Secret Beach by Gumbo25,Gumbo25

Once again, a long story. Not a lot of sex. Also, please be tolerant. I am writing about a couple subjects I do not know well, including investing and the FDA. Just try to go with the flow. I hope you enjoy it.

SECRET BEACH

I was winding down, nearly relaxed. Allison and I were having cocktails and appetizers at Dukes on Waikiki Beach. The sun was setting and I had one more day of the conference. Friday morning, our flight left Honolulu for the short jump to Lihue, on Kauai, and then seven days, just Ali and I, without any work distractions.

Just then I saw the senior regional manager for the west head in our direction. I knew I’d need to get some time with him, this was always one of the objectives of these meetings.

Try to impress management.

Since our hotel was close to Duke’s it was not surprising to see others from Pinkus here. This was one of the things I liked least about these sales conferences. Everybody was competing to get noticed by top management. I knew I had to make sure I got the appropriate face time.

“Sweetheart, I’ll be right back, Don Clemons is over by the bar and I need to talk to him for a few minutes,” I told Allison.

She just nodded and continued drinking her mai tai. She could hardly complain. Ali liked luxury. We somehow managed to get one of the beachfront tables open to the air. Such a pleasant temperature with the sounds of the ocean providing the relaxing backdrop. The sun would be setting soon and we were front stage for that show.

I glanced back as I made my way towards Clemons. Ali didn’t seem to mind one bit if I was absent from the table. She was enjoying the sensations of Hawaii, whether I was there for the moment or not.

I maneuvered my way into the crowd bunched around Clemons. Some of the more competitive sales employees of Pinkus Labs were already making sure they were spending time with our bosses, boss. In the highly competitive world of global pharmaceutical sales, even the company meetings became a zero sum game.

“Some great information today Don,” I finally had my opportunity to engage Don Clemons at the bar at Dukes. “In fact I’ve already begun to strategize on placement of some of the new products,” I continued.

He appeared somewhat interested, but so far not overly impressed with my comments, but at least he was listening. Mentally I was organizing the next several parts of my conversation with him. From past experiences I knew my hourglass of time with Clemons had tipped. I probably had at most, two, maybe three more minutes before the sand ran out.

As I was about to explain my next, and most critical point to Clemons I felt a sharp jab to my kidney. I turned to see who had elbowed me. Angela Ridley. My hesitation was her opportunity. She quickly and smoothly had crowded herself into the situation and she was getting her moment of exposure to the boss. Earlier in the day I had made a comment at one of our break out sessions. Angela criticized my position without offering any type of solution. She was one of those people always searching for the negative.

After a moment’s recovery from the elbowing I tried to re-engage Clemons but he was now talking to Angela. Like a rebounder in a basketball game, hips wide, she had physically boxed me out. Even though I hadn’t had a chance to get all my points across to Don I felt like I’d gotten at least a little facetime, but now he was with short, negative, dumpy Angela. She’d outmaneuvered me. Bitch.

My duty done, nearly satisfactorily, I began to walk back to my table, comforted by the fact that very soon this conference would be over and Allison and I would be on vacation, free from thoughts of Pinkus Labs, Don Clemons, and certainly Angela Ridley.

Turning to my table I suddenly felt a friendly arm across my back.

“Man, she is a bitch.” I heard him say.

It was a newer coworker, Adrian Vasguez, who worked out of the Portland office like I did. He had been with Pinkus less than a year and always seemed friendly enough. He was also considered a rising star at Pinkus.

I looked at him questioningly without speaking.

“Angela.” He said. “I saw her hook you out of the way, I only wish Clemons had seen what she’s truly like.” He told me.

There is an old saying that goes something like ‘your enemy’s enemy is your friend’. With the spirit of that saying in mind I looked at Adrian suddenly as a potential new ally.

“She certainly is a bitch,” I agreed, looking back at Clemons and seeing short, wide, Angela still monopolizing his time.

We spent a few minutes disparaging her, but that conversation soon ran out of steam. The environment was too wonderful to waste on negative thoughts. Like Angela Ridley.

“I love this place Mike,” Adrian commented glancing around the environment at Duke’s, “it’s just so hard to get a table. This bar is packed.”

After thinking for a moment and glancing around I saw an empty chair.

“Why don’t you join my wife and I. We’ve got a great spot.” I told him.

Vasguez momentarily hesitated but soon agreed to join us. We walked over and I introduced him to Allison. At first she seemed slightly put off that our alone time was being infringed upon by Pinkus people, but Adrian was pleasant, charming and funny. Quite quickly Allison relaxed and enjoyed his company.

I looked at Vasquez, maybe an inch or two taller than my 6′, thinner with slicked back nearly black hair and an olive complexion. Nice looking, in a slightly exotic way and we now had a common bond in our dislike of Angela.

“Are you guys flying back tomorrow?” Adrian asked us.

“No,” I replied. “The morning wrap up and awards ceremony is scheduled to be over by 11 AM. With Pinkus that means we’ll be out of there by 10:15, 10:30 at the latest. Ali and I are flying off to Kauai on a 2 PM Hawaiian flight. We’re there for a week.” I told him. Allison smiled and grabbed my hand under the table excited and happy about our soon to start vacation.

He smiled back at us quietly, seeming genuinely happy for us, but a cloud seemed to cross his face as we talked about our Kauai trip. Quickly, he recovered and asked us where we were staying on Kauai.

“We’re on the Poipu side, at The Koloa Landing,” Allison answered. She had put together the vacation part of the trip and had done a good job. With Marriott points and some other negotiations she had gotten a great deal for us on a very nice hotel. No doubt about it, Ali loved vacations.

Vasguez asked about the hotel, the location, and things to do on Kauai. Ali told him all about the place and all the great things to do. He seemed genuinely interested and Ali talking about how great Kauai is made me wish we were there already.

There was a moment in the conversation when Vasguez became quieter and I noticed the somber mood drift in for a moment. I changed the subject.

“Are you flying home tomorrow?” I asked him.

“I’m not sure, Mike,” He told me.

Ali and I looked at him, questioningly. ‘Not sure’ seemed like an odd answer.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He then went on this long story about a sort of girlfriend that was originally going to join him on Oahu and they were going to stay in Honolulu for a week. They had planned this several months ago but apparently the relationship cooled somewhat and now it sounded like she wasn’t coming.

“I got a refund from the Marriott Waikiki, but it would cost a fortune to change my flight and I have already scheduled the week off,” he told us, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

“Adrian,” Ali began, “you’re in Hawaii. Your flight is paid, you are on vacation. Plan an adventure. There are so many great places on Oahu and the other islands. There is lots to do.” She told him.

For the briefest of moments I thought she was going to invite him to Kauai with us. I didn’t really want that. He’s a nice enough guy, but our vacation was supposed to be just the two of us.

“You’re right Allison,” he answered smiling. “Thank you, you are absolutely right.”

And with that he held his glass up in a gesture of toasting and clinked glasses with my wife. For a moment they stared at one another in toast and then they toasted with me.

— — — — — — — — — —

Kauai was once again phenomenal. The moment the Hawaiian jet left Honolulu and landed in Lihue we were on vacation. We were in a particularly good mood as we landed.

The last bit of business on Friday morning at the Pinkus Labs sales meeting was the awards ceremony. There were over ninety territory sales people there and they gave a series of awards out. The one everyone competed for was the Territory of the Year award. Not only was there prestige and honor of that award but there was a cash bonus also. Twenty-five grand!

I had worked hard and had a couple of big things come through this year. I thought I had a chance but there were a lot of people that had good years too. As Arthur Goodfellow, CEO of Pinkus Labs, stood at the podium and announced the winners of the various other awards I nervously listened as he called out, “Michael Ballantine” as the Territory Representative of the Year. I couldn’t believe I had won.

I stood as my fellow Pinkus Lab coworkers clapped and celebrated my honor. I walked to the front of the ballroom stopping and shaking hands along the way as the room continued to applaud. I did notice one anomaly as I walked up. Sitting toward the front, not clapping, an even more negative look on her normal sour face sat Angela Ridley. I half expected her to stick a leg out to try and trip me as I walked by.

So as we waited in line to get our rental car, even the long line and inefficient actions at the counter staff at the rental car company didn’t spoil our mood. I was happy about the award and though Allison was proud of me for winning, I think she was more excited about the money.

I was happy about the money too. From my lower middle class upbringing I had a hard-wired thriftiness that I often could not overcome. Allison, who grew up in a higher financial strata, didn’t understand my aversion to spending. Some of our most heated disagreements in our marriage revolved around money. Ali had never clearly adopted the concept of deferred gratification.

Mentally I was now justifying the couples massage ($320, including tip) that we had planned. I also thought maybe we could find a more sexy bikini for Ali too. Though most of the bonus would be saved I now felt comfortable splurging on a couple of things thanks to the twenty-five thousand dollar windfall.

The drive to Poipu and the Koloa Landing was about thirty minutes and at first we just enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of Kauai. I just loved the jungly humidity of this island. We discussed the various things we wanted to do. On our list was hiking Waimea Canyon, snorkeling at Tunnels beach, kayaking the Wailua River, and a trip to Secret Beach. This would be a surprise for Ali.

Our room was great, the hotel was great, and though it rains a lot on Kauai, the weather in Poipu was perfect. Mid 80’s, sunny, but with just enough cloud cover to provide occasional welcome shade.

Over the first few days we hiked the canyon, kayaked the Wailua, and did some snorkeling. I was hoping tomorrow, Monday, we could try Secret Beach. I thought I would bring it up at dinner tonight.

We decided to have dinner at the casual pool bar at the Koloa Landing. The pool here was voted as one of the best swimming pools in America, and it was quite nice. We were talking and relaxing over a second drink. When I asked Ali what she wanted to do tomorrow.

“I don’t know,” she answered,”let’s go to one of the beaches, Shipwreck or Brenneke’s maybe.”

“Those are great spots,” I agreed, “but there is another beach past Kapaa that looked really nice too.” I told her. “It’s called Secret Beach. It sounds really nice.”

Ali was nodding in agreement, relaxed by the sun and the drinks. I watched her face glad that she was agreeable to my plan for Monday. As I watched her suddenly her eyes widened and I saw her smile at someone behind me.

