Cobalt Blue

Foreword:

I posted the first 7500 or so words of this as Cobalt Blue, Chapter 1, my first attempt at writing. My intention, to be honest, was to post a chapter and read what feedback I received then use that information to mold the following chapters. A bit of a cheat, I know: pandering to unknown readers' opinions and really not fair as a "writer" as far as that goes. I realized that by taking that tack "I" wouldn't be writing, I'd only be putting together words and ideas that others provided and I wasn't willing to do that. Besides, the writing came so fluidly and fierce that I found the entire story, four chapters, finished before Literotica had published the second chapter. For this reason, and others, I decided that those involved would be better served if I combined what I've already written into a single work and submit it as Part 1. I realized as this story developed that we're not done here, there are several more stories and chapters concerning the characters we've already met, and more, and we'll see them again; I'm kinda liking this writing thing, at least for now.

The ending of this submission will probably surprise you, some of you will be satisfied but some of you certainly won't. If you're looking for a Nuclear BTB story, go ahead and walk away, just walk away. If you think I'll ever consider writing a RAAC story, you'll be likewise disappointed, it won't happen. Although most people are deserving of a level of forgiveness, there are some actions that can never be accepted or excused even if they are forgiven. I'm not opposed to reconciliation when reasonably possible, however, to propose reconciliation at all costs is a concept I find ridiculous and self destructive. I've tried to teach my, now grown, children that each and every decision we make is accompanied by consequences and repercussions not always known or even suspected at the time they're made. I think we'd all do well to keep that truth in mind, the world would undoubtedly be a happier, more pleasant place to inhabit.

G.

Cobalt Blue -- a deep, bright hue of blue, sometimes displayed as a thin line overlaying a flat black background on labels and decals signifying the "Thin Blue Line" referencing Law Enforcement and recognizing the sacrifices and risks they incur in the performance of their duties.

Chapter 1

"TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS?!!!"

"YOU SPENT TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS ON BATTERIES FOR A TOY AIRPLANE?!"

To say my wife, Sarah, was upset would be somewhat of an understatement.

"How many times do I have to tell you that this isn't a toy." I decided not to clarify that the two battery packs FedEx just delivered had cost me $250 each, not collectively.

"Fine, a DRONE, then. You've still spent more than a thousand dollars on a bunch of worthless plastic, aluminum and electric motors and now you've spent another TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS! ON MORE BATTERIES!"

"Technically, it's a Professional Hexacopter." I decided that correcting my wife by telling her that I had actually invested just over twenty-five hundred dollars in the large spider-looking contraption might also be counter productive.

"I couldn't care less what you call it, it's still a worthless toy that you're spending money on that you could be saving for our vacation!"

"It's not exactly worthless, I've already been paid for two aerial photo shoots by a real estate broker and I have three more scheduled over the next two weeks. Five or six more like those will pay for my investment and anything after that will be pure profit. If your boss had any sense he'd jump on the deal I offered him. Y'all could have aerial photos of all your listings at half the price I'm offering any other agency. Not to mention that if I'd had it last year when Jefferson and Murphy were shot we might have gotten the shooter before he stashed his gun somewhere in the woods and we could have more easily proven him to be the shooter. And if I can sell a few departments on the idea I might be able to retire early and build them commercially."

"Whatever. You're still never going to grow up, you're always going to be a dreamer. If it was as easy as you seem to believe to do these things everybody would already be doing them."

"Well, I certainly appreciate your vote of confidence in my abilities."

"Confidence? Huh, don't make me laugh. I don't know why everybody thinks you're so smart and can do anything you decide to do."

"I remember you used to think I was pretty smart and I distinctly remember you telling people that there was nothing I couldn't do if I set my mind to it so maybe other people's opinion of me isn't so far off the mark after all."

"Well, we've been married for twenty-one years and you're not bringing home much more than you did when we were married so for all your 'Intelligence' we don't seem to be improving much, do we?" Of course she used her fingers as air-quotes while the word Intelligence passed her lips. "Even I make twice what you make."

