Part Two
This will make no sense unless you read Part One.
Part one was a LW story, this is the outcome and is more of a Rom follow-up
I know very little about golf. So please excuse any details I have got wrong.
He looked at me. "The thing is I am still full of anger, you may understand that? I was going to take it out on you. Glad I didn't now by the way. But the anger is still there. I need to shift it before I can move on and decide what to do next."
I knew the man's pain. I quite liked him in the short time I had known him, not so sure about Ron yet though, even if he had brought the beer, I think the feeling was mutual.
"Look, I am booked at the cricket nets tomorrow morning, why don't you come with me and beat the shit out of some cricket balls. I will keep them coming at you and you can slog away with all you might until you can't slog anymore."
Pete thought about it a bit and accepted. I offered Ron a go as well, but he declined.
It didn't work. We got to the nets, and I knew Pete played golf so I expected he could hit a ball. But I was wrong, he couldn't hit a moving one and after ten minutes he was getting frustrated. It didn't take a physiatrist to work out that this wasn't working. He was getting angrier.
I stopped it and we went for a coffee. I suggested we go to my golf course for a round, I thought the concentration might calm him down. He hadn't played there before, and it would be a new challenge. I was going to take the mickey about how he would be able to hit a stationary ball. That would have probably not gone down well.
I managed to get a slot for the afternoon. We started playing. It was obvious he was far better than me. His drives far exceeded mine and they were accurate. He was calming down, he even gave me a few tips and that was working.
Then on the tenth hole he sliced the ball into the woods next to the fairway. It still went a long way. I struck my ball and it went close to where his went into the woods. He told me to go next whilst he looked for his ball. I heard the swishing sound of someone clearing the undergrowth with a stick. I concentrated on addressing the ball. I hit it well, I saw where it went and then headed to the woods to help Pete find his ball when I heard an almighty shout and the sound of something being hit hard and more shouting. It was Pete. I did not want to be the target of his anger as he had a driver in his hand.
It all went quiet, I wandered closer to where the shouting came from, after a short distance I heard sobbing. I found Pete huddled with his back to a tree. He had his arms around his knees, and he was crying his eyes out. I didn't know what to do, but I knew his pain. I walked up to him, got down beside him and gave him a man hug. He let it all out. I wish someone had held me when I cried.
His crying stopped and I heard him take a deep breath. I stood up and left him and found my way to the fairway. Not a word had been said.
A couple of minutes later he came out, his eyes all bloodshot. He waved his driver at me. "I think I'm going to need a new one of these." He gave a wane smile. It was well bent.
He had to use his biggest wood for the rest of the round. He still beat me.
By the time we got to the clubhouse his eyes were almost back to normal.
We didn't mention the incident, but he did seem more settled. We had a coffee and talked about some of the more interesting holes we played, not mentioning the tenth.
We walked to the cars, as we got to his he held his hand out. "My course next week?"
I was dubious. "I need to sort out babysitters. Which day and what time. Give me a call?"
We swapped phone numbers. Jackie had mine, I didn't mention that point.
Chapter Six.
Pete gave me a call on Tuesday about golf on Sunday, he mentioned that if I couldn't get a babysitter, Jackie's sister, Janice, had offered to do it. I did not let on that I had met Janice. After we sorted out the times he paused and said. "What shall I do?" He asked. He wasn't talking about golf.
This is not the sort of thing you talk about over the phone. Wednesday night is quiet in pubs, so we met in town in a pub neither of us used.
He said. "I've got lots of friends, but I can't ask them for advice. That would show them what a shitty situation I am in. I don't want to do our dirty washing in public or even with friends. I am so confused.
"You are the only one I know that has experience of this. I know it's different. I'm sure no two of these things are the same. But I have absolutely no experience."
He's right, you can't expect a decent answer to a question unless you have been through the pain. Even then the answers will be different for everyone.
"I will tell you the options, but it's up to you to make the decision. I don't know what's in your heart. You will have to decide the best way forward for you, Ben and Katie.
"If you divorce her, you will become a part time Dad and have to pay child support and still not see them as much as you would like. There is also the risk she will find another man and he will become a father type figure to them, and he will see more of your children than you do. That is just the way it works. The other option is you make the best of it until the children leave and then you divorce her. The risk is you will get comfortable with her and forgive her, you will have to work out if she is faithful to you until the children leave. Or you can try to work it out and see what went wrong. Maybe go to a marriage guidance counsellor. You will also have to work out whether your life will be better with her or without her and finally the big one if you go down the staying together route can you trust her?"
