It was a surprise to me just as I suppose it was a surprise to every other man who finds out that his beloved isn't his alone. And, like most others who found out, I found out by accident.
I was in Chicago and had just closed the deal that was going to get me promoted to regional director. I called a good friend that I'd gone to school with and who lived in the Chicago area and whom I hadn't seen I quite a while. We had talked on the phone a lot, but hadn't had a face to face in ten years. I called him and asked if he be up to a drink or three and he said "Hell yes!"
I was at the Hilton and sitting at the hotel bar when he got there. I was working on a list when Barry walked up to me and I stood up to greet him and hug him and as I did the list fell to the floor. Barry bent and picked it up and saw that it was a list of girl's names.
"What's this you you old dog you? The list of honey's you are going to call tonight to get them to come out and party with us?"
"Not hardly. When I go back to Denver I'll be moving into the regional director's office and I have to pick a personal assistant and these are the names of the finalists. I have to decide on one of them, but the problem is that they would all be good in the position. There isn't anything that would set one above the others."
Barry climbed on the bar stool next to me and asked. "How are they sexually?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"You ever have any deals where a bit of a sweetener would help?"
"I don't know what you are getting at."
"Three months ago we were working on a deal to purchase a whole lot of machine parts. There were three companies in the running for the contract and all had about the same thing going for them as far as price, quality and delivery schedules and the like. I was the junior member of the team and while my input was wanted Cal and John were the guys who were going to make the decision. The guy from Martin asked what it was going to take to get the contract. Cal said:
"A night with your personal assistant."
"Cal was joking when he said it, but the guy from Martin said he would make it happen. Cal looked at John and John nodded a yes and Cal said make it happen and you have the contract."
"Did it happen?"
"Oh boy, did it ever. She was one hot babe for being in her forties. They were here for two days and she took us all on. One at a time, two at a time and even three at a time a couple of times. I can't wait for next year when it will be renewal time for the contract. I mean this babe was really hot. Even though I'm married I'd run off with her in a heartbeat."
"Martin you say? I know a couple of people at Martin. Do you remember their names? Maybe I know her."
"His name was Dale and hers was Sandi. I remember that because whenever she was introduced to some one she would say "That's Sandi with an i."
My pleasure in meeting up with Barry after so many years dimmed somewhat. My wife Sandi worked for Martin Industries and she was Dale Hartman's personal assistant.
Barry and I had several drinks together and then we had dinner and talked about old times, but my mind was on what he'd told me. Sandi made one or two trips a month with Dale. Had she been fucking people for contracts on all those visits? She had been with Martin almost twenty years and she had been Dale's assistant for the last ten of them. Jesus, what a bunch of questions that brought up. When did she start fucking around on me? Did she start after going to work for Dale or before? Did she limit her cheating for work or was she fair game for anyone? Had she fucked anyone that I knew? Any of my friends? Thank God we didn't have kids. At least the issue of who their father might be wouldn't have to be addressed. We had another drink after dinner and then parted company after promising to keep in closer touch.
I spent the night in my hotel room wondering if Sandi was sleeping alone while I was gone. On the flight home I thought about what I should do. Ignore it? Sandi and I had what I thought was a good marriage. She was very loving and affectionate toward me. Our love life was fine or at least I had thought it was. We averaged maybe three times a week and usually twice on a Saturday or Sunday and I didn't consider that to be all that bad considering we had been married for twenty-three years.
Should I ignore what I'd learned from Barry and operate on the principal that my life was good so don't do anything to change it? Even as I had the thought I knew I wouldn't go that way. Divorce? Did I really want to be single again at forty-five? I thought of all the women I knew in their early to mid-forties. That would be the pool I'd be fishing in for companionship if I was single and none of them appealed to me. They were all old ladies. Granted that Sandi was forty-four, but she looked like she was in her mid-thirties and as Barry had said -- she was hot!
Could a single guy of forty-five attract younger good looking girls? I didn't think so. I was fit, had all my hair and teeth and Doris my secretary was always telling me that she would leave her husband and run off with me in a heartbeat, but I knew that was just office flirting. She was in love with her husband and you couldn't separate her from him and her three kids with dynamite.
I realized I was wasting my time thinking of what to do. I knew me and I knew that what I was going to do was go straight at it and let the chips fall where they may.
+++++++++++++++++++++
After landing in Denver I stopped by the office and dropped off the paperwork and received congratulations from my boss. He asked me if I'd picked out my PA yet and I told him no and that I was having a hard time narrowing the list down. He laughed and said:
"Do what I did. I put all their names in a hat and drew one out. Patty has been with me ever since and I haven't regretted it at all."
I thought about for a second or so and then said, "I'll do that. I'll give you the name tomorrow."
And then I headed on home for the confrontation with Sandi.
I got home an hour before she did and I fortified myself with a couple of Jacks backed by water. I was sitting at the kitchen table when Sandi came in. She smiled, came over to me, bent and kissed me and then asked:
"How was the trip?"
"Fruitful. I signed the deal with Apex and starting tomorrow I move into the regional director's office."
"I'm glad for you honey. I know how hard you've worked. What's next?"
"I have to pick a personal assistant from a group of six. They all seem well qualified and I'm having trouble deciding. You're a PA; what should I be looking for? One good at giving head? One who takes it in the ass and likes to do gangbangs?"
Sandi's face lost its color and her voice turned cold as she said, "What kind of question is that to be asking me?"
"Just wanted your opinion of what I should look for. I mean what with you being a PA and experienced in all that."
"What the hell do you mean by that Robert?!"
"I had dinner with an old friend while I was in Chicago. Barry Watson. Name ring a bell?"
"No. Should it?"
"I would think so. It would seem reasonable to me that you would at least know the names of the men you fuck."
"This is not funny Robert."
"I know. I didn't feel much like laughing either when Barry told me about the Dale and Sandi from Martin Industries that came to town to get Barry's company to sign a deal. Remember Cal and John or did you not learn their names either?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about Robert and I'm not at all pleased at what you are implying."
"Come off it Sandi; you are busted. Unless you can somehow prove to me that there is another Dale who works for Martin and who also has a PA named Sandi and who was in Chicago three months ago to sign a deal with Amalgamated Machinery you are toast. Barry even remembered your little idiosyncrasy; you know the one, telling everyone you are introduced to that it is Sandi with an i? What I want to know is how long has it been going on? How long have you been Martin's corporate whore?"
She must have finally realized that the jig was up and she sat down across from me. Actually it was more like she collapsed onto the chair across from me.