Burning Down the House

As usual, I must thank my team. Harddaysknight is my mentor and gives me critical review. SBrooks103x also gives me a prepost read. My editors are Norafares, Girlinthemoon, Hal and Pixel the Cat. Thanks to the gang over at Sports Illustrated.

This is a story in the Burning Down the House mini-series. Several of us who often read LW stories and enjoy a well-written BTB story have deplored the proliferation of cuckolding/humiliation stories, as well as the homicidal lunatics who seem to be attracted to the category, so we decided to get together and just post some classic LW stories. We hope to demonstrate that good storytelling, good editing, and characters that are not disgusting are attractive to LW readers. Only the readers can demonstrate that, so we leave it in your hands. We hope you enjoy our little series. Randi.

Nothing good ever happens when you're somewhere you aren't supposed to be. It wasn't my fault. I was sitting at the stoplight and a guy pulled up next to me. He motioned for me to roll down my window. "You've got a low tire," he said.

I told him thanks and pulled into the Walmart parking lot off to the right. I got out and looked. Shit! I could see a screw head embedded in the tire tread and air was slowly leaking out. Great! Now what? I decided to go in and get a can of that Slime stuff. When I came back, I took the screw out. Big mistake. Now, the air really started hissing out. I screwed it back in and got some air at the gas station in the parking lot. I was only fifteen miles from home and I'd check it several times. If it started getting too low, I'd put in the can of Slime.

There was a convenience store about five miles from home and I could see the tire was getting pretty low in the driver's side mirror. I pulled in and they didn't have air. Time to test the Slime. I put it in and some green goo, I guess they call it Slime for a reason, came out, but the hissing of escaping air stopped. I was just about to get back in my car when I noticed a pickup truck pull in. It was one of those giant ones with the huge tires. It sat up so high that you'd need a ladder to get in. Obviously, the guy had a giant dong. I recognized the truck from somewhere. The door opened and a tall blond guy got out. He had on cowboy boots and a huge belt buckle. I chuckled a bit, but that died about halfway out. The passenger door opened and a beautiful raven-haired woman hopped down.

I definitely recognized her. It was Rachael, the woman I'd been married to for the last 18 years. What the hell? I was parked over to the side and they never even noticed my car. It was the company car, one of those little box-shaped imports and not very noticeable, I guess. They were holding hands as they went into the store and she was laughing up into his face.

I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move; all I could do was stand there like a fool. Now I remembered where I'd seen the guy before. He worked at the same company Rachael did. She was the office manager for a mental health clinic and he was one of the caseworkers. I'd seen the truck at their building. The question was, what was Rachael doing with him? I couldn't think of his name. Finally, it came to me, Jerry Garner. The question was, why wasn't Rachael at work?

I was going to find out. I got back in the car and waited. He helped her in when they came out of the store, carrying cups of coffee. They roared off and I followed at a discreet distance. They drove to our house and he pulled into the garage. The door came down and I couldn't see any more. I sat there for thirty minutes, but the thought of the tire made me nervous. I kept checking it, but if it was going down, I couldn't see it. After two hours, the door came up and they drove back past me. I held a file folder up in front of my face, but I don't think they would have noticed, anyway. She was sitting right over against him and they were too busy looking at each other to notice anything else.

Rachael didn't get off until five, and it was two-thirty. I'd have plenty of time. First, I'd have to go in and see what I could find. I had to pick Tobi up at four, and I had no idea what I was going to tell her. Tobi was my 15-year-old daughter. I couldn't imagine what I was going to find inside, but maybe I'd get some answers.

When I went inside, everything was quiet. I could hear the drip of that faucet I'd meant to fix in Tobi's bathroom. That was the only sound aside from the whispering of the air coming from the air conditioner vents. I looked around, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I checked upstairs. The bed had been changed. There were fresh sheets. My heart sank like a stone. I put my back against the wall and slid down to the floor. I felt numb. There seemed to be only one rational explanation. I must have sat there for thirty minutes; my mind was in free-wheel mode. I couldn't seem to make any sense of my thoughts and I felt as if I'd been drugged. My stomach began to feel queasy and I got up and opened a Sprite.

