John Carter was beginning to put two and two together. The day he drove past his wife's house...the wife he was currently separated from at her behest...and saw a familiar car in the driveway started his quest for the truth. The car belonged to Danica, a former student in his high school English class and a current student in his creative writing class at the community center. She was in college now and visited him frequently before his marital troubles surfaced several weeks earlier.
Her car in the driveway was puzzling. John knew his wife, Cheryl, was working at the time. Danica also knew John would not be there. So why was she there?
This past weekend added to the mystery. Both Danica and Cheryl were gone, without leaving John a clue as to their whereabouts. Neither returned his text messages. His only logical conclusion? They were together.
That possibility had to be explored in more detail and, if true, exploited. John Carter was not a spiteful man. He was not violent by nature. He did not hate his wife. However, Cheryl had made his life quite uncomfortable recently and this, perhaps, was John's opportunity to even the score.
It was Tuesday evening. John sat in the family room with Cheryl during a meeting he requested and the tension between them was palpable.
"I saw Danica's car here the other day," John said calmly in the middle of a mundane conversation.
Cheryl thought for a moment and replied, "She planted flowers in the afternoon. Then stayed for dinner."
"How nice," John said dryly. "You've been seeing a lot of her?"
"Just that day. She came a day or two before that to bring you some papers she was working on. She didn't know you were gone."
"But you told her," John said. "And she offered to plant flowers while you were at work. You offered dinner. Then you talked some more and one of you thought it would be nice to spend the weekend together somewhere...alone."
Cheryl fidgeted on the couch. Her lips trembled as her mind raced.
John said, "Was it good? The sex?"
Cheryl's face was pale. She answered, "We didn't have sex."
"I think I know Danica. You had sex or she wouldn't have gone."
Cheryl said harshly, "Oh? You know her that well? How often have you fucked her?"
"So, you spend the weekend having sex with a college girl you hardly know," John said. "She could have just as easily been an axe murderer."
"I'm not used to kindness," Cheryl replied. "It was very nice being treated humanely."
"But how was the sex?"
The color was back in Cheryl's face.
"It was fantastic," she nearly shouted. "Best I've had in, oh, fifteen years."
John did not need the reference explained to him. It was, in fact, the same reasoning that attracted him to Danica in the first place. But now he had his ammunition.
He stood and circled the couch Cheryl sat on, ending up almost directly behind her. She looked over her shoulder.
John said, "I could take her from you with one phone call."
A long silence followed. Cheryl finally said, "Don't hurt me any more than you already have, John."
"You need to delve into your lesbian side for a while. I get that, Cheryl. Just understand that I have the ability to stop it at any time."
"What do you want from me?"
This time John paused. He leaned on the back of the couch and said, "I want what you refused to give for fifteen years. Under my terms and conditions."
"And what would those be?" Cheryl asked.
She flinched when his hands landed on the back of her neck and shoulders. John massaged her for a moment.
"You may disagree, but I don't believe our marriage is lost," he told her. "Apparently you have been questioning your sexuality. I'm glad. I think you may find that you like both men and women. I'd like to consider that theory and see if we can prove or disprove it."
"How?"
John removed his hands from her shoulders and walked back around the couch, slumping into his chair across from it.
"If you are bored with me for some reason, perhaps another man...you know, a change of scenery...would help," he said.
Cheryl fiddled with a pillow next to her and replied, "You have someone in mind?"
"I do."
Following a long pause, Cheryl said, "But I have to be able to see Danica, too."
"Absolutely. Consider this a two-way street."
###
Cheryl was not sure how to feel. Was John being too condescending? Was he on to something she was afraid to admit herself? What was his real objective?
She needed to talk to Danica. That opportunity came a couple days later.
"You mean he's blackmailing you?" Danica asked Cheryl after hearing the details of John's visit.
"I'm not sure I'd put it exactly that way," Cheryl replied. "But what can I do? I want to keep seeing you, Danica. I'll do anything to keep seeing you."
"I wonder what's in it for him?" Danica asked. "I mean, it's obvious he wants to use me as the bait, but what does he want in the long run?"
Cheryl said, "Maybe we're overthinking it. It's possible he actually wants to save the marriage, I suppose. He must think he can get something out of it by allowing me to keep seeing you. Whatever. As long as I have you."
Danica grinned. "Did he say anything more about this 'other man'? How do you feel about that?"
Cheryl tilted her head as if to shrug and said, "I'm not sure, yet. I'm not totally against it. I guess it depends on the circumstances. How it happens, I mean."
"Yeah. It could actually be fun."
"I know," Cheryl said with a wry smile.
John already knew who the 'other man' would be. Ted Lane was principal of the high school John taught at. A very fit and good-looking man in his late forties, Ted Lane was known for attracting the attention of female teachers and returning that attention to some...especially the young ones. It was that behavior that triggered his divorce. By including Ted in his plans, John saw one huge advantage: job security. The trick would be getting Ted to agree, which John would have bet the ranch on if he was a betting man.
They met in Ted's office. Unless the school's rumor mill had spread the story all the way to Ted, he was unaware of John's separation from Cheryl. Being summer with school out, John was fairly confident Ted was ignorant of the fact.
"How's the summer going?" Ted asked, leaning back in his plush chair.
"Good," John said, "I'm doing my creative writing class again this summer. I have some good students, too, which is not always the case."
"So, it's a younger crowd," Ted chuckled.
"Well, somewhat," John admitted. "Do you remember Danica Edwards? She graduated two or three years ago. Short hair. Cute."
Ted shook his head. "Not really. Must not have got into too much trouble."
"No. No at school, anyway," John said. "She's in my class. Good writer."