“Hi!” She said and stood up.

Who in the world did she know here on Kauai I thought as I looked up.

Quickly I realized it was Adrian Vasguez from Pinkus, here at the Koloa Landing.

“Hi you guys,” he began, “I wondered if I was going to run into you here,” he said to us.

Sometimes when you see someone out of context it takes a moment to process. Adrian and Pinkus Labs were in a totally different universe than Ali and I vacationing in Kauai.

“Here,” Ali said and grabbed a nearby chair, “join us.”

Adrian hesitated for a moment and Ali insisted. I was still shifting gears mentally. Sure, he’s a nice enough guy, but this was Ali and my vacation. Our alone time. I was slightly put off by his arrival.

“So you decided to stay in Hawaii,” Ali said, “and come to Kauai.”

Adrian then went on to say that after he had talked to us that night at Duke’s he tried one last time to get his girlfriend, Kayla, to join him. Apparently that did not end well. He decided to stay anyway. Through Marriott he applied his hotel credit to the Koloa Landing.

“What have you guys been doing?” He asked.

Ali told him about the hike and the kayaking.

“Tomorrow we’re going to explore a new beach for us,” Ali said, “what was it called?” She asked me.

“I’m not sure,” I fibbed, “there are so many nice beaches here…. ”

“Secrets Beach!” Ali suddenly exclaimed. “That’s what I think you said.”

“We’ll, I don’t know,” I began trying to deflect the topic. “Shipwreck Beach is a great spot right in front of the Grand Hyatt here in Poipu.”

Pretty soon the conversation drifted and came back to Pinkus Labs talk. Adrian seemed like a nice enough guy. I asked Adrian how he liked working at Pinkus.

“It’s a good job and all,” he began, “but I want to make some real money. Big money.” He told us.

While I told him about salaries, bonuses, benefits, and 401k matches, he nodded politely, never disagreeing, but I could tell these practical benefits were not all that interesting to him.

“What kinds of things are you thinking about?” Ali asked him.

He talked about several things including one of his current clients who he had gotten close to. He gave no specifics but he said his client, Dr Viijay Gupta, was on the verge of something huge.

“This could change all our lives,” he told us, “and if it all comes together like Viijay projects, there will be a lot of money to be made. A lot!”

Ali seemed interested and we continued to talk vaguely about Gupta and his supposed fantastic new product.

“Look, when the time is right I can give you more information,” he said, talking mostly to Ali, “but I’ve already signed NDA’s with Dr Gupta. I’ve probably already said too much.”

Later after Vasguez had left Ali continued to wonder about the huge new discovery from Dr Gupta and all the potential money to be made.

“I’m a little leery about these get rich quick schemes.” I told Ali.

She was quiet for a minute and then said, “I know Michael, but sometimes you need to take a chance.”

The next morning, the talk of Dr Gupta, new products, risk, and Adrian Vasguez was nearly forgotten, at least for me. We were packed in the rental car and heading toward Secret Beach.

We had brought one of the tourist books about Kauai and Ali was reading it as we sped east through the tunnel of trees.

“Oh, okay,” she said, “now I know why you wanted to go to Secret Beach.”

I looked over at her with a silent, questioning, innocent look on my face.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said, “you knew it was a nude beach.” She accused me, but with a smile on her face.

“Don’t start fantasizing about me getting nude on a public beach,” she said to me.

“We’ll, maybe not completely nude,” I said back to her.

She continued reading as I smiled and thought maybe I could at least talk her into going topless.

Not only is Secret Beach a beautiful beach but it’s also a bit on an adventure getting there. You have to pay specific attention to the details; the exit, and parking areas are not obvious. Once you park it’s a strenuous downhill hike to finally get to the beach, but it’s worth it.

The beach is a beautiful crescent of sand and the ocean is fairly calm. There’s a picturesque lighthouse on one end overlooking the beach. When we finally hiked down the trail to the sand I half expected naked people dotting the beach, but that wasn’t the case. In fact everyone was dressed at the east end of the beach where the trail from the parking area ended. We hiked west along the beach, probably a good third of a mile.

That is when the absence of clothing became more obvious. First there was a single young female, completely nude and very pale. I hoped she had applied a lot of sunscreen.

And then there was a couple, her topless, and him taking photos of her. The beach was wide and we were polite enough not to skirt too close to the naked people as we walked.

At one point a nice looking couple emerged from the ocean, both completely naked, and as we walked past them our path bisected just a few feet away from where they were walking. We gave them a friendly wave. I tried to be casual as I ogled her bouncing tits, and I wondered if Ali was looking at the guy’s dangling dick.

We finally found a good spot. It became obvious the further west you traveled the fewer clothes you wore. We were close to the ocean in fine white sand but far enough away from the tide line to not worry about a big wave.

We set up our blankets, our chairs, books and magazines, water bottles, snacks and sunscreen. I took off my tee shirt and Ali took off her cover up. She was wearing the new, more skimpy bathing suit she bought at the shop in Koloa.

We sat, just enjoying the sun, the ocean, and the picturesque beach. At this point there was no one very close to us. I saw a group of four people further down the beach, the nude couple we had seen emerging from the ocean and one other couple just arriving between us and the foursome. So a few people, but it was Monday, the beach was not terribly crowded.

I walked down to the ocean and waded about knee deep just to cool off. I turned to return to our spot and casually, behind my sunglasses, took a quick survey of our fellow sunbathers and their attire.

There was the couple we saw, both completely nude. The woman in the couple closest to us was definitely topless, and the group of four were too far away to figure out what they were wearing.

“Your bikini looks great,” I told Ali.

She smiled as she continued reading her magazine.

“You know sweetheart, most of the women around us are at least topless,” I said to Ali, and I noticed her look around at the other people.

“I don’t know,” she said, “maybe, but not now. I’m just enjoying the beach, the ocean, and the sun.”

We sat like this in paradise. I read my book, completely unplugged from work, enjoying the sensual delights surrounding us. Occasionally a single guy would walk to our end of the beach looking for a quick peek of a naked woman. You could tell by their zig-zagging route that skirted each sunbathing spot they were out for a quick voyeuristic thrill. They seemed harmless.

A little later Ali lay down on the towel on her stomach.

“Michael, can you do my back? I don’t want to get burned,” she said and threw me the sunscreen.

I knelt beside and started on her legs. Ali had great legs, slim but with some tone. Her skimpy bathing suit wasn’t quite a thong, but there was a lot of her beautiful ass that was visible and I took my time massaging the lotion into her exposed cheeks.

I moved up to her back which was bisected by her bikini top strap. I needed to be casual as I did it, I wiped my hands briefly on the towel, and then undid her top. She was on her stomach so her tits weren’t really visible, but we were getting there.

Finally as I did her shoulders I slid the bikini straps down and they pooled at her elbows. For all practical purposes, she was now topless. I tried to sneak in a quick feel, my hands going to the sides of her breasts.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” she warned, but with a smile, “or I’m putting my top back on.”

I laughed and went back to my book. Perhaps thirty minutes later Ali got up and sat in her chair. Topless. I couldn’t help staring. She wasn’t large breasted but her tits were still firm and her nipples were pronounced. And they became more pronounced as she became sexually excited, projecting out nearly an inch when we made love.

“Would you like some more sunscreen?” I asked, nodding toward her exposed breasts.

“No thank you,” she smiled and said, “I’m afraid neither of us could stop once you started that. But I better put sunscreen on, these guys,” and she cupped both tits and gave a quick shake, “they have rarely been out in the sun.”

“Rarely?” I questioned.

“I didn’t tell you all of my stories before we met,” she laughed and teased me.

Hmm, I thought. One day I’d sure like to hear these stories. In the meantime I took pleasure in watching her apply sunscreen to her breasts.

We continued soaking up the pleasure of the beach and every so often I’d glance over and ogle my topless wife.

I wasn’t the only one. As I had mentioned there seemed to be an irregular group of single guys weaving down the beach checking out the naked women. Some were more blatant than others, but I noticed none of the other sunbathers reacted and I began to ignore them too.

As the sun rose it got hotter and we decided to cool off in the ocean. I was very curious if Ali would put her top back on.

She didn’t.

We waded in the surf, the water temperature was warm, but not too warm to allow us to cool off. After playing in the water for a bit we began walking back to our chairs. As we walked I tried casually, behind my sunglasses, to check out the other women in the distance visible from our path.

“Isn’t that your friend?” Ali asked me, surprising me and interrupting my ogling.

“Friend?” I asked slightly confused.

“Mike, Ali,” I heard someone call to us from down the beach.

It was Adrian from Pinkus walking toward us, smiling and waving.

I quickly waved and turned to Ali.

“Do you want me to run up and get your top?” I asked.

Ali just laughed.

“Michael, a dozen or more men have looked at my tits since we’ve been here.” She told me with a slight smile. “What difference does one more make?”

“Yes,” I began, “but, but, we know him!” I said stuttering, not quite sure of the logic of my statement.

“Who cares,” she said, “he’s almost here and it would seem weird to suddenly put more clothes back on. I’ll probably never see him again after we get home.”

Much later I would wish that had been the case.

Adrian did stop and talk and yes, Ali’s naked breasts were on display. I caught him checking them out a couple of times but who could really blame him. She looked good. For her part Ali was nonchalant, not self conscious.

After about ten minutes of chatting Adrian said he needed to keep moving and we made vague plans to get together one night before we all went home.

It was with strange jealous relief I watched him walk off. While I found myself getting some type of thrill to see my wife half naked around other unknown people, it somehow bothered me that someone I knew got to see her tits. Don’t ask me to explain my reasoning, that was just the way I thought.

“Well that was a little odd,” I pronounced after we got back to our chairs.

“What?” She asked genuinely curious.

“Just having someone I know see you topless.” I told her.

She was quiet for several moments, processing, I suppose my statement, or perhaps assembling her own feelings on the half naked encounter. She never replied to my comment.

Several hours later we packed up and began the hike back. Ali was now dressed. It was far more strenuous going back up the path and the sun was now high in the sky.

It was a comfortable quiet drive back to the Koloa Landing after a fun day at a beautiful beach. About halfway back Ali made a comment.

