An Unspoen Message

I was reading the latest series about ending the affair. I saw an entry from Harddaysknight and thought of a favorite story,

Not Guilty

, one of the most humorous stories I've read, here or anywhere. In that story, he uses a concept he calls an unspoken agreement, to great effect. What follows is 750 words ending an affair with an unspoken message. I hope you enjoy.

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My name is Bill Burns. I am co-owner of a small manufacturing firm here in Riverton. I've been married for 21 years to my college sweetheart, Sandy. We have two children and Sandy stayed at home with them, until the younger went off to college. Facing an empty nest, Sandy got a job as the executive assistant at Dunbarton, the largest firm in our town.

Sandy has worked at Dunbarton for five months. There are several executives for whom she is the chief assistant. She has a business degree and, frankly, it didn't hurt that her husband is a big customer of Dunbarton's products.

Among the people Sandy assists is Jay Bingham. He is several years younger and apparently a real lady's man. The first few months Sandy was absolutely effervescent about her job. She was always talking about some flirtatious think Jay had said or done. As I think about it, she has not mentioned him in a few weeks.

I am thinking about that because I just got a call from my business partner, attorney Randy Grant. Randy said he was driving by the Pines Motel, and saw Sandy pulling out of their lot. The Pines has no restaurant, and only one redeeming feature, cars parked at their rooms cannot be seen from the road. Many use the Pines, to my knowledge, no one ever slept there. I asked Randy to cancel everything and come to our offices, right now.

I am a problem solver. Sandy and I have an iron-clad, no questions asked policy about cheating; one and done. The last six weeks have been a disaster. We bet the company on a new piece of automation and while the quality was great, the production was too low. I have been working night and day. Not the best strategy for a man whose wife just started working with a known womanizer.

Being honest, in our marriage, there have been two different times, in 20 years that circumstances caused me to stray one night. I knew the rules and never admitted anything. Now, I had a big problem, Sandy and I are in love and I can't catch her, or I will be forced to divorce her. So, she must let me know, she was not having an affair, and would never consider one.

I got on the phone and ordered two dozen red roses to be delivered to Sandy at work. I had the card read,

It occurred to me our new machine has been my mistress for too long, I love you, let's plan something spectacular.

The arrival of the flowers not long after her return would surely spook her.

Randy walked into my office. "What are you going to do?"

I told him of our one and done and that I needed my wife to assure me she was not having an affair. I didn't want proof because it would most likely be a lie. I want her to do what I did, deny and never stray, again.

"How can I help?"

"Call this number, at Dunbarton, she will answer, tell her you want to know if they have a policy on employees becoming sexually involved. She knows you could call HR directly, if she asks why you are calling her, lie.

"Second, call a family law attorney I don't know, have him or her call Jay Bingham and say an anonymous client suspects him of an affair. If confirmed, the client is totally vindictive and will ruin his life. Have the attorney send me the bill.

Sandy greeted me like we'd not seen each other in months. We talked about a month-long get away. We had the first of many great evenings. I started getting home at the same time she did; it was time to start rebuilding. She was skittish but said nothing. Our sex-life changed to honeymoon level.

A couple nights later, Sandy asked me if I knew an Elizabeth Michaels, I said the name did not ring a bell. She showed me the envelope, from the family law firm. I opened it; it was a bill for one hour. "No, I will call and find out, I don't have a reason to be in contact with her, do I?"

"No!" she assured me, "I promise I am faithful and always will be."

Clever girl, she did not really lie, she said nothing about last week, but unless I miss my guess, my unspoken message had been heard loud and clear.