An adult stories – February Sucks–The Hermits Take by SW_MO_Hermit,SW_MO_Hermit FEBRUARY SUCKS
SWMO HERMIT’s ENDING
Copyright© 2024 by J Maness Writing as SWMOHERMIT
I withstood my desire to join the other authors who have added their endings to George Anderson’s all-time classic story for years, but today, much to my chagrin, I have succumbed to the muse’s pull and jumped on the bandwagon. I hope I have not strayed too far from the intent of Mr.. Anderson when he published his masterpiece. I do not know how many times in my life I’ve heard someone, usually a man, I admit, say those same words that inspired George. A variation of “I’d fuck him/her in front of my husband/wife in a New York minute, whatever that is. So, here, without further ado, is my take. I don’t know what to call this one. It isn’t a BTB and certainly isn’t RAAC. Other than a bit of retribution, the ending is nearly a real-life one. As most authors have done, I open with a short take (in italics) from Mr. Anderson’s tale:
“Jim, Linda loves you. She loves you and the children more than anything else in the world, and she always will, and you know it. But she is spending tonight with Marc.”
I stood there with my mouth open, looking stupid as my world ended. Pictures whirled madly through my mind, or what was left of it. Linda at the top of the stairs in her beautiful blue dress. Linda at dinner; Linda at the club; Linda as we fed wings to each other. Linda in Asshole’s arms. My anger rose.
“So on what was supposed to be our special night, she left me for some asshole jock.” I glared at Dee as I growled the words.
“Jim, she hasn’t left you. She’ll come home to you tomorrow, and you’ll have plenty of other special nights together.”
“She didn’t even have the guts to tell me to my face that she was leaving me. She just snuck out the back door.”
“Jim, listen to me. She hasn’t left you…”
“Well, if she hasn’t left me, then where the hell is she? She sure isn’t with me now, is she?” I was getting loud, and didn’t care who heard me.
“Please settle down, people are looking at you. Listen, I know this hurts for you, but it’s just tonight. Linda knows, we all know, that you’re the only man for her and you always will be. You’re the good guy.”
“Yeah, and we all know where the good guy finishes, don’t we?”
“Jim, it isn’t like that. You’re making way too big a deal out of this. It’s only tonight, then she’ll come back to you tomorrow and everything will be just like it was before.” I snorted at her. If she really believed that shit, nothing I could say would make any difference anyway.
“So, Friend, what was your role in all this? You didn’t really need to go to the restroom, did you? My wife gave you the signal, right? She told you to stall me and keep me out of the way long enough for her and Asshole to make their getaway?”
“Yes, she asked me to do that, because she didn’t want you to embarrass yourself by making a scene while Marc was here. She also asked me to make sure you remembered that she loves you, and she will always come home to you.”
Yeah, I’d remember exactly how much she loved me tonight, for a long time to come. “More like she didn’t want me to embarrass her as she walked away from her husband to spend the night with an asshole jock. I don’t suppose it occurred to you, Friend, to remind her that she had a husband and a marriage, and she might lose them over this?”
Dee looked me in the eye. “No, it didn’t, because I know she won’t lose you over this. You’re too good a man to let that happen. I told her how lucky she is. She’s lucky because the man that every woman in the room wanted, wanted her; but she’s even luckier that she has a husband who loves her enough to get past his hurt feelings and not make this a bigger deal than it should be. You know she’ll be willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make it up to you.”
“What if it isn’t possible to make it up to me? What if there is no way to make this right?”
“Jim, I know how much you love Linda, and how much she loves you. This doesn’t have to be a big deal. It’s just one night, a one-time experience, compared to all the years and all the love you two have together. It isn’t a big deal, unless you make it one. I know she’ll come home to you, and I know eventually, you’ll be fine.” Dee spoke gently but confidently. It was all I could do not to grab the stupid woman and shake her until her teeth rattled for spouting such nonsense. She must be living in some sort of alternate universe if that’s what she really thought.
“So if Asshole had picked you, as you wanted him to, you’d have done the same thing?”
“I would.” She flung her answer into my face.