“He looks like he’s in good shape.” She exclaimed out of the blue, facing away from me looking out the car window.

“Who?” I said but I realized I knew.

“Your friend Adrian,” she replied, “he’s got a nice physique.”

Adrian was in good shape. A little different from me, he was taller, lean, with very little body fat. His abdominals were visible, he had the look of a middle distance runner.

I was in good shape too, different as I said. I was more muscular, thicker shoulders and thighs. Pronounced abdominals too, but mine were from many hours in the gym. Adrian looked like he was genetically blessed. He had the fluidity of a natural athlete.

Even though a slight flame of jealousy was ignited by her statement it was doused by the environment we were experiencing. A tropical island, wonderful weather, a beautiful hotel, and memories of my wife half naked on the beach.

I didn’t spend much time thinking about Adrian Vasguez.

Once we got back to the hotel we shared a shower rinsing off the salt and sand. I had been half excited all day with Ali partly naked and now in the privacy of our room she quickly became completely naked. We fucked.

Later we watched the sunset as we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. It had been a good day. We returned to our room and I retired with an after dinner rum onto our balcony overlooking the grounds and the magnificent swimming pool.

I was lost in pleasant thought when I felt her hand on my shoulder. I didn’t immediately turn around. After a moment Ali stepped in front of me to the railing wearing next to nothing. She had on sheer white lingerie, she may as well have been completely nude. I had not seen this outfit before. It was effectively transparent.

“Ali!” I exclaimed, “you’re nearly naked.”

“I know,” she said, “what are you going to do about it.”

“But there’s people, they’ll see,” I declared.

She just turned her head, looked over her shoulder, shrugged, and smiled at me. I wondered what this woman had done to my previously modest wife?

I didn’t need much more of an invitation. My hand went under the short sheer hem of the lingerie and encountered a particularly moist pussy. Her arms extended to the railing, bending over and pushing her hips back to me. I massaged her vagina and clitoris. Her arousal was evident.

I looked at her and saw her breasts were now hanging out of the top of the sheer lingerie and though it was dark out, there was no doubt she would be visible to anyone looking toward our balcony. I continued my caressing.

It was not long before she shuddered to a climax and sunk to her knees on our balcony. I was happy but a little surprised at her sexual openness, this was not like my normally conservative wife.

Eventually she stood, not speaking, shrugged off the skimpy outfit and walked back completely nude back into the room. I sat enjoying the evening happy that I had brought her pleasure. A few minutes later I took a last sip, picked up her discarded nightclothes, turned and closed the sheer curtains to the balcony. Ambient light from the grounds partially illuminated our room.

There lying on our bed, face down, and naked was Ali. Her ass was slightly propped up and in the weak light I saw her beautiful pussy peeking out from between her legs.

I dropped my shorts, crawled onto the bed and firmly spread her legs, her ass arched back to me. With two fingers I found her pussy, still wet and lubricated. With little gentleness my erect penis eclipsed her vaginal lips, in and out sliding effortlessly and deep. I could hear her ragged breathing as I continued her fucking.

It didn’t take long. Despite the earlier pre dinner sex, the overall excitement of the day and now the evening became too much. After just several minutes I climaxed vigorously, slumping still half embedded within her.

What a great way to end a wonderful day.

All too soon we were on the Hawaiian flight taking us back to Portland and our normal, non-vacation lives. As we sat on the flight holding hands Ali made me promise to take her back to Hawaii at least once a year. My normal thriftiness was out-weighed by the intimate excitement we experienced on this trip.

I agreed this would be an annual event.

One other thing to note on the vacation. We ended up having dinner with Adrian Vasguez on our second to last night on Kauai. He had texted me earlier that day, and though I would have preferred not to, I agreed to the dinner. I knew we may run into him again and I didn’t want it to be awkward.

It actually turned out to be a pleasant evening. Adrian is very smooth with people and he impressed us at the dinner. I could understand why he’d quickly become so successful in his sales position. When the conversation drifted too much into Pinkus’ talk he pivoted the conversation back to Allison. She seemed to appreciate the attention from Adrian.

Every so often subtle flashes of jealousy would emerge. Here I was watching this young, good looking, charismatic co-worker focusing and nearly flirting with my beautiful wife. Who, oh by the way, he saw half naked with her sexy tits out just a few days ago.

Nothing Adrian did crossed the line as being anywhere near inappropriate. And, if he had been overweight and balding, I would never have given it a second thought. But I knew my wife well enough to see that my charming co-worker had impressed her.

“What an interesting young man, nice looking and ambitious” she commented, as we walked back from our dinner with Adrian. “I wonder why he’s not married. He’s going to make some woman happy one day,” she added.

I said nothing. Ali had never given me any reason to suspect any type of attraction to another man, but for some reason Vasquez’s charisma seemed to have made an impact on my wife.

— — — — — — — — — —

Life settled back to normal after returning from the Hawaii trip. Ali and I lived in a pleasant three bedroom – 2 bath ranch style house, in an average middle class neighborhood. Our house had been built in the 60’s and it was solid but would never likely win any awards from Architectural Digest. Nice but plain.

I had owned the house before we were married and Allison had moved in approximately six months before the wedding. She is an interior designer, independent, with her own practice. It would be difficult to say she worked full time, but she stayed reasonably busy. She has used her design skill to improve our house significantly I have to admit.

Lately though, she has been suggesting it’s time to upgrade. Because of my hard-wired thriftiness and aversion to financial risk I did not agree with this strategy. This has led to discussions on the verge of disagreements. Nothing serious, just two different opinions.

Ali’s family had been on the upper tier of middle class. She was an only child and from what I can deduce was somewhat spoiled. She grew up in the west hills amongst expensive homes with landscaped grounds and impressive views. Ali’s father had died right before we were married and her Mom had sold the house a few years ago when she moved into assisted living.

Over the next several months a few things happened that affected the course of our lives. It’s amazing to think that these seemingly unimportant events had such a dramatic impact on us.

The first thing happened two months after the Pinkus Labs sales meeting in Hawaii. It was not a huge surprise but it was worth noting.

Adrian Vasguez resigned from Pinkus Labs. I was not terribly shocked to hear it. He had spoken of his desire for wealth and even though Pinkus was a steady and fairly well paying company, the financial goals that he sought would likely never be satisfied for him at Pinkus.

I recalled mentioning this news to Ali one night at dinner.

“So he finally did it,” she commented.

“What do you mean, finally did it?” I questioned.

“Oh you know, when we were with him in Hawaii, he always spoke of taking a big risk to get what he wanted,” she explained.

I noticed her gazing into the distance, a half smile on her face slightly shaking her head as if she was off in deep thought.

I knew that she thought I was too conservative. I was hard wired that way, I grew up with no guarantees of three meals a day. We were often on the verge of being destitute. I never wanted to experience a situation like that again. The thought of big risks that could jeopardize our security I could not accept.

“Anyway,” I continued, “he had a great future at Pinkus, I hope he knows what he’s doing. He could live to regret this move.” I stated.

“He won’t,” Ali replied quietly, still lost in her thoughts.

Two months later Ali’s mom Helen, mercifully, passed away. Ali was certainly sad and cried for her mother, but we both knew her dementia had created a shell of the woman that had raised Ali, and that she had been so close to her whole life. In some ways it was a blessing.

Helen St Clair was seventy-four when she died. She had lived the last two years at Glennhaven, an assisted living center in the suburbs of Portland. Outwardly it looked like a nice hotel. But if you looked a little closer you could see what it really was.

The staggering monthly costs of the facility were slowly consuming Helen’s savings. Ali was an only child, and had been put on her mother’s financial accounts. Her will just addressed furniture, art, and jewelry. Most of it was already at our house.

A few weeks after the funeral we reviewed Helen’s, now Ali’s, finances. The remaining balance in the brokerage account, after all expenses had settled, was $388,900. Suddenly our financial situation was different. This wasn’t quit our jobs type money, but it certainly relieved a good deal of financial pressure.

Of course, we had different ideas on what to do with the money. My strategy was to invest it in mid level aggressive mutual funds with a mix of bonds for stability. This would insure our eventual retirement and create a safety net for the future.

Ali talked about a new house, a BMW she wanted, and more vacations somewhere.

These differences created a new tension in our household. It wasn’t like we argued about it every night, but if Ali would come home talking about a newer, bigger, nicer house for sale she had seen, I would dampen her enthusiasm with my practical objections.

She would say things like, “let’s put a pool in.” She always loved swimming pools and whenever we went on vacations, like Hawaii she’d want to make sure it had a nice pool.

“Allison,” I replied, “it’s not practical.”

“Well, at least a hot tub.” She’d argue.

I stayed firm, save for the long term.

One day I came home to a brand new red BMW convertible in the driveway. I soon found Ali had splurged on it, against my advice. I tried to act excited about the new car, but I think she knew I was faking it. It was hard for me to get excited about a $50,000+ extravagance.

As a compromise I told her we could remodel the bathroom that she used the most. With two bathrooms we each had our own primary bathroom space staked out. She had wanted an update for years after watching all the makeovers on HGTV. The reality was the six thousand dollar remodel on TV, by my calculation, was more likely a twenty thousand dollar project.

She was happy with the idea of a new bathroom and for a few weeks as we shopped for tile, hardware, and cabinets, things were back to normal.

I hired a contractor to do most of the work but there were several things I thought I could do myself to save money. One of these things was the demo. I rented a dumpster that arrived on a Friday afternoon in our driveway.

Skip, the contractor was supposed to start first thing Monday and we wanted to have the bathroom completed quickly. As a married couple we shared many intimacies, but we both had become used to the privacy of our own bathrooms. We wanted the down time to be minimal.

I spent most of Saturday tearing out the old shower. I got behind my planned schedule Sunday messing around with the water shut off valves. I was finally able to remove the sink and toilet by dinnertime Sunday with a minimum of flooding.

I just had flooring and trim left to demo, and I had to get that done before Monday. It was dark as I trudged out of the garage with the last few scraps of trim and flooring to throw in the dumpster. This is where I later deduced I had made what would normally have been a minor mistake. I didn’t realize the scope of the error at the time.

I took one last look into the demo’d shell of the bathroom before showering in my bathroom and exhaustedly going to bed that Sunday night.

