I want to thank Wolf Vixen for catching all the errors I never see. This story is based on what can happen when not having the whole truth puts an ugly twist on a marriage.
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Do you know what crow tastes like? Once you take the feathers off there's really not a lot of meat and what there is of it is very bitter. I suppose you're wondering why I'm eating crow? Well I accused my wife of doing something and found out later I was wrong, so for the last two weeks I've eaten enough crow to float a battleship, but I'm about done.
You see, if she wouldn't have told me, as she put it, a little white lie I never would have jumped to any conclusions. So now, Carol is making me pay for what I did and said that night. But, let me go back so you see what I did and why, then you can make up your own mind.
Carol and I have been married twelve years and have two kids, a boy ten and a girl eight. We both work and her parents pick up the kids from school everyday. Either Carol or I pick them up on the way home at night. The one who doesn't pick up the kids is responsible for starting dinner. We usually eat around 6:30, so as you can see, we've got it down to a science. Everything was going great, that is, until an old friend of Carol's moved back into town.
Tammy and Carol grew up in the same neighborhood, went to college together and were party animals to say the least. When we first started going out, on more than one occasion we got into it because of what Tammy had talked Carol into doing. I guess when we got engaged Tammy thought she was losing her best friend so she made it a point to monopolize her time as much as possible before the wedding. It became an irritant to me but Carol said that I'd have her for the rest of my life and anyway Tammy was moving away right after the wedding.
"Steve, be a dear. I've known Tammy forever and she's moving to Chicago. I don't know when I'll see her again so, if you cut her a little slack I'll make sure you're amply rewarded," she said with that evil smile of hers.
So, I kept my mouth shut until one night the two of them went nuts and got themselves in trouble. Let's just say it involved a hell of a lot of booze, three other women, four strippers, a fender bender and a night in jail for all concerned. Luckily or unluckily for her, I was out of town on business and her parents bailed her out.
No one said a word to me until two days before the wedding when a buddy of mine spilled the beans. I guess I lost my cool especially when she wouldn't give me all the details, even though I knew most of them anyway.
"Carol, what were you thinking? Or shall I say, what weren't the five of you thinking? No more, no more of this bullshit. I don't want you going out with Tammy anymore; at least not until you learn to control yourself around her," I told her.
"Steve, you can't tell me whom I can and can't see," she spit back at me. "I'm not some little kid that you can order around and you're sure as hell not my damn father. I'll see whomever I want," she said stomping out of the room.
"Then start acting like a grown-up," I replied to a door slamming in my face.
I was angry, hell I was pissed. It was bad enough she'd gotten in trouble and had not told me, and then trying to lie her way out of it when I did find out, irritated me more. If I'd done it, there would have been hell to pay, and I knew it. So, with her telling me to get over it and we'd talk about it later, I made a huge decision; I skipped the wedding rehearsal and the dinner afterwards.
My cell phone rang every five minutes for the first two hours as Carol filled my voice mail up in the first forty-five minutes before sending me a million texts; but I never answered a call or a text. That's when both my and her family started calling the hospitals and had the police start looking for me. Since I hadn't been gone for forty-eight hours, they only sent a squad car over to my apartment to see if I was alive or dead.
And where was I? My best man, Danny, and I were having a few cool ones at Tony's Bar and restaurant.
"You know she's going to be livid when she finds out your ok, don't you?" Danny said ordering another round. "Just make sure you tell her it wasn't my idea ok? I don't want a wild woman on my ass," Danny told me.
"No problem, how about some dinner?" I asked.
"Steve, you know you're digging a huge hole don't you? Carol may be so pissed that she'll tell you to pound sand up your ass and call the wedding off. Don't you want to marry her?" he asked.
"Sure as hell do, but not with her current high brow attitude though. If I can't trust her or let her think that she can lie her way out, what do I have? I don't want to marry a spoiled little brat who thinks that the world revolves around her and that she can do anything she wants without any consequences," I told Danny. "So, I'll talk to her sometime tonight and see if there's going to be a wedding tomorrow or not."
"You're a lot braver man than I am," Danny told me.
I wasn't brave, I was scared shitless, but was going to make my point no matter how many people I pissed off.
My brother basically found us by accident. He was taking a break from looking for me when he walked in and saw us at the restaurant.
"Where the fuck have the two of you been?" he yelled. "Does the words wedding rehearsal ring a bell?" he asked.
"Was that today?" I replied acting surprised and then giving him a smile. "Would you believe I forgot?"
"I'm just glad I'm not in your damn shoes right now. Everyone thinks something has happened to you and they're canvassing all the hospitals as we speak," he said as he texted someone a message. "Dad's going to chew you a new asshole and mom's been in tears for the last hour, I've texted mom that you're all right, I'll let you explain to them what your doing. Steve, just what the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"Bro, you don't even want to get in the middle of this shit. Go home to your wife, give her a kiss and tell her I'm alive; at least for the moment."
"See you tomorrow?" he said with a question mark on his face.
"I hope so," was all I said as he walked out shaking his head. "Since we've been made, I think it's time we got the hell out of here. The only one I want to face right now is Carol and I'm not looking forward to that," I told Danny.
"Call me if she kills you, ok?" he chuckled as I drove off.
There were four cars at Carol's condo. I recognized her parents, my sister's and could only guess whom the other two cars belonged to. So, taking a deep breath I walked in.
Carol was overjoyed to see me and angry as hell with me all at the same time. Everyone was talking all at once and her dad was trying to read me the riot act when I put my hands up.
"Everyone needs to shut the hell up and leave," I told them. When they started in on me again, I turned and started walking towards the door.
