Chapter One:
It was a Thursday night in February. My wife and I were in Cancun having been there only a few hours since our arrival that afternoon. We were drinking and dancing at a nightspot, enjoying the beginning of a short but free vacation provided by my company. To my dismay, I looked up and saw a guy from our Atlanta offices walk through the nightclub door. I knew him but I didn't work directly with him because I was located in the Chattanooga offices. However, we had met this guy at a company gathering in Atlanta two months before and I particularly remembered him because he had asked my wife to dance with him several times at that event. I wouldn't have minded, but he occupied her time so much that I had to insist on having the last dance with my wife that night.
After he entered, he went to the bar and ordered a drink. Frankly, I was hoping he wouldn't notice us or try to join us because I didn't care for him and I didn't want to discuss business while we were on vacation. However, it wasn't long before he spotted us and came over.
"What are you two doing down here," he asked.
"I might ask the same of you, Darrell," I responded.
"And I see you're with my favorite dance partner," he said. "Hello again, Lorene."
"Hello," my wife replied. "Why don't you join us." I was incensed by her quickness to invite him to our table. Without hesitation, he pulled up a chair on the other side of my wife.
During our conversation, Darrell informed me that he had won his trip from our company and he had chosen to come to Cancun. As he talked, I could tell that he was very smooth and self-assured. Lorene listened to him with her eyes riveted to his.
At one point I commented that it seemed remarkable that we both had won trips and that we both chose to come to Cancun at the same time. After all, there were several possible destinations and the dates were also available as choices.
Lorene appeared to be uncomfortable with my remark, but Darrell just brushed aside my comments and continued to tell Lorene how good it was to see her again. He then asked her if she would like to dance, and she immediately got up and left with him without asking me if it was okay. That in itself was also rather strange. If nothing else, Lorene had always been polite and very politically correct, and she had always asked me if it would be okay before.
I must tell you at this point that Darrell is single, a big guy, and I mean big. His 6'8" frame dwarfed my wife, and his hands looked like something that should be hanging on a meat hook in a locker somewhere. I, on the other hand, am only 5'11" and weigh about half of what he weighs. Lorene is average height at 5'3" and her red hair is cut short. I had always joked that we were a perfect fit. By contrast, she looked so out-of-place with Darrell that I had to smile. I shouldn't have.
We talked and drank for the next couple of hours, during which Darrell danced with Lorene several times. I was beginning to resent sitting alone at the table, while my wife was snuggled up to a big guy on the dance floor. Besides, I suspected that they were being far too cozy when I couldn't see them. Each time they returned to the table, Lorene was all giggly and acting like a schoolgirl on her first date.
Finally, I decided that I should be dancing with Lorene, too, so I invited her to dance with me. We left Darrell to watch our fresh drinks and she took my hand and followed me to the dance floor. It was a slow number so I held her closely and mentioned the coincidence of meeting up with Darrell, so far from home in such a remote place. She seemed irritated that I had brought it up again, and commented that it was just a fluke.
When we finished the dance, I noticed that Darrell had bought another round for all of us. I finished the one I had left, then moved on to drink the one Darrell had bought. As I was drinking it I began to feel unusual in a sickening sort of way. I can hold my liquor up to a point but this didn't feel the same as being drunk. I commented on how I felt and told them that I thought I had gotten hold of some rotten booze. Then I told them that I needed to head for our room before I puked my guts out. Lorene got up to help me and Darrell said, "Here, let me help, Lorene. I'm more able to handle him than you, just in case he passes out."
Putting his arm around my shoulder and his hand under my left arm, Darrell helped me to the elevator and then to our room. He walked me inside and I told him I wanted to sit in one of the chairs in our hotel sitting room to get my bearings. He deposited me in a chair and then just stood there.
Before I could say, "Thanks, Darrell, now go away," Lorene offered him a nightcap and he accepted. There she went again ... entertaining someone I didn't care for. I sat there, getting more groggy by the minute, looking on as they both sipped their drinks, made unintelligible small talk and glanced at me from time to time. I could not understand all that they were saying and it seemed like they were going on forever. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I didn't want to go to sleep with Darrell in the room, so I sat there with my eyes either closed or at half-mast.
After a while, they both stood up. I thought Darrell was leaving. Instead, he walked toward my wife and took her in his arms and hugged her. I tried to focus on the sight before me and, at first, it seemed that Lorene didn't respond, but then Lorene's arms went around his neck and he bent down to kiss her. I was stunned but could not say or do anything. I knew something wasn't right with what I was seeing through my blurred, off-again-on-again vision but I could not physically or verbally respond to my own thoughts. Darrell was saying something to her and then they looked at me. Suddenly Lorene began to walk Darrell toward the bedroom. I tried to move but I couldn't, so I sat there helplessly as they left the room I was in.
All I could do was ask myself, "What the hell is going on? Why is my wife leading him to our bedroom? What's the matter with me?" I knew enough to know that I needed to do something, but I could not. With those final thoughts, I passed out completely.
Hours later, I awakened. Still feeling awkward and groggy, I managed to get out of the chair. The lights in the sitting room were turned off, but there was a small lamp on in the bedroom. It took me a few minutes to maneuver my feet and my body over to the bed, but when I got there I saw Lorene sleeping naked and alone. I could tell that she had not been alone long, however, because when I sat on the bed I found that my side was still warm and damp. I was having difficulty sorting out what I was seeing and feeling, and what I was trying to remember that I had seen last night before I had passed out.
As I sat there, Lorene was sleeping so soundly that she was snoring. She was totally unaware of my presence. Still feeling the effects of my hangover, I simply lay down on my back, fully clothed, and succumbed to my desire to sleep again.
Around 1:30 PM Friday, I awakened to find that I was alone. I went to the kitchenette and got a big drink to wash the cotton out of my mouth. Then I headed for the shower. The cold water helped to clear my head a bit, but I knew I needed something stronger.
Once I began to think more clearly, I realized that Lorene must be with Darrell, so I called the front desk and asked them to connect me to his room.
"Thank you," the operator said, and she connected me.
Darrell answered and I said, "Put my wife on the phone."
"Why do you think she is here," he asked?
"Don't play stupid with me, Darrell. You spent most of the night here. She doesn't know anyone on Cancun, so where else would she go this morning after she left here?"
There was an extended pause, and then Lorene said, "Yes?"
"What the hell is going on, Lorene?"
"I'll be down in a little while. We'll talk about it then," she responded.
"For your information, this vacation is over, Lorene. Get your whoring ass down here and start packing your bags. We are leaving on the first flight out of here," I told her, and I hung up the phone without giving her a chance to respond.
I immediately got on the telephone and switched our tickets for a First Class flight back home. We were to leave at 8:13 PM that evening, and we would not arrive until the next afternoon.
I got all my stuff packed and set my bags by the door in about 15 minutes, but Lorene didn't show up for another 45 minutes. When she did show, I could tell that she had either been wrestling or she had not hung up her clothing during her time with Darrell. Her blouse was quite a mess, and the crotch of her shorts looked damp.
"Look at you," I yelled, and I ranted and raved, as much as my headache would allow. She pretty much ignored me and then she excused herself, telling me that she needed to shower and get ready to leave.
I decided to go to the restaurant, so I left and went down alone. I was glad she didn't come because the whole time would have been unpleasant for both of us.
I sat in the restaurant for over an hour eating and trying to sort out what I was going through. I was still was so stunned by it all that I honestly did not know how to handle what I knew had happened. All I saw was the kiss and the disheveled bed, and that's not enough evidence to dump a wife.