"Yet my salary is enough to cover the mortgage and all the utilities. Amazing how that seems to work out, huh?" "Sadly, Law Enforcement isn't a career suited to make anyone wealthy. Not an honest Cop, anyway."

"You could've gotten a degree and been an attorney and we'd never have to worry about money again."

"It doesn't matter how much money I made, we'd still be scratching for change three days before payday before long. How many pairs of shoes do you have in the closet and how many of them have you worn more than twice? How many of the suits and pocket books in your closet still have the sales tags on them and may end up never being worn at all. And I saw a charge receipt from Ulta the other day for more than two hundred dollars. How much makeup do you need to be a successful Real Estate Agent? You've been hinting for two weeks now that you're ready to trade your two year old car in on a new model. My truck is nineteen years old, you've had more than a half-dozen new cars since we've been married, don't bitch to me about spending money. At least what I'm spending money on is returning my investment."

"My clothes and cosmetics give me a return on my investment, I need them for my career."

"Really? The only return I've seen is you having to work late nearly every evening and on the weekends, we even had to cancel our July 4th plans so you could 'help finish an account at the office'. I rarely see you anymore and when I do you're unhappy or rushing to get out the door to take care of some errand or other. We haven't used our bed for anything other than sleeping in more than four months."

"That's not true! I know it's been a while but it hasn't been four months since we had sex!"

"Sweetheart, it was May 8th, our anniversary and I had to nearly tie you down then because Sutton wanted you to work late. And you were so pissed that it turned into such a mechanical activity that we both ended up just wanting to get off and be done. Which is a bit curious, because not all that long ago you couldn't stand going even a week without having sex. You haven't tried to initiate sex and every time I do you have some reason to turn me down."

She had at least enough grace that a brief expression of astonished clarity flashed in her eyes before she dropped her gaze and looked away.

I spoke in a much calmer voice, "Look, Babe, it's been a long week and we haven't done anything together on a Saturday in months, why don't we fill up the tank tomorrow morning and ride up to the mountains. Maybe go to Dahlonega or Helen, maybe even Blairsville or Murphy and just spend the day exploring the tourist trap shops?"

"I'm going with Jessica to her dad's house to lay out at his pool."

I'm sure the expression of strained annoyance on my face would have been difficult to misinterpret by anyone else but she seemed to miss it entirely.

"This will be, what, six straight weekends you've gone to lay out with Jessica? Is that where your priorities are? You'd prefer to spend the day laying around beside a pool in Kingston with Jessica than spending the day with me in the mountains? Who else is going to be there? Anybody else from the office?"

"What, are you going to tell me who I can and can't associate with now? You're going to decide how I'm supposed to spend my time? I don't need your permission to do anything and I'm not checking in with you before I decide what I want to do and with who! You're gone at all hours and you want to question me about where I go?! It's none of your business who I hang out with! You've been on Jessica's ass since you met her, you never liked her and you just want to ruin all my friendships so you can keep me stuck at home all day under your control with nobody else to spend time with!"

I stood dumbfounded, at a loss for words for several blinks not sure I had heard my wife's sudden tirade correctly before answering.

"I'm gone at all hours? I only go to work, I don't hang out with the guys, I don't go to ball games, races, bars or clubs. If I ever go anywhere outside of our house I ask you to go with me but you invariably find reason to decline. I've never told you I expected you to be or not be somewhere. I've never expected you to get my permission to do anything. As far as Jessica is concerned, no, I don't like her. She's been divorced three times because she was caught cheating on all three of her husbands and I don't think she's the best influence a married woman can have but I've never tried to discourage you from having her as a friend or from spending time with her." "You know what? Fine! You go lay out with Jessica tomorrow, I need to test these new battery packs and see how much extra flight time they give me anyway and I know you're not interested in playing with toy airplanes."

I turned from her wide-eyed gaze before she had a chance to respond and walked out through the kitchen and across the back yard to the prefab shed I used as a workshop and began packing my hexacopter and support gear for the next day's flight.

It was no surprise to me that later that night when Sarah came to bed she was dressed in long pajamas and lay at the absolute farthest distance possible from me facing away and went to sleep without speaking.