I felt hot and sweaty, so I went back to the bathroom. I fumbled in the vanity for a washcloth, wet it in the sink and washed my face with cold water. After washing, I felt a little better. Then I noticed something. The floor of the shower was wet. They had taken a shower before going back to work. I wandered back out into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, the bed that my wife and her lover had just vacated. I jumped up at that thought and looked at it in horror. This was the scene of the crime.

I had no idea what I was going to do. Well, I was going to divorce Rachael. That went without saying. I was totally without a clue. I didn't know any lawyers; I had no idea how to proceed and I had to pick Tobi up from school. Tobi! What was I going to tell her?

I made my way out to the car, feeling like I'd been drunk for ten days straight. My head was throbbing and I looked like death warmed over. I was in no condition to drive, but I couldn't keep Tobi waiting. I suddenly realized that she was the only thing in my life that I could really count on. My baby girl was going to be okay. I was going to have to see to that. Whatever I did, it was going to have to take her into account. When I pulled up in the line of cars, I could see her waiting at the school doors. She walked down the sidewalk toward the car, so beautiful it hurt my heart.

Tobi had her mother's hair and skin, dark and almost Mediterranean looking. She had the most spectacular eyes I'd ever seen. They seemed to have her mother's dark brown, shot through with gold and streaks of green. The doctor called them hazel, but I'd never seen anything like them. She was tall, like me, all long honey-brown legs and beauty. She opened the back door and threw in her backpack. When she got in, she slid across to kiss me and froze.

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked. "Are you sick? Did something happen? Is Mom okay? What's wrong, Dad?" Her voice was rising and there was a note of fear creeping in. I had to say something.

"I'm okay, Kitten," I said. "No one is hurt or sick or anything. I need to talk to you, Tobi. Let's go to the park and just let me hold you and talk to you for a minute, okay? Don't ask me any more questions until we get there, okay?"

"Okay, Dad, but you're kind of scaring me," she said.

"I know, Kitten, but everything is going to be okay," I told her, hoping that it wasn't a lie.

It only took us about five minutes to get to the park. I had pushed her on those swings a thousand times. Rachael and I had both sat on the benches and watched her play on the equipment. Happier times, was that all my life was going to be, just reminiscing about happier times?

We walked to one of the benches and she held my hand, swinging our arms as we walked, just the way she had since she was a tiny little thing, just able to walk. We sat down and I struggled with the words to begin.

"Just tell me, Dad," she said. "I can handle it."

"Well, I'm not sure I can," I said. The story came tumbling out. I told her everything; everything I'd seen; everything I was feeling and the tears rolled down my cheeks like a river. She held my hand through it all, and when the fountain of words and feelings dried up, she snuggled up against me.

"It doesn't sound good, Dad," she said. "We need to go home and ask Mom about it. I guess everything depends on what she tells us. I know it looks bad, but we don't know enough. We have to talk to her."

I kissed the top of her head. My heart swelled with pride. My baby was so much braver than I was. She pulled on my hand until I stood up. "Wanna drive?" I asked her. Her eyes shone. She had just gotten her learner's permit. A cloud passed across those beautiful eyes as she thought, but it quickly passed. She drove carefully home, and Rachael's car was in the garage. This was it.

She met us at the door with a hug and a kiss for each of us. You would have thought that she wasn't a cheating slut. Either she was an Oscar winning actress, or I had misread the whole situation.

"You two want takeout tonight?" she asked. "My treat."

"I think we just need to talk to you for a minute, Mom," Tobi said.

"Okay... is everything all right, Baby?"

"I don't know," Tobi said. "Let's find out."

We went in and I sat on the sofa beside Tobi. That left Rachael to sit in that hideous chair she just had to have. "What's up?" she asked. There wasn't a single shred of concern on her features.

"How did your day go?" I asked.

She looked at me curiously. "Just the usual," she said. "One of the drug reps brought lunch from The Onion Bin. It was pretty busy and I hardly had a minute. Why are you asking that?"

"So, you were at the office all day?" Tobi asked.

"Of course," she said. "What are all these questions? What's going on?"

"So you weren't at the house here with Jerry Garner this afternoon?" I asked.

