Political Suicide

Candice knew she was doing something that could damage her political career forever. She knew she should not meet him tonight but she couldn’t stop herself. What was she thinking? She was the mayor of Los Angeles and he was a man who had been in trouble with the law. She felt so alive when she was with him, nothing like she had felt when she married Carl. She had been married to Carl for 33 years and they had five grown children that they were very proud of. The spark in their marriage disappeared for Candice 12 years ago, the year her parents were killed in an automobile accident while in Texas. Something changed in her and she knew that some things in her life had to change. She vowed to herself the day of her parent’s funeral that she was going to live life for her children and for herself. It would be a long road but she needed to figure out how to make herself a priority in her own life. She had always put everyone first and now she felt like a shell of a person, especially now without both of her parents. She needed to work on what made her happy so she could be a better person, mother, and politician. Candice knew what was right and what was wrong but there was something special about James, the man she was having an affair whith, that kept her coming back for more. It wasn’t just because the sex was good, it was something deeper. She spent more time thinking of James lately than she was thinking about the election coming up the next year. Being mayor had been her dream and she had achieved that. She was thankful to the voters for electing her but now her needs and priorities were beginning to change. She went to bed next to Carl each night, softly crying herself to sleep, not knowing what to do next. Carl was a good man but she no longer loved him like she did when they were first married. Carl turned over and started snoring. Candice sometimes found herself wanting to put a pillow over his head just for a moment to stop the obnoxious snoring. She wanted him to go to the doctor but he refused. Some nights she went to the spare bedroom so she could get some sleep. She was 52 and she knew getting at least seven hours of sleep each night was necessary for her to fully function at her job which was sometimes seven days a week. She closed her eyes and prayed to God to help her decide what to do. There were so many things on the line if she left Carl. The most important thing was the kids. She knew that they would hate her for leaving their dad for another man, a man who was only 40 and had been recently arrested for embezzlement. He admitted that he embezzled $100,000 from his current employer. He apologized to Candice several times, begging for her forgiveness. James knew that Candice loved him and he loved her too. He felt guilty for not telling her about his completely colored past. Candice believed what he had told her and never investigated him so she didn’t know that he had accidentally shot and killed a man when he was 18. Candice had no idea that her life was about to change and it would change the lives of many others along the way. She could be making a mistake that might possibly cost her the prized possession of her life- her family. She had no idea that life was about to get complicated, more complicated than running Los Angeles.