Before the News Comes

Catherine slammed her purse on the counter out of aggravation at the sight of Peter sitting on the couch in the exact same position as before she left.
“I thought I told you to leave,” she growled out at him. She could see where the tears had found their way down his face as he looked up at her and she felt a puddle of guilt form in the pit of her stomach. Turning away she walked over to the kitchen table and straightened up the stack of mail which now resided there.
“Please baby, just give me one more chance, I’ll change, I promise,” he whispered, not daring raise his voice any louder.
“I’ve already given you too many one more chances Peter, you can’t have anymore, not after what you did.”

Before That:

A lone woman roamed the halls of the East City Mall, wiping away tears managed to escape from beneath her eyelids. She takes a left at the center and turns into Rosie’s Hair Salon where Rosie herself rushes to her side.
“What’s wrong honey, what happened this time? What did he say? Did you tell him yet?”
“You were right Rosie, you were right about everything.”

Before That:

The crying woman, not yet having shed any tears, returns home from work and unlocks the door. Humming a tune to herself that only she could understand she picks the mail up off of the floor and drops her purse on the kitchen table.
“Peter, are you home?” she calls out before dropping the mail on the table as well.
There’s a loud shuffling noise in the bedroom and she quickly heads into that direction to investigate. There’s a small bounce in her step in excitement as she thinks of the journey that she and her husband are about to embark on. Stationing herself in the doorway to their master bedroom she notices that Peter’s not alone and immediately takes a step backwards. Peter looks up just as he’s zipping the zipper on his jeans and the girl next to him pulls her shirt on over her head.
She hollers some words, some true and some not, all saying the same thing however. They were all saying that she wanted them both out of the house when she got back and some told her husband of the news that she had just found out. She turned to walk into the living room where her purse sat and he followed, dropping himself onto the couch in shock.
“This changes nothing, I still want you out when I get back,” she states plainly, not bothering to put any real force into it before she storms out of the house.

Before That:

She paces back and forth in the restroom at Rosie’s Hair Salon where she’s using her ten minute smoking break to take the test. All that she can think of is the test, hoping beyond hope that it will be the answer that they had been hoping for. The alarm on her watch beeps, symbolizing that the two minutes are up. Picking up the stick she looks at the small lines within the box and begins to tear up. It’s positive, finally.
She rushes out of the bathroom and straight to Rosie’s side to tell her the news. After getting an affirmative from her boss, she clocks out and heads home to tell Peter the good new, she is finally pregnant.