Ella smiled as she poured Griffin another cup of coffee. She stirred the creamer in as she reached for the sugar bowl.
“Would you like some more sugar too?” She asked pleasantly as she glanced over her shoulder and winked at him.
Griffin was sitting at the kitchen table, thumbing through the stack of papers he'd brought. He was anxious to get her signature; within days her divorce would be final, and then they could get married. He had been waiting two years for this moment. His affair with Ella had started long before her husband Jim had hired him as his divorce attorney; that had been an amusing and ironic convenience.
Griffin and Ella had discussed several options for ridding themselves of Jim; divorce had been the only legal one. Then they had gotten the shock of their lives when Jim called Griffin's office one day out of the blue and requested his services. Of course he had jumped at the opportunity. And now, six months later, Ella would be free. Jim was a very wealthy man, and Griffin had arranged a nice fat settlement for his young lover; almost as much as she would have inherited. Griffin was widowed and nearing retirement age so he made certain that Ella would be well taken care of.
Ella brought Griffin's coffee over and signed the papers without batting an eye. He looked up at her adoringly as he finished his third cup of coffee, and put all of the papers neatly back into the oversized manila envelope he'd brought in with him.
As he stood to leave, he pulled Ella to him, kissing her hard and rough.
“We've done it baby, we're almost home free.” He pushed her back onto the table, kissing her neck and unbuttoning her blouse.
She pushed him away in mock fear. “No Griffin, Jim might come back ...” and then she giggled. It wouldn't be much longer. He had drank three cups and now his fragile heart was pounding wildly as the poison coursed through his body.
Griffin moaned, and rolled off of her, hitting the floor with a hard thud. He was holding his chest.
“911...” he gasped as he floundered on the floor. “it's my heart....” His eyes rolled back in his head as Ella stood over him and watched until he took his last breath.
Then she sat down and finished her morning coffee.
©2012 Garden Summerland