“Does Dave know that?”
“No, and he doesn’t need to, because I don’t think it will ever happen,” she said softly.
“Maybe I should tell him.”
“Jim, please don’t. Don’t think that way. I know you’re hurting, but that won’t help. Please come back to the table. Let us take your mind off it for a while. You haven’t danced a single dance with me all night, you know.” She smiled invitingly at me.
“I wanted to dance with my wife, but thanks to you and her and Asshole, that doesn’t seem to be an option, now does it?” I turned my back on Dee and stalked back to our table.
The talk at the table stopped abruptly when I appeared. The averted eyes told the tale: all of our friends now knew that my wife and Asshole were at that very moment making a cuckold of me.
“Uh, Jim, are you going to be okay?” Dave asked hesitantly after he seated Dee. I wanted to tell him what Dee had said and ask if he would be okay, but I couldn’t force the words past my throat. I guess I hadn’t gotten over being the good guy yet. I would have to work on that.
“It depends on what you mean by okay.” There were a couple of nervous giggles.
“I mean, yeah, that was a shitty thing to do, but you two are going to make it, aren’t you? You’re not going to divorce Linda over this, are you?”
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t,” I responded coldly. There was a gasp around the table.
“Why are you all acting surprised?” I continued. “We all know how we feel about cheating: once and done. We established that long ago.”
“But Jim, it’s Marc LaValliere…” Dee interposed.
“So what? I don’t care who’s fucking her. If it isn’t me, that’s that.”
“Jim, what about your kids? We all know how much you love them, and how much they need you. Think of them before you do anything.” Jane’s kids were about the same age as mine and were best buds.
“You mean, like my wife is thinking about them right now?”
“Well, that’s why you got a sitter, so you wouldn’t have to think about your kids.” I think Dee meant it to be funny. It fell as flat as it deserved to. “Come on, Jim, it’s just one night. It’s an opportunity she’ll never have again. You wouldn’t divorce Linda over one night.”
“Why not?” I glared at her. An uncomfortable silence followed.
*****
As long as it had been since Linda left, I was sure she was gone, but I went through the motions of checking in hopes I could stop the train wreck. As angry as I was, it was probably too late to save my marriage, but I still felt I needed to prevent Linda from going with him. I headed toward the restrooms, moving quickly, weaving between the tables and milling people. I left quite a disruption in my wake. I was none too careful in my passage and ran into several of the milling crowd, causing stumbles and sloshed drinks in my path.
Two of the man mountains sitting at the asshole’s table met me at the hallway entrance and pushed me deeper into the dimly lit passage. When we were mostly out of sight, one of them slammed me against the wall and said, “That’s far enough asshole. You’re already too late to catch Marc and your bitch, but none of us need a ruckus, now do we? I want you to take your hurt feelings back to your table and leave this alone. Get me?”
I tried my hardest to escape the asshole, but his body mass and muscles were probably twice mine, and I couldn’t even budge his arm when I tried to. I tried to kick his nuts, and he twisted to block the kick, then landed a punch to my stomach and then dropped me to the floor. While I was lying there, he said, “When you can breathe again, shithead, get your ass out of here. If you cause any trouble, that will seem like a love tap from your bitch.”
I pushed myself to a sitting position and watched the laughing duo leave me. After a few moments, I pushed myself up and staggered back to my table. When our supposed friends saw me approaching slowly and bent forward, Dee smirked and said, “What hit you, Jim?”
I glared at the table and said, “Some of the asshole’s friends tried to convince me to let this insult go.” I picked up Linda’s purse, opened it and took out her keys, credit cards, and money before I tossed it on the table.
Again, Dee spoke, “Jim, what are you doing? Why are you taking Linda’s credit cards and keys? Just take her purse if you’re leaving.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled before I turned and headed for the front door.
Two of the guys stood and tried to intercept me, but at least I was near enough their size to knock them out of my way and continue toward my destination. One of the bouncers got between us and asked, “Is there a problem here?”
