Fictitious story w/ fictitious sex between fictitious consenting adults, all over 18 years of age.
"It is impossible to build one's own happiness on the unhappiness of others." Daisaku Ikeda
My name is Tyler Clinton and I'm going to tell you my story. Before I begin, no, I'm not even a distant relative of the former president, although the irony his behavior while in office isn't lost on me.
Pondering why your spouse would abandon fidelity to her vows while claiming to want to stay in the marriage is a question with which I never dreamed I'd wrestle. Yet here I am, seated on my back porch on a cool May evening waiting for my soon to be ex-wife to storm through the door having just been served divorce papers at her place of employment. I have some idea how she will react, but I'm not completely sure because I think she's lost her marbles.
The discovery of her cheating happened three weeks ago on April 28. I'll come back to that in a moment. The choice of our back porch is because it is private. We live on a two-acre lot so even if there is some shouting it will be tough for neighbors to hear. Also, a private eye is parked around the corner surveilling what is about to unfold. He's there for both our protection, just in case either of us gets wound up so tight we snap.
Lindsey, Lin to me, is an intelligent and beautiful woman. We met at grad school in Chicago. I was working on an MBA in Medical & Health Services. She was completing her CRNA, which, for readers not working in the medical world, means she was studying to become a nurse anesthetist. She'd worked neo-natal for two years. Long hours, longer emotional drain. NA's work relatively normal hours (usually 6 AM -- 5 PM four days a week) for much better pay and less trauma.
Lin's only potentially significant flaw was she becomes bored easily and is always looking for the next thing. We'd be enjoying a concert and she'd be working on plans for the next weekend. Whatever was new was also a temptation. Whether it was a new app, new friend or new restaurant, her interest was always peaked. We talked it over during our courtship and I made it clear that new was OK with me, but when it came to marriage, I was a traditionalist. I believed you could find "new" every day of your relationship with the same person over many years if you put your heart into it. She never gave me reason to suspect she disagreed.
To the extent that her slightly fickle personality was prone to wandering from familiar to new, I insisted we sign a prenuptial agreement. She wasn't thrilled with the idea and felt it was an insult to her character. I explained it was a two-way agreement that protected her every bit as much as it protected me. She relented and signed. It was straightforward. 50/50 on wealth accumulated during the marriage with each keeping 100% of what they brought in. 80/20 split if the breakup was caused adultery. To be honest, after we signed it, I don't think either of us gave it another thought... until recently.
After being wed, we moved from Chicago to Des Moines, Iowa. Sexy huh? Don't knock it until you've been there. Low cost of living, strong economy, vibrant and growing downtown urban center and excellent career opportunities in health care. Cold winters, with mostly mild spring and fall seasons. Summers that can vary from downright pleasant to almost, but not quite, unbearably hot. Unlike our neighbors to the south in St. Louis, Des Moines doesn't have high humidity. Even on hot summer days, the evenings always cool off quite nicely.
To top it all off, the sweet corn in July and August is to die for. And it is the birthplace of Ben Silbermann, creator of Pinterest. What more could you need? Eight years in, we both had jobs we loved, a wonderful home, neighbors, and friends we truly enjoyed, and I thought until three weeks ago, a strong marriage.
I say strong, not perfect. Nobody has a perfect marriage because there are no perfect people inhabiting the planet. We fought from time to time. I'm a strident squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom guy and she's haphazard about it. She wants the dishes done and the kitchen clean every night, I'm happy loading the dishwasher for three or four days before running it. Yes, like every other couple in America, we could fight over stupid shit.
But far more often, we'd take long walks in the evening and have longer talks on the screened in porch. Quick weekend trips to a cabin hideaway or a favorite concert in Chicago, Minneapolis or Dallas were not unusual. We enjoyed each other sexually and we were open and honest about what we liked or didn't enjoy. At least that was the impression I was under. We both agreed sex is as much mental as it is physical and, I thought, had fun making the most of our intimate moments together. Both thirty-four we knew kids were not too far off and looked forward to being mom and dad whenever children arrived.
By now, you may be wondering. Am I really a dud in the sack and just unwilling to admit it? Is Lin absolutely stunning and hit on by every man that comes along? Have we been toying with the notion of an open marriage? Did I miss warning signs earlier in our relationship that Lin would turn slut? Had I cheated on her, so she is just getting some revenge sex? Is her lover hung like a horse, a Greek Adonis that she couldn't escape? Is he an older dominant guy who preyed on her daddy issues? Is she trading up financially? Let me take them in order...