The next event happened Monday morning. I had a text requesting me to come directly to the office, something I wouldn’t always do. Normally I would start my sales calls traveling to the furthest geographical point of the day and then working my way back. The text was from my boss, Karl Rudinsky.

When I arrived I was told to head right into Karl’s office. I was surprised to see Don Clemons, the senior executive, sitting in a side chair. I quickly shook both their hands.

“Mike, please sit down,” Rudinsky said, I noticed he had a big easy going smile on his face. Whatever this was about I quickly deduced it was nothing bad.

“Michael,” Clemons began, “I want to get right to it. I have a proposition for you. We have established a new position at Pinkus. Before we start the interview process I wanted to see your level of interest.”

Clemons explained that they wanted a kind of hybrid sales manager/sales trainer. He went on to explain the rationale.

“We invest a lot of money in training people and grooming them for future roles at Pinkus. When we lose someone prematurely, it not only leaves us short a person, but then we have to start the training process all over again.” Clemons said, “It becomes expensive.”

The new position would be working with the newer salespeople to not only help them become successful but to also make sure we retain as much talent as possible. No one said it but I suspected that Adrian’s leaving had accelerated the strategy behind the new role.

I sat for a minute, questions buzzing around my brain. How much travel, what about my current accounts, is this an office or a field sales job, several other details and then finally, of course, how much does it pay?

“Michael,” Clemons continued, “I’m sure you have some questions. Here is a job description from corporate, read through it. And Michael,” Clemons said as he handed me the binder, “if you would rather keep your old territory and stay in your present position, no hard feelings, we can look at others. But you’re our first choice.”

I sat nodding and then stood up to grab the job description binder from Don Clemons. As I reached to grab it I saw a pad of paper on the table in front of Clemons with some words at the top and then a list of names below it. My name I quickly saw was at the top of the list with a check mark. I immediately saw the next name below mine.

Angela Ridley.

There was no way I was going to let her get promoted over me.

Before I even had the job description in hand I blurted out, “I’ll take it!”

“Excellent.” Clemons said to me.

“Congratulations Mike,” Karl declared and reached over to shake my hand, “there is a lot to do. We can get your office set up this afternoon,” Karl added.

Through the morning I was studying and signing documents. The position seemed a little overwhelming but I knew with my organized, structured discipline I would be successful just as I am in the sales job. I thought I had a lot I could pass on to the newer sales people. I started to become excited about the job.

Karl, Don and I had lunch together, I left my phone in my new office. When I returned I saw three texts, three phone calls and a voice mail. All from Allison within the last 30 minutes.

I immediately called her back.

“Michael,” she began, she sounded distressed, “there’s something wrong with my car!”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She went on to describe how the car was “driving funny” and that a dashboard light went on with some type of warning. She sounded a little shaken up.

“Okay,” I calmly said, “where are you now?”

She told me she was able to pull into a parking lot near Broadway in downtown Portland.

“Can you see the Roosevelt Hotel from where you are?” I asked.

During the day downtown Portland is fairly safe, but on the other hand here is a good looking woman in a flashy car. She definitely could be prey for a particular class of people that occasionally wander the streets of downtown Portland.

I told her to lock the car, grab her purse, phone and any other personal stuff and head to the hotel and then grab a drink or a cup of coffee in the lobby bar.

“It’ll be an hour or so before I can get you.” I told her. “I have some news too. I’ll explain when I pick you up,” I added.

I begged off dinner with Karl and Clemons, explaining my wife’s minor emergency.

When I got to the Roosevelt I fortunately found a convenient parking spot a block away and walked into the lobby bar. No Allison visible. I toured around the rest of the lobby, not worried, more curious.

After about ten minutes I called her. When she answered I could hear some kind of commotion in the background.

“Ali, where are you?” I asked.

“Michael,” she was talking quietly, almost a whisper, “I’m up on the mezzanine floor, I ran into your friend Adrian, who we met in Hawaii. He’s giving a presentation. You should come and listen. It’s really interesting!”

Okay, I thought. I was a little put out. I was anxious to tell Ali the good news about my promotion, and now this.

I found the room. There were about twenty people in the small conference room. Mostly men and women in suits. But I noticed one odd looking man, out of place, wearing a dark beret. At the front of the room at a podium stood Adrian Vasguez. He was talking with great enthusiasm about something called Novacim.

Ali grabbed my arm and nodded toward the front of the room and Adrian Vasguez.

“This is really interesting,” she half whispered to me. “This discovery could have a huge effect on our health,” she added, gripping my arm tighter.

Silently I watched Vasguez extolling the virtues of this new product Novacim. He talked about Dr Viijay Gupta and described him as a bio-medical genius.

“In our preliminary testing,” he was saying while showing a graph on his projector, “most common viruses become much less severe and in some cases symptoms stop almost immediately. Dr Gupta and our staff have more work to do, but the results, so far, are extremely promising.”

As I continued to watch Vasguez I couldn’t help but be impressed with his presentation skills. He was smooth and persuasive. I thought back to when he was at Pinkus and early on he was identified as someone on the fast track. He was really good. But how much of what he was saying was actually true.

“Okay, let’s go,” I sternly whispered to Ali.

Making no move to leave or even acknowledging what I said she stared at Vasguez. He was now talking about the financial opportunities of investing in Novacim. I looked at the group of people. Likely a few venture capitalists, a few wealthy friends, and perhaps even an angel investor.

“Ali!” I said a little louder.

“Okay, okay,” she said and slowly turned toward the door.

I had called AAA and we walked down to the parking lot where the car was parked. It turned out it was a flat tire, but Ali had driven on it so much it had damaged the wheel. I asked the tow truck to take it to the closest Les Schwab Tire Center. We later found out there was a nail in her tire, likely from the bathroom I had demo’ed.

We walked back past the Roosevelt to my car. At last I was going to share the good news about my promotion. Just as we were walking by the front door of the hotel Adrian appeared.

“Michael!” He greeted me with a surprising man hug.

Did I really know him that well I quickly pondered?

Vasguez was still ‘on’. He was smiling, patting me on the back, and telling me how great it was to see me.

“I was surprised to run into lovely Allison in the lobby,” he said, smiling at us and nodding toward the hotel. “May I buy you dinner, it would be my pleasure.” He asked and looked back and forth at Ali and I.

“Adrian,” I began, “perhaps another time. It’s been a long day,” I explained.

“Michael.” Allison said to me, obviously wanting to accept the invitation.

“Not tonight,” I firmly explained to them both.

“Alright, I understand, but I would really like to see the both of you and I do think you may find our work with Novacim interesting. I insist we have dinner soon.” Vasguez said.

I could tell Allison was disappointed that we didn’t agree to have dinner with Adrian that night. She was quieter than normal as we drove home. Despite the mood I told her about my promotion.

She was happy and congratulated me but without the amount of enthusiasm I would have normally expected. I didn’t dwell on it, it had been a long day and I didn’t have the energy to address this minor issue.

One of the first things I had to do in my new role at Pinkus was to hire someone for my old sales territory. In the meantime I was maintaining my old territory and doing my sales management duties too. For the next month or so I was working long hours and it was seeming to affect our married life.

Ali said she understood but the intimacy that we normally shared seemed to be missing at times. I felt like Ali didn’t appreciate the need to sacrifice to satisfy our long term goals of financial security, a solid home for future children, and a comfortable retirement down the road.

Meanwhile that Tuesday I was scheduled for three interviews for my old sales territory. The HR department had identified the most promising candidates and I had meetings set up during the day.

The first candidate was a female, probably late twenties or thirty named Gail Beverley. She had a nice personality, was attractive in a business-like way, and she seemed like she really wanted the job.

The problem was she had very little experience. She was rated the lowest of the three candidates by HR.

The next guy, Ron Gold, had a lot of experience. He’d worked for two other pharmaceutical companies and was older than me, probably mid forties. He was the highest rated by HR. He talked a lot about his accomplishments and by the time the interview was over, I had grown tired of him. And I’d just met him.

The last guy, Elliott Percy, had an advanced science degree and on paper looked pretty good. His problem was that he was so socially awkward I felt uncomfortable with him.

I sent my recommendation into HR curious to see what their response would be. The following Thursday I received an email. Human Resources had endorsed my recommended candidate, Gail Beverley.

This news put me in a particularly good mood. First off, I think she would do a good job. Second, one of my first management decisions had been corroborated. And finally, now, there was a potential candidate for my territory, there was light at the end of the tunnel regarding my workload.

An hour later, my mood still buoyed by the email, I received a phone call. Adrian Vasguez.

“Michael, my friend,” he began, “I wanted to follow up on the dinner invitation we discussed some time ago.” He began.

When I receive an invitation to something I don’t want to do I have a mental Rolodex of excuses I quickly scroll through to come up with some excuse that sounds believable.

Today I think mentally I was focused on the hiring news and could not pivot quick enough to avoid the dinner. We agreed to meet Saturday night at Del Toro in the hip Rose District.

As I hung up I immediately regretted accepting Adrian’s invitation.

Ali and I arrived at Del Toro a few minutes late, parking in the Rose District is a problem. Adrian was waiting for us in the bar. As we entered Adrian, smiling, immediately stood up, walked toward us and hugged Allison and added brief kisses on each cheek. He grasped my hand in both of his and then clapped me firmly on the shoulder making solid eye contact.

“Allison,” Vasguez began, staring at her after the greeting, “You look more lovely each time I see you,” he gushed.

His compliment was a bit too enthusiastic, but he was right. Allison did look particularly attractive tonight. She had spent extra time on her makeup and she was wearing a dress I had not seen before. It was low cut exhibiting the tops of her breasts. I wondered if Vasguez was remembering about seeing the complete breast at Secret Beach.

The dinner was actually fairly pleasant. No doubt about it, Adrian was charming. He complimented me on my promotion, I wasn’t sure how he had heard about it, but I was gracious and appreciated his words.

He asked Allison about her interior decorating business, inquiring about some specific details. He asked some in depth specific questions about design and her availability. He went on to explain he was in the process of buying a house.

“My condo is nice but I have found a place with some land west of Portland.”