I lay in bed wondering what had happened in our marriage, where did we choose different paths and drift apart? As I recounted the past several months I kept coming to the same conclusion: Sarah's job. Whatever happened occurred after Sarah started working at Sutton Real Estate. I searched my memories of the few work events I accompanied Sarah to after she was first hired and realized that I hadn't been invited in more than a month. From the events I did attend I remember that it was predominantly a female group. There were a couple husbands or boyfriends and a slightly built, somewhat effeminate guy, who seemed to be without a date but the only other man present was the owner of the agency, Paul Sutton, who introduced a blonde who appeared to be no more than half his age and who had obviously been surgically enhanced to unbelievable proportions as his wife, Carmen. Paul was loud and boisterous, with a seemingly endless list of crude jokes and snide comments and an uncomfortable lack of respect for personal space. He was continually leaning on and touching anyone, male or female but never gave any other impression of untoward familiarity with his contact. Most of the guests were actively ignoring him and the only woman he paid extra attention to was his wife. Still, I knew he and I would never be pals. I've never trusted him in any capacity.

Nothing occurred during those few events that ever aroused any suspicion in my mind that there was any impropriety involving anyone from the agency. Even now, looking back and expecting to remember something, nothing stood out in my memory. But there was no doubt, during the first meeting, Sarah introduced me to her coworkers with what felt to me like pride of her husband and family, holding my arm tightly in her own and smiling like a newly-wooed sophomore, never leaving my side for more than a few minutes at a time. But now, barely six months later she seemed to despise my presence. I tried to think what I might have done to upset our relationship; was I spending too much time on the job? Law Enforcement is a career that is typically caustic to relationships, with the hours worked and the stresses involved, few survive very long. The high stress affects not only the officer, who repeatedly has to face extremely taxing situations, often involving life or death decisions with only seconds or less to make those decisions, but also his or her partner who has to sit at home wondering if this is the shift that will force them unwillingly into a life of solitude once again. Not all who live in such a relationship survive the long term. But I couldn't think of anything that changed during that period of time other than her job. I'd worked the same position in CID (Criminal Investigations Division) for several years prior and we'd had no similar issues so I didn't believe that could be the cause of our dilemma so that brought me back to Sarah's job. I realized that we were going to have to address the situation but after her outburst accusing me of controlling her I was hesitant to bring attention to what seemed to me to be the blatant truth. So I decided I'd let her cool down some before bringing the subject up again.

Chapter 2

Sleep was fleeting and hard-won that night and I awoke just in time to catch Sarah in the kitchen wearing a beach wrap and adding towels and sunblock to a large multicolored canvas bag on the counter top.

"What would you like for me to pick up for dinner tonight?" I asked.

Without pausing from stocking her beach bag or looking in my direction she responded "You probably should just take care of yourself tonight. Jessica and I are going shopping this afternoon and we've got an appointment for pedicures, we'll probably get something to eat while we're out. I may even stay at her apartment tonight if we have wine."

I don't know if she was trying to get a response from me because of my undisguised dislike of Jessica and her influence on my wife but I decided not to give her the satisfaction of a remark. I just watched as she glanced at me before walking out the door to the garage and as she backed her two year old Infinity 0ut of the carport.

I spent the next two hours in a quiet, self-inspecting haze while pushing the mower around our back yard, my mind running like an old, reliable hit-and-miss engine; never running very fast or hard, but running steadfastly and relentlessly. I never thought I had reason to doubt Sarah or her love and dedication to me and our marriage. I conceded that our relationship had lost the fire and immediacy of our early years together but for me it was like an old, familiar and comfortable chair, a place of refuge where I could rest and not be required to face the eroding urgency that lived in the world I embraced when I donned my uniform and leather gear before each shift at work. Maybe our marriage didn't offer that same comfort to Sarah or maybe comfort wasn't what she needed. Whatever the reason, the truth that I was beginning to realize was that Sarah no longer considered me her worthy husband. I didn't know if she had been intimate with another man yet but I wasn't still as assured that the possibility of that occurring was such a long bet anymore. But who could it possibly be? She never mentioned anyone, hell, she rarely mentioned anything to me anymore unless communication between us was essential. The only person she ever mentioned was...