Her face went pale. "Of course not," she said. "Are you accusing me of something, Oliver?"

"I saw you," I told her.

"What... you didn't see anything," she was stammering, now. "What are you trying to do? He's lying, Tobi. I was at the office all day. You can ask Angel."

"No, I don't think he's lying, Mom," Tobi said. "I think you're lying. I won't be asking Angel. She'd lie for you. I think I'll give David Jones a call. He's your boss, right? I don't think he'd lie for you. What's his number?"

"He's left for the night," Rachael said. "I'll have him call you tomorrow. What are you two doing? Are you trying to trick me, or something? You think you can just come in here and try to trip me up? What are you accusing me of doing?" I guess she thought the best defense was a good offense.

"I think you tripped yourself up," I told her. "You lied, Rachael. All three of us know you lied. Why would you do that?"

I could see the wheels spinning in her head. "Okay, I was here," she said. "This is the reason I didn't want tell you. I knew you'd give me the third degree and try to accuse me of something."

"No one has accused you of anything," Tobi said. "I'm accusing you of something, now. You tried to make me believe that Dad is a liar. You tried to make him look like a liar to cover up your lie. What are you lying about, Mom? Are you having an affair with that jerk?"

"You don't even know him," Rachael said. "Why would you say he's a jerk?"

"I've met him twice," Tobi said. "The way he looks at me makes me want to take a bath. That doesn't matter, are you having an affair with him?"

Rachael's eyes moved back and forth between us for a moment, looking like a trapped animal. "I didn't want it to be like this," she finally said. "I wasn't ready."

"Wasn't ready for what?" Tobi asked.

"I've just fallen in love with Jerry," she said. She looked over at me. "I'm sorry, Oliver, it just happened. We work together very closely, you know. He was just... I don't know. He's like the other half of my soul. We just connected and I couldn't help it. We're in love. I was going to tell you when we were ready. As soon as we can both get divorced, we're going to get married. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out this way. Tobi, it's going to be okay. You'll still get to see your father whenever you want to. Jerry has a really nice place out on the lake. He has a daughter, too, you know. He likes you and we're going to be very happy."

"Are you nuts?" Tobi practically exploded. "I'm not going to live with that asshole! He'd probably be sneaking into my bedroom at night to molest me. You're right, I'm going to see Dad anytime I want because I'm going to be living with him. It's you who I'm not going to be seeing. How could you?" She turned on her heel and walked upstairs to her room. I heard the lock on her door click.

Rachael turned and looked at me. "She'll get over it," she said. "Jerry is really a good guy, Oliver. I think you'll like him. I'm sorry, but I need to be happy. Jerry makes me happy and that's all there is to it."

I just stared at her. Who was this person? It was as if she'd been body snatched or something. I wasn't about to argue or discuss anything with a dangerous lunatic. "Whatever, Rachael," I said. "When are you moving out?"

"Moving out?" she said. "I'm not. I don't have anywhere to go. Jerry is married and we can't do anything until we tell his wife. We'll all have to get divorces and see how the settlement is before we know what we need to do."

"No, you're moving out," I told her. "I'll give you three days."

Her jaw dropped. "What the hell are you talking about? You can't kick me out of my own house. If anything, you should be the one who moves out."

"You're forgetting something," I said. "This is my house. I owned it before I met you. It was paid for, and I owned it clear before we got married. The house isn't a "marital asset," it's mine. My name is on the deed and yours isn't. No, you're moving out of my house."

"Where?" she asked. "Are you just going to throw me out on the street?"

"I really don't care where," I said. "Maybe you could get a room down at the Cheating Slut Motel. Maybe one of those rent by the hour places, you know. That's where you sluts do the dirty, right?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "That really hurts, Oliver," she said. "There's no need for name calling. I didn't try to fall in love with Jerry, it just happened. We just clicked and I knew I needed to be with him. I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"Ah, you just hurt me by accident," I said. "Sort of like falling when you're running with a stick in your hand and poking your eye out. Mom always warned me about that. I see how it happens now. Well, that's okay then. It was an accident."

"There's no need to be so sarcastic, either," she said. "Why can't you just accept that we're in love, Oliver?"