He described the house and acreage in the Sylvania area. He explained that the house was structurally fine but there had been no cosmetic upgrades for over a decade.

As he and Allison talked vaguely about how she could help him decorate I thought about the house. Ever since Allison began pressuring me to move I had been watching the real estate market. I had actually been interested in acreage also. One thing I quickly found out was any house with land, fairly close in, is expensive.

I estimated what Adrian was talking about would be certainly over a million and a half, likely closer to two million dollars. I wondered how he could afford that.

The conversation shifted again and he began talking about Novacim. It was almost like he was giving us a version of the speech he had given at The Roosevelt. Initially discussing the promise of a potential cure for the common viruses and then talking about the financial opportunities.

“Based on our current valuations,” he continued, “I have made quite a few people a lot of money.” He proudly told us.

Ali was fascinated, her eyes were slightly glazed as she listened to Vasguez.

“How much,” she blurted out, the question pertaining to all the money made.

Vasguez chuckled as he answered.

“Allison,” he smoothly answered, “why don’t we just say, a lot.”

“Millions?” She continued.

Silently Vasguez nodded with a smug smile on his face.

He then told us he was having another investor presentation at the Willamette Club, an upscale athletic and social club, next week and invited us to go.

Allison was nodding with enthusiasm and I quickly interjected.

“We’ll see.” I told Vasguez.

The evening ended and as we said our goodbyes at the front of the restaurant once again Vasguez gave Ali the overly familiar hug and kisses. This time though she seemed to reciprocate a bit more.

We drove home comfortably, mostly silent but there was just the slightest air of conflict. I knew I wanted to caution Ali about these get rich quick opportunities but I wanted to do it in a way that was not argumentative. At that moment I hadn’t worked out exactly what that would sound like.

By Monday I received an email from HR green lighting Gail Beverley to the next stage of the interview process. That would be individual interviews with Don Clemons and my boss Karl Rudinsky. She would interview with Karl Wednesday and Don Thursday.

I called Gail to tell her.

“That is so awesome!” She enthusiastically told me, “any pointers you can pass on?” She asked.

I enjoyed the brief phone call and felt reassured that I had made the right choice in candidates.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was in my old sales territory and then Thursday afternoon I was back at the office. I knew Gail was interviewing with Clemons at three o clock.

I received an email from Don Clemons endorsing Gail Beverley for the sales position without reservation. She was with HR now reviewing the compensation package. I was told to meet back with Don, Karl, and our new employee Gail at four thirty, in Karl’s office.

Just as I was leaving to meet up with them Ali called.

“When are you going to be home?” She asked.

I explained that I wasn’t sure we were in the process of hiring a new territory sales person.

“Michael! We’re supposed to be there by six o clock!” Ali told me.

“Where?” I asked, confused.

“At The Willamette Club! Adrian is expecting us!” She nearly shouted.

I explained that I couldn’t make it, that we would attend one of these things at another time.

“Michael, I’m dressed to go and I told Adrian we would be there!”

Told Adrian? She’s now communicating with him? I’d have to ask her about that.

“Allison,” I said firmly, “I have a meeting, I doubt I would be there by six. This isn’t important, now, I need to get going and I’ll see you later at home.” I told her and got off the phone.

That was that I thought.

I congratulated Gail on accepting the job and the four of us agreed to a celebration drink at Farmer’s Tavern around the corner from the office, it was kind of a tradition. I liked the way Gail interacted with management. She seemed respectful but not intimidated by Karl or Don. One thing I knew, her success or failure would reflect specifically on me. I had hired her.

We had a good time getting to know Gail. Our conversation was mixed between Pinkus and personal. Comfortable and relaxed. Gail asked about the schedule moving forward. This would be a little longer conversation. Karl and Don knew that and both stood up.

“Once again,” Clemons addressed Gail, “welcome to the team, glad you are on board.”

As they left Gail and I settled in with a discussion about her start date and what the schedule was going to look like for the first few weeks. By the time we were done it was nearly eight o clock.

As I drove home I was happy with a sense of accomplishment. I had made my first hire and from everything I could tell so far she was going to work out.

I thought a little more about Gail and started to think about her appearance. I know it wasn’t quite right to think of a subordinate like that, but what could I do, she’s a female and I’m a male. Men think about women physically. That’s the way it is.

My first impression was that she was business-like. Shorter hair, not a lot of makeup, maybe tom-boyish. But she also looked like she was in good shape. I remembered her ass as we departed, tight and muscular. She was built like an athlete. Different from the feminine attractiveness of Allison.

Lost in thought driving I suddenly noticed Ali’s red BMW pulling in the driveway just in front of me from the opposite direction.

In the house I found Ali in the kitchen putting together a light dinner. Her cheeks were flushed and she was in an animated mood, nearly manic.

“Oh Michael,” she began breathlessly, “that was so interesting. What they are doing is incredible. And the opportunities! This could change our lives.” She continued.

“Whoa, slow down,” I calmly said to her, “what are we talking about?”

“Michael! Adrian’s company, Novacim. That product is going to change the world. This is our opportunity to get in on the ground floor.” She went on, “Adrian is making people rich, don’t you see? With the returns he’s talking about, we could be wealthy!”

I began to understand. While I was with Gail and my management she’d gone to Vasguez’s investor presentation. There were several things about this that irritated me.

We all have heard about someone who got in early, investing in a company that became hugely successful. They talk about their small investment turning into millions. For me this was kind of like the lottery. You have no control over it and the chance for success is extremely small.

Ali and I agreed on most things but I was quite conservative financially. I believed in hard work, frugality, and to have a long term plan to achieve your goals.

She was different. She wanted the finer things in life sooner. While I knew we’d get the nicer home, fancier cars, and more frequent vacations at a point in time, those would come later in life. She and I disagreed about this.

And now she sounded like she believed all that Vasguez was so smoothly presenting.

I took a deep breath.

“Ali,” I began, “they haven’t sold anything yet. Their product isn’t even approved. How can all these people be getting rich?” I asked.

“Michael, it’s the valuation!” She emphatically told me. “Adrian told me that the shares he owns today are worth in the low eight figures. He says once all is approved that value could be a hundred times what he owns now.”

I sat and processed what I was hearing. Perhaps much of what Vasguez was saying had a fundamental foundation of truth, but I wasn’t wired that way. Ali was hinting at us actually investing. There was no way that would happen. I knew she had her inheritance, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t dip into that without us having a long discussion about it first.

But there was something else. Why was he talking to her about intimate details of his finances? My mind flashed back to the hug and kiss at the restaurant, her in her low cut dress. And then further back, on Secret Beach. He had seen her nearly naked with her firm breasts jutting out. I could feel the flickers of jealousy beginning.

We ended up kind of agreeing to disagree on the subject, but it caused a tension in our house that night. While I was excited to tell her about my first hire, that kind of news would seem dull compared to her far flung thoughts of venture capital and valuations.

“Ali,” I said as we were getting ready for bed, ” I promise you I will go to one of Adrian’s meetings,” I conceded, “but please don’t do anything without us discussing it.”

In response she gave me a nice kiss good night and I felt that the level of tension had eased. Later I reflected that she never actually agreed to my request.

Over the next several weeks both of our lives seemed busy. Busy but normal. I was occupied with getting Gail up and effective in my old sales territories and learning my new job. It sounded like Ali had some new clients.

We were both often working longer hours into the evening, it was frequently every man for themselves at dinner time. But on the weekends or the occasional night we were both home our relationship was good, it felt like a good time in our marriage.

After a particularly nice weekend together I received a call from Ali on Monday afternoon.

“Adrian’s set up a meeting with investor’s Wednesday night,” she told me and gave me the details.

“How do you know about this?” I asked.

She explained that she is now on the email list for Novacim.

“And besides, Adrian is a client of mine on his new house. I talk to him a few times a week.” She told me.

“You never told me this.” I said, a little tension in my voice.

“Yes I did,” she replied, “I’m sure I did. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, I just want to make sure we are on for the presentation on Wednesday.”

I agreed to go. For a couple of reasons. I was interested to hear the whole story about this supposed wonder-drug, and I was curious about this handsome smooth talking guy and my wife.

Wednesday night we sat in the back of the hotel meeting room. There were a handful of people at the front of the room for the presentation. I recognized the strange hulking guy from the earlier meeting, still wearing the beret. I also noticed an older dark-complected man with glasses sitting on one side of the lectern where Vasguez stood.

“Everyone,” Vasguez began, “good evening. Thank you for your attendance. This should be an informative evening.”

“Tonight we have the privilege to hear from our founder Dr Viijay Gupta.” He continued. “Dr Gupta will be reviewing our product, Novacim, the trials we’ve run, and the success we’ve had in lab studies.”

At that point Dr Gupta stood and walked to the lectern with several sheets of paper and began speaking.

He didn’t have the charisma of Vasguez but clearly there was a lot more substance. I had to listen closely to understand what he was saying, he had a slight accent.

I had to admit what he said was interesting. But there were still several steep hurdles. I also noted that the most promising data he discussed was several years old and I was not convinced of the veracity of all he said.

Eventually Dr Gupta concluded and it seemed like he’d gotten his point across to the potential investors.

And then Vasguez began.

It was a bit of a dog and pony show. Dr Gupta provided the technical information and then Vasguez put the hard sell on.

He talked about the current valuation. He talked about the future growth of the product as soon as it was approved. He let us know he had contingent purchase orders for many millions from several national chain drug stores. And then he laid out the opportunities.

“The valuation of Novacim is increasing rapidly. Those that invested, even earlier this year, have seen fantastic growth,” he continued, his natural enthusiasm adding to the momentum of his presentation.

I couldn’t help it, at one point I became excited by the opportunity. And then my normal conservative sense kicked in.

It reminded me of a timeshare sales pitch Ali and I attended early in our marriage. There was some type of discounted travel package to fly to Cabo and stay in a nice resort for a few days. All we had to do was give them ninety minutes to hear their ‘marketing presentation’.

The ‘marketing presentation’ turned out to be an old fashioned high pressure sales pitch. I do remember at one point actually considering buying in, until my good sense kicked in. I had the same feeling sitting in this meeting room.

At the conclusion Vasguez handed out prospectuses to the guests and then rushed up to Ali and I. Smiling and still excited about his presentation.