“You know there is. These two assholes are trying to keep me from leaving. I’m sure the three of you are large enough together to do that, but do you want to handle the problems that will descend on this place if you do? Keep them off me, and I’ll be gone without further disruption.”
The bouncer moved slightly to allow me to continue while he held my ex-friends back.
I stumbled into the hotel, and the desk clerk looked worried when she saw me. She asked, “Sir, are you ok?”
Still angry and hurting, I wasn’t very polite or diplomatic in answering. I snarled, “NO, I’m not ok. My wife took off to spend the night with that asshole Marc LaValliere,” I didn’t hardly slow down passing through the lobby. Thankfully, the elevator was open and waiting on a guest when I arrived in front of it. I stepped inside and banged on the button for our floor, hard enough to hurt my thumb.
After entering our room, I stopped and looked around, trying to decide what to do next. I didn’t want to stay here, but I didn’t want to return to our empty house either. Fuck, why did that bitch do this? It was still early, barely eleven p.m., so I turned around and went to the bar.
I found a secluded booth and ordered my favorite drink. When the waitress set it on the table, I chugged it and asked for another before she left. She looked me over carefully before saying, “Yes, Sir. Do you want to run a tab or…”
“Charge them to my room, please. Room 437,” I said as I handed her the card I was given when we checked in.
“Yes, Sir,” she said when she took the card. Several minutes later, she returned with my new drink and card, placing them both on the table. I sipped the new drink while I thought about my dilemma. I was seething, so angry my teeth continually clenched and were beginning to ache. All I knew for sure at this point was I wanted to make all those assholes pay, and I wanted to keep my kids.
The need for revenge was easy to say but almost impossible to accomplish. I wasn’t a crazed killer and had never been a Ranger, Green Beret, or a Seal. All I was, was an ex-sailor who honorably served his country and then returned home, found, and married the love of his life, the bitch that publicly humiliated him and cut his heart out when she blatantly cheated on him with some damn asshole jock. We average working schmuks didn’t stand a chance when one of the rich guys or jocks decided they wanted our women.
I don’t know how many hare-brained ideas flitted through my mind and were discarded while I sat there drinking. As it got closer to closing time, I noticed that the waitress took longer to check on me and refill my drink when I ordered a new one. She was probably trying to limit me that way because the bar wasn’t very busy. I was beginning to get pissed at her because of that and found myself getting short with her when she did return to my booth. I forced myself to cool it with her, and after she brought my last drink, I knocked it back, signed my tab, and left a 30% tip. When I handed the tab back to her, I said, “Sue (That was her name), I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass tonight. I was here with my wife, and she deserted me at Morrison’s to spend the night with that Laviellere asshole. I shouldn’t have done it, but I’m afraid I took some of my anger out on you. Please forgive me.”
Sue looked shocked and placed her left hand on my forearm while she took the tab with her right. She looked into my eyes and said, “I’m so sorry, sir. Apology accepted. Please, be careful, and don’t do anything stupid.”
I returned to my room, dropped my clothes wherever they landed and crawled into bed naked like I usually sleep. I didn’t know anything else until the maid opening the door to clean the room the next morning awakened me. I apologized and dressed as quickly as I could. She was still in the hallway when I left the room and entered it behind me. The elevator hadn’t arrived when the maid rushed from the room carrying Linda’s things. She said, Sir, you forgot some of your luggage!”
“No, I didn’t,” I said. “Those belong to the bitch I was going to spend the night with. She took off on me, and I certainly don’t want or need them. You can have them or throw them away, whatever you want.”
My head was killing me, and I had a bad case of cottonmouth. I checked out, and thankfully, they didn’t charge me for being a few minutes late. From there, I entered the restaurant and stuffed myself on their brunch buffet. While eating, I thought about my problem more, trying to devise a plan. I had to get even and make all those assholes pay. Marc, Linda, and Dee were at the top of the list, but I planned a little pain for the others, too.
I was in and out of my house in less than a half hour. I started for my parent’s house but stopped to pick up the kids on the way. After getting them into the car, instead of heading toward home, I turned the other way. Emma asked, “Where are we going, Daddy?”