"Um, gee, I don't know, Rachael," I said. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I left this morning, you told me that you loved me. Now you're telling me that you love him. I guess I'm just a little confused."

"I do love you, Oliver," she said. "I'll always love you. I'm just "in love" with Jerry."

"Oh, well, that explains it, then," I said. "You have told me every day for the last 18 years that you were 'in love' with me, Rachael. I thought that was why we got married. We were in love. I guess I was delusional."

"Oh, no, we were in love," she tried to hold my hand. I shook her off.

"You've got three days, Rachael. If you're not out in three days, I'll have the sheriff remove you and throw your shit out in the driveway."

"Please, Oliver," she was scared now. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can still be friends. Jerry wants to be your friend, too. We have Tobi to think about. I told you that I love you and I don't want to lose you as a friend. We've been together too long for you to just throw that away."

I just stared at her for a minute. I could feel all that sadness, all that loss just draining away to be replaced by a wave of white-hot anger. "You must be fucking nuts, Rachael," I said. "Friends? With you? With that asshole? I kind of think not. You should tell that piece of shit that if he sees me, it should be briefly, just before he runs away as fast as he can. As for you, you're the enemy, Rachael. I'm going to burn down your house. You have three days, then I never want to see your skank ass again. I'll talk to a lawyer in the morning and you'll have your divorce as quickly as possible."

I turned and went to the bedroom, leaving her standing there making noises. That's all they were to me. She followed me around, still spouting her crap about "friends" all the time I was moving her stuff into the spare bedroom. She had more clothes in the closet than I could carry and I just draped them over her, carried an armful to the spare bedroom and hung them in the closet. She followed me. She stood there for a while yapping and watching me, but when she went to hang the clothes up, I took advantage of the situation to leave and lock the bedroom door. I heard her come down the hall, but she tried the knob, and then went away.

Tobi texted me after a few minutes. "You okay, Dad?"

"Yes, Kitten, you?" I texted back.

"No, but I will be," she said.

"Okay, love you," I sent. "Text me if you need anything."

"Take me to school in the morning?" she said. "I don't want to be in the car with her."

"KK." I got in bed and laid there for hours, trying to figure out what I needed to do. I must have drifted off about three, and then my phone alarm went off. I got up, took a shower and called my boss. I told him that I was getting a divorce and needed a few days off. He told me to take as long as I needed and made all the right noises about how sorry he was.

I went and made coffee, had a cup or two and made some breakfast for Tobi and me. She came down right on time, looking as beautiful to me as ever, and wolfed down her breakfast. Rachael came in and got a cup of coffee after a bit. She tried to talk to us, but we ignored her. It was time to take Tobi to school and Rachael asked her if she was ready.

Tobi just looked at her, turned to me and asked, "You ready, Dad?"

I jingled the keys and she grabbed her backpack. "Okay, you can act like two-year-olds if it makes you feel good," Rachael said. She stalked away and got her purse, shot us one more glare and left. I took Tobi to school and she kissed me when she got out. I sat there and watched her go in. I was thinking of my friend Dan. He'd just been through a divorce, and I thought I'd give him a call and see what attorney he'd used.

He didn't recommend his attorney. He told me I should use his wife's attorney. He gave me the name and I looked up the number. When I called, a woman answered the phone and put me on hold, after I told her what I wanted. She agreed to see me that afternoon, and I made all the usual moves. We had investments and there wasn't going to be much I could do about that. I could make sure she didn't run up credit card bills, so I called and lowered the limits on our cards to 500 dollars. That would put a crimp in my style, too, but I would be damned if I was going to fund her little scheme.

My appointment with Elizabeth Baxter didn't get off to an auspicious beginning. She had made some assumptions, and it was necessary to disabuse her of them before we could get started. Her assumption was that I was dumping Rachael for a newer model.

"You need to think again," I told her. "She's been having an affair with her co-worker; he's married and they both plan to divorce and marry each other."

"I apologize," she said. "I won't represent anyone who is making the kind of move you say she's making. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror."

"I understand," I said. "We have a daughter. I want to minimize the fallout. Do you think it's possible for me to get custody of her?"