“Michael!” He gushed, shaking my hand and slapping me on the back.

“Ali,” he greeted her and moved in for his hug.

I noticed as they hugged their embrace seemed quite natural. In fact, too natural, as if they had done this many times before. My thoughts for the moment on this subject were interrupted by Vasguez.

“Michael, come here,” he said while grabbing my arm and moving back to the front of the room, “I’d like to introduce you to Dr Viijay Gupta.”

I met Dr Gupta and he seemed like an intelligent quiet man. He was pleasant, certainly not like Vasquez’s smooth enthusiastic personality. Far more down to earth.

On the drive home Ali was quite animated about the opportunity with Novacim. I had other issues to discuss with her. I couldn’t come right out and accuse her of anything, there were no facts. But I could warn her about the smoothness of Vasguez.

“Ali,” I began after a moment, “I understand about the excitement of these types of opportunities, but we’ve got to be careful. I’ve seen potential new products before in my business, but it is a long and risky pathway to success. A lot of people have lost a lot of money on these speculative new products.”

“Furthermore,” I continued, “we need to be careful with a guy like Adrian. I know he has charisma, and it’s easy to be taken in by his charm, but there is a lot at stake and we need to keep our eyes wide open when dealing with people like that.”

“What are you saying?” She asked me, a note of alarm in her voice.

“Just be cautious, we need to be careful,” I explained and I hope she understood.

My warning had a twofold message. Be careful about the get-rich-quick idea and be careful of the smooth, handsome, young guy, who had actually already seen you nearly naked.

The rest of the car ride was quiet and fairly comfortable, at least for me. I had honored my wife’s wishes and sat through the evening with Vasguez. I had given her my opinion and advice while avoiding an argument that could have potentially erupted. In my mind, it was a mission accomplished.

Ali sat silently staring out the side window for the rest of the ride home.

The following few weeks were uneventful but there was a slight lack of intimacy in our lives during this time. I couldn’t really put my finger on the cause. I knew I was busy with my new job and getting Gail up to speed.

The good news was that Gail was doing well, the clients seemed to like her, I was getting good feedback. She and I traveled the territory several times and I really began to like her as a person. Even though I was completely ethical in my interactions with her, I could not help but notice her looks.

My initial Impression of a tom-boy look had evolved. She was attractive, furthermore she was fit. An athletic body, and what I could see of her legs and ass were muscular. I think she tried to disguise her larger breast size with her clothing.

She was definitely attractive, but as her manager, it was strictly professional.

One night Ali and I found ourselves both home at dinner time, a rare situation these days. I suggested we have dinner at Leonetti’s, a casual cafe not far from our house.

There was a lack of the slight tension I had observed, we both were relaxed and in good moods.

“What projects are you working on these days?” I asked, we had been so busy we had not talked much about our jobs.

She told me of a couple of things she was working on and then paused.

“But the big project is Adrian’s new house in Sylvania.” She exclaimed.

This irritated me, but really, as far as I knew, there was no reason to be concerned. She’d had other male clients before. I stayed silent.

She explained about the large home on acreage in Sylvania. She told me how it had been in disrepair all those years. She told me about the grounds, the beautiful swimming pool, and the outdoor entertainment area.

“So where is it?” I asked. And she gave me a rough idea where the house was located. I thought I knew the general area.

We moved on to other subjects but the idea of the two of them alone in that big house out in the country bugged me. As I have said, Ali had given me no reason to doubt her, but the hugs, the encounter on the beach were things I had observed. What I also had observed was this type of charming guy like Vasguez, I knew the type.

We were struggling through another gray winter that was lasting well into the spring in the Pacific Northwest. That day at work I received some good news. We were heading back to Hawaii for our year-end sales conference. I recalled with vivid pleasure how fun Ali and my trip to Kauai had been after the last meeting. I planned on repeating that plan again and vacationing for a week after the conference.

That night I told Ali about the sales conference in Hawaii and she was as excited as I was. We discussed where to stay, should we explore other islands, and what we would do. It was a great night for both of us, both our moods buoyed by the thoughts of another trip to Hawaii. I planned on getting our flights as soon as possible to get the best fare.

By mid week the weather had begun to turn and all of a sudden it was supposed to be in the 80’s by the weekend. What a relief. I was able to get outside that weekend and get a lot of outdoor projects done. Things that had not gotten done through the cold wet winter. By Sunday evening, it seemed odd to think, I suddenly was becoming uncomfortably warm.

The warm weather was forecast to stay around for a while and though I preferred it over the cold and wet, it was on the verge of being a little too warm.

This week was my last week of training with Gail. She really didn’t need much more guidance from me but I was following the Pinkus manual. Friday we had one last sales trip west, and then she was on her own. She was doing great.

Thursday afternoon I received a call from Ali.

“Michael, Adrian had invited us to an afternoon pool party at his place in Sylvania this Friday,” she told me, “it’s from 4 – 7, you’ll love his place. It’s just going to be a small gathering”.

It sounded fun and if it had been anywhere but Vasgez’s house I would have been more upbeat about it.

“I’m training that day,” I told her, “I’m not sure how soon I could get there”.

“Okay,” she said, “I’ll meet you there. I’ll text you the address.”

We talked about it a little more that night at home. I was trying to have a good attitude about this ‘party’ but my radar was up on anything related to Vasguez. The whole shtick on his miracle drug and the smooth way he presented had a false ring to it.

The next day was the last day of training with Gail. We had to go to the coast. Her clients were spread out so we left early to get a good start. I told Gail I needed to be back sooner than normal because of the event at Vasquez’s.

It was a beautiful day, cooler along the coast but still bright and sunny. Gail was received quite well by her clients and I could tell she’d begun the process of establishing good business relationships with her customers. That was key.

By early afternoon we were done. We’d had a quick lunch, and by my calculation we should be back in town by around four o clock. It had been a good day. I felt positive about how well Gail was doing and I was looking forward to the weekend.

About ten miles into the journey home we came around a bend and we were met with a long line of brake lights from the cars in front of us. There was some type of traffic jam ahead of us.

We came to a stop and sat there for several minutes. I noted that no traffic was coming in the westbound lane either. That meant the entire highway was stopped both ways. Not good. We sat for a few more minutes and Gail brought up a traffic app on her phone.

“Major collision at milepost 17,” she said as she studied the screen on her phone, “sheriff en route but no ambulance or tow truck there yet.” She took a deep breath, “We could be here for a while.”

I thought of the party at Vasguez’s, I sent Ali a text.

‘Traffic problem, I’ll get there as soon as possible.’

After another ten minutes I followed the lead of some of the other cars. We turned around and decided to take the long way back. By my calculation we would now get into Portland closer to six o clock. My once relaxed mood became agitated. The only positive thing was Gail. She tried to cheer me up.

By the time we got back to 101, went south and then got on the slow way home it was nearly five o clock. There was no way I was going to get back to the office, and then turn around to get back to the party. I expressed these thoughts to Gail.

“Why don’t we just stop at this party, sounds like it’s on the way.” She suggested. “If it’s limited I can just wait in the car.”

I thought about it. That made sense. We would be roughly heading back near Sylvania, and I was pretty sure I knew how to get Vazquez’s place.

“That’s a good idea,” I said and smiled for the first time since the traffic jam. “And there is no way you’re waiting in the car.”

We took the Sylvania exit and then a mile or so later turned left down a narrower country lane. After another half mile I saw the long driveway with brick pillars on each side and an opened black wrought iron gate. We turned in.

The house was single level with lots of glass, redwood siding and an angled roof. I could see what it once was and it looked like Vasguez was planning to bring back the original charm.

I saw Ali’s red BMW in the driveway but just one other car. Had we missed the party altogether I wondered? I checked my watch, six o’ four. Huh, I thought.

“Just a small group I guess?” Gail asked.

“I guess.” I replied.

We walked up to the door and rang the bell. No activity. We stood there for a moment or two and then Gail headed off to the right. A minute later she called out to me.

“Michael,” she said, and then swung her arm in a ‘come here’ gesture.

I walked over to a gated fence. Looking over I saw the blue of a pool and heard voices. I unlatched the gate and followed a stone path across the grass to the pool area. To say I was surprised might be a bit of an understatement.

There sitting side by side on chaise lounges were my wife Allison and Vasguez, alone. They were the only people at the ‘party’. I watched them talking and laughing together in the brief moment before they noticed Gail and I walking toward them.

“Michael!” Vasguez shouted as he bounced up from his chair and rushed to greet Gail and I.

As he approached I noted his attire. He was in a swimsuit, standard dress for a pool party, I guess, but it was the type of swimsuit that stood out, no pun intended. Not quite a speedo, but it was not much larger and was a tight fit. Anatomically, there were few secrets in this swimsuit style.

And as Gail and I walked forward I then noticed Alison’s swim attire. Not the super skimpy bikini that she wore for me in Hawaii, but close. In fact I don’t think I had seen this particular swimsuit before. And I’m sure I would’ve remembered it. Two blue triangles covering her nipples and a small part of her breasts, and then a slightly larger triangle on the bottom. Slightly.

An odd range of emotions passed through my brain. Curiosity on what was actually going on. Anger about what it looked like. Certainly jealousy to see my wife and Vasguez alone – both barely clad. But the other strange feeling I had was embarrassment.

I was embarrassed that my employee saw what I saw. As her manager I needed to control my emotions, be professional, and that perhaps was the only thing that kept me from blowing up.

Allison was standing and putting on some type of cover up. For an instant I reflected, who did she feel the need to cover up in front of?

“Michael,” Allison said, “we didn’t think you could make up. Wasn’t there some kind of wreck on the highway?” She asked.

“Allison, Adrian,” I began, ignoring her question about the wreck, “I’d like you to meet my co-worker Gail Beverley.”

To say it was an uncomfortable moment would be an understatement. But, I have to say, Gail handled it politely and professionally. When Adrian, barely clad, rushed to her to give his customary effusive greeting, Gail thrust her hand out to shake, stopping the progress of his normal overly-close greeting habit.

Allison had at least the good grace to act embarrassed as we all stood there, her in her state of near undress in Vasquez’s beautiful backyard. Our host was falling all over himself offering food, beverage, and a tour of the new house.