Wait...

No...

I released the safety bar on the mower's handle and the engine coughed to a stop as I suddenly felt an urgent need for a bottle of water.

I stood in front of the open refrigerator, savoring the cool air that drifted out. This August morning already threatened with the late summer heat that often bullies Georgia residents and promised more of its loving attention as mid day approached.

My musings returned to Sarah and what had changed inside her. Could she have made that drastic a change in the past six months? I couldn't think of a single incidence that would even hint that she had ever even considered the possibility of having any sort of intimate relationship with another woman. In fact, she had always seemed rather disgusted with the idea if my memory served.

No, I didn't believe that could be a possibility but that still didn't give me an answer to what was really happening.

I decided to find out exactly where Jessica's dad lived and figured I'd pick up lunch to drop by and maybe invite both women out for dinner so neither had to worry about driving after having had too much wine. Maybe Sarah would be appreciative of my including Jessica and feel less as though she had to explain or run interference for her. I was pretty sure both women would enjoy something from Chicken Salad Chick; I'd heard several women gushing over the new restaurant in town. So I opened the Life360 app on my phone to find Sarah's location.

The only problem was that instead of her location, the app simply said "Location Paused Since 7:55". Now I have alarm bells going off, there are flags all over the field because something isn't right. Why did she turn off Life360? Why was she hiding her location? She wouldn't do something like this if she wasn't hiding something from me. I felt like I had stood too quickly after sitting too long, feeling a sharp wave of dizziness pass from the crown of my head all the way past my knees accompanied by the roar of a hurricane fed surf in my ears.

Still, I hoped...

I looked at my watch, 10:16. Two hours. More than two hours ago she paused the locator app we originally loaded onto our phones a little over a year ago when Sarah wanted to know where I was while I was at work so that in case something happened she could tell 911 where I was and they could find me if I couldn't answer my radio. I never told her that the MDT's in our department cars and trucks had GPS trackers embedded and that dispatchers knew exac1tly where were at all times, I let her feel that she had an important link in my safety if I ever needed it. Was that the real reason she suggested that we should use the app? Or did she, even then, have reason to hide and keep track of where I was at a given time?

Still, I hoped...

Assuming she simply paused the Life360 app instead of turning off the GPS in her phone, I turned on my laptop and opened Icloud.com and started the "Find My Iphone" application. I hate Apple products and refuse to have one or use them myself, preferring Samsung and Android OS but Sarah insisted on having the most current iPhone available until the next one was released. Since it was up to me to ensure that each new phone was loaded with all the content she was accustomed to having I had no trouble logging into and tracking her phone on the convenient map provided by the Apple website.

Lake Allatoona. The map I was looking at wasn't the most comprehensive map available but it seemed to be accurate enough for me to see that Sarah was possibly in the middle of a secluded cove on the reservoir about twenty-five miles east of Rome, where we lived and about fifteen miles from Kingston, where she told me she was going to be. Maybe Jessica's dad has a boat and they just decided at the last minute to go to the closest big lake for a while. At the core I knew I was trying to find a logical justification for what was beginning to look more and more like something I sincerely did not want to admit I was seeing but remember, until twenty-four hours earlier I never considered that my wife was anything other than dedicated to me and our marriage as anywhere near the realm of possibility.

Still, I hoped...

I opened Google Earth on my laptop to find the GPS coordinates and elevation of the location the cellphone app insisted that my wife could be found. The satellite photo on the website confirmed that my wife was apparently in a secluded cove on Lake Allatoona, not at her girlfriend's house. Scanning the shore of the lake I found an area where I could park that, while not line of sight, was a fairly straight shot across the lake from where Apple said my wife's phone had been for an hour and a half. I could drive to Coopers Branch boat ramp in just under a half hour and since I had already planned to test my new 12000mah batteries I decided that I could make it to Coopers Branch boat ramp in about forty-five minutes so I began loading my gear into the back seat of my Ram 1500 Crew Cab.