never going out with me, so I guess that could have been a good reason for him to start using it again. I did ask him about the new cologne, not in an accusatory way of course, just in a “oh, what’s this?“ kind of way when I accidentally on purpose knocked it over on the self. He had some excuse about how he picked it up in the hotel gift shop, because he had forgotten his electric razor when he went to Miami and had to buy shaving supplies. Sounded good, but…I didn’t believe him, so of course I had to investigate. I looked it up online and found out that the small bottle, and I mean small, like the one he had, cost $40. If he had bought it in the gift shop it probably cost even more…and it was cologne, not aftershave. All I could think was there is no way on God’s good earth that this man cracked open his wallet, blew the cob webs off the bills and shelled out some 40 plus dollars just to smell pretty. Not in this lifetime, no way…unless of course Harry had told him he should buy it, then, well, maybe. And, if he did, he obviously didn’t care that I might be allergic to it. On another note, but keeping with clues and smells...
One time when Dick and I were actually going someplace together, when I got into the car, I noticed that on the console was a piece of silver chain. He quickly picked it up, when he got in. But, realizing that I had seen it he asked if it belonged to me. “Nope, not mine.” I said. He then said something like he had found it on the ground outside the car. Which didn’t make sense to me since the car was always in the garage. He obviously didn’t have time to think that through, but he needed an explanation as to why a piece of jewelry that was not mine would be in our car. If it was mine, it would have had to been outside someplace other than home, and I would have had to been there with him…duh! I looked at it. It was a chain extender for a necklace. Dick probably pulled it off her neck in the heat of passion. “Huh…Oh well” he said as he tossed it back on the console, “I thought it might be yours.” Funny thing though, the morning after the next time he was out…it had disappeared. Weird. During our outing that night I kept smelling something perfumey. I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, then I realized it was on the seat belt. As you now know I am allergic to many scents…this one was making me sick. When I mentioned it he said Harry was sitting there last night, and it was probably his cologne. I let him think that I bought that explanation, but I knew it had to be her. Harry is at least a foot taller than her and if that smell came from him it would have had to come from his armpit. Harry’s armpits do not smell that nice. Whomever was sitting there stinking up my seat belt was about my height. Because the spot on the belt that smelled was right at my neck. Why is he doing this, I thought. Is he really that stupid or does he just not care? I knew the answer to that question was the latter. The truth was that I was no longer important enough. I had slipped out of the number one position on his “Things I care about” list. At this point I think I was jockeying with the lawn mower for the ninth or tenth position. Eventually I was off the list completely, but until I finally realized that was the case I continued torturing myself by staying with him.