“I have some errands to run, honey, so you’ll spend the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Oh, where’s Mom,” she asked. “Why can’t we go home and stay with her?”
Well, crap, I thought. It’s starting way too soon. “Honey, I don’t know where your mother is. She left the club last night with another man, and I’ve not seen or heard from her since.”
“Oh, Daddy, she did not. Mom wouldn’t do something like that. She told us it’s not right to run away.”
“Well, she did. Now, I don’t want to talk about it. We’re here. Let’s go inside and see your grandparents.”
After we got in the house, Mom asked the same question, “Where’s Linda?”
I sighed and said, “Kids, why don’t you go outside and play with Buster (their dog) while I talk to your grandparents? After they left, I raised my voice and said, “Dad, come to the kitchen, please. I need to talk to you and Mom.”
I gave them a detailed description of my night, excluding my drinking in the hotel. Dad became angry, and Mom was shocked but loyal to Linda, who she thought of as a daughter. She said, “Jim, you surely don’t believe what you just told us. I know Linda wouldn’t do anything like that. What really happened? Did you do something to make her angry or what?”
Mom’s defense of Linda pissed me off again, and I jumped from my chair. “I told you what happened, Mom. Now, please watch the kids for a while. I need to go see LW.”
While I was walking out, Mom followed me and stood at the door. Before I got into the car, she said, “Now, Jim. Don’t do anything you’ll regret. I know Linda wouldn’t do anything wrong. Why don’t you go home and apologize, maybe take her out for supper or something.” I glared at her before I drove away. I couldn’t believe the crap Mom was spouting. I wondered if she believed it or was so shocked that she didn’t realize what she was saying.
When I got to LW’s, he was gone. I sat in my car until dusk, and he never came home, so I reluctantly picked up the kids and took them home. When we entered the house from the garage, Linda came rushing toward us and said, “Jim, where have you been? I was worried about you.”
The kids rushed to her and told her about their day at Gramma’s, but I didn’t say a thing. I entered my office, locked the door, and turned on the computer. Linda came to the door several times and tried to get in. Each time, I got a variation of “Honey, we need to talk,” which I ignored. It looked like, from my research, I would be hosed when I filed for divorce. At least Linda and I made about the same salary, so I probably wouldn’t have to pay maintenance for her, just child support and the damn household expenses and mortgage.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were rough at work because I couldn’t concentrate on the job and at home because of Linda. Whenever she got the kids away from us watching TV or after they got in bed, she tried to talk about the weekend and her betrayal. On Wednesday night, she cornered me in the kitchen after the kids were in bed and said, “Jim, stop pouting. I love you. I came back just like I promised. I’m the same old me, just like I always was. You have to get over your snit. We have to talk this out sometime. Why can’t you relax and go with the flow? I told you I’m not leaving you. Marc was a golden opportunity I had to take.”
“Right,” I said. “And I suppose you want me to believe you didn’t fuck the asshole and wouldn’t again if he came around.”
Linda couldn’t look me in the eyes but answered, “You know I fucked him, as you so crudely put it, but I love you. I’m married to you, and that’s what counts, not a one-night hiccup. It didn’t cost you a thing, and I have a wonderful memory to look back on for the rest of my life.”
“Fuck You,” I snarled as I brushed past her. When I turned the corner out of the kitchen, I saw her bent forward, silently crying. That was when I became sure the marriage was over. I didn’t feel anything except pleasure that she was hurting.
At work Thursday, I called LW, and he said he was in his office now. When I asked if I could visit for a while, he said sure, so I headed to his office after work. We sat and chatted briefly before he said, “OK, Jim. You know I enjoy seeing you, but you usually don’t come to see me to chat. You look like you have something on your mind. Spill.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. I gave LW as detailed a description of my imploding marriage as I could and asked him if he’d handle my divorce.
LW sat looking over my shoulder at a picture of his mantle and a crackling fire in the fireplace underneath. He put his elbows on his chair arms and steepled his fingers before replying, “I can do that if you’re sure you want to, but you need to know that no one wins in a divorce. Not the husband, wife, and especially not the children. I sometimes wonder if even the attorneys win. At least they make money but at what cost to their souls?”