I was unhappy about the situation but because I was with my employee, I needed to keep my cool. Fortunately Gail came to the rescue.

“Unfortunately,” Gail began, “I need to get going, you have a lovely place here Mr Vasguez,….”

“Please call me Adri….” he interrupted her.

“And it was nice to meet both of you,” she interrupted him right back, “now Michael, if you don’t mind, we should probably get going.”

And with that we pivoted, and headed back to the gate we had just entered.

“Michael” Ali called to me in a pleading tone. A hint of guilt in her voice.

“I’ll see you later,” I called back to her without turning.

As we went around the corner Vasguez was still offering us chips and guacamole or something I think. We proceeded to the car. As we drove off I saw both Vasguez and Ali at the gate watching us drive away, he with a big smile, bright white teeth flashing, waving goodbye.

For a few minutes we said nothing as we headed back toward the office. I was angry and embarrassed that Gail, my employee, had seen that. I was also starting to get more concerned about the nature of my wife’s relationship with this guy.

“That was a little odd,” Gail said, breaking the silence. I nodded in agreement.

“I’ve heard of that guy. Didn’t he use to work at Pinkus?” She asked. “And doesn’t he have some new wonder drug, or something?”

I told her briefly of his history at Pinkus, and what I knew about Novacim and Dr Gupta. I then told her that Ali was working with Vasguez as an interior designer on his new house.

“Oh, okay,” she said, nodding, “that’s the connection.”

We rode in silence until we were nearly at the office. as we pulled into the parking structure I turned to Gail.

“Hey,” I began, “do me a favor. Please don’t mention anything about that,” and then I gestured back toward Vasquez’s house, “to anyone.”

“Nope, no one’s business but yours,” she said and then paused as she turned toward me, “but I got to tell you I got a vibe from that guy, I’ve seen that type before. I wouldn’t trust him.” She told me as she got out of the car.

Driving home I thought, yeah I got a vibe from Vasguez too. The problem was I was pretty sure Ali was not getting the same kind of vibe.

It was less than an hour after I returned home that her flashy red BMW pulled into the driveway.

Allison breezed in the house as if all were normal. She moved to kiss me hello and I countered moving away to address something in my office. She continued as if the ‘party’ incident had never happened.

Finally I said something.

“So how was the party?” I asked, curious at what her reply may be.

She hesitated, “it was kind of a flop,” she finally said with a forced chuckle. “A few people got stuck in the same traffic because of the wreck you were delayed in and it ended up being just Adrian and me.” She said.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, changing the subject.

I ignored her question.

“I don’t think I’ve seen that swimsuit before,” I said to her.

She began some long story about a big sale somewhere and that she had to send it back and get a different size, and how they discounted even more, and so on.

“Ali,” I said, a more serious tone in my voice, “do you think there was anything wrong with you being dressed like that, alone with another man?”

“Of course not, it was a pool party,” she said, anger creeping into her answer, “Adrian is a friend, I trust him, what are you implying!?”

Things went downhill quickly. Her accusing me of not trusting her, me telling her it was Vasguez that neither of us should trust. I knew that I should retreat to deescalate the situation, but I was mad.

“Do you realize how you embarrassed me in front of my employee?” I asked.

“Embarrassed you!” Her voice now several octaves above normal. “I embarrass you?” She was getting louder. “I don’t question you spending all day with that hot new chick!”

Hot new chick I thought for a moment? I then refocused on our discussion. Okay by this point it was a full fledged argument.

It did not end well. My point was that I thought she was inappropriate, at least dressed inappropriately alone with a guy I did not trust. She kept claiming he was a good friend and that he was also a client of hers. Neither of us backed down.

Throughout the weekend there was a chill in our household despite the warm weather. We did not re-address the issue, I think it had turned into an agree to disagree situation. The problem was it really never got resolved. And I was partly at fault.

I knew if I brought it up again it could likely turn into another blow up. As things in our home thawed over the next few days I never did have the calm discussion we should have had to resolve our differences. Life just continued, I was busy at work, and the subject of Vasguez was not brought up again. By either of us.

I made the mistake of thinking that because we did not talk about him our lives had separated from him. Error on my part.

As I said, the hustle and bustle of normal life masked the fissures within our relationship. I was working hard in my new management role. I had pretty much blocked Adrian Vasguez out of my thoughts until one evening right before dinner.

I had returned home from work and was half watching one of the evening news programs as I sorted out my day. All of a sudden a familiar voice came over the TV.

It was Adrian Vasguez.

He was being interviewed by someone during the financial segment of the news program. He was talking about his new wonder drug, Novacim. He went on about the positive testing results they had received and how Novacim could change the lives for a lot of people.

I had heard all this before, but that was in a local meeting room. This program was on national news.

I watched him, charming in his dark suit, slick back hair, and brilliant white teeth. The guy was good. He fielded the questions from the host flawlessly with smooth pat answers. He was so convincing I fleetingly wondered if I should invest with the guy.

Rationality settled in and I quickly dismissed the idea. As I stood to turn the TV off I noticed Ali retreating from my office doorway. She’d been watching Vasguez on TV too.

Despite the slight lack of intimacy I was noticing we were both looking forward to the Hawaii trip. It was a little over a month away and we would discuss it at dinner and our shared excitement I believe helped us get closer in the weeks leading up to the vacation.

The Pinkus Labs sales conference occupied the first four days and then our plan was to vacation, back on Kauai, for the week after. Last year she and I had flown to Honolulu together and while I was at the Pinkus meetings she hung out at the wonderful pool.

I assumed that was what she would do this year.

“No,” she said when I checked with her on this, “I’ve decided to fly over on Thursday. I’m busy at work and besides you’ll be tied up in all your meetings.” She told me.

Well this was odd. She normally didn’t like being home alone. Furthermore she had her own business, with a lot of flexibility. Why would she choose to stay in drizzly Portland when she could be staying at a luxury Hawaiian hotel, on company expense?

I questioned her several times about her travel dates. But she was adamant that she would fly to Honolulu Thursday and then we would go to Kauai Friday afternoon. Okay, I thought, I’m not going to push it any more.

The first few days at the meeting were a little different for me. I was now in a management position so my role changed at a corporate wide meeting. I soon found some of the territory reps seeking me out, trying to impress me, just as I had done in previous years. This time the boss was me. It was flattering at first but quickly grew old.

I spent my time hanging out with Gail more than anyone. I enjoyed her company and she seemed to genuinely like me, not just kissing up because I was management. I also knew I had to be careful. If I was noticed spending too much time with a specific employee of the opposite sex, that would not be good. Especially a good looking one like Gail.

Oddly, I had trouble reaching Allison several times during the week. Our Pinkus meetings would end in the late afternoons and there was some downtime before our group dinners. Normally around five PM I would call Ali, this was eight PM Pacific Time. An hour I would expect Her to be available.

I called her both Tuesday and Wednesday night. No answer. Finally on Thursday I received a text message.

‘at the airport, flight arrives at 1 PM, shuttle should get me to the hotel by 3, XOXO’

Okay, I thought, no real explanation but she seems eager to get here.

Ali and I had dinner Thursday night and we were both in good spirits being here in Hawaii. The meeting wrapped up Friday morning and by four o’ clock we were on Kauai. Being on another island away from all the Pinkus people, remembering the highlights of our previous trip was like being wrapped in a magical, tropical cloak of sensory enjoyment.

We did all the fun things we had done last year. And yes, that included going to Secret Beach.

When Ali unveiled her high firm breasts at the beach I noticed they had a little color. I asked her about that.

“Oh, uh, yeah, I don’t want to get my boobs burned.” She said “I went to the tanning beds this time to prepare for this trip, I figured we’d be on this beach at some point.” She told me with a smile.

Perfectly reasonable I thought.

The trip was great and the intimacy that I had sensed had been lacking seemed to be reinvigorated on Kauai. Some of the shadowy doubts I had pondered over the past few months seemed to evaporate. Relationships have ups and downs, I thought, that was normal.

With a slight sunburn and renewed optimism about our relationship we boarded the airplane back to reality at the weeks end.

I was so invigorated by the trip I rebooked for next year while sitting in the Honolulu airport waiting for the flight to Portland.. Happily I told Ali about the plan for next year.

It seemed our tropical weather followed us back to Oregon and we had a nice few days after we returned. The positive energy generated by the vacation seems to fuel our relationship. At least for a while.

Soon though the everyday pressures of real life crept in and perhaps we both focused on careers and business hoping our intimacy could maintain on cruise control.

I was traveling with my salespeople and Ali was working her normal irregular hours as an interior designer. These hours frequently included nights and occasionally there were weekend days that she was occupied.

Early on in our relationship I’d asked her in depth about her business and she’d explained. I guess I just wasn’t all that interested. It was more important to me that she was happy with her profession. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t question her about all these increased irregular hours.

It must have been two or three months after our trip to Kauai when I saw the first piece of puzzling mail.

I got home in the early evening and Ali wasn’t home yet. I grabbed the mail and sorted the junk from the bills. The second to the last letter made me pause. It was addressed to:

‘Allison St Clair

Novacim’

Huh!? I thought. Why would she be getting a letter with Novacim in the address? I tilted the envelope up to the light, but could see nothing. It didn’t quite look like a blanket marketing piece, a bit too directed.

An hour later Allison breezed in. I had the envelope face up in front of me on the kitchen island. I watched her.

“Hi Michael,” she began normally, “how was your day… ”

She saw the envelope. It froze her. She quickly grabbed the letter.

“What’s that all about?” I asked her neutrally nodding toward the mail, more curious than anything else.

“What?” She asked stalling.

“The letter about Novacim.” I replied, my voice still even.

“Oh,” she began, slow to reply, “it’s probably just some marketing blast they send out. They probably got my address from the seminar we went to.”

Okay, logical I guess. I just did not recall providing any of our contact information during the meeting we attended.

“So have you seen Adrian lately?” I asked. We really hadn’t spoken of him since the so-called party.

“Adrian?” she began, not quite meeting my eyes, ” just when I’m working on his project. He’s been gone a lot.”