He sat there taking it all in.
Then he asked the question I really didn't want him to ask. "What would you do if you were in my position?"
"I'm not in your position, mate and my split was completely different."
I took a long swallow of my beer and started. "I would look into my heart, set some priorities. Who comes first is it you or is it the children. Does Jackie figure into it and if she does where? Then work it out from there. I don't envy you, it's not easy, mine was cut and dried. I'm sorry mate, I'm not a great deal of help."
He sat there for a little while and sipped his beer.
"I have to ask, was it good?"
Shit.
"Pete, please do not go into this." I paused. "But I realise you need to know. I did when I was in your position. I won't go into details. All I am going to say is there was no kink, no fetish, no dressing up. It was two people in love having sex. I'm really sorry mate.
"She never ran you down, she never said anything bad about you. You were a great father and an excellent lover. She never appeared to compare us." She may have done it, but she kept it to herself. That was good.
I really felt his pain again, unfortunately I knew it.
I could see things going round in his head as he looked into his beer.
"Thanks, I think."
He came up suddenly. "You called me 'mate' are we friends now?"
"I hadn't thought of it, but we're sitting here in a pub you're asking my advice, and I am trying my best, that's what mates do. I just wish I could be more helpful."
He looked at me and with a sad smile said. "You don't know how helpful you have been, I don't feel so alone at the moment. You weren't any help with the questions but you at least you have given me a direction, I will just have to sort it out myself."
He got all melancholy "All I was trying to do was make our life and future better and I was making the here and now worse, we may not have survived to get to a better life if she hadn't met you. Weird isn't it."
We hadn't finished our beers, but he got up and went and got some more. It was like a signal he had enough to think about. When he got back, we chatted about golf, cricket and the weather. He admitted didn't understand the rules of cricket and I failed to explain them completely. He had shown his lack of ability to hit a moving ball in the nets a few weeks earlier. I asked him to come with me to a match next summer. I had already been to his golf course in Gravesend. To play a different course is always good. At about half past nine he excused himself saying he had to arrange a lift home. I hope he's getting a taxi. He's in no fit state to drive. My ex mother-in-law was picking me up. The family thought I was seeing a woman. They wanted me to move on from my divorce, they were very supportive.
We finished our beers. It was just before ten, when a car horn sounded outside. One long and then two short bursts. It sounded like a signal. He stood up. "That's my lift, please give me a couple of minutes." I stood, we shook hands and he left.
I didn't give him a couple of minutes. I followed him as discreetly as I could and peered round the door. It was Jackie picking him up. I had a feeling she knew he was meeting me. I was confused, but to be honest with you that wasn't difficult.
Chapter Seven.
Then it happened. In a place of nearly 300,000 people in nearly 80 square miles, you do not expect to bump into the one person you do not want to meet.
I don't often shop in Marks and Spencer's but Sandra asked me to pick up a cake for a children's party she was having for Gary and Beth, it was a special order, it had boats on it.
I turned a corner and there was Jackie. The anger came up quick and hard. I was in the process of turning away when I felt her hand on my arm. I was going to wrench it away, politeness be buggered. "Please have a coffee with me, please."
A look must have passed over my face. "I will tell Pete, No I'll ask Pete." Before I could say 'No'. Because I was going to, she had her phone out and I could hear it ringing. I was surprised it was answered so quickly. "Pete, I have just bumped into Jeff in M&S, can I have a coffee with him?" I heard a muted reply and then she handed her phone to me after she put it on speaker. "He would like to talk to you." She mouthed at me 'Please'.
"Hi Jeff, you alright mate. This must be difficult for you?"
"Yup."
"I trust you, but it is up to you. Look, we have become mates, and it is likely you two are going to meet sometime." At that point Janice came round the corner holding up a pack of smoked salmon. She was starting to say something, she saw me and quickly closed her mouth. Pete carried on. "It may clear the air in a neutral situation, but I am leaving it up to you."
"Okay, I'll think about it."
"Watch out though mate, her little sister Janice is with her. She has a thing for older men and if Jackie liked you then so will Janice, you are right up her street." He laughed. "See you Sunday at one." He cut the line.
I looked at Janice, I could feel the heat from the blush on her face.