We discussed options and planned as much as possible, and then LW and I adjourned to his club for supper and some drinks. Linda was sleeping when I got home, and I didn’t wake her; I just left her on the couch and went to bed in the guest room where I’d been staying.
The following morning, I was making a coffee and microwaving a breakfast sandwich when Linda came into the kitchen in the same clothes she wore the day before. She looked at me sadly and said, “Where were you last night, Jim? I was worried, and you never called. I love you and want to do anything I can to help you get over your problem.”
“MY PROBLEM,” I yelled, then realized it was my problem, just not in the way she meant.
“You can’t, and you know that,” I said. “Can you go back in time and not dance with the asshole? Can you unfuck him? No, you can’t, and that’s the only way to make this right. What you could do to help would be to disappear, get out of my and the kid’s lives.” Fucking bitch left crying, and, yes, I felt terrible, but I felt good, too. I hated myself for lashing out like I did, but the hurt was so bad I needed to make her hurt, too.
We kept living in the house as much like a family as possible, but Linda and I slept in different rooms. I could tell the kids knew something wasn’t right, and their behavior was affected. I did all I could to alleviate the problem, but it was a lost cause. Throughout the proceedings, I kept thinking about my need for revenge. I heard Linda wasn’t the only wife the asshole plucked from Morrisons. That was his favorite hunting ground, and rumor had it he successfully stole a new woman every week.
A glimmer of a plan surfaced in my mind. All I had to do was watch and follow the asshole home when he picked up a new slut. If I was careful, maybe I could get to him and even the score, even if I wasn’t as large or muscular as he was. I was angry enough that I didn’t care about the legalities either. I had to get my pound of flesh. I just wished I could let him know who was exacting the revenge on him.
I spent the next six weeks in Morrison’s watching Asshole. He was usually there Friday and Saturday nights, working the crowd and partying. He didn’t score every night, and some of his scores, if he screwed them, came back to finish the night with their friends. I soon realized that the ones that returned were usually the ones he plucked from a group of females out for a girl’s night, usually on Friday. On Saturday, he targeted married women there with what I assumed was their husbands. After he made his choice, I left via the front door and watched the parking lot, and then followed when he and his slut left.
I discovered where the asshole lived and did what my army buddies would call a site recon. I didn’t see cameras, but I was sure there were some. Hell, in this day and age, half the working stiffs had one or two. His house was plastered with notices he had a security company monitoring. I decided, as much as I would like to hit him at home, I wouldn’t. It looked too dangerous. I did chuckle when I thought about me, an ex-squid, doing Army shit!
I now knew what all his vehicles looked like, so the following weekend, I parked well away from Morrison’s and walked to the parking lot, not even going into the bar. Sure enough, slightly after eleven, the grinning asshole came waltzing out the door and prancing toward his car. He stopped and cursed when he saw the flat tire on the left front. I had carefully driven a nail into it to help the air escape. While he was pulling his phone from his pocket, I got ready to whack his head as hard as I could with a wooden ball bat. I just couldn’t. Call me a wimp, but I couldn’t, I hated the asshole and wanted him to pay, but I couldn’t hit him in cold blood.
I quietly walked away, took off the mask, and threw the bat beside the building. I approached the woman waiting behind the bar and said, “Lady, you need to think about what you’re getting ready to do. That asshole takes a married woman home from here almost every Saturday, and most of them end up divorced. Is getting fucked by a football player worth your marriage?”
“What? I don’t know what you mean. I’m waiting on my ride, is all.”
The asshole walked up and said, “It’ll be a little while, baby. I have a flat. I’ve called someone to fix it and bring us another car.” He gave me a push and said, “What’re you doing here, asshole? Leave me and the lady alone.”
I walked to the front and went inside the bar. I needed a drink to drown the disgust I felt for myself because I wimped out and didn’t beat the Asshole. I saw fuckfaces friends watching a large man wandering around as if he was looking for someone. I intercepted him near the bar and said, “Can I help you? You look like you’re hunting something.”