I continued to hear little bits about the new wonder drug Vasguez was pushing. I knew that Novacim was preparing for an IPO, and from what I had also heard they had not yet been approved by the FDA. Still the promise of the drug seemed to be attracting more investors.

“Okay, are you sure there’s nothing we should be discussing?” I asked, watching her.

“Michael, there’s nothing to talk about,” she exclaimed, acting distracted looking at the rest of the mail.

I just nodded, for the moment believing her, but I felt my antenna inch up a little higher.

Normal life continued for both of us. I felt like I was performing well in my management role and I was getting positive feedback from my boss and Don Clemons. Ali was busy and seemed upbeat.

And then there was Gail. I was so proud of her, she was performing very well. In fact she was the number two salesperson in my region and she’d been on the job for a little more than a year. My one concern was that if she wanted to be promoted she’d likely have to move. I wanted what was best for her, but selfishly, I didn’t want to lose her.

All this positivity continued until another night I was home first and once again it was the mail. This time it was an official looking 9×12 envelope with what felt like multiple pages in it, addressed to:

‘Allison St Clair

Novacim Corporate Secretary’

and then our address.

What in the world was going on!? What was she keeping from me? I was alarmed and a little worried also. I wondered what she had gotten herself mixed up in?

I decided to hide the envelope and ask a few questions.

Eventually Ali got home and all seemed normal. I felt bad, but I decided to spring the trap.

“I saw another article about Adrian and Novacim today,” I said to Ali. A lie.

“Oh really?” Was all she said.

“It sounds like the company is doing quite well, though from what I understand they haven’t been approved by the FDA yet.” I added.

“No, but it’s supposed to happen soon.” She answered.

At this point I just stared at her, not speaking.

“I mean, that’s what I may have heard Adrian say,” she quickly added.

“So have you gotten involved in the Novacim business?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.

“Michael, what do you mean by that,” she said, sounding defensive.

“Well,” I began, “it sounds like you have some knowledge of Adrian’s business. Maybe overhearing things as you are working on his home. That type of thing.” Once again I said this with innocence in my voice.

I was trying to give her an out so she doesn’t just outright lie to me.

It didn’t work.

“Michael,” she mustered up a tone of exasperation, “when I am at Adrian’s I am focusing on my design fulfilling my clients needs. I am not prying into whatever personal business they are involved with.”

A nodded my head silently. I thought of the YouTube videos I’d seen of some casual fisherman standing on the edge of a body of water and suddenly the fishing rod bends nearly in half and all of a sudden the fisherman realizes he’d caught some huge creature.

That’s how I felt. She’d fallen into the trap I’d sprung and I knew she was likely lying to me.

I tossed the large envelope addressed to her on the counter.

“Then what’s this?” I asked.

I watched Ali’s expression go from curious to alarmed. Wordlessly she looked up at me and then back to the envelope. Finally she took a deep breath.

“Michael, please let me explain,” she stared at me looking for some sign.

I stared back blankly.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with Adrian working on his project,” she began. “He is very excited about Novacim. He tells me that Dr Gupta is a genius. There is some type of biological code that Dr Gupta has cracked. It’s way too complex for me to understand. It’s going to change the lives of millions of people.”

She looked at me still searching for some type of affirmation. My expression was blank.

“And the medical advantage,” she continued, “is only part of the point. There is a lot of money to be made. A lot! Michael, based on the last round of valuations Adrian is worth nearly fifty million dollars! And now my valuation is over a million!”

“WHAT?” I interrupted her. “You didn’t invest in this did you?”

“Yes I did!” She answered defiantly, “it was mostly my money from my Mom’s estate. I didn’t use hardly any of your money, I took a small amount of my savings and the inheritance. My Mom left it for me and I can do with it what I want!”

This started a whole new level of argument. Her hanging on to the idea that the money was left to her and it was her’s to decide what to do with. My point was as a married couple we should discuss major decisions like this. At one point I implied that she had not been honest with me. She argued that she’d never lied about anything. The entire tenor of the argument ratcheted up into uncharted territory.

“Just because you are slow and steady doesn’t mean that everyone should live their life that way.” She said to me, “Adrian quit his job at Pinkus to do something bigger, better, more exciting. And he’s doing it. When Novacim goes public Adrian will be worth a fortune. And I’ll be a multi-millionaire too!” She told me, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me.

I stared at her. Now we definitely were in uncharted water. The depth of the argument was at a totally different level. By my interpretation she attacked me personally. Disparaging my life philosophy. The calmness I’d tried to maintain boiled over.

“THEN WHY THE FUCK DON’T YOU GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT WITH ADRIAN!”

It was as if I’d slapped her. The expression on her face was shock. She stared at me as if trying to interpret my words, but there was only one interpretation.

Suddenly, angrily, she stood up, grabbed her car keys, her phone and a few more things and marched toward the door.

In our married lives whenever there had been any type of minor argument it was normally me who’d extend the olive branch to reconcile. I think she was waiting for me to make some type of reconciliation move.

I didn’t.

I heard her accelerate out of the driveway. She took no suitcase or much of anything so I expected her back later. I did notice she’d taken the envelope.

I was wound up and several times I moved to call her, but stopped. It was she that owed me the apology this time. She called me slow and steady. That translated to boring. And then I thought of Vasguez. Smooth, persuasive, a risk taker. Then my mind started traveling down a different road in regards to Vasguez. And Ali.

A sleek handsome wealthy guy, and a sexy woman who seemed impressed with those types of things. It made me wonder. I recalled her topless on the beach on Kauai when we bumped into Vasguez. I remembered him checking her out. Who could blame him? And then more recently at the so called party, when it was just the two of them. Her in the skimpy bikini and he in his tight swimwear.

It was one thing to betray me by investing money behind my back. It was most definitely a completely different level if anything sexual was going on. I planned on asking her about that when she returned tonight.

The problem was, she never returned.

I woke the next morning after a troubled sleep. I checked my phone for messages and checked the driveway for her BMW. Nothing.

Despite all this acrimony, I knew I had a job to do and I had people at Pinkus counting on me. Good old Michael I thought, steady and dependable.

Throughout the day I debated calling Ali but each time I got close my resolve set in. She betrayed me by not disclosing how close she was to Vasguez. She betrayed me by investing in his business without talking to me first. And as my imagination churned it was possible she betrayed our marital vows intimately with Vasguez.

I could get over some of the deceit but if it had gone sexual, that was a game changer. A wave of sadness passed through and I was on the verge of tears. Just then my phone vibrated. I tamped down my emotion and reached for my phone hopefully.

It was Gail.

She had some fairly standard questions, the type of things we would talk normally about. A few minutes into the conversation she paused.

“Michael,” she began, “are you okay?” She asked.

“Yes,” I replied surprised.

“Well you sound different,” she told me, “are you sure everything’s all right?” She asked again.

I took a breath.

“Just a few challenges at home. Nothing big.” I said, trying to put an upbeat tone in my voice.

“Let me know if I can help,” she replied, her voice sounding skeptical, not quite buying my nonchalance.

Later that day, though I tried relatively successfully to bury myself in work, another thought stuck in my brain. What was it that was printed on that envelope? Something about being a corporate secretary for Novacim. I wondered what that meant. I googled ‘corporate secretary’.

I read through several definitions. It sounded like there could be a few different responsibilities, and it also sounded like she could actually be a corporate officer, depending on the way the corporation was set up.

Driving home I tried to stay calm and organize my thoughts and prepare to speak to Ali with a rational information gathering approach. As long as it had not become a sexual relationship I believed we could work through our issues.

Unfortunately, once again, Ali was not home, but there were signs she’d been here. I noticed things from the bathroom were missing and her closets looked less crowded.

Okay, the stakes had been raised. I decided to call her. Yes, I was buckling under, I knew that. But I had to see what was going on with my marriage.

My phone call went to voicemail. Just the sound of her voice was bittersweet. I texted her.

‘Allison please contact me, we have a lot to talk about’.

I tried to be patient, but despite checking my phone every ten minutes or so, I heard nothing from Ali. I was really starting to worry. My mind slipped down some dark tunnels imagining Allison and Vasguez in various sexual positions. Finally, I told myself, this was not healthy. It was another restless night.

I was up early, still no contact from Ali. I texted her again. It was not my most productive day at work but I did manage to forget about my personal problems for periods throughout the day.

By five thirty I still had no contact from Allison. I sat in my car preparing to go home and I thought about where she could be. With her mother passing she had no close relatives anywhere near. Though she had a broad group of friends I couldn’t think of a ‘best friend’ that she would be staying with.

And then I had another thought. Could that be possible? At the moment it seemed like a long shot, but the more I thought about it, the more I had to know. I exited the parking lot and headed west. Towards Vasquez’s house in Sylvania.

I navigated the semi-rural roads until I saw the brick pillars on either side of the long driveway. I slowed and began to turn in and I then saw the large black gate closed. I got out of my car and through the bars of the gate I saw her red BMW.

Suddenly I was furious. I tried to shove open the gate but it was solidly in place. I called her phone. Nothing. I stood there powerless to do anything. I stared at the sprawling house, no activity visible. For the briefest of moments I considered ramming the gate with my car, but then I realized I’d probably be arrested and wreck my car in the process.

Defeated, I drove home.

Though her vehicle being there was certainly not a good sign, it was possible, just possible she was at his place professionally. With a flicker of optimism I hoped that was the case.

Then I had a thought. If her car was there in the morning I would know she spent the night. Unfortunately I had my weekly executive meeting at seven AM tomorrow morning. For a moment I shelved that plan, and then suddenly a thought. I called Gail.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound upbeat, “are you doing your coast run tomorrow?” I asked her.

When I ran the territory I’d set my schedule up so my clients knew what day I was going to be in to see them. Thursdays were always my coast day.

“Yes” she replied, “what’s up?”

“I need a favor.” I said, “A big favor. It’s personal and I need to depend on you to keep it between you and I.”

“Michael?” She sounded a little alarmed, “what’s going on?”

I explained. I briefly told her about Vasguez. I told her about the investment Ali had made in Novacim without my knowledge. And then I told her about our big fight and seeing her car at his place.

“So, what I’d like you to do is on your way to the coast, take a quick detour, drive by his driveway and just see if her car is still there. Get a picture if possible.”