Shortly after I began seeing a thirty-year-old woman named Suzanna, she had previously been one of my client’s. Suzanna is married to a rich businessman who was a good twenty years older than her, I’m sure I seemed like a younger and more attractive alternative to her rather boring sex life.
The relationship was mutually beneficial for both of us and lasted a year before we finally ended it as her husband was getting a bit too suspicious of her activities. He wasn’t the only husband getting suspicious of his wife, I was too. I refused to believe that Brittany could’ve gone around two years without getting some type of intimacy herself, from somewhere.
Over the last year, she had started to come home late from work on occasion or go out with friends that never seemed to spend any time at our house. She would dress up a little too much sometimes when heading out to meet a client or with friends, I was sure that I wasn’t the only one seeking some affection outside of our marriage. But what was I to do? If I raised it with her or accused her of cheating, I’d be the biggest hypocrite ever. I didn’t know if she was aware of my own dalliances, but there was no way I was going to accuse her while I was doing the exact same thing.
Then I spotted her in a café one day while I was visiting a client in downtown Dallas, she was sitting with a guy who appeared to be around the same age as us, late twenties or early thirties. He looked handsome, he dressed well and appeared to be able to make Brittany smile and laugh as they drank their coffees. My first thought was that he was probably a client that she was trying to sell a property to. But I saw her hand reach out and take hold of his as they sat there, fingers interlocked. This wasn’t her client, this was most definitely her lover.
I didn’t rush over to interrupt them, I didn’t do anything but walk off to go to my meeting I was almost running late for. I was completely distracted throughout the meeting with my client though, it’s one thing to think that your wife is seeing someone else, it’s another to visualize that. To see them together, not sexually but showing affection was replaying in my mind.
After my meeting I walked back past the café, they were no longer there. Brittany’s real estate office wasn’t that far away, so I drove there and pulled over next to their staff car-park. Brittany’s car wasn’t there either, I could only assume she was with him right now.
Later that afternoon I picked Brianna and Thomas up from daycare, Brittany and I alternate weeks that we either drop them off or pick them up. Both our jobs are flexible, so it makes it easier. Come to think of it, our flexible jobs makes it easier to do a lot of things, like meeting your lover in the middle of the day. And now it seemed that was likely to be the case for the both of us.
I watched Brittany when she came home that afternoon, for any tell-tale signs of her having spent the afternoon fucking. She seemed to be her usual self though, even stopping in the kitchen to ask me about my day, before going to check in on the kids. Maybe this had become as routine for her as it had for me.
Over the next twelve months, we seemed to travel along the same trajectory. I’d just turned thirty and I’d been seeing another woman named Sara, she works for an insurance company that I deal with for some of our jobs. She too was married, it works better that way as there are no ulterior motives at play other than the sexual one. We both kept our relationship very discreet, but she’d decided to end it as she was planning on having another child with her husband.
So, today was my last dalliance with Sara, but it went a bit longer than I anticipated. That meant I missed a meeting with Kevin and our clients in West Dallas. After spending a few hours at our job site in Irving, I headed downtown to meet one our other clients for a quick beer.
While waiting for him to arrive I saw my wife heading into a bar across the road, she was arm in arm with another guy, different to the one I’d seen her with a year before. They seemed happy and looked like a real couple out for an enjoyable evening. I couldn’t stay around later to see what type of evening they had planned as it was my turn to pick up the kids.
Brittany didn’t get home until almost midnight, she’d texted me earlier in the day to say she was going out for drinks, but nothing since then. It was clear she’d had a few drinks and maybe a little bit of fun as well, her hair was a little more tousled than usual for her. This time she didn’t come and check to see how my day was, instead making her way to the bathroom before retiring to her bedroom to sleep.
I sat there at the kitchen table quietly drinking my Scotch, wondering if this was to be my life until our two kids left for college or work? For me to find different married women to occasionally fuck, meanwhile watching my wife go out to do likewise? It didn’t matter if I was with Clara or Suzanna or Sara, I still felt alone. I missed the kind of love I used to share with my wife. I knew if not for the children, I’d be out looking for that once again.
On Saturday we all went over to my brother’s house for lunch, taking Brianna and Thomas over to see their cousins. My brother and his wife Denise have four kids, all are slightly older than ours. John and Derek are ten and eight years old respectively, with the twin girls of Jessica and Christine being both six. Brianna and the twins are very close with Brianna being just the year younger. Thomas at just three is still a bit too young to worry about who he should be friends with, for him everyone is his best friend while they have his attention.
While our wives and kids were inside the house, Kevin and I made our way to his work shed, which doubles up as a man cave. From where we were sitting, we could look out over the back yard to the house. He handed me a cold beer before opening his own and sitting down beside me.
“Bill, can I ask what is going on with you and Brittany?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Why the hell are you seeing other women, taking up work time to go and fuck them? I know this has been going on for some time, it’s got to the point where I can’t ignore it anymore. It’s impacting your work, which means it’s impacting mine too.”
“Look, I’m sorry about Wednesday, it won’t happen again. That was the last time I was going to see the woman I’ve been with, we got carried away.”
“Bill, what the fuck? You’re married. Doesn’t Brittany and the kids mean anything to you?”
“Of course they do, that’s why we’re still together.”
“That makes no sense at all.”
“You know that Brittany suffered from postpartum depression after having Thomas, well this is kind of a flow on from that.”
“Thomas is three now, I’m pretty sure PPD doesn’t last that long.”
“It doesn’t. Brittany was better well before Thomas turned one, but it was too late for us by then.”
“Your marriage?”
“Our relationship within our marriage anyway. I haven’t had sex with her since before Thomas was born. By the time she was over the depression, we weren’t in love with each other anymore. She’s been sleeping in our spare room since Thomas was about three months old.”