“I can’t find my wife. She was dancing, and now, she’s disappeared.”
“Oh, what does she look like?”
The distraught man described the woman outside, and I smiled before I said, “I think I saw her in the alley with Marc Lavalliere. They were occupied, if you know what I mean.”
“That son of a bitch,” he muttered before he headed for the front door. When he turned, I grabbed his arm and said, “That’s a big dude. There’s a baseball bat just around the corner beside the building. You might grab it on your way by.”
The man pulled his arm away and rushed off. He said, “Thanks, dude,” on his way out. He was fast! Asshole’s friends didn’t even see him leave.
I found an empty stool at the bar and had barely sat down when I heard men yelling and a woman screaming. The bouncers and Asshole’s two friends took off for the back. A few other patrons and I left the front and headed toward the noise. When we got to the alley, Asshole Lavalliere was lying in the dirty alley, moaning and whimpering with pain. Unfortunately, my friend of a few minutes ago was lying out beside him, and a crying woman was standing near the door.
It looked like both of the Asshole’s knees and his right elbow had been smashed. My buddy raised himself slightly and said, “This’ll teach you to pick up married women, asshole. I hope she was worth your career.”
I left the parking lot, singing inside. I was playing with the kids Sunday morning, and Linda was reading the local paper when I heard her exclaim, “Oh, no!” I grinned even as a surge of anger flashed through my mind. I suspected she saw an article about the asshole’s assault, but I asked, “What’s wrong, Linda?”
“Someone severely beat Marc last night in Morrison’s parking lot. They say his right elbow and both knees were shattered. He’ll probably never play football again and may be unable to walk. Who would do such a thing?”
I laughed and said, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe some poor husband whose wife he fucked? It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
“Jim, what’s wrong with you? Marc was a great athlete and a fine gentleman. He gave so much time and money to children’s charities. He didn’t deserve to be mugged in a parking lot. How could you say something like that?”
“It’s easy, dear. He was a sleazeball and got everything he deserved. Why are you so upset? Afraid he can’t fuck you again or something?”
“Jim, you know that’s not why.”
Still no remorse. I stopped playing with the kids and went to the office. I called LW and said, “LW, I’ve had it. She’s still defending the asshole and is crying now because someone took his knees out last night. File the papers.”
“OK, Jim. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
I signed a rental agreement for a small apartment nearby Monday after work. I had taken Tuesday off and planned to move after Linda went to work. I had my belongings in my new apartment and was unboxing them when Linda called. She was crying when I answered and said, “Jim, how could you? I thought we were working through your problems, and now you’ve filed for divorce!”
“Sunday was the last straw. Even after all we went through, you were upset and defended the asshole when you discovered someone had the balls to chastise him for his actions. He got what he deserved, and now you are too. Goodbye, Linda.”
I grabbed a bottle of my favorite bourbon and mixed a strong one. I sat and contemplated the last few months with sadness yet a modicum of pride. Two down, I thought. I had made Linda’s life miserable for several weeks before pulling the plug, and the asshole was on his way to obscurity and, I hoped, a life of pain. Now for the other six.
Dee was next, and then Jane. If I played it right, I could get revenge on the men at the same time I got their wives. Dee’s husband, Dave, was a hot-tempered prick and jealous as he could be. All I had to do was drop hints about her fidelity to some of their friends I still associated with, and he’d snap. I did, and he did. Unfortunately, I got a little more than I anticipated from those comments. He beat Dee severely, and she ended up in the hospital, and he was in jail. Before either of them was released, Dee filed for divorce. I heard the flowers I sent her with a Thinking of You card attached didn’t make her feel better. I received a phone call from her that made it plain I wasn’t one of her favorite people. Almost as soon as I answered, she said, “You were the one spreading those rumors that upset Dave, weren’t you asshole? You weren’t happy ruining Linda’s life; you had to ruin mine, too, didn’t you?”
I laughed and replied, “Why, Dee, what possible reason would I have to do something like that?” I’m sure she heard me laughing before I disconnected.