• Lyn seems genuinely happy with our sex life. Unless she's the best porn actress on the planet, it appears I can rock her sexual world when I put my mind to it. I had a handful of sexual encounters prior to meeting her. Never been called the best ever, but I worked hard to give as good as I got, and I never heard complaints.
• She is a very good-looking woman with a quick wit and strong mind. She's Irish / Italian, 5'8" light brunette with a slender build and better than average boobs. Dark green eyes and a killer smile. In my opinion, her long legs and firm ass are her best physical features. Guys look, a few approach. She's never given me reason to think she'd accept any offers. Come to think of it, I've rarely seen her flirt.
• Not hardly
• I can't recall any warning signals, but if I'm that dense I guess I got what I deserved for being asleep at the switch. Maybe I should have been more tuned in to her fascination with new.
• Never touched another woman beyond a friendly hello or goodbye hug since we became a couple.
• I think an honest reply is, he is handsome, but I wouldn't say drop dead gorgeous. He is about my height, 6'1", about the same build, around 180 lbs. Fit and solid but not ripped. Blond hair and blue eyes. Only saw him naked on video and he seemed about as big as me in that department. Around seven inches when hard... which it most definitely was.
• He's only twenty-eight, a med student who has been rotating through the OR for the last two months.
• He'll have money someday but since she clears 100K and I make about twice that much, can't see cash, fancy cars or a lavish house being a temptation. He won't start raking in serious bucks for at least another decade.
So, as you can imagine, I really have no idea how we got here, but maybe I should share what has transpired in the last three weeks.
It was the last week in April and, I was out of town at a medical administrator's conference in Kansas City for three days. I was supposed to be gone four, but when I looked at the seminar offerings on the last day, there wasn't much that grabbed my attention. It had already been a good week. The first day I connected with three other folks in my region who had similar positions. We ended up forming a small team and getting together each evening to compare notes. Enjoyed some good camaraderie, did some networking, exchanged contact information, and laughed over a few beers.
Late on day three I let them know I was headed out first thing in the morning. Since it is less than a three-hour drive, I'd skipped the pain of air travel and drove myself. Interstate 35 is a relatively quiet drive with less traffic than most highways. Passed the time listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast on WWI both ways. KC has an amazing WWI museum thanks to Missouri's only president. Carlin gave me a little context before I took the tour prior to the first session of the seminar. (President Harry Truman, by the way, for those of you ignorant of fly over country.)
Since I drove, I could depart at my leisure. Because I thought I was heading home to a loving wife who would be on her first day of a three-day break, I rose early and was on the road by 5 AM. My intention was to wake her up around 8 AM with Starbucks followed by morning sex. Or, morning sex, followed by Starbucks. The order wasn't really that important to me.
When I arrived home Lyn's car wasn't in the driveway. She drives a 2018 crystal black pearl Honda Accord which she never pulls into the garage unless it is raining. It hadn't rained in a week. If it's not in the driveway, she's not home. I was a bit confused. We work out at the same gym, Lifetime Fitness so she wouldn't be out for a run. She always sleeps in on her first day off rotation but entering the house it didn't look like she had been home last night. The bed was made, which it never is unless it is Saturday, laundry day. There was no sign of leftovers in the fridge from the previous evening's dinner. This was a head scratcher.
I called Lyn, but it went straight to voicemail. Fortunately, we both have glympse on our phones, a navigation tracking system that works on any iPhone. I flipped on the app and saw her phone was somewhere close to the airport. WTF? We live on the far northeast side of Des Moines close to a private golf course named The Harvester. We both enjoy golf and picked our house partially based on joining that club. The airport was on the far southwest side of town.
I began to get a bit nervous and decided if she answered I'd play dumb. Just checking in, seeing how she was doing. I assumed this early she would never think to look at glympse to confirm my location.
I waited fifteen minutes then called her a second time. She answered, and that was when my world began to fall apart.
"Hey babe" she said in a sleepy voice. "Why are you calling me so early on my day off?"
"Sorry Lyn" I apologized, somehow keeping my cool. "I miss you and had some time before this morning's seminar. Just wanted to hear your voice." I could tell from the background noise she was sitting up in bed. NOT our bed!
"It's OK Ty, I'm always happy to talk to my loving hubby!"
