There was a look of shock on his face, an instant of surprise just before my right fist contacted his nose dead square. What is odd is that it all seemed to happen in slow motion, it wasn't really though.
He went down hard onto his rear end and rolled back a little, then sat there looking up at me, blood streaming down his face.
It took a few moments for him to recover, then he got up and came at me.
I let him get up. I didn't really have to, I could have just clipped him again on the way up but I stepped back to give him room.
He was big, bigger than me even and I am not small at 6 feet and 220 pounds. He also didn't have a clue, his arm came back, his head tipped forward as he rushed at me, I just dropped him again with a straight left hand.
That did it, he didn't want any more.
"I'm sorry!" He wailed. I turned and walked away, shaking my hand that suddenly gave me a flash of pain, well aware of faces turned my way in surprise at the sudden violence.
Sally, my wife of 17 years and I were at a company get together, it was more of a rally than a party but a few were drinking. There had been some speeches if that is what they could be called, it was all pretty boring.
I had noticed the guy corner her over by a tiny little bar they had set up, Sally was getting some soda pop since she never drank alcohol at all that I ever knew of.
I didn't think anything about it at first, but then I saw her body language stiffen, she glanced my way and back to the guy quickly, shook her head and came back to our table.
I knew instantly that something was wrong.
"What's up with that guy?" I asked her.
"Nothing, he is a salesman for one of our other units, he is just here for the party." Her face flushed and she didn't meet my eyes.
Not normal, not normal at all.
"Do you know him from somewhere?" I pressed.
"No, not really." She answered. I knew that there was something more but I didn't ask any more questions. Sally and I always respected each other, if something mattered she would just tell me.
That is what I thought, anyway. Hell, she never one time in 17 years ever looked in my wallet, I never looked in her purse. There was nothing to hide and no reason to look, if I needed the car keys I would ask her for them and she would open her purse and hand them to me.
Our relationship was as close to perfect as it is possible for one to be, it's really nice to have total trust and faith.
Then some music started and she wanted to dance. I never was much of a dancer, but I sure do like having my sweet lady cuddled up in my arms so we do a pretty good job of pretending to dance.
Later, the same guy asked Sally to dance but she refused. I saw that same expression of discomfort in her eyes. He got an angry look on his face and retreated, after first giving me one of those glances that are hard to explain. It was a deliberate "look me up and down" glance with an almost hidden smirk.
That kind of look is intended to be a challenge, the kind that just pisses a man off.
Sally was pretending to not notice, but her face was flushed.
A half dozen "what the fuck's?" popped into my head. Old boyfriend? An affair? Something was going on and I had no idea at all what it could be.
I was thinking maybe he was just an old boyfriend, something like that although it was odd that if that was the case I would have expected Sally to just say so.
Sally was no virgin when we met and I most certainly wasn't either, she had mentioned having dated this person or that in high school, but she never went into any details. I never asked, I simply didn't care. Sally was mine now and I was all hers, everyone has a past and none of that mattered to me.
We had met not long after college at a dance, what I liked about her was that she was a bit on the forward side. She had spotted me and liked what she saw, so she simply went for it. I was probably not particularly known as a ladies man at that point but I managed.
For some reason every single relationship I was ever involved in began when some gal approached me instead of the other way around.
"You are cute, what's your name?" She asked, stopping in front of me and looking up at me.
"I'm Danny, I...uhhh." Was as far as I got.
"Bashful, huh? Well, I will get you over that!" She just reached out and took my hand and we were dancing.
We clicked like butter on Popcorn, within a few weeks we were always within a dozen feet of each other. I even made a couple of less than artful passes at her, she resisted the more intimate attempts, although we did kiss and neck a lot.
When that developed into sex it was Sally's decision, I found myself dragged along to her tiny little apartment. Next she just climbed on me and made it quite clear that she was ready.
I was also, it was just fine. The light in the room was dim that first time, I could see her but barely as she slid out of her clothing. Her body was sleek and firm, I knew from her practiced motions that she had at least as much experience as I did.
Somewhere in there, I am not sure of the moment that I knew, but I fell in love.
I could mention here that she was gloriously beautiful, she wasn't. Rather, she was a reasonably pretty and nice looking young woman, the kind a man takes home to meet Mom and can be proud of.
Sally didn't dress naughty or tease, she didn't need to. She had an air of total confidence about her, and everywhere we went she had people coming up to her. My Sally was very popular, with everyone.
In seventeen long years of marriage we had the usual arguments, the usual upsets. We got through them all, we were just a typical married couple in every single respect.
We weren't even wild and crazy in the bedroom, that part of our lives was regular and fun.
Sally used her degree in business management to land a pretty good position with benefits, I started a small delivery service that developed over time into a dozen trucks running regular overnight hauls up and down the west coast.
We had good income, the word is comfortable. Several times I mentioned to Sally that perhaps she could come and help with my growing business but she always refused, saying the time apart was what kept us close.
Then came that night at her company shindig.
There were those few moments that I noticed that seemed odd, I sensed her discomfort.
Later that night things exploded.
That same guy, who I found out later was named Jerry, shouldered his way up to me as I was sampling the snacks they had set out.
"You are Sally's old man, right?" He asked, coming up behind me.
"Yes, I am Dan."
"Sally and I go way back." I noticed his face was red, his words slurred.
"Oh. That's nice." I started to turn and walk away.
"I don't know why she is so uppity now, like her shit don't stink or something!"
That stopped me in my tracks.
"What?" I asked.
"She used to work in a massage parlor, she has had her hands on my dick a dozen times and now the fucking CUNT won't give me the time of day!" He snarled.
Which is when I hit him.
Probably half the people in the room never even realized anything had happened, Sally saw it though. I took her arm and we left. She sat there with her face downcast, I glanced at her a couple of times, saw tears on her cheeks.
When a man loves his wife like I loved my Sally, tears in their eyes are painful.
At home I decided there was no point in pressing the issue, Sally had never kept anything back that I knew of.
At least I had thought so, anyway. I just sat down in my chair and clicked on the TV, she went into the bedroom. It was quite a long time before she came back out, she had her composure and looked normal. She sat down across from me on our couch instead of in her own favorite chair like she usually did.