Jane and Phill were next. I felt slimy and shuddered around Dee. She was sneaky and liked to stir the pot and shift blame to someone else. On the other hand, Jane was smarter and more discrete than Dee. Several times, I got the impression she wasn’t above spreading it around, but I didn’t know if she did. I decided to see what I could find.
Jane had a mid-level management job and traveled once a month or every six weeks. I tried to discover any shenanigans she pulled in our city and hired a PI to check on her when she traveled. He didn’t want to check on her for me because, as he put it, I had no vested interest in her activity. He finally agreed to do the investigation when I told him my company was considering making her a job offer, and we wanted to verify her fitness for the position.
The PI hit pay dirt on her first trip! That woman was wild away from home. She took a different man to her room each of the three nights she was in her destination city. Phil had the report before Jane got home from that trip. I understand the neighbors called the police to quell the disturbance.
After I heard about the divorce, I called dear old Phil and asked about it. He told me the story about receiving the proof anonymously and said, “I can’t believe Jane did something like that! I don’t understand.”
I laughed and replied, “What I don’t understand, Phil, is why you’re divorcing her. You thought it was fine for Linda to fuck the Asshole but not for Jane to fuck her asshole. What’s the difference?”
“This is Jane! And besides, none of the guys she fucked were a star. One was her boss, and the other two were just people from other companies attending the seminar.”
“I still don’t understand. Suck it up, Phil. Isn’t that what you all told me? She didn’t take anything from you. She was in another city, and you weren’t going to get any pussy those nights.”
“You asshole,” Phil snarled just before he cut the call. I hoped he heard me laughing.
I was preparing to work on my last targets when they looked me up. I had been enjoying a burger and beer at one of our old hangouts when they sat at my table without asking. Eric no three tried to shake my hand, but I started until he pulled it back. He sighed and said, “Jim, I’m sorry we got involved in your problems with Linda. We didn’t want to Make waves and break up the group, but that happened anyway. I suppose you know by now that Phil, Jane, Dave, and Dee are getting divorced. It seems like someone might have it in for them. Each man received information about his wife that didn’t show her in a good light.
“You didn’t have anything to do with that, did you? Aw, hell, it doesn’t matter if you did or not. Cheaters never win, and they get what they deserve. We came in to eat, and when we saw you here, we wanted to apologize for how we treated you and Linda. We understand now and feel awful. I don’t believe there was anything we could have done to stop Linda, any more than we could have stopped Jane or Dee if she was cheating, but we should have handled Linda’s slip from the path differently and given you more support.”
“It sounds like you want to head off something you think might be coming your way. Why else would you come to talk to me now?”
“Look, Jim, we both know you can find something that might upset one of us, but I’m sure you won’t find any cheating. After Phil filed, I hired a PI to check on my sweetie, and I’ll be darned if she didn’t do the same. Neither of the PIs found a thing, and I’ll be happy to show you the reports if you want. We mostly wanted you to know we’re sorry, and we promise that if we can ever help someone in a similar situation, we will. That’s all we wanted to say. We’ll find a table now and leave you alone.”
They were already standing before I decided to speak again. “Oh, hell, sit back down. You never were as bad as those other four. I’m tired of eating alone and could use the company.”
We had a pleasant, if strained, evening catching up. After I got home that evening, I sat thinking about the conversation. I decided I’d done enough. Those two had never been as nasty as the others. They were followers, and even when the others were trying to stir up shit, they didn’t. They even looked uncomfortable many times and tried to change the direction of the conversation. I decided to give them a bye.
My divorce from Linda finally went through the courts and became final. Every time I saw her, she looked worse. She became pale, lost weight, and began getting wrinkles on her face, and her hair began greying. She looked as old as her mother within two years of our divorce. She was listless, and the kids said all she did was work and come home to care for them. I was unhappy but nowhere near in as bad a shape as Linda. I felt guilty about her, but every time I thought about chatting with her or inviting her on an outing with the kids, I remembered her disrespect and didn’t. I just could not forgive and forget. To this day, she still believes what she did should have been overlooked.